Chronicle of an anticipated pandemic
The story began around 1 December 2019, in eastern China, in the capital of Hubei Province, Wuhan. There, a strange pneumonia was reported by a group of workers at the city’s seafood market; the cause was unknown and the disease caught the attention of some scientists.
Soon, the cases increased and it did not take long for it to spread throughout the province. From the East of the world, the health alarm had been triggered.
Although the news still did not reach everyone, the disease began to spread silently in the rest of China throughout December. It also reached South and North Korea, and then spread through East Asia. By the end of the year, it was announced that this strange disease was caused by a virus, and soon, the infection became epidemic.
The WHO named the disease COVID-19, an acronym for “coronavirus disease 2019,” or coronavirus disease. The virus causing the infection was called SARS-CoV-2, because it was a new coronavirus. Care was taken to ensure that the name did not refer to any place, animal species or group of people, the intention being to avoid any stigmatization against any group.
By the end of January, the epidemic was still growing and the global scientific community started to talk seriously.
The Italian case
The first country in Western Europe to be hit by the virus was Italy. No one really knows how the outbreak started.
The first cases were reported at the end of January, when two native tourists from Wuhan presented the symptoms in Italy. Everyone who had any contact with them in those days tested positive. On February 21, authorities reported an infected case 60 kilometers from Milan, in the community of Codogno, a region of Lombardy that would soon be named the epicenter of the Italian outbreak. There were many causes for the explosion of cases.
By 28 February, there were already infections in 50 countries around the world, and a humanitarian tragedy was beginning in Italy. Some say there was a lack of timely information, others say there were errors in health practices, and still others say that many people did not take the measures seriously; many went to the beaches in the south or skied in the Alps. By that date, February 28, 2020, the official data assured that in Italy there were 800 infected and more than 20 dead.
No one knows for sure who brought the disease to northern Italy and, by that time, it was already impossible to trace patient zero, the important thing was to contain the epidemic. Today, we know that Italy is the country with the most deaths from the virus; there are more than 86,000 positive cases and 9,134 deaths. The virus revealed dozens of ethical, psychological and social dilemmas, and the country is immersed in infinite sadness.
A dear friend who lives in Pisa told me these days that the outlook is bleak. The curfew has wreaked havoc on social dynamics and many human resentments have been exposed. The clinics have become overcrowded, medical and human resources are lacking. The pandemic has overtaken everyone and has not yet been contained. It will be a long spring in one of the cradles of humanity.
Spain and the rest of the world
In Spain the situation is also very delicate and Madrid is one of the cities in Europe with more cases. To date, in Spain, there are 72,240 cases, 5,690 deaths and 12,285 patients recovered. The health system, despite being robust, also collapsed in mid-March; the cases exploded quickly, the curve of the pandemic could not be mitigated. Those who live there say that a very slow recovery is expected, both socially and economically. These are times, once again, of austerity.
And so the globalized world became infected. Today the virus is present on all five continents and in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the emergency has not stopped growing. They tell stories in New York where fiction has surpassed reality. This story of a pandemic or the end of the world is being replicated on different scales and with new meanings. Social, economic and political questioning is a reality.
It seems that the earth is sending a strong message and it seems that many still do not want to listen.
The government of India has already closed its borders and there is concern about the marginalization of many of its inhabitants. In other countries, like Mexico and Germany, the government has decided not to close borders and to balance the necessary isolation, talking about Mexico, with the fragile economic conditions of 50% of its population. Mexico is a country of 126 million people, which historically has had an insulting social and economic inequality.
Wuhan recovers
Today, Wuhan is already starting to recover. Four months later, the sun rises again from the East. As after every great earthquake, it is time to get up, reflect, and look ahead. To rebuild. As many citizens of the world say, we hope that we will also come out of this crisis differently, that we will change old patterns of behaviour, that we will change public, environmental and economic policies. It can be the beginning of a new path, one that is more just, one that is more even, one that is different. A more peaceful and bearable one. It can be.
I’ve been keeping up to date from Berlin.
Sources:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19
