Like the Gregorian calendar New Year, this year’s Chinese New Year festivities were relatively more subdued than normal. With travel restrictions imposed in China and other limitations in other Asian countries it is assumed that festivities were more low-key …
as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Certainly In the US where there is a large population of Asian Americans, many events were relegated to “Zoom parties”.
I can comment first-hand about festivities in Melbourne, Australia where Chinese New Year is typically celebrated with major festivities in many locations, including Chinatown in the Central Business District and Crown Casino. While some traditional decorations were observed around town, the usual festivities and people were lacking; . It was kind of disappointing but understandable as we as starting to have COVID-19 cases appear after a long period of having the virus under control. The major issue is that the new cases are associated with the more transmissible strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In the meantime, as the Chinese New Year kicks in, the major global news story is related to the impeachment of the former President of the US. Further, stories are emerging that the former President was much “sicker” with COVID-19 than originally reported, and on with the supplemental oxygen he received, there was debate as to whether to ventilate. It is amazing, love or hate, people are super-interested in the former President! I think that, at this point in time knowing that he was sicker than originally reported is not that useful.
In other crappy news, the sketchy reports on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are also not that important right now – a team of “experts” spent a month in Wuhan, China investigating the origins and essentially, we are none the wiser. The most likely explanation remains to be: the animal (bat reservoir) origin with an intermediate host hypothesis. In other news, after announcing early on in the pandemic that masks are not that useful, to later stating that masks are critical, the CDC reported this week that double-masking improves protection from COVID-19. Social distancing and masking (and double-masking), are indeed of critical importance until we reach herd immunity. A story that is more interesting this week is that United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope orbiter and China’s Tianwen-1 rover have entered the orbit of Mars and next week NASA’s Perseverance rover will aim to land in Mars’s Jezero Crater – new frontiers!
One thing that the former administration did correctly was to create “Operation Warp Speed” allowing for the development of safe and effective vaccines in record time! As a lab rat and scientist of many years, I know how long things take, and the fact that we have safe and effective vaccines at this time is a like a miracle! The focus right now has to be beating the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants by rapid distribution and effective vaccination programs. It is the best way back to “normality” allowing us to once again enjoy festivities like Chinese New Year properly!
Until next time … Tranquilo Polymaths.