Life in New York in the Time of Coronavirus

I was planning to write about something other than the coronavirus today, but I feel that to do so would be dishonest, because like so many of you, I find myself focused on the unnerving spread of this terrible epidemic. Never in my 50 years have I experienced anything like this. Avian flu, swine flu, Ebola, Zika: None of them has disrupted daily life around the world the way that the covid-19 virus already has done.

Public events such as the South by Southwest festival in Austin and the Indian Wells, Calif., tennis tournament are being canceled. The whole of Italy — 60 million people — has been shut down. Public gatherings are prohibited — no weddings, no funerals, no church services. Could this augur what is to come in America?