Open Thread: Coronavirus

Morning, café. A lot of the pieces we’ve put up recently were getting a bit...Corona-heavy, so we’ve decided to put up this thread for all your cycling-related Coronavirus comments. You can still talk about the virus in other threads, we aren’t banning it, just remember that it does cause anxiety for some and if you have news or your own take, this is the place for it for the next while, generally speaking.

A quick summary of the state of affairs from a guy who studied various humanities but hasn’t thought about science since school chemistry: The Italian early-season races are planned to go ahead, but the teams are very ginger about it and it’s not hard to see the government getting involved (EDIT: The government did get involved and every Italian race in the month of March is now off). The UAE Tour has seen almost a quarter of the peloton remain quarantined and a few riders develop cases. This is already majorly affecting cycling, and it’s not about to stop any time soon.

This article is very informative and comes to the conclusion that the virus is not going to be containable, that it will spread to half of the world’s population, but that most of those will not be seriously ill. It is not the only source, but that prediction comes from the Harvard professor of epidemiology so it seems like a reasonable one to point you to.

Either way, allowing for big groups of people to gather is a risk. Especially if those people are cyclists, known more for their cardiovascular system than their immune system and especially especially if big crowds come to watch them in an affected area. The Six Nations have already cancelled games which, if you’re American, is not something rugby unions are ever that willing to do. Therefore, races are going to be cancelled. Maybe not all races. We don’t know how this is going to go just yet. I myself am not terribly worried in an existential sense. I am not panic-buying anything. Nor will I be. But I think we all know that the cycling season will not escape this unscathed.