The Hondius Pneumonia (Low Risk Assessment)

I. Blue-black water, cold getting into the bone even through a cabin window. The MV Hondius somewhere in the South Atlantic. Somewhere below deck, a 70-year-old Dutch man has a fever. Headache. Abdominal pain. The ship's doctor sees him. He dies on April 11. His body stays on board for thirteen more days. By the time anyone calls the WHO, it is May 2. The ship has been at sea for a month. Thirty passengers have already disembarked at Saint Helena. They are home in the Netherlands, in Singapore, in Texas, or in Ontario. Sleeping in their beds, taking the bus, sitting in waiting rooms. The risk to the global population is stated to be low. II. On December 30th, 2019, a global infectious disease surveillance network, staffed largely by volunteers, called ProMED flagged a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China with an unknown cause. An ophthalmologist named Li Wenliang sent a message to colleagues that same week warning them to wear protective equipment. He was summoned by police and…