Wuhan was not a backwater deep behind the Iron Curtain. It was a globalized megacity, which is why the outbreak was so dangerous. Come the holidays, roughly half Wuhan’s population left to visit family and friends. That meant 5 million travelers spreading the infection by car, bullet train, and airplane not just to the rest of China but to the entire world.7 In January, 15,000 Chinese tourists left Wuhan’s international airport for Japan alone.8 Within a few weeks, cases were reported in twenty-five countries, the first in Thailand.
