I got into the habit of downloading the audio book version of a book I've already read as my bed time story.
Partly because we had been talking about Connie Willis and partly because it was "available" I been listening to
Doomsday by Connie Willis. It was written in 1992 and won both the Hugo and the Nebula for Science Fiction Novels.
It's a time travel story and it takes place in 2054 Oxford and 14th century England.
It's not a hard science SF novel, and as far as technology goes it mostly just brushes past it. I haven't gotten anywhere close to the end yet - it is a long book. but I was just struck by how prophetic Willis was.
2054 Oxford is experiencing a viral outbreak. Interestingly, the people in 2054 are very much accustomed to viral outbreaks. They allude to several previous ones. This one is particularly bad because it is caused by a mutation of the H1N1 virus - and may have jumped from an animal source.
The very night he is hospitalized, public health workers begin tracking down his primary and secondary contacts and researchers begin sequencing the virus. In this future, there are governmental and scientific systems in place to respond rapidly to a new contagion.
Willis describes blink-of-an-eye vaccine development and immediate lockdown measures as though any other response would be unthinkable. The British government mandates that everyone must quarantine until seven days after everyone is vaccinated or 14 days after the last reported case.
-https://slate.com/technology/2020/12/doomsday-book-connie-williams-pandemic.html
Keep in mind this book was written in 1992. But more central to Willis' story telling than the science and medicine, is the people's reaction and attitudes. People are very lazes-faire about social distancing and masks. and then there is the finger pointing and reactionary attitudes.
"Rereading" it after Covid makes me appreciate it more.
I have a pile of stuff I want to sell because of that book.
