By Professor Helen Ward, Patient Experience Research Centre, Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London.
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns … of all the one-horse towns … why did this virus have to come to mine?”
The words of my friend Paul who is living in an Italian town under lockdown because of the novel coronavirus epidemic. His frustration is palpable as his plans for travel, work and social life were put on hold for at least two weeks (and subsequently extended for another three). But he reasons, “despite the fact that it’s not a killer disease, we can’t all go around with pneumonia.