On January 28, 2020, the final manuscript for this book moved from the editorial desks of the Press into production. Two days later, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that a novel corona-virus outbreak, which started quietly in Wuhan, China, had become a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." At the time of the January 30 WHO announcement, there were over 7,000 cases confirmed, 12,000 cases suspected, and 170 deaths in China, and the now named "COVID-19" virus had spread to 18 countries. -Prologue

It was winter in India. I was sitting in a holy cow and Krishna-adorned taxi in New Delhi, driving to meet colleagues working in the Ministry of Health. We were stuck in traffic, with a cacophony of impatient horns sounding in the background. The polluted smog was tick, so taking a deep breath to stay calm was not an option. I looked out the window - a movie in itself - and found a moment of wisdom, one of those moments India is famous for. A half-bent sign at the side of the road, in large painted red letters on a once-white background, announced "You are not stuck IN traffic, you ARE traffic." -Introduction