2022 was a bad year for people who check bags when they fly, particularly over the winter holidays. It was also a bad year for parents shopping for medication for their young children, and for many students bringing home disappointing report cards.
About three years after Covid-19 first descended on us, like a very big stone thrown into a pond, we’re still experiencing its ripples—these included. We’ve learned a lot about complexity as a result of the pandemic’s disruptive impact on just about every system we rely on in life, and now we’re seeing some great examples of how unforeseen and widespread effects emerge when an event like the pandemic reverberates through and across systems.
And while that may not excuse what you’ve perceived to be incompetency or disregard on the part of the airlines, pharmacies, or schools, it’s useful to keep that bigger context in mind.
Airline travel
What might have started as a desire to spend time with friends and/or family members over the 2022 holiday season, ended for many in nightmarish scenarios like oppressively long delays on the tarmac, canceled flights, lost luggage, frustrating multi-hour calls to the airlines, and all manner of incidents reminiscent of the 1987 film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
But the challenge of lost luggage didn’t appear out of nowhere just in time for the holidays or because of severe winter weather. According to Business Insider (in this article published months before the holiday season), “Every US airline listed in the August Air Travel Consumer Report has ‘mishandled’ a higher percentage of bags between January and June 2022 compared to the same period last year.” Several airlines nearly tripled the number of lost bags.
Airlines have been contending with a shortage of baggage handlers (and other staff, including pilots) since scaling back in the early months of the pandemic when many people were forced to stop traveling altogether. This year, as travel demand has returned, the industry hasn’t been able to keep up.
So, yes, December’s severe weather and very heavy load of travelers certainly made things worse, but the situation was going off the rails well before that.
Why not just hire more baggage handlers, pilots and other staff now that they’re so plainly needed? As Forbes Contributor Zenger News explains in Southwest Airlines Cancellations Highlight Ripple Effects Of Labor Shortages: “The airline industry, among other skilled trades sectors, has suffered from a labor shortage for several years. But the lockdowns over the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp decline in demand that quickly rebounded, starting in the summer, and airlines have not been able to hire quickly enough.”
Many industries, companies and organizations find themselves in the exact same predicament: Not enough staff; too few people available to hire; early retirement of experienced workers; and better options for people who no longer want to do the work they used to. But a poorly made coffee or a long line up at a department store cash register is a lot more forgivable than a ruined vacation.
So if it makes you feel better, blame the airlines and airports for their seeming (and sudden) incompetence, or blame the person at the other end of the phone for the news they just delivered to you about where your luggage ended up—but recognize that nobody’s life is made easier by losing your bags and ruining your vacation.
While it may seem like we’re back to ‘normal’, the reverberations of the still-simmering pandemic are also largely responsible for your frustrations.
Children’s medication shortages
As the result of a recent surge in RSV, flu, and Covid cases in children, pediatric hospital beds in the US have been filling up over the past few months and pharmacies are running out of (and in some cases, rationing) children’s pain relief medications. Canada’s pediatric medication shortages began even earlier, in the summer, when hospitals started to see overwhelming numbers of children with respiratory illnesses.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Covid cases amongst young children are rising, given how many are back to school and daycare this year—and their relatively low vaccination rates—but that doesn’t fully explain the corresponding surge in RSV and the flu, the severity of their respiratory illnesses in general, or the drug shortages.
When you factor in the reverberations of the pandemic, however, another significant factor becomes apparent. As this article in the Guardian warned more than a year ago (July 2021), “Scientists are concerned that measures to combat Covid-19 have weakened the immune systems of young children who have not been able to build up resistance to common bugs, leaving them vulnerable when mask-wearing and social distancing eventually end.”
Without exposure to viral pathogens during the pandemic, and after one or two flu seasons with virtually no flu, young children missed the opportunity to develop their natural protective immunities. And now, back to daycare, school and other gatherings, without masks and social distancing, many more than usual are getting sick.
The increase in cases and severity of cases has meant greater demand for prescription and over-the-counter treatments, while at the same time, distribution networks still haven’t fully recovered from the pandemic.
Supply is compromised and the result is empty shelves, prolonged and worsening illness, and fearful, angry parents.
Falling grades
The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “The Nation’s Report Card” (which you can download here) offers some insight into the impact of the pandemic on U.S. students in fourth and eight grades. As reported in usnews.com: “An overwhelming majority of states saw significant score declines among fourth- and eighth-graders in math and reading between 2019 and 2022, with students posting the largest score declines ever recorded in math”.
Commenting on the report, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said: “I want to be very clear: The results of today’s nation’s report card are appalling and unacceptable. They are a reminder of the impact this pandemic had on our learners and the important work we must do now for our students.”
Unlike lost baggage and children’s medication shortages, the connection between falling grades and the pandemic is fairly clear: Many schools were closed for prolonged periods and many children had to adapt to new learning modes, cut off from physical contact with teachers and friends. And there were the usual compounding disadvantages based on race and income, and for kids with disabilities, when it came to access to technology, quiet places to focus on remote learning, and so on.
During that time and as a result, many of the foundational concepts in math and English were taught to today’s fourth- through eighth-graders with far less absorption than usual. When their incomplete homework and poor test results were forgiven because of the unusual circumstances, parents and teachers missed the opportunity to correct for undetected comprehension issues.
Two years on, students across the country are handing their parents subpar report cards that reflect the pandemic’s impact as much as they do their efforts in the current school year.
It’s been a tough year
While the pandemic finally showed signs of coming to an end in 2022, it was still a tough year. Not just for the travelers, the parents of sick young children, or the students and parents looking at an alarming report card, but also for the airline and airport personnel, the pharmacists and everyone who works to treat young children, and for teachers and school administrators who fight like hell to educate children.
As you toast the new year, remember to raise a glass to all the people who find themselves facing new challenges in extreme, no-win situations (like telling an angry traveler that their suitcase is on the other side of the country, or informing a frantic parent that nothing is available to help their wheezing child). Give particular thought to those who are new to their jobs, trying to fill staffing gaps that they had no hand in creating.
By all means feel angry and frustrated by all that’s gone wrong, but also foster some understanding in your heart for what we’re all still going through.
And of course, pray for much better in 2023.
"luggage" - Google News
January 05, 2023 at 06:00PM
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Lost Luggage And Other Pandemic Reverberations - Forbes
"luggage" - Google News
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