I suspect that in the years to come that when we look back on history we talk about events that happened BC and AD - where BC is Before Coronavirus and AD is After Disease.
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At the moment we are neither BC nor AD but living through period of the most profound change happening at bewildering speed.
And with good reason.
COVID-19 is the biggest public health crisis since the 1918/9 flu epidemic (I'm refusing to call it the Spanish flu as it began in Kansas, USA. The only reason it was called Spanish was Spain was neutral in the First World War and without censorship requirements so its media was the most open talking about it).
Drastic measures were needed to defeat that pandemic and even more drastic measures are required now in our hyper-connected world of the 21st century.
Most countries, including Australia, have shut down their borders and now even individual states such as Queensland are acting to self-isolate.
Strict laws have been introduced to shut down non-essential services where people normally gather in numbers such as bars, restaurants, cinemas, churches, gyms and many others.
The economic consequences will be enormous and job losses will be huge.
New hand hygiene, social distancing and self isolation measures are in place to ensure people do not stand within one and a half metres of others and avoid all unnecessary contact.
The physical and mental health implications will also be massive.
Yet we need to do all these things so our hospitals and public health service do not suffer an inundation as the disease quickly ramps up.
COVID-19 is not just a bad flu and doesn't just affect the elderly.
The message to everyone is simple: Stay home, stay clean and stay safe.
This is the most dangerous public health crisis of our lifetime and if we don't want to look like Italy in two weeks time we need to start getting serious about it now.
We must be strong and support one another so we can safely make it to AD and talk about the times BC.