“May you live during interesting times,” so goes the old Confucian adage or something like it. Well, it seems, we are living in interesting times right now. Global warming crises sparking unprecedented wildfires Down Under; the Coronavirus scourging across China and spreading to the rest of the world; floods; famines; and what will be next? Tourism is taking a huge hit in all the effected places, with the Coronavirus destroying China as a travel destination. Fear is not a stimulating force for travel and tourism, rather it is a powerful inhibitor. The global media are fanning the flames of fear in the minds of people everywhere.
Facts About the Coronavirus in 2020
The Coronavirus is so named because its microscopic appearance of jutting bumps reminds the expert viewer of lots of little crowns. Check out these images of the coronavirus and its medical impact. It is categorised as a novel coronavirus, as it is a new strain. First identified in China at the end of 2019, the coronavirus has been more readily seen in animals. It can, as we are now observing, cross into humans from animals. Previous strains of the coronavirus identified are SARS in 2003 and MERS. This new 2019 version is thought to be transmitted between humans via respiratory droplets. Thus, we are confronted by images of Chinese people in Wuhan wearing face masks in a bid to avoid infection.
The Coronavirus & China
Thousands of people are infected with this coronavirus and hundreds have died. International and domestic travel in Wuhan has been banned by the Chinese Government. The symptoms of the virus are fever, cough, breathing difficulties, muscle pain and tiredness. Severe cases develop pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, sepsis and septic shock – which can result in death. The coronavirus is preying upon the elderly, the very young and those with underlying medical conditions. The coronavirus is destroying China as a travel destination in 2020. Images on the nightly news show people trying to get out of China, not in. Reports of China’s stock market crashing are increasing as the death toll rises. In Australia, quarantine protocols are making use of the Christmas Island facility to keep infected Chinese from the mainland.
Homo Sapiens are the alpha in the pack and the big bully in the playground for all the macro creatures on this planet. However, it is the tiny things: viruses, bacterium and the like that can bring us down. These are the David to our Goliath. We all still quiver when the talk shifts to disease and infection invading our bodies. The majority of us ignore history as an irrelevancy and yet talk of the Spanish flu in 1918, which infected 500 million people globally and is estimated to have killed 50 million, now abounds. We all await what will eventuate from these interesting times in which we currently live.