My family was quarantined in 2003 for SARS and I was in Saudi Arabia in 2014 during MERS. Here are 6 things I learned from those experiences.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon back in the spring of 2003 my newlywed wife, a high school teacher, mentioned in passing that one of the students at her high school was infected by the then-novel SARS virus. Unfortunately, the student's mom had also been infected and she soon passed away. Before we knew it, the authorities ordered the high school to be closed and all staff to be quarantined. What happened next was a blur but I remember having to bring food to my wife in trays and not being able to be together with her for what felt like an eternity.

Fast forward 10 years and I found myself in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the midst of the MERS crisis in May 2014. I was sent there as part of a large team to work together with the Health Minister himself on a "Hundred Day Plan" to deal with the epidemic. In addition to the palpable fear of dealing with endless uncertainty, I also experienced major culture shock during the three months I ended up staying there. The experience of dealing with the highest levels of decision-makers in the midst of a terrifying epidemic got seared into my memory.

So, here we are barely 6 years later and humanity is faced with what some have said to be mankind's greatest challenge since the last world war (or the great depression, or the great flood, depending on whom you listen to). As I sit here writing this short article in the peace and quiet of my home, with the full awareness that the "world-as-I-know-it" is fast fading away, a few thoughts come to my mind.

You can never be too prepared

The first thing my colleagues asked me when I arrived in the Middle East during MERS was "are you prepared?". The honest answer, with the benefit of hindsight, was that I was not nearly prepared enough. N-95 masks, sanitizers, reams of data. Nothing was enough to prepare for the immense psychological stress of working in constant uncertainty and stress. In addition to MERS, this decade has seen a few other notable health scares including Ebola (2014), Zika (2015), Acute Flaccid Myelitis (2018). Each time I watched the news and felt like it was a slow-moving nightmare (a term I picked up from the 2011 Japan tsunami when terrible news dripped out every few hours and never seemed to end). And each time, I thought that we ought to see preparations from our health authorities gear up. Time will tell but so far it seems like all our preparations have not been adequate enough in the face of COVID-19. Calls from luminaries such as Bill Gates to heighten the public's awareness to prepare for a global pandemic had fallen on deaf ears.

Fear has a way of paralyzing decision making

During the MERS crisis, I witnessed some of the smartest, most qualified and hardworking teams rally around the Health Minister. I also observed that those teams that were the most effective and hence contributed the greatest were also the coolest and calmest. In times of crisis, mental resilience takes on greater importance than all other qualities. I found myself partially paralyzed out of fear and stress, and not able to make the soundest decisions. Those colleagues that had mental resilience not only worked more effectively but helped those around them to stay focused. This time around, I will remind myself to stay cool, stay calm and live my days as stress-free as possible.

Rock bottom comes out of the left-field

As the crisis wears on, many will be tempted to look for the "rock bottom". Many people seem psychologically fixated on finding when rock bottom hits. Perhaps it's a way for humans to grasp whatever sense of control we still have in a midst of chaos. Truth is, rock bottom often comes out of the left field. After the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong ended, I asked many of my friends and family what was their "rock bottom moment". Almost universally they pointed out their personal rock bottom during SARS was when a famous local celebrity took his life near the end of the epidemic. The celebrity did not take his life because of SARS, but the psychological impact of his suicide on the city was one of "Now what? Can it get worse than this?". Psychologically speaking, the suicide marked "rock bottom" for many locals. In 2014, MERS got under control relatively quickly, but around the tail-end of that episode, the ISIS menace erupted in neighboring Iraq, and all of a sudden the mood changed for the worse. I remembered the sudden uptick in tension around Riyadh and I witnessed people affected mentally by the sudden, visible increase in military personnel around hotels and compounds. Many people later attributed the eruption of ISIS as their personal "rock bottom" during MERS. It's too soon to seek rock bottom for COVID-19, but I'm willing to bet that when it comes, it will be nothing I imagined it to be at this moment.

This time it's different

When SARS erupted Facebook was not even around. Even during MERS, social media was still not as pervasive as it is now. Now, I am completely astounded by the ocean of disinformation that I am drowning in these days. As much as I am aware that there is fake news out there, I have a hard time knowing what's trustworthy, even from old-school newspaper media. I've already stopped Facebook as part of my Lenten season penitentiary act and I thought that has helped me maintain a degree of mental fortitude. The other difference is the astonishing speed with which events turn on 180 degrees. Barely a few days ago I was getting ready to drive across the border for March break camp and today the US-Canadian border is sealed off! Drastic changes flood in by the hour. The fluidity of the situation is almost too much to handle. Finally, the biggest difference is the sheer scale of the pandemic affecting literally the entire world. A short while ago Europe was debating about the merits of Brexit, and now almost the entire continent is shut down. Will tomorrow bring yet more surprises?

Personal kindness makes all the difference

I remember being invited by some young Saudis for honeyed dates and coffee by the beach in Jeddah. Complete strangers. I was talking a walk by myself and these strangers treated me with the sweetest memory of my whole experience during MERS. As they did not speak English (and I don't speak Arabic), we used our mobile phones to do live translations on the fly! Such gestures of kindness, mostly inconsequential at the time, turned out to make the biggest difference for me and surely gave me the best memories.

It too shall pass, and life goes on

Right now it is extremely difficult for me to imagine when and how COVID-19 will end. This slow-moving nightmare seems to have just started and I do not look forward to the days ahead. Will it be a few weeks? A few months? Or as some have said, even years before it really ends? Whatever the case, life-as-we-know-it has probably just ended. Tomorrow will be a new day. What I do know with certainty is that in the long run, this too shall pass and life must go on.

In the meantime, let's put on our seatbelts and expect some turbulence ahead of us!

Stay healthy! Stay happy!