When we first started talking about the Coronavirus/Covid-19, it was almost easy to not take it seriously. The UK government didn't seem panicked or trying to get emergency ready and the memes had already started on social media. How could we take it seriously when the reports coming out of China were being downplayed and people were still trying to carry on with their everyday lives?
And then, almost overnight this became a serious threat. The word 'Pandemic' was being used widely and the impact outside Wuhan province started to be felt. Not on a human level but initially on an economic level? Wuhan is a huge manufacturing district and when the work places started to eventually be shut down, the supply chains started to be affected. It was at this point notice was taken, not for the human cost and impact on medical colleagues, but because businesses in the UK were finding it hard to get parts.
Was that our fault? maybe not entirely, the Chinese authorities were downplaying the true impact and whenever a message managed to 'escape', it was quickly discredited until it couldn't any more. Information started to flood the new 'gossip' lines that is social media - maybe we need to take it more seriously, people seem to be dying at a rate faster than the medical teams could manage. Despite this, there seemed to be an under tone that it's 'just' China. This is a country that is over-populated anyway, the government are 'secret' so they brought it on themselves, this is a country that controls global manufacturing at least now we will be able to give other industries a chance to thrive.
Then almost as an afterthought, countries in the 'west' realised that they have citizens there, who are working as language teachers, supporting the manufacturing sector, negotiating trade deals - this is no longer an 'Asia' problem. The citizens were begging to be repatriated while the local community were sent into lock down. The Westerners wanted their countries to come and 'rescue' them, sometimes alone, or with their families who were of Chinese origin.
Now this is a problem that the 'West' can't ignore. Bringing our citizens home is a given, but importing a disease that we still don't know much about? bringing families who may not achieve our stringent immigration policies? What's the cost of the public relations?
We started seeing 'rescue' flights with people wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - an abbreviation we will all soon become familiar with. Our TV sets showed people on planes and buses surrounded by hazmet suits, looking like a scene from a scary sci-fi film. It started to get very real..
And then the first cases started to be mainland Europe and countries started to respond, Italy and Spain were the example we didn't want to be but felt it was inevitable.
The UK were clear it was people travelling from Wuhan, then China then Asia we had to monitor, careful of contact with. If you had just arrived, you were expected to quarantine yourself for 14 days. But it wasn't long before we heard about travellers potentially infecting others as they visited doctors or hospitals, went on public transport or went to work. Soon the government advice was everyone needs to take precautions to protect the health of themselves and their families. This now got very real....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51683428
And then, almost overnight this became a serious threat. The word 'Pandemic' was being used widely and the impact outside Wuhan province started to be felt. Not on a human level but initially on an economic level? Wuhan is a huge manufacturing district and when the work places started to eventually be shut down, the supply chains started to be affected. It was at this point notice was taken, not for the human cost and impact on medical colleagues, but because businesses in the UK were finding it hard to get parts.
Was that our fault? maybe not entirely, the Chinese authorities were downplaying the true impact and whenever a message managed to 'escape', it was quickly discredited until it couldn't any more. Information started to flood the new 'gossip' lines that is social media - maybe we need to take it more seriously, people seem to be dying at a rate faster than the medical teams could manage. Despite this, there seemed to be an under tone that it's 'just' China. This is a country that is over-populated anyway, the government are 'secret' so they brought it on themselves, this is a country that controls global manufacturing at least now we will be able to give other industries a chance to thrive.
Then almost as an afterthought, countries in the 'west' realised that they have citizens there, who are working as language teachers, supporting the manufacturing sector, negotiating trade deals - this is no longer an 'Asia' problem. The citizens were begging to be repatriated while the local community were sent into lock down. The Westerners wanted their countries to come and 'rescue' them, sometimes alone, or with their families who were of Chinese origin.
Now this is a problem that the 'West' can't ignore. Bringing our citizens home is a given, but importing a disease that we still don't know much about? bringing families who may not achieve our stringent immigration policies? What's the cost of the public relations?
We started seeing 'rescue' flights with people wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) - an abbreviation we will all soon become familiar with. Our TV sets showed people on planes and buses surrounded by hazmet suits, looking like a scene from a scary sci-fi film. It started to get very real..
And then the first cases started to be mainland Europe and countries started to respond, Italy and Spain were the example we didn't want to be but felt it was inevitable.
The UK were clear it was people travelling from Wuhan, then China then Asia we had to monitor, careful of contact with. If you had just arrived, you were expected to quarantine yourself for 14 days. But it wasn't long before we heard about travellers potentially infecting others as they visited doctors or hospitals, went on public transport or went to work. Soon the government advice was everyone needs to take precautions to protect the health of themselves and their families. This now got very real....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51683428
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