Coronavirus: Where in the world will we all end up from here?

To say the least, the coronavirus is causing chaos right around the world.

Italy has quarantined 60 million of its citizens, in a move that too closely relates to shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

Mind you, the horses have bolted in the US, where President Donald Trump is banning all incomin­g flights from Europe.

The theory upon which he is acting appears to be that, even if the disease is already onshore, it is best to limit any more of it being imported, from Europe in ­particular.

In these days where inter­national travel is comparatively cheap, we have all become travellers to some degree.

When I was a boy, travel was seen as too expensive for ordinary people. I had a gay uncle who travelled­ the world with his ­partner, although in those days their relationship was never discussed. I would be dragged kicking and screaming to their place to view the endless number of slides they had taken on their latest adventur­e.

It was regarded as such a big deal because so few of my parents’ generation had ever travelled, ­except for those who served in the war and that was not the most relaxed way to see other countries.

Those who could afford it poured themselves into Constell­ations, the first planes I can recall being used for long-haul flights.

The travel industry as we knew it was born, as ordinary people found that if you put a few dollars away here and there, anyone could have a holiday overseas. The backpacker generation we see today is the logical progression from those earlier times.

One of the more irritating acts of recent decades was the way in which Britain, our mother country, embraced Europe and discarded Commonwealth countries so easily no one bothered to turn around and get a farewell glimpse.

Now that Britain has pulled out of the EU, I wonder if Australians and citizens of other Commonwealth countries will be treated any better. I know I really resented watching EU citizens go straight through without passports being checked, while the loyal colonials — who fought for and with good old Mother England when she was under attack or in danger — stood in long queues.

Pandemics are expensive. Having never really faced one, I got a surprise to see that Scott Morrison is setting aside $18bn to fight this pesky virus. That is an enormous sum of money in anyone­’s terms, and for a government not known for its profligacy it is a huge step.

Already I know my family and I are avoiding crowds and we are hardly alone in that. It makes you wonder how the football season will work. In Sydney, St George is playing a home game this week and I doubt I will go. If I am missing a Saints home game, you can bet something serious is in the air.

A couple of schools have closed around the country, which makes me wonder what happens if more schools close or, God forbid, all our schools are shut down.

If this virus breeds in crowded places, school buses and packed peak-hour trains would be logical places to avoid, but if we all do that, our lives will be radically altered. Who would ever have thought that ­danger lurked on the local bus?

My family is booked to go to the Tokyo Olympics. So far, our Olympics boss John Coates, one of the hardest men I have ever met, and the International Olympic Committee, are committed to the Tokyo Games going ahead from July 24. They are being guided by WHO and other medical bodies around the world.

It has been said that the Games could always be postponed for three or four months and then go ahead, but this presents huge challenges­. December in Tokyo is not so warm and, while it might be quaint to think of snow falling on the summer Games, for the ­athletes it would be a disaster.

Imagine running a marathon in such weather. Athletes who have been training for years and were getting ready to peak for the Games would be asked to keep peaking for another three or four months. That would not be possible.

One of the elements of the Prime Minister’s stimulus package will be payments to assist employer­s in taking on appren­tices. I hope this will be the tipping point when parents stop pushing their kids into universities — for many of them, an apprenticeship would be more appropriate. TAFE colleges deserve a financial boost to be able to seamlessly accept a larger-than-normal intake of students­.

There is good news on this front. The government is shouldering its fair share of the burden and now businesses need to pick up the cudgels and join the fight.

The Chinese economy will not collapse, because its totalitarian government would be in danger if that happened. It will throw as many stimulants at the problem as it takes to make it go away.

In China, being thrown out of government means at least the pleasures of a work camp — at best you just aren’t seen around anymore.

It’s a good incentive to keep things working.