AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2020 - 26

FLY WELL

BY DR. JONATHAN M. SACKIER

'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'
Please heed the lessons of this pandemic

DR. JONATHAN
SACKIER is a private

pilot and surgeon.
He helps members
through the AOPA
Pilot Protection
Services program.
aopa.org/pps

EVERYONE LOVES CLINT EASTWOOD'S FILMS, but
his performance as "Blondie" in the 1966 spaghetti
Western referenced in my headline is, in my opinion,
unsurpassed. Pursuing Confederate gold and viewing
wartime carnage, he proclaims, "I've never seen so
many men wasted so badly." The movie's title entered
common parlance, illustrating the totality of any situation, so let's apply it to COVID-19: the good; the bad;
and, sadly, the ugly.
The Good. That's easy: international scientific
collaborations characterizing the virus, developing
diagnostic tests, building vaccines, initiating clinical trials, and ﬁnessing treatments, all at warp speed.
And to be clear, there is plenty of international collaboration: Advancing the Oxford vaccine involves
a British university; a Swedish company; the United
States' National Institutes of Health and its Rocky
Mountain Laboratories; and trial sites in the United
States, Britain, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and Russia.
In the movie, Eastwood's character agrees to share
the gold with Tuco, the ugly, but restrains Tuco so
he can make his getaway. To quote President Ronald
Reagan: "Trust, but verify," a phrase Reagan used during nuclear arms negotiations.
The Bad: Playing the bad guy, "Angel Eyes," came
easy to Lee Van Cleef. For our current situation it's hard
to know where to begin, as there are so many bad guys.
COVID-19 spread around the world like wildﬁre; if
someone sneezes in China, someone in Chicago catches
a cold. We must embrace the good and engage in polite
discourse; challenge thinking, but do so respectfully.
For instance, emerging data implied those with darker
skin pigmentation fared worse from this disease. Kneejerk reaction suggested socioeconomic factors were to
blame, when it is possibly because of low vitamin D
levels-in other words, a biological cause, just as West
Africans are less likely to contract severe malaria. All
humans can learn and beneﬁt from each other.
As I write this, more than 1.1 million people have
died from the novel coronavirus, more than 220,000
in America alone. Many will have so-called "long
Covid"-enduring fatigue and malaise. Sadly, countless people will suffer more serious sequelae such as
cardiac and neurologic problems. The economic devastation to commercial aviation, hospitality, and many

26 | AOPA PILOT December 2020

other sectors (except debt-relief companies) will take
years to recover.
The Ugly: Tuco was played by Eli Wallach, "The
Rat." Viruses that cause human disease often start in
animals and "jump" species: MERS from camels; SARS,
and the current virus, likely from bats; a reservoir of
myriad coronaviruses with the potential to cause human
harm. The Wuhan "wet markets" have been implicated
as a source for the pandemic-a place where multiple
species that do not mingle in nature are thrust together,
including humans. We must rethink our interactions
with the animal kingdom, or eventually a virus will arise
that is as easily transmitted as that causing COVID-19
but much, much more fatal. The ﬁrst SARS epidemic
killed about 14 percent of those infected; MERS exterminated 34 percent, and Ebola slaughtered as many as
90 percent of those infected. Think about that.
We need to learn the lessons and remove our egos
from the equation while we await a potential vaccine.
And that is no sure thing. Please accept the measures
that my medical colleagues advise, including hand
washing, social distancing, and wearing masks. My
father used to say that if something looked like a conspiracy it was probably just error; humans are not as
Machiavellian as one might think and, let's face it, very
few secrets are not eventually leaked. There is no conspiracy, no hidden agenda, I personally know people
who have died from this disease. It is very real and very
nasty. Our future demands we collaborate; be cautious,
yes; verify, yes. But without collaboration, without
trust, it is not a matter of if but when a pandemic will hit
that could decimate the population in biblical fashion.
Ennio Morricone's haunting score to The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly features a tune called "The Trio"
as Blondie, The Rat, and Angel Eyes participate in an
iconic standoff. The Bad dies, killed by the Good, and
the Ugly is put in his box. We need to do the same.
This will be my last Fly Well column in AOPA Pilot
magazine, although I shall continue to contribute to
the online newsletters. Thank you for your interest
over the years; it has been my privilege to serve you
and I hope you have found my scribbles helpful. Please
stay safe, stay well, and ﬂy well.
AOPA
EMAIL DrJonathanSackier@gmail.com

http://www.aopa.org/pps

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2020

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