Dr. David Macpherson: Shared sacrifice needed in our war on coronavirus

There’s been an enormous amount of talk lately about viruses. For the SARS-CoV-2 virus, given its ability to sicken and kill us, we speak as if we are fighting a war against an enemy bent on destroying us, as if the virus has a consciousness and developed a war plan.

It’s weird battling something you can’t see. And the weapons we have to fight it — wear a mask, stay apart, wash our hands — don’t feel like weapons at all. Beyond that, it’s challenging to know if we’re winning or losing.

When a skirmish breaks out and multiple people get infected, we don’t learn about it for many days, a little like the world before the mid-1800s. And you only learn if you lose, and a bunch of people get sick. If no one gets sick, you either haven’t been in a battle or you won the battle (even though at the time, no guns sounded to give you a clue you were fighting). So the war metaphor doesn’t seem quite right.

But in other ways, it fits perfectly.

Victory in war is achieved through shared sacrifice. In traditional conflict, men and women place themselves in harm’s way. A soldier fights to save his or her buddy lying in the trench beside him or her. A fighter pilot flies into danger to strafe the enemy. Many have paid the ultimate sacrifice in war.

For our war on the coronavirus, our personal sacrifice is much less dramatic, but as a whole, may be just as important. To prevent us from infecting others, we socially isolate and wear masks. We’re laid off and lose income. Many suffer as a result.

More than a nation, we do this as a world of humans, all making an effort to slow the spread of the virus, to flatten out the curve so that those who fall ill have an ICU bed ready. The hard part about our personal sacrifice isn’t when we begin the effort. The hard part is the perseverance necessary over the months required — like the grind of war

In a few months, it seems likely we’ll have a vaccine. Thousands will volunteer to get the first doses via clinical trials — these people will risk their health because they won’t know if the vaccine is completely safe. Once it’s proven safe enough, the great majority of the world will get vaccinated.

But most of us who are vaccinated won’t get personal benefit. For those of us who never develop covid-19 after being vaccinated, we won’t know if the shot prevented it, or if we were never destined to get it. But we’ll roll up our sleeve anyway and make a small sacrifice. Because if a high proportion of the world gets vaccinated, our herd will achieve enough immunity to enable us to will win this war.

David Macpherson, M.D., M.P.H., is a retired physician living in Upper Burrell.