World on the brink

Revisiting the precipice of a pandemic through photos from year ago

To look at year-old photographs is to revisit a world divided. There were places where life had already been short-circuited by a raging plague — and others where it was just becoming apparent that the monster was in the house.

In Madrid, store shelves are empty as residents prepare for a lockdown. The gates are locked to the Forbidden City in Beijing, guarded by masked guards. A single Palestinian workman sprays disinfectant at the Al-omari mosque in Gaza City.

But in retrospect, a photo of a covid-19 briefing by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence and other health advisers on March 10 — a day before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic is a study in obliviousness. Eight people crowd the podium. None wears a mask.

So many of the photographs feature unadorned faces, and to 2021 eyes it is jarring. Is it possible that three Gonzaga University basketball players, celebrating a victory over St. Mary’s in the NCAA tournament, could hug barefaced? That members of Congress could crowd into elevators? That Indian revelers could dance rapturously in the streets on Holi, the Hindu festival of colors?

Journalists jammed together to question lawyers for Harvey Weinstein after his sentencing for rape and sexual assault; demonstrators clashed with police in Caracas, Venezuela. But in that very moment, teams garbed in protective equipment, head to foot, set out to disinfect the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak in that state.

The divide can be seen in Champions League games across Europe — some were played before fans, and some were not for fear of spreading the disease. A full stadium was on hand to watch Kieran Trippier’s acrobatic shot for Atletico Madrid in Liverpool, England; there were fireworks but no crowd at the match between Paris-Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund in Paris.

And in Linz, Austria, a lone, ghostlike fan wore a sheet and stood amid the empty seats.

(File Photo/AP/Oded Balilty) Ultra-Orthodox Jews dress in ISIS militants costumes March 10, 2020, during celebrations of the Jewish festival of Purim in Bnei Brak, Israel. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther.

(File Photo/AP/Emilio Morenatti) Waiters wearing masks serve food and drink in a terrace outside Mestalla stadium on March 10, 2020, during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Valencia and Atalanta in Valencia, Spain. The match was played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak.

(File Photo/AP/Carolyn Kaster) Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington on March 10, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak as Vice President Mike Pence (second from left) gestures to a display. Also onstage (from left) are U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams; White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow; Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator; Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma; and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(File Photo/AP/Jae C. Hong) Two women take a selfie March 12, 2020, with the Olympic rings in the background in the Odaiba section of Tokyo. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike spoke after the World Health Organization labeled the spreading virus a “pandemic,” a decision almost certain to affect the Tokyo Olympics.

(File Photo/AP/John Locher) Gonzaga’s Martynas Arlauskas (from left), Drew Timme and Filip Petrusev celebrate March 10, 2020, after defeating Saint Mary’s in an NCAA college basketball game in the final of the West Coast Conference men’s tournament in Las Vegas.

(File Photo/AP/J. Scott Applewhite) House Democrats crowd into an elevator as they rush to the chamber for a vote March 11, 2020, just after meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was moving swiftly toward House passage of a coronavirus aid package on Capitol Hill in Washington. In the front row are (from left) Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif.; Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga.; and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the House Oversight Committee.

(File Photo/AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta) President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office about the coronavirus outbreak March 11, 2020, at the White House in Washington.

(File Photo/AP/ Felipe Dana) A patient is prepared for surgery March 12, 2020, at Idlib central hospital in Idlib, Syria. Idlib city was the last urban area still under opposition control in Syria, located in a shrinking rebel enclave in the northwestern province of the same name.

(File Photo/AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Indian revelers, faces smeared with colored powder, dance March 11, 2020, during celebrations to mark Holi, the Hindu festival of colors in Prayagraj, India. This exuberant festival originally held to celebrate the fertility of the land, is also associated with the immortal love of Hindu God Krishna and Radha.

(File Photo/AP/Andy Wong) Soldiers wearing protective face masks march on March 12, 2020, past the closed entrance gates to the Forbidden City, usually crowded with tourists before the coronavirus outbreak in Beijing.

(File Photo/AP/Ted S. Warren) Workers from a Servpro disaster recovery team wearing protective suits and respirators enter the Life Care Center on March 11, 2020, in Kirkland, Wash., to begin cleaning and disinfecting the facility near Seattle. The nursing home was at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington state at the time.

(File Photo/AP/Mark Lennihan) Defense attorney Donna Rotunno meets the press March 11, 2020, outside the courthouse after Harvey Weinstein’s sentencing in New York. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

(File Photo/AP/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by wife Jill, arrives March 10, 2020, to speak to members of the press at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

(File Photo/AP/Kerstin Joensson) A man dressed as a ghost stands on the empty tribune on March 12, 2020, prior the Europa League round of 16 first leg soccer match between Linzer ASK and Manchester United in Linz, Austria. The match was being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak.

(File Photo/AP/Manu Fernandez) A shopper holds an item surrounded by mostly empty shelves March 10, 2020, in a supermarket in Madrid, Spain. People emptied shelves of food and supplies in supermarkets in Madrid after Spain’s health minister announced a sharp spike in coronavirus cases in and around the national capital.

(File Photo/AP/Richard Drew) Trader Michael Gallucci works at his post March 11, 2020, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street, erasing more than 1,400 points from the Dow industrials, as investors waited for a more aggressive response from the U.S. government to economic fallout from the coronavirus.

(File Photo/AP/Ariana Cubillos) Opposition protesters clash with police blocking their march March 10, 2020, in Caracas, Venezuela. U.S.backed Venezuelan political leader Juan Guaido was leading a march aimed at retaking the National Assembly legislative building, which opposition lawmakers had been blocked from entering.

(File Photo/AP/Jon Super) Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier attempts a shot at goal in front of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold on March 11, 2020, during a second leg, round of 16, Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at a packed Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England.