The news out of China is mind-boggling. Numbers keep changing - these are from the South China Morning Post, the only updates I've seen which include recoveries - but almost two thousand deaths of Covid-19 are confirmed (how many more uncounted we may never know), and many more infections. The spread seems to be slowing but this is in part the result of other mind-boggling numbers. In China itself five hundred sixty million people are in lockdown and as the virus makes its way to other countries, who knows how many more will be affected in how many ways? The scale of the fear is overwhelming. This looks to me like something which might end up in every Chinese life story... but just what role it plays in all these lives remains to be seen. One hopes still that the virus subsides. But in the meantime half a billion people are living their lives in new ways. Those who can, work from home. Parents tutor children who can't go to school, as indeed lots of things otherwise entrusted to other (like other kinds of medical care) has to take place at home. Lots of television is watched and video games played as families confront new kinds of cabin fever. But one can expect new things to emerge, too, and new kinds of sociability. I'm told of a new app which allows people stuck in their apartments to go dancing together virtually!Sunday, February 16, 2020
Covid
The news out of China is mind-boggling. Numbers keep changing - these are from the South China Morning Post, the only updates I've seen which include recoveries - but almost two thousand deaths of Covid-19 are confirmed (how many more uncounted we may never know), and many more infections. The spread seems to be slowing but this is in part the result of other mind-boggling numbers. In China itself five hundred sixty million people are in lockdown and as the virus makes its way to other countries, who knows how many more will be affected in how many ways? The scale of the fear is overwhelming. This looks to me like something which might end up in every Chinese life story... but just what role it plays in all these lives remains to be seen. One hopes still that the virus subsides. But in the meantime half a billion people are living their lives in new ways. Those who can, work from home. Parents tutor children who can't go to school, as indeed lots of things otherwise entrusted to other (like other kinds of medical care) has to take place at home. Lots of television is watched and video games played as families confront new kinds of cabin fever. But one can expect new things to emerge, too, and new kinds of sociability. I'm told of a new app which allows people stuck in their apartments to go dancing together virtually!