> The world surpassed a grim milestone last week, reporting a global total of over one million COVID-19 cases, with the U.S., Italy, and Spain, accounting for about half of them. That total continues to climb rapidly on a daily, and even hourly basis, today having topped 1,300,000. We are now closing in on 73,000 worldwide deaths from this disease.
More locally, Canada’s number of confirmed cases is just shy of 16,000, Quebec alone accounting for a little more than half. Over 300 Canadians have succumbed to the disease, including some 120 Quebecers. Montreal and the Eastern Townships, meanwhile, are the virus hotspots in this province, with Montreal today reporting close to 4000 cases and more than 90 deaths.
This isn’t science fiction, folks! We wish it were, but this is real!
> On the plus side of things, Nunavut is the only region in Canada reporting zero, zip, nada cases of COVID-19! The coronavirus? The people up in that newest of Canada’s territories are having Nunavut!
Internationally, over 275,000 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the illness! Canada’s number in that regard stands at some 3100. Coronavirus-besieged Italy and Spain are reporting a tentatively promising slow-down in new cases. And, proper clinical trials of potential drug treatments like chloroquine (more specifically, hydroxychloroquine) are proceeding apace, as is the development of a vaccine, with initial testing on mice showing promise!
> There is a label that has been given to those people who, whether out of willful ignorance, stubbornness, selfishness, or all three, continue to ignore the quarantine protocols and physical distancing guidelines that public health authorities have put in place for the good of us all…
These are the young Spring-breakers who defied COVID-19 and refused to let the virus interfere with their “right” to party! We’re young, they shouted, so we’re not at risk! We don’t have to worry about it!
These are the politicians and pundits who put the health of the economy ahead of the lives of their fellow citizens! Let the virus run its course, they bellow, and if a few more people die, then they die! We simply cannot, must not, crater the economy and ruin the future for ourselves, or for the next generation!
These, too, are the absolutely wacky, bone-stupid ideologues who equate government virus-mitigation measures with life under Nazi rule!
They are also the pensioners who insist on getting together for their regular coffee-klatches, or the folk who themselves feel just fine, so figure it’ll be alright if they gather together in groups large or small.
All of these “exemplary” citizens have been dubbed, deservingly, “COVIDiots!”
And now, this (to borrow a phrase):
Credit: all of the coronavirus parody songs included with this post are by Five Times August (fivetimesaugust@fivetimesaugust.com).
> Science fiction, like all fiction, draws inspiration from the real world. And sometimes, real-world incidents seem to mirror fictional events. Take the sorry saga of the Holland-America cruise ship Zaandam, for example.
After departing Buenos Aires in early March, some of the Zaandam’s passengers and crew became sick with what was determined to be COVID-19. All passengers were ordered to isolate in their cabins in an attempt to contain the virus. One after another, South American ports refused to allow the ship to dock so that those who had taken ill might receive medical attention. Sister ship Rotterdam was sent to lend aid and the liners rendezvoused off Panama City, healthy Zaandam passengers transferring to the Rotterdam.
Finally last week, after weeks at sea and four deaths aboard, the Zaandam was given permission to dock at Fort Lauderdale, along with the Rotterdam, under strict quarantine protocols enacted by the State of Florida. Some of the ailing passengers and crew were taken to hospital while others severely ill remained on board under quarantine. Healthy non-U.S. passengers, including over 240 Canadians, were later disembarked and immediately taken to the airport to board chartered flights back to their respective homelands. There, they will come under quarantine in accordance with measures enacted by their own governments.
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This ill-fated cruise liner’s story seems the real-world parallel of two science fiction tales, if they were to be combined: HBO’s new sci-fi/comedy TV series, Avenue 5 (though there was nothing funny about the Zaandam’s plight!) and Andrew North’s SF novel Plague Ship. Avenue 5 is about an interplanetary cruise ship that experiences a malfunction, prolonging the space liner’s voyage from the intended few weeks to an unplanned three years! Andrew North is a pen name for Andre Alice Norton, whose story is about the sci-fi equivalent of a tramp steamer infected with a mysterious sickness that results in authorities declaring the cargo rocket a plague ship—hence the title—and refusing it landing privileges.
If you’ve got HBO, Avenue 5 might make for an afternoon/evening of viewing during this on-going quarantine; Plague Ship is one of the books covered in Sylvain St-Pierre’s April-4 post on this Web site detailing SF/F’s take on pestilence; go back and check it out!
> As far as we can tell, there is no truth to the rumour that Wizards of the Coast intend to rebrand their iconic collectible card game “Magic: the Gathering” as “Magic: the Distancing!”
> While a mask will help to a degree in protecting anyone the wearer may encounter while out in public, it will offer negligible defence against infection to the wearer him- or herself. Authorities have been advising that the wearing of masks by people out in public is unwarranted, but now are rethinking that advice—shades of the “capes or no capes” question in the animated superhero comedy The Incredibles!
Canada is now allowing that wearing a non-medical mask in public can contribute to preventing the spread of the virus. In the U.S., the CDC has recommended that anyone who must venture out into the community wear a bandana, scarf, or other non-medical mask over their nose and mouth. Medical masks, in short supply in many countries, including Canada, are to be reserved exclusively for front-line medical personnel. Personal protective equipment (PPE) in general, like goggles, face shields, gloves, and gowns, are at a premium and governments are scrambling to supply doctors and nurses with these necessary items. Other needed equipment, notably ventilators, are also scarce in many jurisdictions.
Come on, Stark Industries! Step up!
> It’s becoming more and more likely that this coronavirus quarantine will stretch into the coming month, at least, if not further! MonSFFA sensibly cancelled its April 4 meeting and will probably have to cancel its scheduled May 9 meeting, as well. To fill the void, the club has been posting content on this Web site, including what we’ve called a “DIY virtual meeting”—go back to April 4’s posts and check it out!
Montreal can expect a pretty quiet summer, even if the quarantine is lifted sooner rather than later. The city’s major summertime festivals and events—the Jazz Festival, FrancoFolies, Tour de l’Île, and others—have all been cancelled! Just for Laughs has been postponed until the end of September. Official word on the Grand Prix, still on the calendar for mid-June, should be forthcoming in the weeks ahead as we can’t imagine that an auto race that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators from all around the world will be held in this city, or any other, for a while, yet.
And, Hollywood’s summer blockbuster season is shaping up to be a wet noodle this year as the big tent-pole movies—Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984, A Quiet Place II, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, etc.—have all been pushed into fall, winter, or 2021. In any case, all the movie theatres are closed for the foreseeable future! Production on pretty much all film and television projects has been shut down, too, from James Cameron’s Avatar sequels to the second season of Netflix’s The Witcher, and that will delay and reshuffle everything down the road.