Postcard from Bali – Corona Diaries Part 2 (still alive)

I guess it’s boring to say that neither I nor my wife have succumbed to the coronavirus, at least as far as we know. So as yet I’m unable to entertain you with a blow by blow account of the high fever and dry cough that apparently precedes full-blown pneumonia.

The same seems to apply to the entire population of Bali. If that’s true, it’s good news for Bali, at least on the basis that the islanders have no need to swing into the drastic action some neighbouring countries have adopted.

Indonesia, of which Bali is a part, has, like Australia, designated a quarantine island. A plane-load of evacuees from mainland China has been taken there. Also, in common with a number of other countries, Indonesia has now banned flights to and from China. This means that 5,000 Chinese nationals still in Bali have nowhere to go. A number of these unfortunate people are on short-term visas that will soon expire. The Bali government has indicated that it will extend their visas if need be.

What I find hard to understand is why flights to China, even if they return empty, are being banned. For the airlines there is obviously the economic cost of flying empty aircraft, but surely the government could compensate them in some way. They will also be rightly concerned about the potential health hazard for crews. I’m not sure there’s an answer to that one beyond the usual infection avoidance tactics.

So the 5,000 Chinese visitors face an extended stay. That will be tough for them. Stranded on a beautiful island, unable to return to work or join their fellow citizens in purdah. Though loss of earnings will obviously be an issue, I think I know how most will feel about this, especially as they are in a place in which the health services have not yet been stretched to the limit. If they do get sick, the chances are that they will get better treatment than in the homeland, unless, of course the virus spreads rapidly to the local population.

In my position of relative ignorance, scouring the web for updates on the spread of the virus, other questions occur.

If China has tens of thousands of infections, presumably a number of people have now got better. The standard time for recovery is said to be seven days. So are these people being kept in isolation, rather than employed to support those who have not been infected? If so, why? You would have thought that those who have been infected and have now recovered will be immune. So can they not return to work or help their neighbours by buying food for them or accompanying the sick to hospital? I’m surprised that we haven’t’ heard these kind of good news stories in the Chinese media. It could be, I guess, that the doctors can’t be sure when a person is no longer infectious, or even that they can’t be sure whether a recovered patient is actually immune. The latter would be very bad news.

Then there’s the poor folk who are stranded on cruise liners. They face up to two weeks trapped in their cabins while the port authorities wait to see if they develop symptoms. What are these folks supposed to do? How do they get fed and watered? How do they entertain themselves stuck in a small space 24/7? I imagine a few prisoners will be able to advise them on this, but even they get to spend some time every day in an exercise yard. I imagine that a diet of videos and the opportunity for regular recreational sex with be enough for some people. But I fear that the rest will develop a severe case of cabin fever. Will there be breakouts, mass riots and nervous breakdowns? I hate to think.

Now for a subject only tangentially related to the coronavirus. According to the UK’s Evening Standard (with apologies for the reporter’s linguistic difficulties):

The US is planning on limiting the kinds of animals that airlines must allow on board free of charge.

Proposals to restrict air travel to guide dogs has been put forward by the Department of Transportation.

The proposal, which is subject to public comment, was put forward following concerns that passengers were falsely claiming pets as “service animals”.

If approved it would mean that so-called “emotional support animals” would no longer have the same rights as canines helping those with disabilities.

The Standard goes on to say that:

US airlines welcomed the plans and said an increase in animal travellers had led to complaints.

In the past, animals passengers have tried to bring into the cabin include peacocks, squirrels and turkeys.

The US is planning on limiting the kinds of animals that airlines must allow on board free of charge.

Proposals to restrict air travel to guide dogs has been put forward by the Department of Transportation.

The proposal, which is subject to public comment, was put forward following concerns that passengers were falsely claiming pets as “service animals”.

If approved it would mean that so-called “emotional support animals” would no longer have the same rights as canines helping those with disabilities.

US airlines welcomed the plans and said an increase in animal travellers had led to complaints.

In the past, animals passengers have tried to bring into the cabin include peacocks, squirrels and turkeys.

In 2018, Delta said some passengers had tried to board with “comfort turkeys, gliding possums, snakes” and spiders.

My wife tells me that she read elsewhere that passengers have tried to board with pigs and miniature ponies.

I am aghast. Aside from the idea that some passengers are so terrified of flying that they seek to rope innocent animals into the experience, who, I wonder, finds snakes and spiders emotionally comforting? Dogs I can just about understand, since they stare lovingly into their owners’ eyes, though presumably with a quizzical look that could be interpreted as meaning “what on earth are you doing bringing me into this hellhole?”

As for peacocks, what is to prevent one from raising its magnificent tail and spraying the occupants of the row behind with an explosion of excrement?

Which brings me to the tangential connection with the coronavirus. What if that cute little piggie sitting on the next seat has swine fever? Or if the comfort turkey has bird flu or salmonella?

There’s a certain hypocrisy among people who think it’s OK to bring animals onto a plane but castigate the Chinese for their live food markets.

I do worry about my American cousins sometimes. To what level of emotional fragility are they descending? I doubt if their grandparents, who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day were allowed comfort animals. And besides, haven’t they got the biggest comfort animal on the planet, the piggy-eyed cartoon character who is on every second video assuring them how great their country is?

Fortunately, we in Britain have not yet succumbed to this trend. You can’t fly from Heathrow to the US with a lovable ferret or a cuddly little scorpion, thank goodness. Our rule may soon be an irrelevance, though, because the UK government is going around upsetting so many people beyond our shores that before long nobody will welcome us and there will be no call for flights out of the UK except by people who can’t wait to get out of there.

Back in Bali, we’re not going too far from our hotel. It seems sensible to avoid crowds, so no malls, temples or busy streets. That leaves us plenty of scope to read – I always bring a stack of books – swim endless lengths in the pool and try to determine the origin of the many nationalities we encounter beyond coughing distance. Oh, and there are some nice restaurants out on the beach beyond us.

We’ve done plenty of trips around Bali on previous visits, so our lack of adventurousness is no loss, and a small concession to paranoia.

Yet more when I have it.