Deaths, economic meltdown and a planet on lockdown: the coronavirus pandemic has brought us waves of bad news, but squint and you might just see a few bright spots.
From better hygiene that has reduced other infectious diseases to people reaching out as they self-isolate, here are some slivers of silver linings during a bleak moment.
WASH YOUR HANDS!
Photo: EPA-EFE
The message from health professionals has been clear from the start of the outbreak: wash your hands.
Everyone from celebrities to politicians has had a go at demonstrating correct technique — including singing Happy Birthday twice through to make sure you scrub long enough, and hand sanitizer has flown off the shelves.
All that extra hygiene appears to be paying off, at least in some countries, including Japan, where the number of flu cases appears to be sharply down.
Photo: AFP
Japan recorded 7.21 million cases by early March — usually around the peak of the flu season that runs until May. That was far below figures for previous years, including the 21.04 million infections seen during the 2017/18 season.
“We estimate that one of the reasons behind it is that people are now much more aware about the need to wash hands... given the spread of the new coronavirus,” Japanese health ministry official Daisha Inoue said.
CARBON CURBS
Photo: AFP via FREELAND Foundation
Factory shutdowns, travel bans and a squeeze on demand spell economic disaster, but it isn’t all bad news for the environment.
In the four weeks to March 1, China’s CO2 emissions fell 200 million tonnes, or 25 percent, compared to the same period last year, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
That’s a decline equivalent to annual CO2 emissions from Argentina, Egypt or Vietnam.
The slowdown in China also saw coal consumption at power plants there down 36 percent, and the use of oil at refineries drop by nearly as much.
Air travel is also grinding to a virtual halt, achieving at least a short-term drop-off in emissions from a highly polluting industry.
And there have been other environmental benefits, including crystal-clear waters in Venice canals usually choked with tourist-laden boats.
Unfortunately, experts say the cleaner air may be short-lived. Once the health crisis is over, experts expect countries will double down to try to make up for lost time, with climate change concerns likely to be sidelined in a race to recover economic growth.
SAVE THE PANGOLINS
The source of the coronavirus remains in question, but early tracking focused on a market in China’s Wuhan where a variety of live wildlife was on sale for consumption.
A number of animals, including bats and the highly endangered pangolin, have been identified as possible culprits for the virus.
As a result, China last month declared an immediate and “comprehensive” ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals that was welcomed by environmentalists.
Beijing implemented similar measures following the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, but the trade and consumption of wild animals, including bats and snakes, made a comeback.
This time the ban is permanent, raising hopes that it could end the local trade in wildlife.
“I do think the government has seen the toll it takes on national economy and society is much bigger than the benefit that wild-eating business brings,” said Jeff He, China director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Reports linking the virus to the pangolin have also scared off would-be consumers of the scaly mammals elsewhere, with bushmeat vendors in Gabon reporting a plunge in sales.
APART, TOGETHER
One of the most difficult aspects of the stringent lockdowns imposed to slow the spread of the virus has been loneliness, with families and friends forced to endure weeks or even months apart.
But some people have found the measures are creating a sense of community spirit, and prompting them to make more of an effort to check in with family and reconnect with friends.
In Colombia, where a nearly three-week period of self-isolation is now in place, 43-year-old Andrea Uribe has organized everything from group exercise classes to family talent shows using video messaging programmes including Zoom.
“I have called my parents more often, I have talked to friends that I usually don’t talk to... I have organized Zoom meetings with friends in multiple countries,” Uribe, who works in development, said.
“It is wonderful to be forced to be there for one another. It has made me more creative. It just shows that we need to be present in people’s lives.”
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s