Decided it was timely to watch the Stephen Soderbergh film Contagion last night. It’s really very good but felt much more like a documentary of current events than fictional entertainment compared to when I last watched it. Their germ differed in two important ways to covid-19 – it was more deadly (25% v 1%), and it affected young people as well as old. More dramatic I guess.
Gwyneth Paltrow looked very much like I do during a hayfever attack at the start of the film (before the seizures, to be fair), but I suspect my dramatic trajectory in that situation would be more like Kate Winslet – the hard working doctor who wakes up one morning being zipped into a body bag. Of course I’d just be one of the background characters, trying to look after patients whilst hidden behind imperfectly worn PPE*. I’m afraid that’s likely to be my role in the upcoming epidemic too – converting sick, coughing viral laden members of the public into quiet well behaved patients wired up to life support machines. It’s a risky business and I’m anxious about it. Why oh why didn’t I train to be an accountant so I could stay safely at home living on Uber eats and watching Netflix? Oh well, I guess that’s why they’re paying me the big bucks. I feel more sorry for the nurses – same risks, less dosh.
*personal protective equipment – and it’s really hard to get right.