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The pandemic felt Dickensian: the best of times, the worst of times. Health care and public health performed heroically, and in many ways, it was their finest hour.

Unfortunately, heroism typically demands sacrifice. There were dark days, the physical and emotional exhaustion of caring for so many sick and dying. For the most part, the community rallied as well to get through a once-in-a-century disaster and the region experienced an outpouring of support, partnership and togetherness.

But they too sacrificed — shuttered businesses, social isolation and the educational impact on our children were the price we paid.

The pandemic also re-exposed societal inequities, following a well-worn path of disproportionate risk and poorer outcomes for those least able to protect themselves.

It was impossible to fully appreciate the breadth of the impending disaster, which reminded me of deploying to war: the uncertainty, confusion, and frustrations — the “fog of war.â€‌

However, unlike my wartime experience, born from the 9-11 attacks, the pandemic ultimately led to division instead of unity. To be sure, the divisions were most likely already there; the virus was just a tool to exploit them and further drive discontent.

I have read many opinions about the pandemic, about a need for a “full accounting.â€‌ I don’t disagree. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fumbled out of the gate regarding testing. Its policies and communication were frequently aggravating and at times unhelpful and illogical. Communication is key to any conflict, whether at war or in a pandemic. If you lose the narrative, it is difficult to regain the trust of the population.

In the military, we do After-Action Reviews. What did we expect to happen? What happened? Why did things happen the way they did? What should we do differently? The goal is to be better prepared for the next event.

The challenge is the complexity of the pandemic. It wasn’t limited to a battle or geography. And how do we address the issues creating the ecosystem for such poor health outcomes and communal divisions to exist in the first place? Those are things we have a harder time grappling with. But without them, we fail to learn the disaster’s lessons.

Today, in COVID’s wake, health care still has supply chain challenges, which will only be exacerbated by the current market turmoil. The workforce is decimated and demoralized, the national health security apparatus, from the NIH to FDA to CDC, has been reduced. Inequities continue and we, as a people, are divided. It is challenging to believe we are ready today to meet the next biological threat with any certainty.

For health care to meet the next hazard, we must work on those issues that continue to be potential points of failure, such as supply chain issues, as much as we can within our span of control.

We need to focus on healing our existing workforce while also doing our collective best to build the next generation of disease fighters through a commitment to improving education, not just in medicine or nursing, but across the board.

We must recommit to science, the same science that has brought amazing inventions, drugs, and treatments to the patient — healing disease but, more significantly, preventing suffering in the first place.

Most importantly though, in order to build resilience in our communities and truly build “health,â€‌ we must strive to rid ourselves of the societal inequities that allow poor health outcomes in the first place.

These issues are considerable, but we must always have hope. My hope is that the COVID-19 pandemic will ultimately prove the low point of an arc, and that we can once again tap into the communal spirit, the togetherness, and the commitment, to face our current challenges, which collectively are just as difficult as the pandemic.

Examining our deficiencies in stark light will allow us to begin the work of healing and restoration that we desperately need.