COVID conveyors

After the comparatively open spaces of Scotland, it’s time to head back to family and the tourist crowds of Rome.  Covid-19 sure puts an added tension to the normal social anxiety of being jammed close together in a crowded and enclosed space.  Gatwick was a frightful mess and the extra 20 minutes jammed in an ‘air bridge’ even worse (Extra Photo). Not a face mask in sight, unless you count the upper rim of my own one.  Global tourism drives pandemics.

I’m still in catch-up mode from my travel journal, so although this photograph was taken 4 weeks ago, I am just posting it now.  Breaking news today is that a new strain of COVID-19 has been detected in Denmark (where we traveled 5 weeks ago), so maybe the global community must face another wave of misery and compromise? 

How quickly we forget and allow a threat to resurge be resuming old patterns, in this instance simply by not wearing a face-mask.  Mainly those wonderful Asian travelers, families with children, and elderly travelers have carried on carrying for us all.  Emirates states quite plainly that all passengers must wear a face-mask on their flights, but the woman sitting next to me (for 11 hours flying to Europe) refused and became hostile when I asked her to comply. Imposing their stance on others is equivalent to culpable manslaughter in my view.