COVID-19: A History

by Jacalyn Duffin

For two years the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world. The physician and medical historian Jacalyn Duffin presents a global history of the virus, with a focus on Canada. Duffin describes the frightening appearance of the virus and its identification by scientists in China; subsequent outbreaks on cruise ships; the relentless spread to Europe, the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere; and the immediate attempts to confront it. COVID-19 next explores the scientific history of infections generally, and the discovery of coronaviruses in particular. Taking a broad approach, the book explains the advent of tests, treatments, and vaccines, as well as the practical politics behind interventions, including quarantines, barrier technologies, lockdowns, and social and financial supports. In concluding chapters Duffin analyzes the outcome of successive waves of COVID-19 infection around the the toll of human suffering, the successes and failures of control measures, vaccine rollouts, and grassroots opposition to governments’ attempts to limit the spread and mitigate social and economic damages. Closing with the fraught search for the origins of COVID-19, Duffin considers the implications of an “infodemic” and provides an cautionary outlook for the future.

Genres: Science

232 pages, Hardcover

Published October 15, 2022

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacalyn Duffin’s new book, COVID-19: A History, challenged my perception of history as a concept, as a discipline, and as an object of contemplation. Duffin – who is trained as both a hematologist and an historian of Western medicine – acknowledges the counter-intuitive nature of her project. Early on, she asks: “Can one write a history of something that is happening right now? It seemed more like journalism, or hubris.” The assumption in this passage being that journalism is usually considered one thing, and history is seen as something entirely different.

I have been known to defend this journalism-history distinction, and I am attracted to the idea that each discipline has its proper temporal domain. Whereas the proper object of journalism is the human-being in an ever-evolving present, the proper object of history is the human-being in an ever-receding past. Both disciplines share the human-being as their primary concern, and yet they have two separate horizons of temporality. Speaking generally, journalists work from within, while historians work from without. Before reading Duffin’s book, this distinction struck me as true, and quite obviously so. Now, I’m not so sure of its validity.

The study of infectious diseases can alter one’s sense of time, particularly what it means for an event to ‘end’. Duffin develops this observation in her book, stating: “Historians often explain that pandemics do not end at a point in time: endings can be biological (virus), medical (disease and controls), and social (public acceptance); the endings do not necessarily coincide.” True, the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. However, we can – and already do – write histories of events that are ongoing, especially within the context of medicine. For instance, Duffin reminds us that there are countless histories of the AIDS crisis, and yet AIDS is still very much a current global health concern. Nobody would deny that it is possible to write a history of AIDS, simply because the disease is still ‘contemporary’. Likewise, Duffin argues that the same sort of consideration must be extended to COVID-19 and, perhaps, other domains of the past as well.

COVID-19: A History convincingly shows how diseases can disrupt what we think about the proper domain of history, creating slippages between past, present, and future. Thus, the common distinction between journalism and history begs a number of important questions, which we should not sweep under the rug, nor dismiss as trivial. If the distinction is valid, then where does journalism end and history begin? Can their temporal objects be demarcated and considered mutually exclusive? How much time needs to pass before one can attain enough distance from an event to gather the facts and develop an historical interpretation? Is every moment in the past ‘history’, or is history the past plus something extra?

Ultimately, Duffin’s book proves that it is not only possible to write history from within the world of COVID-19, but that it is actually imperative to do so. For although COVID-19 exists in our recent memory, the disease already "[…] has a history and a wealth of sources." Duffin’s efforts should encourage all of us to begin the process of integrating our shared experiences with this world-historical event.

[David Goldbloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a succinct but sweeping review of the first two years of Covid in Canada and elsewhere. Written by a medical historian who is also a physician, it tackles everything from the science to the politics to the culture surrounding the pandemic. It is an exhilarating read, written with pointed commentary, humour, and humility about an evolving scientific story. It should be read by all students and providers of healthcare, all politicians and bureaucrats involved in health care, and all people who want to understand the burden of the pandemic and how the world responded to it.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that makes sense of the chaos of the first two years of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Duffin historicizes the present in an effective and interesting book. Her research serves as a sobering reminder of the realities and costs of the pandemic that we have been consciously trying to forget in these subsequent years.

[Taija Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, objective. Touches also on the sociological considerations of the pandemic.