This book is an allegory for the COVID-19 pandemic
in the United States. Using the explosion of Reactor No. 4 in 1986 to symbolize
the COVID-19 pandemic, in fairytale style the narrative reveals the dangers of
allowing politics to override science and magical thinking to replace reality.
Oops! Actually, Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham is a non-fiction
account of a nuclear disaster. Still reading a book with so many similarities
to 2020, leaves the reader oscillating between these two interpretations:
Parable, history, metaphor, reality.
Some of the similarities:
Slow recognition: In disasters, political organization
are slow to recognize changes to the status quo. Political power is conservative,
believing in established truths and familiar sources long after reality has
changed.
Bias for action: Political organizations want
to be seen doing “something,” even when there is no basis for their actions. During
actual disasters, the best-case result is a waste of time and resources, while
in the worst case, the disaster is exacerbated.
Public relations failures: Political
organizations spin positive narratives, but in the case of disasters, this tends
erode public confidence.
Details:
“Many more hours would pass, and other men
would sacrifice themselves to the delusion that Reactor Number Four survived
intact.” Political pressure was to “restart Chernobyl’s three remaining
reactors as soon as possible.” Compare this to calls to end social distancing
and return to normal.
When the political forces pressed to cool down
the destroyed reactor, the scientists responded, “There is nothing left to be
cooled!” Compare this to various claims that certain groups and places are free
from risk.
The announced plan was to “be evacuated from
the city to safe areas in the East for at least two months.” Compare this for
similar pronouncements for the crisis to be short-lived.
“The work was relentless, continuing
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in shifts of six hours each.”
Compare this to efforts to manufacture ventilators, face masks, etc.
A 1986 disaster in the USSR with uncanny
similarities to 2020.
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