Thread by @ACTINOSProject

Thanks to all who've been sending some really interesting ideas and questions about #COVID19au.
I'm off today, and at a loose end, so thought I might summarize some of the themes about the situation that y'all seem to be interested in.

Why is #COVID2019AU such a bitch?
1) It's new. Not everything that is new is brilliant. #COVID2019AU is not the latest iPhone. As a species, we've not met her before, and she is definitely making hay while the sun shine. We have no immunological 'memory' of who she is, so instead

of manning the ramparts immediately, like our bodies might with seasonal influenza, our immunological system is still building the ramparts.
2) She's a relatively mild mannered creature. The majority of patients won't come anywhere to being killed by her, which is A GOOD THING(!)

(duh). But there IS a subtle consequence. Ebola is a thermonuclear virus. It kills so many of the people it affects that it finds it rather difficult to escape the 'Hood. #COVID19 is more than happy to keep her hosts alive, like ponies, as she rides around the community infecting

others
3) She hides. She's hiding in younger populations, who are often asymptomatic carriers, & she's hiding in a sea of all the more familiar viral faces with which we are reasonably comfortable. It would be useful if she caused humans to fluoresce, or become striped, but she

looks like 'flu and a bajillion other infectious diseases. Cough, fever, shortness of breath. That's what she looks like. She is the 'Grey Man'.
4) She collects air-miles. The modern era allows us, and therefore her, to hop on a plane and 'seed' widely. International travel has

permitted a planetary 'dusting' to occur at a rate that would have been impossible even 50y ago.
So all 'n all, while it's easy to blame folk for some sloppy moves, need to remember that #COVID19au is also a very slippery customer to deal with
Which is why we need to go hard!