Coronavirus

Coronavirus

The Biography and the Pandemic

How Covid-19 brought down the unwary world

by David Hamilton

This is an account of the rise, fall and return of the Covid-19 pandemic, steadily updated. It spread rapidly and capriciously from China and although there were worthy emergency plans to deal with pandemics,society’s defenses were little better than in medieval times, and there was no curative treatment. For national policy there was a stark ‘health versus wealth’ choice between letting the epidemic run its course or a lockdown on normal life with resulting social, health and economic damage. Under lockdowns, the streets were deserted, major events cancelled, sport ceased, churches closed, restaurants and pubs were shut. Cruise ships with infection were turned away from ports and airlines stopped flying. Readiness for the pandemic was defective, and protection equipment against infection lacking. With industry closed down, the world economy suffered and governments had to offer unprecedented support. There are some winners, like Amazon and conference call apps. As the pandemic seemed to pass in the summer of 2020, and social life returned cautiously ready to face the economic costs, second waves of Covid-19 returned with greater force and restrictions returned. National and international politics were disturbed, but there was new hope when the vaccines arrived and began to joust with the virus and its variants. Before hindsight and faulty memory blur the story, this is a contemporary account, recording the events and changing attitudes as they happened, week by week, during these remarkable times.

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To protect nearby villages from the fatal plague, in 1665 Eyam famously decided to quarantine itself, cutting off human contact with the outside world. This ancient strategy was used when Covid-19 arrived in the vulnerable world in 2020, and there was nothing much else to add. Nor was there a cure.

Excerpt from Coronavirus The Biography And The Pandemic

Wuhan, best known for its bigness and sometimes called the ‘Chicago of China’, has traditional strengths and in normal times it has a busy international airport. The local cuisine uses many fish, and a gastronomic treat on the third day of the third month in the lunar calendar is dìcài zhu jīdàn, an egg dish said to prevent illness in the coming year. It didn’t.

Excerpt from Coronavirus The Biography And The Pandemic

One cautionary note came from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who opined that the coming winter seasonal influenza ‘might be bad this year.’ And all over the world, senior citizens had queued up dutifully for this year’s flu vaccine.

Excerpt from Coronavirus The Biography And The Pandemic

The news spread from this group, and even reached Taiwan, the island state close to mainland China, where a public health official was surfing the Net late at night and became alarmed. As described later, Taiwan took action immediately next day.

Excerpt from Coronavirus The Biography And The Pandemic

The local Wuhan failure to acknowledge the growing problem was now criticised and a warning came from the Beijing government. They announced, rather dramatically, that ‘any officials concealing the extent of the disease for the sake of their own interests, will be forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame.’

Excerpt from Coronavirus The Biography And The Pandemic

Reviews

“This book is written by a well-regarded medical historian, who tells the story-so-far with a doctor's authority but a welcome absence of jargon. The pandemic's status as an almost human, determined and adaptable organism, hinted at in 'BIOGRAPHY', is captured in an exciting narrative. The scope is international, but special attention is devoted to the UK.”

A.C.
Review for Coronavirus The Biography And the Pandemic

“This book really did bring home to me all the information that others did not want us to see. What an eye opener. This is not my usual sort of material for reading but under the present world wide situation I thought I should know more about what was really going on, and the more I read, the more I wanted to find out.
A fantastic read and well worth the purchase.”

H.W.
Review for Coronavirus The Biography And the Pandemic

“Hamilton recognises that the pandemic is not over, but plans to update the text as the story unfolds through Print on Demand technology. Three technical appendices are augmented by two, more cheerful, essays on pandemic fiction and films .
A first-rate educational tool!”

A.C.
Review for Coronavirus The Biography And the Pandemic

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David Hamilton

David Hamilton, the Scottish surgeon, trained in Glasgow and, after research work on immunology under Nobel Prize winner Sir Peter Medawar, he was lead surgeon-in the West of Scotland Transplantation Service. Later, he studied the history of medicine at Oxford University and became the first Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at Glasgow University.

After retirement, he and his wife Jean moved to live in St Andrews. With his training, he felt it was important to tell the story of the Covid-19 pandemic as it evolved, avoiding the distortion of hindsight. His other medical history books include The Healers – A History of Medicine in Scotland (1983), The Monkey Gland Affair (1986), Scottish Medicine – An Illustrated History (2012), His A History of Organ Transplantation (2013) was followed in 2013 by a biography of Alexis Carrel, the Nobel Prize winner. David published his memoirs as Waiting for the Urine and his prize-winning Golf – Scotland’s Game, is the standard work on the sport.

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