While millions of people are under orders to stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic, water is sitting in the pipes of empty office buildings and gyms, getting old and potentially dangerous.

Disease has afflicted humans ever since there have been humans. Malaria and tuberculosis are thought to have ravaged Ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago. From AD 541 to 542 the global pandemic known as “the Plague of Justinian” is estimated to have killed 15–25% of the world’s 200-million population. Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the native population dropped from around 30 million in 1519 to just three million 50 years later. Today we are battling to control the spread of COVID-19, which has the potential to cause the most deadly pandemic in human history.

Regardless of whether we classify the new coronavirus as a pandemic, it is a serious issue. In less than two months, it has spread over several continents. Pandemic means sustained and continuous transmission of thedisease, simultaneously in more than three different geographical regions. Pandemic does not refer to the lethality of a virus but to its transmissibility and geographical extension.

In the April 2020 issue How We Work During COVID-19 – Eric Muller-Borle Coronavirus: Ten Reasons Not to Panic – Ignacio López-Goñi How to Model A Pandemic – Christian Yates Coronavirus Might Make Buildings Sick – Caitlin R. Proctor, Andrew J. Whelton, William Rhoads Life After COVID-19: Dealing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? – Manuel Géa, François Iris, Athanasios Beopoulos