In this article, I depart, for a moment, from the strategy of citing evidence in my coverage of the "China epidemic." (For my series of articles on the "China epidemic," click here.)

Instead, I want to make a few brief notes on the subject of power.

For many or most people, there is a kind of programming in the mind which urges the acceptance of viruses as powerful. This programming results in visceral emotional reactions toward microbes.

The collection of sensations would be something like: riding on a train heading toward a possible break in the tracks. Each person on board has been warned. No one is sure whether the tracks, a few miles in the distance, have actually been ripped apart. The train's engineer in the cab isn't stopping.