COVID -19 AND THE FUTURE OF THE CITY
The Virus, Infection Rates and the City
cenes of panic and confusion in superstores as the last few rolls of toilet paper and bottles of disinfectant are spirited away, empty European plazas following confinement measures, mass burials in Hart Island, New York: these are the startling and shocking scenes witnessed in the months since the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19). After confirmation of the first casein Wuhan, China, in early December 2019, 4.56 million confirmed cases and 310 thousand deaths have been reported worldwide as of mid-May 2020. As the virus continues to tighten its grip, with an impact on our lifestyles that stretches into more than half a year, national responses to the COVID-19 continue to vary widely. India, with its 1.3 billion strong population, has declared a de facto complete shutdown of the country, while Sweden is experimenting with herd immunity by maintaining a more relaxed approach to the everyday movements of its citizens. Southern European medical care systems were pushed to breaking point as they fought against the epidemic. One doctor in Italy was forced to choose between who would benefit from the hospital’s last medical ventilator, with the intolerable decision of measuring whose life may be worth more. Throughout this, the South Korean response has received both
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