A Faint Whiff Of Discord

I heard this morning about a woman in China who caught the Covid-19 virus from a man who was deliberately spreading it, and got him charged with attempted murder.  I looked for an article about it, but all I could find was the older one about a man in Japan who got diagnosed and responded to the news by going out to drink in some bars.  I figure the story about the Chinese woman is just an Internet legend.  Think about it for a sec.  At this point, who would even need to deliberately go out and spread the virus in that country?  Is there any farther it can still spread inside Chinese borders at this point?

I guess every country is auditioning prospects for the role, not of Typhoid Mary, but Corona Christopher.  But I'm more curious about the people spreading these rumors.  It's possible that gossips think they are helping by warning others of the danger.  But let's be real for a second.  How do you spot a coronavirus sociopath on the prowl?  You can't, really.   HE HAS NO SYMPTOMS.  And there probably is no such person.  Wait, this just in:

 

This is a photo of the 45th POTUS declaring a national emergency today, Friday the 13th of March, 2020.  When asked by paparazzi whether he is concerned about picking up Covid-19 from other world leaders who are keeling over with it everywhere you look, he said he has no symptoms and is not planning to take any precautions.  What a role model!  IS THIS CORONA CHRISTOPHER I SEE BEFORE ME?

Li Wenliang, the real hero of the coronavirus story, was the first one to connect the dots about this virus and start informing people.  The government responded by telling him to shut the hell up.   Li then proceeded to die of the virus himself. That feels so unfair, but if anyone was still in doubt about the danger of the illness, well, there's your proof.  He was a medical man well aware of  how to make use of universal safeguards against infection.  He was quite young at 34 and apparently healthy up until he caught the bug -- a lot like the millions of Americans who are now refusing to take precautions because they are "not in the high-risk group."  Please spare a thought for his wife, who is pregnant with their 2nd child and suddenly facing life without him.  Poor woman!  Rest In Vindication, Dr. Li:

There are many, many other heroes in this story.  Take the fast thinkers who set up drive-through Coronavirus testing in South Korea, allowing them to test more people PER DAY than the USA has IN TOTAL since the start of the epidemic. 

And how about the countless doctors, nurses, and orderlies working their fingers to the bone treating patients?

 
And -- hardest of all to count -- what about the billions of people trying as hard as they can not to infect each other?

 

My hat is off to every one of you. 

Keep fighting the good fight.