Plague inc, the game

Byrichard

Plague inc is a game that is available on multiple platforms. These are pc, android, ios and windows phone. The version I played was on android. If you want to watch someone play the game you can watch this series:

I was at the first general Staff Meeting for the UNAIDS program a few years ago and more recently I was at the World Health organisation during the SARS crisis helping with Virtual Press conferences. During these two weeks I learned about the language used when discussing epidemics and how to mitigate the threat they posed.

During and after the Ebola crisis I was able to go to two or three conferences discussing how best to prepare future responses as well as to discuss what systematic weaknesses there were and how best to address them to deal properly with a future epidemic.

Plague inc is a real time decision based game. There are four tabs.

Overview provides you with an overview of air and sea transportTransmission: you can decide whether it is spread by air, water, blood, animals or birds. Symptons: You can decide how it affects people, whether through coughing, fever or other forms of discomfort. Abilities: You can develop, cold, heat, drug and bacterial resistance.

The game is an opportunity for people who do not live a 20 minute drive from the World Health Organisation and other UN organisations to learn more about the terminology of diseases as well as the factors that can make it more or less virulent and how best to counteract the threat.

In the game you may spend two or three years spreading a disease but in the real world diseases can spread over decades or even centuries. Look at Polio for example. Within the last two weeks we saw this headline Only complacency can stop Nigeria – and Africa – from finally conquering polio. For context UNICEF has a fact sheet about Polio eradication milestones. The Virus was first described by Michael Underwood in 1789, it was theorised as contagious in 1840 and in 1907 Dr Ivar Wickman categorised the different strains. It was first hypothesised that Polio was caused by a virus by Karl Lendensteiner in 1908. You can read more details in your own free time but the first vaccinations in Europe started in 1955 in Denmark. It is in 1988 that the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organisation yearly conference, adopted a resolution to eradicate Poliomyelitis by the year 2000. This goal was not reached due to various factors but finally in 2016 it looks as though the disease is ever closer to being eradicated.

Polio type 2 virus destroyed as strain no longer in Kenya

The Global Certification Commission verified that the type 2 virus had been eradicated globally in September last year. This means Kenya is polio-free as the last case was reported in 2013.

Whilst games like Plague Inc. can introduce us to the terminology used in the game we can also benefit from reading about real world epidemics, pandemics, plagues and more. I remember watching a documentary a few months ago that showed that thanks to the Plague in the Middle Ages in Europe serfs benefited as they were less numerous. It meant that they could finally pressure land lords to provide them with better working conditions and more freedom. Games are interesting but with the complement of history we see that reality is even more interesting.

1st of August РF̻te national Suisse in St Prex
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1st of August РF̻te national Suisse in St Prex

Byrichard

The First of August, in Switzerland is a national holiday. This is the day when Switzerland celebrates its own existence. The Swiss are celebrating the Pacte Fédérale from 1291. I saw a tweet saying that Switzerland is about 725 years old. They have only been celebrating this since 1891 when the confederation was 600 years old.

On this day rafts covered in firewood are brought out on the lake and placed next to cities. The raft that you see in the image above is covered in fireworks. The Sauvetage boat would do another two or three trips that I noticed.

This year I was able to swim and go sailing once again. Sailing on the lake is a pleasant and fun activity although as usual for this time of year there is a lack of wind so you spend a lot of time waiting for it to pick up and looking for any sign of wind from other parts.

In theory since there is no wind you might as well get your inflatable boat out with some fishing lines and justify being stuck in the doldrums with fishing. If I want to see fish I usually go scuba diving. They look more natural underwater and lake waters in summer are nice and pleasant. When you get to the surface you feel warm again. In Summer you want to take off your dry suit and have a barbecue.

A sport that we see more and more frequently is paddle boarding. I was looking at the price of paddle boards in Switzerland and you would expect to pay between 790 CHF to 1000 CHF. It is not a cheap sport but compared to scuba diving it’s affordable. It also provides you with a full body workout. (I had to sneak in some fitness didn’t I?)

Of course the sport with the lowest barrier to entry is Swimming. In St Prex they have a structure in the middle of water you can swim to and then climb. You can jump or dive from any height with no risk of hitting the ground.

If you were looking for something a little more formal

If you were looking for something a little more formal then on the Lausanne side of St Prex you could go under the white tent, get some saucisse frites, sit down eat and then dance. Once those forms of entertainment were finished with you could head out and watch the raft covered in wood burn while waiting for the fireworks to start. On this day you can see fireworks fly up and make patterns around the lake. It would be interesting to see from the top of the Jura or some other mountain. In fact I’d like to see the 1er Aout from a place like Moléson. From there you could see three or four cantons celebrating.