Pestilence

How Humans Will Fight Back After the Wuhan Virus Outbreak | Time
Time reports: "The emergence of a powerful new infectious virus for which there is (as yet) no vaccine should scare us, of course. But at the same time, humans are better equipped to fight these kinds of outbreaks than ever before. New technologies, specifically ones that make possible the sequencing of any living thing’s genetic blueprint, are finally giving us a meaningful advantage over microbes."

Comment: Like most of you I've read a lot of news about the COVID-19 and I've been wondering what is appropriate to post here, since I'm sure not only are you reading most of the headlines as well but that the situation is so fluid that by the time I'm ready to make a blog post the headlines have moved on. So, here is something different. It's a more general look at how humans can adapt to cope with emerging diseases. 

In terms of Bible prophecy,  the COVID-19 virus is an example of the normal course of history. Jesus said to expect wars, famines and pestilence in the course of history and not necessarily end-times prophetic. This new virus is certainly far less severe than the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 or the plague in the Middle Ages, so we can say with confidence that it could have been worse. I think what is different now is global communications and social media highlighting and amplifying fear. It becomes a cycle that feeds on itself. Panic perpetuates panic.The once thing we can safely say is that this is not the last pandemic human society will have to deal with.

Pestilence

WHO declares COVID-19 pandemic, alarmed by inaction - UPI.com
UPI reports: "The World Health Organization characterized the coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic on Wednesday, as new cases spiked in Iran, Italy and other locations. [...] There were more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries as of Wednesday, with near 4,300 deaths worldwide."

Comment: It's taken a while to reach this milestone but here it is. The COVID-19 virus is now a pandemic. The medical community have tried and true methods for containing the virus but it's not clear if politicians can follow advice and act prudently to protect public health.  Praying for wisdom and goodwill to prevail among leaders everywhere.