THE LONDON BOOK FAIR SHOULD BE CANCELLED BECAUSE OF COVID-19

Cancelling is better than being a superspreader

As a small publisher with a table booked at the 2020 LBF - the major gathering for the publishing industry in the UK - I stand to lose a lot of money if this event is cancelled - but if I went, or sent my team, I'd risk losing much more - including their lives or my own. Readers should not be compelled to become super-spreaders.

Today Facebook has cancelled its May annual conference, major firms are cancelling all business plane travel, and 30 minutes ago the Swiss government - not known for its wild and irrational behaviour, cancelled ALL public events and gatherings of over 1,000 persons, until at least march 15. In Iran, the most holy Friday prayers have been today cancelled, and Mecca is closed to foreign pilgrims, as Saudi Arabia plans to control its borders from more contagion. Meanwhile, the stock markets globally have fallen to Crisis 2008 levels, and farther.

If the organisers of the LBF really think their event - held in a giant exhibition hall with more than 15,000 people crowded together, over 3 days, from every (infectious) continent - could possibly proceed in two weeks time - then they should explain their Trumpian optimism now, rather than lead us all on any more - because their daily upbeat emails have begun to sound like plausible denial of reality, not medically-informed bulletins.

I have great sympathy for their quandary, and likely, the organisers are waiting for a clearer government statement of pandemic, to finally pull the plug. But I wonder, what are they really waiting for? Time is now and always.

Covid-19 is now spreading among the British population at will, and only cautious, rational, and calm contagion-control can save the population from 80% infection and 2.5% death rates - banks, law firms, companies with educated rational humans are already planning work from home scheduling.

Books are very important - I love them almost to death. ALMOST.

Reschedule, postpone or cancel LBF 2020, now, before more people are compelled to risk too much, and waste more money and time, when the inevitable is now evident.

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