Had COVID19 been COVID99
December 1999 — As anticipation about Y2K celebrations (and possible tech meltdowns) capture headlines, a local viral infection in Wuhan, China, attracts little attention. Provincial officials aren’t notified until late January. Chinese Communist Party officials in Beijing cover up the existence of the epidemic, which has spread throughout Hubei Province, fanning east toward Shanghai, south toward Shenzen and Hong Kong, and north toward Beijing. Residents learn of the virus via cell phone messages but remain quiet, fearing reprisals from party operatives. Some provincial officials panic as hospitals overflow with sick and dying patients. But CCP news channels ignore and censor reports of the growing catastrophe. The disease becomes a global pandemic as international tourists, unaware of the risks, cruise the Yangtze River, contract the virus, and return home, infected. I’ve changed details of the early 21st century virus, the date of outbreak, and its point of origin, but China dealt w...