My last coronavirus post (for today)

In just a single day since my last post, a lot has happened regarding the pandemic. After saying it has had minimal impact on me, I read tonight that UBC will “transition” to online classes as of Monday, March 16:

Effective Monday March 16, UBC classes will transition to online for the remainder of the term. UBC’s campuses will remain open and all university operations will continue as normal, as we transition. More info: https://t.co/IkwxYEYphd pic.twitter.com/JFl7tExjfR

— UBC Media Relations (@ubcnews) March 14, 2020

Hours later, Langara tweeted a message that it was “working on plans to transition to online learning where possible”. Copycats! No date yet, though.

Langara is working on plans to transition to online learning where possible. Campus remains open and college operations continue as usual. More information will be provided as it comes available. We always post the latest on our website. https://t.co/8zYTgyzw14 pic.twitter.com/c4hlNGsJMz

— Langara College (@langaracollege) March 14, 2020

I have no idea how my job would be handled during any period where classes are virtual, but agree that if there are to be temporary closures, they should happen now when some mitigation is at least possible.

Today, Apple announced that the annual WWDC in June would be online-only, which was expected. They also announced that all stores outside China will be closed until March 27. I guess I won’t go window shopping for an iPad mini this weekend. Well, not at an Apple store, anyway. Although closing hundreds of stores seems surprising, most Apple stores tend to be jammed full of people, so they are kind of like cruise ships in terms of germ and virus transmission: easy and fast!

This whole situation is getting more and more surreal. But I’ll be brought back to reality tomorrow when I try to purchase toilet paper.