Two hundred years from now, if someone does today’s equivalent of an online search for COVID 19, what will they find? Before I try to answer that question, a couple disclaimers: First, I’m not a clinician. I’ve been a healthcare administrator, but I’ve always had to defer to nurses, therapists and physicians for the clinical perspective when I needed to make decisions; this is no problem, though, since I don’t think COVID19’s biggest impact will prove to be clinical. In other words, I don’t think it will yield any groundbreaking developments in epidemiology. Second, I have zero expertise in politics. I mean, I have a perspective and opinions, but pretty much my only involvement in politics has been in the voting booth, and maybe a few barbershop debates, most of which my opponents went away winners, at least in their own eyes. This is not a problem either, since I believe COVID’s deepest historic impact will not be political, although it will impact the political world more than the clinical one.
Here’s my stab at the year 2220 equivalent of the Wikipedia entry for COVID 19:
COVID 19 (also known as The Corona Virus) a global pandemic that began in November, 2019, and was eradicated in the summer of 2023, and eradicated in the United States, the first country with a population of more than 300,000 to eradicate the disease, in the fall of 2021. Believed by many historians to have originated in China, the virus spread quickly across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, resulting in nearly 900,000 deaths worldwide, mostly elderly people with underlying poor health conditions before its eradication. Many attempts by scientists to develop a vaccine were ultimately unsuccessful, mainly because a high percentage of people refused to take the vaccine, some leery of the vaccine’s safety risks, and others suspicious that the vaccine included a chip that could be used to monitor their location and behavior. However, the disease was ultimately eradicated through herd immunity, the first widespread disease ever overcome by herd immunity.
The COVID 19 Pandemic proved to be an opportunity for nations to unify in new ways, as the World Health Organization compiled data from various countries and brought scientists and political leaders together from around the world to address the crisis. Some world history scholars believe the COVID 19 crisis did more toward the formation of our current One World government than any other event ever. Many Christians of that time expected the pandemic would set the stage for the Biblical Tribulation period, when the Antichrist would come into power and persecute Christians and anyone unwilling to accept his mark on their forehead or hand. In 2022, well known pastor and politician, Mike Huckabee, was quoted by The Washington Post as saying, “People two hundred years ago thought the Great Tribulation was about to happen, and four hundred years ago, and six hundred years ago, but Jesus will return to earth when the Heavenly Father says. Our job is to be ready all the time for His return.”
One more disclaimer: I’m not a prophet, and this is not intended to be taken as prophetic. It’s just a fictitious rendering of how history could possibly, but probably won’t, paint the pandemic in a couple hundred years. To be honest, I think in two hundred years, Jesus Christ will be reigning on the earth, the Great Tribulation and the Battle of Armageddon will be in the past, and believers in Christ will look forward to the new heaven and the new earth. I could definitely be wrong, but what I know I’m right about is that Jesus is my Savior and I will, therefore, be with Him, along with all other believers, for eternity, regardless of COVID 19’s role in world events.
