And we were: I stopped taking my kids to indoor playgrounds or crowded malls or delicious but densely packed neighborhood Beijing restaurants. We instead took a vacation within China, where we carried masks with us but didn’t use them except on a short domestic flight. In time, during the SARS outbreak, the government shut down theaters and schools in Beijing, as it is doing now in many Chinese cities because these viruses are more easily transmitted in such crowded places. The World Health Organization declared the SARS outbreak contained in July 2003. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Source: New York Times January 29, 2020 00:00 UTC