Chinese New Year and the Corona Virus

There is a lot of buzz on the news about this strange new #coronavirus that has been spreading quickly throughout China and is now jumping borders - as of yesterday, even Canada may be seeing its first case. However, despite it being the centre of most conversations I've had over the past week, this post isn't about that, but rather, what is happening right now in China that makes all this so much more complicated. ⁠

Over the last 50 years, the story of Chinese cities has been incredible, springing up and expanding at an unbelievable pace as young people move away from village life and search for jobs in new industries. As this has happened their parents, many who are now grandparents will often stay put, leading to what is now the world's largest human migration as these young families venture back to spend New Years together. ⁠

So what does this mean for this new coronavirus we are seeing? The danger now is when everyone begins returning to city centres, offices, schools, metro systems. At the moment Shanghai is a ghost town, as most of the population are people who have moved there from elsewhere in China. The government is beginning to pre-emptively shut schools and malls in order to ease the effects of the cities residence returning, as well as closing off travel to huge areas of the country where the virus is widespread. ⁠