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An academic’s ramblings on Coronavirus
I am a doctor. I am not that kind of a doctor. I am an astronomer who has an impaired immune system and read way too many books about plagues and epidemics.
Why am I writing this? Because f***ing academics travel a lot, and Christmas break means we went everywhere and back again. This post was started prior to the announcement that an Arizona State University student is confirmed to have the virus.
Why do I think you should listen? Because I’m trained to see trends. As an academic, I’ve spent a lot of my life reading journal articles from other fields, listening to talks in other fields, and learning how to evaluate research in other fields (because that’s how awards committees and promotion and tenure committees work). This is my ramblings on a topic outside my expertise, but nevertheless looked at by (a somewhat paranoid) scientific eye.
Here is what is starting to become apparent about the coronavirus:
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- The first virus cluster is associated with a seafood and wild animal food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, with the first hint of an outbreak coming on December 31 (per CDC). This market is near a major train station in a city of 11 million. (For comparison, NYC has 8.6 million.) Note: the virus may have started earlier else where.
