ABOVE: The crowd at a rally against the proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019
© ISTOCK.COM, LEWISTSEPUILUNG
This time of year, Daniel Chu, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, and his colleagues would typically be visiting local live poultry markets weekly and collecting fecal samples from domestic and wild birds to monitor the spread of influenza virus. But now, with some of those markets in areas that have been rocked by clashes between pro-democracy protestors and police—conflict that’s ramped up over the last two weeks—the researchers have suspended most of their surveillance for the time being.
In addition to not having the samples they need, most of Chu’s colleagues can’t get to work, as protestors have disrupted the country’s transportation system by erecting roadblocks and destroying some of the elevators and tracks that serve the Mass Transit Railway. According to The Guardian, police have also ...
