The Off Topic Topic

[Barrister]

I was so happy to book a couple of family visits for Q1 this year. And now reading about the new pandemic brewing in China...

Sigh, there's just no break, is there.

So acknowledging one's priors...

In I think February 2020 we were booking a year end party for my kid's hockey team.  One of the parents asked "so what about this virus".  I said I can't imagine it would be an issue.  We booked the party, and two weeks later had to cancel it as everything shut down.

But we're also in a hyper-sensitive age about viruses and pandemics, on both sides.  Not only this virus in China, but stories the last few days/weeks about bird flu, or about norovirus.  The covid-maximalists convinced we're always right around the corner from the next pandemic, the covid-denialists convinced we're right around the corner from the next "plandemic".  So it's so hard to tell how much one should or should not worry.

[Neil]

I was so happy to book a couple of family visits for Q1 this year. And now reading about the new pandemic brewing in China...

Sigh, there's just no break, is there.

So acknowledging one's priors...

In I think February 2020 we were booking a year end party for my kid's hockey team.  One of the parents asked "so what about this virus".  I said I can't imagine it would be an issue.  We booked the party, and two weeks later had to cancel it as everything shut down.

But we're also in a hyper-sensitive age about viruses and pandemics, on both sides.  Not only this virus in China, but stories the last few days/weeks about bird flu, or about norovirus.  The covid-maximalists convinced we're always right around the corner from the next pandemic, the covid-denialists convinced we're right around the corner from the next "plandemic".  So it's so hard to tell how much one should or should not worry.

Yeah, I was in a hottub at a hotel across the street from Disneyland with my late wife and a nice couple from Winnipeg.  We were chatting about how there was some virus brewing in China.  I was fairly confident that it wouldn't be that much of a disruption, thinking back to SARS. 

As much as all the pandemic stuff is so massively politicized, I'm not sure that they'll ever shut down in the same way again.

[Sheilbh]

So acknowledging one's priors...

In I think February 2020 we were booking a year end party for my kid's hockey team.  One of the parents asked "so what about this virus".  I said I can't imagine it would be an issue.  We booked the party, and two weeks later had to cancel it as everything shut down.

But we're also in a hyper-sensitive age about viruses and pandemics, on both sides.  Not only this virus in China, but stories the last few days/weeks about bird flu, or about norovirus.  The covid-maximalists convinced we're always right around the corner from the next pandemic, the covid-denialists convinced we're right around the corner from the next "plandemic".  So it's so hard to tell how much one should or should not worry.

I was in hospital in January 2020 for about a week. Basically had an injury on holiday and had to get flown back was there under observation for a week to see if the bones would set or if I'd need surgery - they starting setting/were in the right position.

But I remember being in hospital at that time on a lot of morphine occasionally looking at news on my phone and just seeing the scenes from Wuhan and it all feeling very distant but also close at the same time.

And I think back to that ward which included a very elderly man who'd basically been dumped in the hospital by his family over Christmas (a common, despicable problem). There was another old man who was basically well enough to be discharged but needed to go into social care and in the week I was there, refused two offers of different care homes by the council social workers - he was also an absolute nightmare for the nurses but, clearly, just very lonely. When thinking about covid I always think about that ward