《The Flu Pandemic and You》是一位加拿大医生写的书,描述大规模流行病的周期。书明明是2006年出版的,但是2020年读下来,完全预测了CONVID-19的发展路径,哎。在这次的疫情之前,我都从来没关注过流行病,毕竟Sars时我还在小学,一点概念都没有。这两周断断续续看完才意识到,流感跟感冒根本不是一回事;流行性传染病从来一直都在,未来也会一直存在下去。就像以前看到的一句挺喜欢的话,说『我不在图书馆,就在去图书馆的路上』,换成流行病,『我不在爆发,就在爆发间隙的潜伏期』。
摘抄一些想要记得或者重读的片段。
流行传染病可怕之处并不在其致死率,而在于它们传播开来后,整个社会医疗系统、经济行为都会被挤瘫痪:
Continue readingSARS killed relatively few people, and on a world scale it ultimately had negligible impact when measured in human illness burden and fatality, especially in comparison with the potential impact of a worldwide influenza pandemic. Nonetheless, it disabled health care systems around the world, resulted in massive travel disruptions, and interfered with thousands of people’s personal liberties by way of quarantines and movement restrictions. Its impact upon societies was massive, although the scale of illness was actually relatively small.
Although not all parts of the world may be hard hit simultaneously, the interdependence of economic systems means that disruptions in an industry in one part of the world may affect some linked industry in another country. Disruption may be most significant if events of a pandemic impair essential services, such as power, transportation, and communications.