4 ms·

Small correction: the post says "2019 pandemic," but the pandemic was actually in early 2020. "COVID-19" is so named because it is traced back to a first case i

Small correction: the post says "2019 pandemic," but the pandemic was actually in early 2020. "COVID-19" is so named because it is traced back to a first case in China in December 2019. WHO declared it a global emergency on January 30, 2020 which is about when Western press started taking it more seriously. WHO announced "COVID-19" as the name of the new disease, following some international naming guidelines, on February 11, 2020. The graph shows a sharp dropoff in onsite jobs and sharp rise in remote jobs precisely in the February-March 2020 time period, which makes sense.

willcipriano 3y ago
When does a pandemic begin is sort of an interesting question. I agree when the virus is first seen is probably a bad date to use for historical context purposes, but I see the logic for it.
- voytec 3y ago
  Was there any government which wasn't still downplaying the situation during first two months of 2020? First cases outside China were reported in Jan. WHO announced the pandemic on Mar 11 and first related lockdown (outside China?) was announced in Italy 2 days later.
ericmcer 3y ago
That is super interesting because I do not recall hearing about it or taking it seriously until early March 2020. It really points to how USA centric our news is that there was a global health emergency declared in January, but we were so hyper focused on the upcoming election and Trumps antics that it was barely making the news. Or it was being purposely kept under wraps? It seems like something that should have been brought front and center as soon as we heard about it.
- MattGaiser 3y ago
  Plenty of global health emergencies don't make it to developed countries. There are 3 ongoing such designated events right now. COVID is one. Can you name the other two?
- mooreds 3y ago
  > That is super interesting because I do not recall hearing about it or taking it seriously until early March 2020. I had a co-worker with family in China at the time and remember asking her about whether they were okay. But I also planned a family vacation out of the country for March 2020, which shows I didn't fully understand the ramifications.
- pixelmonkey 3y ago
  I have family in Italy and they were sending me e-mail warnings about the coming lock-downs in February 2020. (I just checked my GMail records to confirm.) Because by then Italy was already locking down. It was declared an emergency in Italy shortly after the WHO declaration and especially due to 2 confirmed cases found in Rome. You can read about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Italy

willcipriano 3y ago

When does a pandemic begin is sort of an interesting question. I agree when the virus is first seen is probably a bad date to use for historical context purposes, but I see the logic for it.

voytec 3y ago
Was there any government which wasn't still downplaying the situation during first two months of 2020? First cases outside China were reported in Jan. WHO announced the pandemic on Mar 11 and first related lockdown (outside China?) was announced in Italy 2 days later.

ericmcer 3y ago

That is super interesting because I do not recall hearing about it or taking it seriously until early March 2020. It really points to how USA centric our news is that there was a global health emergency declared in January, but we were so hyper focused on the upcoming election and Trumps antics that it was barely making the news. Or it was being purposely kept under wraps? It seems like something that should have been brought front and center as soon as we heard about it.

MattGaiser 3y ago
Plenty of global health emergencies don't make it to developed countries. There are 3 ongoing such designated events right now. COVID is one. Can you name the other two?
mooreds 3y ago
> That is super interesting because I do not recall hearing about it or taking it seriously until early March 2020. I had a co-worker with family in China at the time and remember asking her about whether they were okay. But I also planned a family vacation out of the country for March 2020, which shows I didn't fully understand the ramifications.
pixelmonkey 3y ago
I have family in Italy and they were sending me e-mail warnings about the coming lock-downs in February 2020. (I just checked my GMail records to confirm.) Because by then Italy was already locking down. It was declared an emergency in Italy shortly after the WHO declaration and especially due to 2 confirmed cases found in Rome. You can read about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Italy