Today, it feels like there really is only one subject to discuss.
Yes, the coronavirus, and the fears that it has caused, are suddenly impacting many aspects of lives all around the world.
In fact, it appears that the only thing spreading faster than the coronavirus itself is the fear that it is causing, which almost seems to border on paranoia at times. I personally canot help but wonder if it is all of those books and movies and television shows, not to mention the Dommsday prophecies from religious sources as well as Nostradamus, that have us almost anticipating that moment when something finally wipes us out. It feels like we have been half expecting something that large to dramatically alter our lives for a long, long time.
It seems unlikely that the coronavirus will be that thing, although this is clearly the biggest, most serious virus spread in a long, long time. And it is impacting life in ways that seemed unimaginable only weeks, perhaps even only days, ago.
The first reported cases of the coronavirus, if I recall correctly, came from China. Specifically, from Wuhan. It spread there, and at last count, the virus had killed about 3,000 people in that country, according to numbers that I saw the other day. Surely, that would need to be updated, but it clearly spread quickly from China, if indeed that country was the original source. It seems that Trump is trying to pin the blame on China, but truth be told, it is not entirely clear where the virus came from, or how it spread so quickly.
South Korea and Italy also got severe cases of it, and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has locked down the entire country.
First, Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office last night. Up to this point, he seemed to be trying to undermine the seriousness of the coronavirus. He had urged people who were sick, even with the coronavirus, to go to work. He claimed that there were only 15 people in the United States who were infected, and suggested that this number would fall to “almost zero.” And he also predicted that the coronavirus would go away once the weather grew warmer, just like it apparently disappears with the flu. One day, he said, it would just completely disappear.
Poof!
All gone.
In reality, however, that is not how things work, and Trump received serious criticism for mishandling the response to the coronavirus, and for giving misleading and extremely unhelpful advice. It seems clear that he was trying to reverse the adverse effects that the virus has had on the economy, with the recent stock market numbers crashing down significantly on an almost daily basis, which is, of course, one of the major stories related to the coronavirus.
Well, Trump did not downplay it last night. He almost grudgingly acknowledged just how serious it is, but referred to it as a “foreign virus,” and took rather extreme action, suspending all travel from Europe. Shortly after his speech, the White House made every effort to make clear that it was not actually suspending all travel, which of course would include trade. Basically, it seems that he meant all non-essential travel, that there are now restrictions in place.
As comedian Seth Myers suggested in a recent commentary, this is pretty much what you can expect when you put a con man in charge of a real crisis.
Moving on.
The NBA discovered that there is a player, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, who has the coronavirus. So the game between the Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder has been postponed, and in fact, the entire NBA season has, at least for the moment, been suspended.
The NCAA’s March Madness tournament will not be played in front of people, but will be players only.
The first celebrities were diagnosed with the coronavirus: Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive in Australia. Since it is in the southern hemisphere, Australia is a place that is hot right now, as it is summer, which pretty much proves Trump’s highly unscientific prediction that this would stop spreading once the weather got warm to be dead wrong.
Now as I write this, the news is just breaking that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, have self-isolated as she is waiting for test results regarding COVID-19.
And even while I was updating, the news has just broken that, like the NBA, the NHL also is suspending play for this season until further notice.
Slowly but surely, the coronavirus seemed to spread, until it felt like it was all over the place. In the past couple of days, though, the virus has seemed to spread in a more serious manner than any other virus that I have seen in my own lifetime.
The only thing that appears to be spreading faster would be the panicked reaction to it.
Trudeau, wife Sophie in self-isolation awaiting COVID-19 test as meeting with premiers is called off Social Sharing Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email Conferences, concerts and public gatherings being cancelled across the country due to global pandemic Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Mar 12, 2020:
NHL statement on coronavirus League pauses season, hopes to 'resume play as soon as it is appropriate' NHL.com, March 12, 2020:
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