Pandemic?

China just locked down cities with 18 million people. This quarantine is an attempt to keep a new coronavirus from spreading. Anybody remember SARS? That outbreak killed an estimated 800 people. Frankly, we got lucky with that one. Time will tell how this one sorts itself out.

With modern travel being the way it is, there’s been a number of cases that have popped up all around world. So far they’ve been held in check.

Will this be the next world wide panic? Too early to tell. It may all depend on how the virus mutates from here on out. Then there’s the fact that the Chinese quarantine may prove effective. It’s a defense that’s worked since the Middle Ages, but there can be no exceptions. My guess is that the normal varieties of flu will end up doing more damage than this new virus.

Eventually the world will suffer another Black Death or Spanish Flu event. It’s only a matter of time. Modern medicine can do wonders, but it’s not geared towards huge numbers of people getting sick all at once. Hospitals have only so many isolation wards.

Individuals have a few options. One way is to just avoid people. Hermits living in complete isolation don’t get communicable diseases. That’s probably not practical for most people. Keeping healthy and sanitary will have to do for most.

-Sixbears