Local Runner Can’t Believe Race Canceled Just Because of Fast-Spreading Global Health Emergency For Which Nation Is Woefully Unprepared
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A local man reacted with anger and disbelief upon learning this morning that a race he’d expected to run this weekend had been canceled, Dumb Runner has learned.
Navin Johnson, 25, was checking his email over breakfast when he saw the announcement from the race, the Marie Half-Marathon. Organizers cited the coronavirus outbreak in explaining its decision to cancel the event, noting that “it was not a decision we made lightly, but the health and safety of our community is paramount.”
Johnson, reading that part out loud, rolled his eyes.
“Oh come on!” he said. “Seriously?”
The coronavirus, as explained by Harvard Medical School, causes a disease called COVID-19 and “has sparked alarm worldwide”:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, and many countries are grappling with a rise in confirmed cases. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising people to be prepared for disruptions to daily life that will be necessary if the coronavirus spreads within communities.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Johnson. “I’ve run this race the past three years! They’re gonna ruin my streak!”
Many experts have said that the United States is dangerously unprepared to contain the spread of the coronavirus, with inadequate testing capacity and a potential lack of hospital beds. President Trump minimized the risks of coronavirus until recently, and in 2018 dissolved the federal team responsible for pandemic preparedness.
COVID-19 can be fatal, especially for older adults and those with underlying health conditions. Those with the virus that causes it sometimes do not show symptoms.
Johnson, who as a healthy young adult is not at high risk from COVID-19’s most serious consequences but could spread the coronavirus to others, called the cancelation “bullshit” and declared that everyone is “overreacting.”
He also noted that he had really been looking forward to the race.
“This is so stupid,” he said.
