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| Nearing the million. Johns Hopkins/ESRI/NOAA |
1 April Pandemicia coronavirus daily report #1
Some of the sites providing up-to-date global information are
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
The epidemic is quite extraordinary, like nothing I have experienced in my lifetime. Around 3 billion people are in lockdown of some sort. Lockdown Stage 3 is in place in many places where it would have been unthinkable two months ago - meetings of more than two people prohibited, most non-essential businesses closed, people outside only for specific activities, heavy fines and police enforcement.
We have watched in amazement as first China closed down its industry and then its cities, eventually reaching zero new cases. Stock markets plunged 30% on the China closure alone. Iran showed a sudden outbreak, South Korea employed electronic surveillance to bring the disease under control.
Cruise ships sailing the world, floating cities full of high-risk retirees, proved a fertile ground for CV because of close quarters, shared ventilation and frequent stops. For a while in early February, the ship Diamond Princess was the 'country' with the most cases after China. No country would allow some of these ships to land and a few are still on the ocean with their crews.naval vessels are also affected.
Almost out of nowhere and far from the Asian epicentre, first Italy then Spain showed extraordinary scenes that will never be forgotten as they both rapidly passed China in cases, and then in deaths. The mortality rate was extraordinary, 12% of reported cases in Italy died, and the medical system was overwhelmed. Stories emerged of old people being left alone to die as the tiny number of available ventilators were given to young people.
Around the world people rushed supermarkets to stock up for pending isolation measures. Toilet paper, hand sanitiser and gloves disappeared, followed soon by staples such as rice, pasta, potatoes, canned soup, and eggs - now all restored. Unemployment claims burgeoned as everyone in the 'gig economy' and many in nonessential industries (including private hospitals) became unemployed.
Then cases in the USA began to ramp up, with a new epicentre in the 'global city' New York. Since World War II most western nations had looked to the USA for leadership in a crisis, but it became obvious the USA was simply not able to cope with this crisis within its own borders. No national plan emerged, political bickering in the USA continued, and individual states were left to treat cases or apply lockdown as best they could. With cases doubling every three or four days, America moved into the global lead in the wrong way with over 100,000 cases on 27 March. Although it had taken 37 days since the first recorded US case, this milestone was left far behind in a few days. On deaths too, the USA moved well ahead of China and into third place, with estimates of a possible 220,000 deaths being made in official circles.
A chronic shortage of beds, testing equipment and ventilators emerged worldwide. Much of the testing equipment was found to be inadequate, particularly a large batch ordered by the USA. Major prestige enterprises such as GM, Tesla and Rolls Royce repurposed to produce ventilators and masks.
With the most powerful nation in the world brought to its knees by a microscopic studded ball in just a few weeks, existential dread set in as people began to worry what would happen when the disease really hit its stride in the developing countries - which had until now had always been seen as the last repositories of disease and famine.
In prisons there were riots and deaths as prisoners in crowded situations with poor sanitation expected the worst. China has reportedly had 806 cases in five prisons across three provinces. Turkey’s government is seeking to fast-track a plan to release as many as 100,000 inmates. In Italy, riots erupted in almost 50 prisons in March, leaving 13 inmates dead and 59 guards injured. Authorities said the inmates died of drug overdoses after raiding a prison infirmary. In Colombia, nearly two dozen people died in riots that swept the prison system.
Coronavirus became the one and only news story as the world watched in fear. Media outlets that had competed for decades in a sanitised world to produce the most outrageous piece of sensationalist 'fake news' or celebrity tattletale articles suddenly were silent or began to show community responsibility once again.
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