We don't quote the movie Men In Black nearly enough, I reckon.

There's a great deal in the concept of aliens hiding in plain sight that's relevant to our modern lives, but over the years one line in particular from that film has come to be more and more important to me.

It's when Agent K is patiently explaining the undercover methods of his secret agency, taking Will Smith's character through what people want, and don't really want, to know.

"A person is smart. But people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

Well, we certainly know that now.

Images of shoppers with trolleys groaning with multiple packs of 24-roll toilet paper would be hilarious if they didn't represent what's really going on here: that nature abhors a vacuum and fear rushes in to fill the space left by silence.

Let me clarify: I'm not saying there hasn't been enough noise around COVID-19, its effects and consequences, but what's been missing is a consistent, clear and concise message from our governments and our health professionals about what we should and shouldn't be doing.

Some officials say you should put food aside; others say don't worry. 

No-one is totally clear about the superfluousness of face masks. We are told to wash our hands — but if you are immunosuppressed, should you stay home?

The silence, the gap, has been the lack of one strong, repeated message — made daily and over and over — until we all get it on all media platforms. 

Without it, we have responded with the expected level of panic. Does this mean we are just not resilient enough as a community? 

Sharon Houlihan wonders about that. She's the general manager at Wellington Shire Council, which was at the epicentre of the bushfire crisis in Gippsland. 

She says that when communities respond to a crisis with such panic, resilience is low, trust is low and we've lost faith in our ability to stop, think and measure our responses.

We are the home of Slip Slop Slap and Life: Be in It. We know how to do this stuff.

But if it's too soon for that kind of campaign, could our elected officials please tell us, every day, the five key things we need to know?

They're welcome on my show every morning. Call me — before we run out of absolutely everything.

This weekend, the issue gets even more serious as the detention of people who contract coronavirus becomes a real consideration.

read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-07/we-are-missing-a-strong-repeat-me...

Methinks that unlike nature, people fear more diarrhoea rather than a vacuum....

Meanwhile:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/07/cairns-feels-the-pinch-...

The State Department on Sunday warned Americans to stay off cruises amid the coronavirus outbreak — after hundreds of Americans were sickened on at least two recent cruises last month.

“U.S. citizens, particularly travelers with underlying health conditions, should not travel by cruise ship,” the State Dept. said in a statement. “CDC notes that older adults and travelers with underlying health issues should avoid situations that put them at increased risk for more severe disease.”

There’s an increased risk of catching the potentially deadly disease on a cruise ship, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To curb the spread of COVID-19, many countries have denied entry to ships and prevented passengers from disembarking. In some cases, passengers were allowed to get off ships, but were placed under strict quarantine procedures.

The US government last month evacuated about 300 passengers from a quarantined Diamond Princess cruise in Japan, but the State Dept. said that “repatriation flights should not be relied upon as an option for US citizens under the potential risk of quarantine by local authorities.”

Passengers on another coronavirus-hit Princess Cruises ship that was stuck off California’s northern coast for over a week finally docked in Oakland on Sunday. At least 21 sick passengers will be hospitalized there.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/03/08/keep-off-cruises-amid-coronavirus-outbreak...

Picture above from StockFilum ...

An elderly British woman on board the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship off the California coast groused over the conditions on board, where “stir-crazy” passengers fight over “rotten” food, according to a new report.

Margaret Bartlett, 77 — one of 140 Brits aboard the vessel where 21 people have tested positive for the infection — told the BBC that she’s been confined to her cabin, which has no balcony.

“The food is rotten and terrible and we have to fight for it,” Bartlett told the network. “It is not good enough.”

“We are going stir crazy stuck in the cabin,” she added. “It is a bit depressing when we saw land and it was sunny and we couldn’t get out.”

Barlett told the outlet that a passenger who was staying 10 cabins away from her on board the ship has died. Officials have confirmed that at least one person, a 71-year-old man, died of coronavirus last week after his time on board the cruise.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/03/09/people-fighting-over-rotten-food-on-corona...