Page 9 - Gilbert & Me_Neat

Prologue

At the end of 2019, unbeknownst to the rest of the world in a city in the western
region of China, a human contracted a strange illness after coming into contact
with a Bat. Exactly how and why is still the matter of speculation, but Bats were
routinely captured, killed and eaten in this part of China.

When that individual reported to hospital for treatment, the medical staff quickly
identified the illness as a virus, as it showed very similar symptoms to previous
respiratory illness. The virus was classified as a corona virus. Over the course of
the last twenty years, two such viruses had been handled on a global scale – one
was called SARS, and the second, a more deadly version occurred only a few years
ago – that was the H1N1 virus.

Both were lethal. Both affected hundreds of thousands of people. And many died.

In January, 2020, China finally notified the World Health Organization that it was
battling with another extremely contagious corona virus outbreak, which was
spreading rapidly through its population.
It could not be stopped and there was no known cure.

This came to be known as the COVID-19 virus, which quickly turned into
one of the most deadly virus diseases to affect humanity.
Ever.

How this virus impacted people around the world depended on individual
circumstances, and the resources each had at the time to combat and survive it.
While many found themselves in deadly serious situations, others took a somewhat
different perspective.

This is one such perspective, in the form of a diary by a rugby coach, in Belize,
Central America.