Issue 111 – May 2022
An empty gas tank and more pandemic analogies
“You can’t run a hospital sector like it’s a car, with the gas tank empty all the time. Sooner or later, you’re going to...run into trouble on the side of the road.” – Ontario Hospital Association president and CEO Anthony Dale
Safety precautions like a national marshmallow test. The spread of COVID-19 like glitter. Fighting the virus like a game of whack-a-mole. I first shared pandemic analogies at the end of 2020, thinking it would be a one-time thing.
Sadly, I was wrong.
More than two years on, we’re still looking for explanations for complicated, pandemic-related news.
Thankfully, scientists, doctors, writers and others are delivering. Here’s another roundup of expressive writing related to the pandemic:
“You can’t run a hospital sector like it’s a car, with the gas tank empty all the time. Sooner or later, you’re going to see that gas light flashing and you’re going to run into trouble on the side of the road.” – Ontario Hospital Association president and CEO Anthony Dale
“When we first announced we’d keep the COVID requirements [indoor masking and vaccine passports], we received a lot of negativity, getting review-bombed by so many people, many not even in Toronto.” – Gil Filar, owner of The Rosedale Diner
“These multiple closures over two years have had such a seismic impact on how our industry [restaurant] operates. And I don’t feel like there are a lot of people in government who are looking beyond three or four or five weeks. But it’s like getting into a car crash. You go to the hospital and they bandage you up but you can’t walk properly for six months. So what’s the aftercare program?” – Erik Joyal, president of Ascari Hospitality Group
“Citizens need information they can understand, trust and act on, and they need a reason to upend their lives and pull together even when they are tired and scared and stressed. Instead, too many Canadians have been subjected to public health officials who speak like ATMs come to life.” – journalist Shannon Proudfoot
“It’s sort of like a smoke alarm for health resources.” – University of Ottawa professor Robert Delatolla about tracking the COVID-19 virus in wastewater
“There is little political incentive to make difficult decisions to prepare for a potential disaster or future challenges like health needs of an aging demographic…[Political scientist Phil Triadafilopoulos] compared the situation to Aesop’s fable about the ant and the grasshopper: the ant saved food and prepared for winter, while the grasshopper did not and was left hungry. ‘Most governments are grasshopper-like,’ he said.” – journalist Alex Ballingall
“One of the analogies [psychology professor Rebecca Riddell] likes is that of car insurance, or seatbelts. You buy car insurance, and wear a seatbelt every day, in the hopes that neither is ever needed.” – mental health reporter Nadine Yousif
“(Rapid tests) are a vital tool for managing the pandemic. And therefore they need to be not just tossed up in the air to see who’s got the longest arms to grab them.” – infection control epidemiologist Colin Furness
What memorable analogies have you seen that explained some aspect of the pandemic and our recovery from it? Please share!
Related reading:
Like stepping on LEGO and more COVID-29 analogies
Spaghetti on a plate and more pandemic analogies
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