Lessons Star Trek can teach us about surviving COVID-19
1) Stay Smart. No one is invulnerable. All throughout the original series, Spock was portrayed as more resistant to the ailments and threats that would be particularly effective to humans. Nevertheless, he fell victim to a variety of maladies such as the Psi 2000 and the Hippy spores. (there is a band name if ever there was one). In all seriousness, take every appropriate precaution that you can.
2) Stay Sensible. Quarantine is sometimes necessary. Visits to the quarantine lab were a regular occurrence after away missions on Enterprise. Obviously this stint that we all find ourselves in is way longer than what we saw on screen, but hey, at least we’re not obligated to run around the house in our blue underwear!
3) Stay Adaptable. During their seven years in the Delta quadrant, the crew were able to adapt and overcome the adverse challenges they faced by adapting. Comforts such as replicators became strictly rationed. Nevertheless, during the struggle to find home there was a lot of good too, the crew were able to use the holodecks to provide a slice of home in some small way, in the same way that we can use our technology to link up with friends and family to create a sense of the convention.
4) Stay Human. Quark gives Nog a lengthy speech about humans are as dangerous as the most blood thirsty Klingon, and we have seen that during this crisis as issues around the Virus have been worsened by frankly dangerous behaviour such as panic buying and going en masse to public places. However, there has been a ton of good being done too, Captain Tom Moore raising millions of pounds for NHS charities, business donating their time, volunteers helping out where they can. This feels like the spirit of the heroes that I have spent my life watching on Star Trek.
Kist wanted to share my thoughts. Without conventions or new Trek episodes I have been feeling like I was running out of things to talk about. But if we stay smart, stay sensible, stay adaptable, and stay human, lessons that Star Trek has taught us – then we will get through this crisis.