The cartography of the multiple trajectories carved out by COVID-19 highlights numerous pathways in many domains of thought and action. Great questions have been exposed regarding science and ethics—about precepts formerly assumed to be incontrovertible but now deeply challenged, about values, principles, and their practical applications, about the integrity of science and its ability to show us the way to truth. Disturbingly, we have seen how science can be suborned and corrupted, in support of narrow, political interests and the pursuit of power. We always knew, of course, the intimate connections between knowledge and power, but we were taken by surprise when scientists themselves were prepared to betray their own craft in support of local political agendas. The “post-truth” world of politics is one thing, but to extend this to the realm of knowledge and ethical discourse may unleash incalculable consequences.

Generalizations about the effects of the pandemic must be tempered by a recognition of the variable experiences of different groups. Specific communities and demographic formations undoubtedly have suffered in different ways. We could have anticipated and prepared for this from our experiences and planning for previous pandemics, and yet we did not. COVID drew urgent attention to the vulnerability of elderly people, First Nations Peoples, people with disabilities, and people grappling with issues related to gender, culture, and in some cases religion. It also exposed (at least to those who did not live with disadvantage and discrimination every day) and deepened the systemic inequities that characterize the experience of local, national, and global communities worldwide. In this regard it is crucially important that we acknowledge that the impact of the pandemic manifested itself in contrary ways between the global south and developed countries. In a world characterized by an unequal distribution of wealth and opportunity, the divides between rich and poor, black and white, sovereignty and dispossession, traditional, community-based relationship systems and individualistic, power-based cultures are profound and increasing.

But there are common themes that can nevertheless still be distinguished. The COVID trajectories permeate the life-worlds of all cultures and in all geographical locations. COVID has shaken some of our most intimate experiences: how to embrace or share our breath with others, the horror of a death alone, in quarantine or isolation, the new fear associated with sexual contact, the undermining of basic conditions for trust and safety. The ramifications of these disturbances linger, affecting our most personal, and more communal, relationships.

At the institutional levels of society, arguably nothing will be the same again. COVID shone a light on weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and fissures in the social fabric and then opened them up into great chasms—around race, gender, religion, and culture. It exacerbated conflicts, further magnified social divisions, fuelled conspiracy theories, and supercharged prejudice and intolerance.

Above all, are the global implications. The catastrophe of COVID has highlighted the impending climate one. The recognition that we are all affected, that the wealth and comfort of rich nations will not provide protection or a safe place to hide, and the realization that we lack the social, cultural, and ethical resources to respond generously, cooperatively, and effectively, has come as a great shock to many.

There is overwhelming evidence that climate change is deeply implicated in the greatly increased vulnerability to novel zoonotic infections, and it is not unreasonable to speculate that the next pandemic may be many times worse than COVID-19. Sadly, we appear to have proven that we do not have the ability to address the root causes either of pandemic zoonoses or of climate change itself.

That leaves the last question, which is also unanswerable at the present time. How will future generations look back on the predicament that we ourselves are currently facing and have jointly created? Will it be seen as a time of missed opportunities for learning and the setting of a new way forward? Will this period be a turning point in the wrong direction, towards loss of freedoms, the end of democracy and the destruction of the biosphere? Or will we mobilize collective resources, harness our considerable imagination and intelligence, recognize our interconnected fates, human and non-human, and face these challenges together, constructively, generously, and effectively?