Some diseases are interesting.

Not to the sufferer, of course. Generally speaking, the more interesting the disease, the more painful or distressing or bad for the patient in question.

(Think bubonic plague. A malady still pondered by epidemiologists and others. Like: why was it so bad? The modern plague is a nasty piece of work, and still endemic in the marmot populations in rural Mongolia, but nothing like what our ancestors suffered from).

Interesting, engaging diseases. Ones that challenge our thinking.

Ordinary maladies are dull, but that doesn’t stop the hypochondriacs among us from talking about them. Often non-stop. You have a cold? Well, I’m sure that’s uncomfortable but you’ll get over it. Now shut up. I’m halfway joking. But just barely halfway.

2020 has given hypochondriacs license to talk about something that for 99% of those who had it was an uninteresting and unremarkable disease: covid. Think flu: a yucky way to spend a couple of days but ordinarily nothing more than a passing unpleasantness.

The world’s response to this has been painful but interesting, and people not yet born will spend their careers studying how we responded. But the disease itself is a fairly normal coronavirus. Honestly, folks, it’s not worth the non-stop discussion.