Air of Covid

When archaeologists of the future will find this object, they will remember one of the most troubled times that humanity has known for 100 years (end of the Spanish flu in 1920).

They didn't all die, but all were stricken. ^[1]

Jean de LA FONTAINE - Animals sick with the plague

By purchasing this artwork, here is the surreal dialogue you can have with your friends :

- Hi, are you fine ?

- Not really, I have the Covid-19 !

- Huh ? What ? How ? Get out, get out, go home, go away !

- But not, I have the Covid at home, on my desk...

- ????

- It still cost me some money.

- What ????

---

There are many theories about the origin of this virus ^[2], including four major ones :

1 - it comes from animals : Pangolins, Bats, etc… and has mutated on its own to adapt to humans.

2 - he escaped through negligence from the P4 laboratory in Wuhan where he was being studied.

3 - a military laboratory of a warlike nation created it to serve as a biological and political weapon.

4 - its design was funded by an obscure lodge of wealthy, powerful and conspiratorial men, in order to eradicate human overpopulation.

---

Let me give you mine, which I think is more likely :

First hypothesis :

Earth planet is a living organism that defends itself.

Why wouldn't she be endowed with an intelligence that escapes us, that we are unable to grasp, measure, understand despite all our knowledge ?

One could suppose that she has a pseudo-reasoning, in which all living beings (animals, insects, trees, plants) compose a neural network that generates nervous reactions...

So in view of global warming, her logical reaction would be to defend herself by getting rid of the parasites that are the cause.

As some plants and animals produce toxins and venoms to protect themselves from their natural predators...

The mutation of a previous SARS is said to have been orchestrated by Mother Goddess Gaia ^[3].

Second hypothesis :

Planet Earth serves as a rear base for aliens.

They have been around and have been watching us for at least 5,000 years...

Somewhere, deep in the galaxy :

- General Zorglub ! General Zorglub !

- What ? What's going on ?

- Sorry to disturb you, Venerable General Zorglub, but it's urgent ! As you know, since 1950 we have been watching the hominids of planet Earth more carefully and more often, and for 70 years now we have not been able to stop the rampant industrialization which is increasing global warming exponentially...

- Yes, so what ?

- In recent years, it's been getting worse and worse : these idiots don't even respect the pollution reduction agreements they sign. These humans are crazy, stupid, blind and stubborn.

- Yet, we sent them plenty of cataclysms to warn them and epidemics to slow them down.

- Well that wasn't enough : right now the warming is accelerating, glaciers are collapsing, the sea ice is melting, devastating fires, floods, increasingly powerful cyclones, etc.

- Oh no ! We cannot tolerate this ! We absolutely must protect this planet which serves as our laboratory and rear base for our interstellar operations. They must be stopped ! Send them the Black Death Bacteria !

- Excuse me, venerable General Zorglub, but need I remind you that this one decimated more than half of Europe, Asia and North Africa in the year 1350 ?

- Oh ! In fact, it's a bit violent. What else do we have in stock ?

- So, we have flu viruses… I remember the Spanish flu which worked particularly well. Unfortunately, today they have an arsenal of vaccines and they are fairly well immunized against influenza… Otherwise, we have an old coronavirus from 2002 lying around, we can modify it to make it more virulent and deadly, it is transmitted good in the air and it can lead humans to global containment.

- Perfect ! When do we plan to go to Earth ?

- In winter 2019, according to the Gregorian Earth calendar.

- Send it as soon as it's ready on the first most polluting country we will fly over... And then, add to it a random RNA sequence with flexible and fleeting modification so that it mutates quickly : it will hold them busy longer ! Ha ha ha ha ! (grotesque Martian laughter)

- At your command wondrous General Zorglub !

(… we know the rest)

The best proof that my theories are correct : for two years, industrial activity has slowed down, pollution has decreased enormously, successive confinements have blocked CO₂ emissions by stopping transport (cars, planes, freighters), overconsumption has been drastically reduced.

While at the same time, the world population has only decreased by 0.07% : this is the lowest figure of the 10 major pandemics that humanity has known for 2000 years.

Unfortunately, on a planetary scale, this was not enough to get us out of trouble... ^[4]

- General Zorglub ! General Zorglub !

- What again ?

- It's been two and a half years since we sent them Covid version 2.0, and they've already found solutions, the pandemic is coming to an end, overconsumption is picking up again, so is pollution...

- Oh shit ! Well, we're going to have to find something else… And this time, we're going to hit harder ! Call in the Intergalactic Research Center team and get to work !

- At your command sublime General Zorglub !

(... to be continued)

!! WARNING !!

This artwork is not a hoax and does contain material that has been contaminated by Covid-19 !

I myself had to wear a special suit to handle the swab and the freshly collected positive test.

The plexiglass cube is permanently sealed !

So you have been warned : the air in this work is filled with real Covid-19, do not open it, even at your own risk !!

The artist declines all responsibility in the event of non-compliance with this imperative rule.

Post-scriptum

If I have chosen to compare Covid-19 with the Spanish flu, it is because it is necessary to compare what is comparable : they are both respiratory viruses (unlike plague and cholera) which were global pandemics and caused maximum deaths. All figures taken from Wikipedia ^[5].

Illustrations

Notes and references

1. One of my favorite poems by Jean de LA FONTAINE : Les Animaux malades de la peste  (FRENCH)

2. Investigations into the origin of COVID-19
2. COVID-19 misinformation
2. Désinformation sur la pandémie de Covid-19  (FRENCH)

3. Gaia hypothesis (according to English climatologist James Lovelock)
4. Disbelief in big cities as air pollution falls  (with awesome interactive photos !)
5. List of Major epidemics and pandemics

More infos :

History of coronavirus
Coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2
Climate change the culprit in the COVID-19 pandemic  (European Scientific Research)