March 13, 2025, came and went with little fanfare, quite unlike the event for which that date marks. Five years ago on the 13th of March, the U.S. officially shut down in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
To refresh your memory, that shutdown forced businesses to temporarily and, in some cases, permanently close their doors. Remote work became a regular reality. Schools, K – college, converted to distance learning models that then transitioned into hybrid learning spaces, with some students physically present, others present online and still others absent due to the harsh realities of the digital divide.
And as the pandemic progressed, the death toll numbers rose to surreal levels. Yet, still, masks and vaccines were used as political debate fodder.
Don’t forget, a mini-revolution erupted regarding whether or not to mask up. The same was true for vaccinations.
To mark the anniversary, the Defender asked Houstonians what lessons they and the rest of society learned or failed to learn from the largest pandemic in generations.
Education
Reports nationally suggest K – 12 students are still playing catch-up regarding the learning lost during the pandemic. Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, contends school districts, namely the Houston Independent School District (HISD), haven’t learned the lesson of how important support systems are for healthy learning environments.
“I think that we have not provided much-needed social and emotional support for students and teachers,” said Anderson. “No one was not affected by COVID and yet, some legislators wanted us to resume business as usual. Not enough thought or planning to insure success for students was integral to the return process.
“The current federal/state administration is still playing the blame game when it comes to our student success. In actuality, the crisis was manufactured by the finger pointers.”
Job training
Renée G. Omoyeni, MS, BSN, RN, founded CompassRN, a Houston-based, nurse-led nonprofit dedicated to mentoring and supporting students—especially those from underrepresented communities—who aspire to enter the nursing profession. Omoyeni made this move in large part because of the pandemic.
“American students have suffered profound learning loss since the pandemic, and many are not taking the challenging math and science courses needed to prepare them for college,” said Omoyeni, who hopes society has learned how critically important it is to bridge the digital divide.
“Being able to access digital study guides and practice tests can help students prepare for nursing program entrance exams anywhere at any time—whether at home, at the library, during study hall, or on a break during a part-time job,” Omoyeni explained. “Moreover, clinical simulations and virtual training courses are key ‘no-fault’ ways students can continue honing the skills they will use every day with patients.”
Wellness
Natasha Boyce Brown, founder, and CEO at Money Savvy Sista LLC, believes many people have internalized how important health and wellness are in large part because of the devastation to the health and wellness of people all over the planet during the COVID pandemic.
“Many have adopted the life approach of wellness by any means necessary,” said Brown. “Continue to walk, drink water, talk to family, and make good memories. Otherwise, you will age. Your anxiety will shut you down and make your body ache. We must continue to live and protect our spiritual, physical, mental and emotional health.”
Self-sufficiency
Fort Bend County Judge Roderick Garner says the pandemic spotlighted a lesson a bevy of Black leaders over the decades have pushed Black people to learn.
“The COVID lockdown provided insight into how ill-prepared the Black and Brown community is when it comes to self-sufficiency,” said Garner. “While our white counterparts maintained a mitigated balance for their children through collaborative home-schooling efforts, our communities suffered with very few remedies for the absence of formal public education. I find the education deficit created by COVID had and is still having an adverse impact on our children and their educational maturity.”
Garner believes the absence of self-sufficiency revealed during the pandemic regarding education touches all areas of life.
“Our ability to assimilate should not take precedence over our responsibility to provide for our own in a meaningful and systemic way. Hopefully, our communities will pursue avenues of collaborative efforts geared toward sustaining our future through preparation, education and proper planning,” added Garner.
General
Still, there are those who believe what the nation learned and what it failed to learn were both very unflattering.
“The COVID-19 pandemic helped us learn that America is not a nation and that the dumbing down of Americans has proven 100% effective,” said activist Akachi Azubuike.
Jason Moreno contends Americans learned “absolutely nothing.”
I wish we did… they were masks, y’all. Stop throwing tantrums over wearing a mask. Vaccines are not the devil. Geez,” shared Moreno.
