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On viruses and trolleys
We can catch a virus on a trolley, but there is another connection — or why we sometimes must think the unthinkable
The coronavirus, in the meantime rechristened COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, continues to hold the world’s attention. We receive updates on the progression of the disease in every main news bulletin — the number of infections, the number of deaths — as well as regular stories about people affected by the condition, or more often, by the measures to try and stem the spread.
We can easily understand the impact for real people confined to the quarantine quarters in hospitals worldwide or stuck on a cruise ship, and we can sympathize with anyone who has lost a loved one to the virus. But it is much harder to grasp what COVID-19 really means for public health, in our towns in cities, in our country, and indeed globally.
Uncomfortable uncertainty
What is the significance of the numbers we hear? As these words are being written, the number of deaths has exceeded 2,000, and the number of infected people is estimated at well over 75,000. Is that a lot? Should we be worried?
The virus is very contagious, spreading easily through airborne respiratory droplets sneezed or coughed out by an…
