Dear Cafetalk Community,

I hope you are doing well and staying safe! I wanted to share a movie with you that was written and released in 2011. The movie is directed by a superb director by the name of Steven Soderberg (Traffic, Syriana, Ocean's Eleven, etc.)

The film is incredibly true to life as the coronavirus unfolds all over the world. The similarities are extremely accurate including everything from the virus originating in China, spreading across the rest of the world, and getting many people fatally sick. All the schools and businesses start to close down. The airline, tourism, and hospitality industry, as well as many others, go out of business. The hospitals become overcrowded with an onslaught of patients and they run out of medical equipment and personnel. In addition, they try to trace the patients' contact with the original source of contagion. However, after a while, due to community spread, it's difficult to pinpoint how the patient originally contracted the disease.

In the movie as well as in real life, the virus affects almost all areas of their lives. The star-studded movie has many stars making cameo appearances. Kate Winslett appears in the movie and her acting talent adds another layer of reality. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be inclined to watch a movie about a pandemic, but this one is perfect for these uncertain times. I highly recommend this film if you want to see what the coronavirus has done to change the world in all aspects including the economy.
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[My wish for you:]

I hope you stay healthy and well. Please practice social distancing as much as possible.
(Stay 6 ft apart or 2 meters apart from other people). Wash your hands whenever you go outside. Stay inside your home as much as possible. Try not to touch your face. Please wear a mask and gloves, if it is available.

I wish you all the best in your area of the world. We are all in this together and I wanted to share another resource with you. I really don't know how the writer of the screenplay guessed what a pandemic in the future looks like, but the similarities are uncanny!
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Also, here is a great resource to track the number of worldwide coronavirus infections and death tolls around the world. It is from John Hopkins University and Medical Center, so it is an authoritative resource. If you'd like to check the rate of infection globally, please click on the website below:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Take care of yourself and your family! See you soon!

Warmest regards,

Lady Ayame

(Patricia Ayame Thomson)