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Reading October Birds was like looking into a mirror in many, many ways. I had to catch myself many times and remember this book was written in a pre-Covid 19 world!

When the pandemic began, like so many others, I was a college student who was excited to get a bonus spring break! The reality of what was coming had not hit us yet, despite the warning signs in countries like China and Italy. All of the COVID cases and isolation seemed so far away, until all of a sudden, they weren’t. October Birds does a great job of capturing the rapid transition through Eliza’s family’s experience. At first, her husband Steven is excited for the vacation and the ability to spend more time with their daughter Sophie. Parents are excited to spend time with their kids away from work. Nobody is really recognizing what is happening, even though in Indonesia, hundreds of people are being hospitalized and dying from the disease. I remember the experience began to feel real when stores began running out of essentials, and all of sudden, it was a frenzy to stockpile dried goods. The scene where Eliza is cooking dinner and there is no spinach but lots and lots of dried rice shows this well.

Another similarity I noted was the rapid shortage of nurses and beds. Just like Jack thinks, “First world countries can quickly look like third world countries in the middle of a disaster. Don’t forget that.” Within a matter of days, Memorial Hospital is completely run down to the ground. Patients are physically fighting one another to get care, there is a ranking system as to who can be treated. The hospital is begging for volunteers, to the point where they begin asking veterinarians for assistance. Providers are forced to watch over an incredibly unsafe ratio of patients and risk exposing themselves and their families to a potentially deadly illness. These scenes reminded me of a friend I had who worked as a travel EMT in a COVID unit in Fresno. She would often have upwards of 20 patients, many of whom were in critical condition. Patients were housed in tents in a field because the hospitals were out of beds. Many patients passed away. The whole experience was incredibly difficult and traumatizing for my friend, but as someone who wants to work in healthcare, she felt called to do so. Managing the feeling of responsibility of taking care of others as well as taking care of yourself is a theme present in real life and the book.

Another similarity I noticed included the reaction to the vaccine. In October Birds, an experimental vaccine against H7N1 became available to the public. Unlike our COVID vaccines, it had a much lower efficacy rate (around 65%), but people were still trampling each other to get it. The same concerns around ethics as to who should get it were present in both the book and real life. The reaction between some patients desperately wanting it and others being wildly skeptical also felt very familiar. One difference I’m thankful for is that unlike the H7N1 vaccine, our Covid shots have not had as many negative outcomes. When Michael, one of the doctors, refused to get it, I had a bad feeling and indeed, it turned out, there were many cases of post-vaccination encephalitis.

This also may be based on my experience living in San Francisco, but I found that the book did not discuss some of the racism and hatred that became visible during our pandemic. Crimes against the AAPI population skyrocketed across the US, and very blatant racism was everywhere. Though the virus in October Birds also originates in an Asian country, this was a social effect that was not covered.

A character I really liked was Cassandra. I’m not very familiar with non western medicine, but learning about her process and how effective her work was super interesting to me. I loved how she navigated the boundary of two very different systems of healing without jeopardizing her patients in the name of pride. When needed, she changed IV bags, but she also provided prayers and herbal remedies which seemed to be really beneficial to many. In the western world, we are often very focused on getting the strongest treatment as fast as possible, so I liked that Cassandra was able to do both.

Contrastingly, a character I had a very negative reaction to was Cromwell. Where Cassandra’s goal was focused on healing the individual, his attitude towards patients seemed to be more focused on his own gain. I was honestly angry with the way his thought process seemed to work when handling the pregnant patient - “she probably won’t survive, but hey, even if she does, I could get a publication”. It is a very selfish attitude! I would much rather have and be a provider like Cassandra.

The final thing I want to note was the emotional reaction I found myself having during reading this. As they covered the feelings of panic and fear of the unknown,I found those feelings really resonated with me. This pandemic has taken such a huge toll on us without us realizing, and I think it will affect our mental health in many ways for years to come. Hopefully, one take away can be that we deserve to prioritize ourselves and care for ourselves but physically and mentally. I wish this book had been required reading for everyone before our pandemic! I think we would be in a much better place and it would not have been as hard, because the preparation and understanding would have been present.