Ask most Michiganders their fondest wish for 2021 and you re likely to hear some variant of the one Donald Trump expressed repeatedly throughout his 2020 presidential campaign:

All we want, the outgoing president told supporters again and again as he barnstormed a country ravaged by COVID-19 and economic stagnation, is for things to go back to normal.

And if we take that to mean a return to hugging, gathering in groups, going to work and school, boarding buses and planes, and the hundred other conventions we all took for granted before the pandemic  well, who doesn t yearn for that sort of normalcy?

Almost as universal is the desire for a return to a brand of political discourse less vitriolic, distrustful and exhausting than the sort that pervaded Trump s tenure. Who one blames for that epidemic of incivility depends, of course, on one s politics. But few Americans of any political stripe are hoping for a new year in which the volume of our national debate grows louder and more acrimonious.

Beyond that, nostalgia for the status quo depends mostly on what one s own status quo was before the pandemic brought the world to its knees.

For those who were already struggling with joblessness, homelessness, food insecurity or substandard access to health care and education, the coronavirus crisis has heralded both an exacerbation of those deficits and new mpulse to address them collectively. Few of those fondly remember a nation in which such inequities were overlooked

And there is consolation, as well as terror, in the pandemic s illumination of our common vulnerability, even if the risks are not evenly distributed. Those who believe Americans have become too self-absorbed, and too impervious to the ways in which the deprivations of the few threaten the well-being of the many, have welcomed this rude awakening, however much they hate the plague that provided it.

There are, in short, some pre-pandemic habits we cannot afford to resume, and some COVID-era adjustments we desperately need to preserve even if and when we obtain the Holy Grail of herd immunity.

Here are a few of the latter to think about as we hope for a less tumultuous 2021:

Attention to public health

When Americans argued about health care before the pandemic, they typically argued about what resources and choices should be available to individuals, at what cost and at whose expense: Is health care a right or a privilege? Should everyone afflicted by the same illness enjoy equal access to the most effective treatment? Should limited medical resources be allocated according to the whims of health care providers, elected leaders, or the free market?

But COVID-19 has made most of us painfully aware of our collective interest in the baseline health of our communities, our nation, and even those overseas. Even more profoundly than it has shaken our economy, the contagion has shattered any illusion that the costs of significant public health lapses can be effectively confined within political, geographic or demographic boundaries, even by privileged individuals armed with exceptional medical resources.

Post-pandemic measures of our economic prosperity or national security must take into account the risks we all court when the health of a few is neglected.

An end to water shutoffs

It has ever made sense to shut off anyone s water, even if they can t pay. Epidemiologists, public health officers and water activists have warned for years that separating vulnerable residents from clean water and sanitation pose health risks to a much larger population  and been roundly ignored by elected officials at every level. Now, finally, the pandemic has forced policymakers to take those warnings seriously.

The distribution of federal CARES Act dollars across Michigan show that access to clean water is a statewide problem.

The state has renewed a moratorium on water shutoffs, but temporary measures aren t enough. Some households simply can t afford to pay market price for water, and state and local governments must find affordable solutions for those customers.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has announced a moratorium on water shutoffs through 2022, and says the city will use the time to create a water affordability plan for Detroiters. It s a step in the right direction. But Michigan and its cities wlll ultimately have to forgive many past-due water bill balances and find ways to guarantee water availability to all Michiganders.

Ending mass incarceration

As COVID-19 spread in Michigan, it quickly became clear that incarcerated people were at particular risk. Wayne and other counties worked quickly to lower their jail populations, releasing 40% of inmates.

In Wayne County, a 2020 report by the Vera Institute s Center for Sentencing and Corrections found, 67% of people in jail hadn t been convicted of anything, but couldn t afford to make bail. More than half were there for driving-related offenses, like a suspended license or expired registration.

This practice never made sense  and the pandemic showed us a new way of doing things. Most of those released were fitted with electronic tethers. Despite the significant number of releases, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Sheriff s Office says the absconder rate remains below 4%.

That may also be because of a change in the way. courts are conducting business during the pandemic. Many court appearances have been handled via Zoom, and defense attorneys say that while most trials shouldn t be held via video, conducting routine appearances remotely makes it easier for defendants juggling work, school and childcare obligations to appear on schedule.

There are lessons to be learned, here, and we hope Michigan s judges, prosecutors and lawmakers are paying attention.

Schools

It’s not as if no one knew that Michigan children live and study in wildly varying circumstances. And there have been no shortage of calls to ameliorate disparities that effectively sabotage learning for many students.

But like so much else, the pandemic s shift to remote schooling brought the issue into sharp focus: Kids who don t have laptops or tablets or internet access simply can t participate in online school. School districts using state, federal and philanthropic dollars have struggled valiantly to supply technology and access. But access isn t the only disadvantage that s emerged during online learning  and many disparities will persist when kids are back in the classroom.

Kids who don t have secure housing, access to clean water and sanitation or enough to eat are likely to struggle in school, whether classes are in-person or online. Once face-to-face learning is again the norm, it s on all of us to continue to see our most vulnerable kids needs, and to provide the support they need.

Foreclosures

It’s been clear for years that Wayne County s annual tax foreclosure auction was a catastrophe, dealing out more harm to residents, and to the fabric of our neighborhoods, than any revenues it returns to the public treasury.

And it s been equally clear that it would make more sense to simply stop holding the auctions, although officials protested they had no authority to do.

Until this year, that is, when Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree announced that there would be no foreclosures, and no tax foreclosure auction, in 2020.

It’s a long-overdue development. Last year, Detroit and Wayne County announced a new payment plan for impoverished Detroit homeowners that would cap back taxes at 10% of the home s taxable value. It s not the full retroactive exemption foreclosure reform advocates had urged, but it s a useful tool.

Early indications are that more Detroit homeowners are obtaining the tax exempt status that qualifies them for this program. We devoutly hope the city and county use this foreclosure moratorium to ensure that all qualifying homeowners have a chance to enroll in this program, and that other communities around the state take note.

Voting and citizenship

We may never know in what proportions concern about the pandemic; vehement reaction against (or enthusiasm for) the faux populism of Donald Trump. and efforts to facilitate absentee voting combined to yield the surprisingly high turnout in last year s presidential election, but democracies are most resilient when electoral participation is the norm, rather than the exception.

It’s notable and heartening that turnout spiked despite an unprecedented, well-organized campaign to suppress voting in general and absentee voting in particular.

Most Americans are eager to discard the exhausting habits of hypervigilance they cultivated during the incumbent president s norm-busting tenure, but Trump s legacy of dismantling the institutions and infrastructure designed to protect Americans have taught everyone the costs of political inattention and complacency.

However the pandemic loosens its grip in 2021, it will bode ill for the future of democratic government if 20202 s impressive turnout turns out to be the high water mark of Americans electoral participation, rather than the beginning of a more widespread and sustained engagement in our communal interests.

— Detroit Free Press