Pandemics all originate in the same place.

H2N2 – 1957 – Singapore and Hong Kong. 116,000 Americans dead.
H3N2 – 1968 – Hong Kong. 100,000 Americans dead.
H1N1 – 2009 – Asian pigs – 12,469 Americans dead.
Covid-19 – 2020 – Wuhan, China. 11,816 Americans dead. Total impossible to project.

CDC data.

I visited Hong Kong in 1995 on business, and our generous hosts saw to it that I took in their open air ‘wet’ markets which are the source of all the above pandemics. Live animals are stored in stacked wire cages where they defecate on one another, prior to being served up on a plate. The fellows showing me around took me to a high-end Chinese restaurant where, amongst the delicacies on the menu, there were three kinds of bird’s nest soup at $10, $100 and $1,000 a bowl. I kid you not. $1,000. The ‘IPO special’, I suppose. When you learn how this guano-infested delicacy is made you too would do what I did. Pass.

Here are some snaps from that visit:

Chinese artefacts awaiting illegal export.

Fans galore.

Last days of British rule which ended in 1997.

High end apartments.

More of the same.

Labor.

The clean end of town.

Goodness, but did I need a burger and coke on return to California.

The fix? Simple. A travel ban to and from these nations until verifiable permanent closure of the ‘wet’ markets is in effect. Otherwise, pandemics from these sources will recur with increasing frequency as travel rises.

All snaps on a Rollei 35, Kodachrome film.