Revisiting a world on the precipice, a 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.
A shopper holds an item surrounded by mostly empty shelves in a supermarket in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. People have emptied shelves of food and supplies in supermarkets in Madrid after Spain's health minister on Monday announced a sharp spike in coronavirus cases in and around the national capital. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Soldiers wearing protective face masks march past the closed entrance gates to the Forbidden City, usually crowded with tourists before the coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, Thursday, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Palestinian Health workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus in the Al-omari mosque in Gaza City, Thursday, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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 congressmen and women 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, Washington, ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak in that state.
Defense attorney Donna Rotunno meets the press outside the courthouse after Harvey Weinstein's sentencing, in New York, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Opposition protesters clash with police blocking their march in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. U.S.-backed Venezuelan political leader Juan Guaido is leading a march aimed at retaking the National Assembly legislative building, which opposition lawmakers have been blocked from entering. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
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 lonely, ghostlike fan wore a sheet and stood amid the empty seats.
Waiters wearing masks serve food and drink in a terrace outside Mestalla stadium during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Valencia and Atalanta in Valencia, Spain, Tuesday March 10, 2020. The match is being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews dress in ISIS militants costumes during celebrations of the Jewish festival of Purim in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Gonzaga's Martynas Arlauskas, from left, Drew Timme and Filip Petrusev celebrate after defeating Saint Mary's in an NCAA college basketball game in the final of the West Coast Conference men's tournament Tuesday, March 10, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill arrives to speak to members of the press at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Workers from a Servpro disaster recovery team wearing protective suits and respirators enter the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., to begin cleaning and disinfecting the facility, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, near Seattle. The nursing home is at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington state. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Few people walk at the Naviglio Grande canal, one of the favorite spots for night life in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Italy entered its second day under a nationwide lockdown after a government decree extended restrictions on movement from the hard-hit north to the rest of the country to prevent the spreading of coronavirus. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
House Democrats crowd into an elevator as they rush to the chamber for a vote just after meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is moving swiftly toward House passage of a coronavirus aid package possibly this week, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. In 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. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
An Indian medical officer offers hand sanitizer to a child during an awareness campaign against a new virus at a train station in Bangalore, India, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Tourists take in the view from the Edge, the new observation deck on the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards in New York on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Edge is touted as the Western Hemisphere's highest outdoor sky deck. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)
Trader Michael Gallucci works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Stocks are closing sharply lower on Wall Street, erasing more than 1,400 points from the Dow industrials, as investors wait for a more aggressive response from the U.S. government to economic fallout from the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Atletico Madrid's Kieran Trippier attempts a shot at goal in front of Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold during a second leg, round of 16, Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at a packed Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
PSG supporters gather outside the Parc des Princes stadium during a Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Paris-Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund in Paris Wednesday, March 11, 2020. The match is played behind closed doors without spectators due to the COVID-19 outbreak. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office about the coronavirus outbreak at the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
A woman walks in front of a stage and carousel at Pier 39 in San Francisco, Thursday, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Indian revelers, faces smeared with colored powder, dance during celebrations to mark Holi, the Hindu festival of colors in Prayagraj, India, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. 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. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
A patient is prepared for surgery at Idlib central hospital in Idlib, Syria, March 12, 2020. Idlib city is the last urban area still under opposition control in Syria, located in a shrinking rebel enclave in the northwestern province of the same name. Syria’s civil war, which entered its 10th year Monday, March 15, 2020, has shrunk in geographical scope -- focusing on this corner of the country -- but the misery wreaked by the conflict has not diminished. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A man dressed as a ghost stands on the empty tribune prior the Europa League round of 16 first leg soccer match between Linzer ASK and Manchester United in Linz, Austria, Thursday, March 12, 2020. The match is being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
Two women take a selfie with the Olympic rings in the background in the Odaiba section of Tokyo, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike spoke Thursday after the World Health Organization labeled the spreading virus a "pandemic," a decision almost certain to affect the Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Revisiting a world on the precipice, a year ago.