The Wall Street Journal - 18.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Wednesday, March 18, 2020 |A

late the rules.

So far, the young don’t

seem to be listening.

After social media became

filled with reports of packed

bars and restaurants in New

York, 30-year-old Rep. Alexan-

dria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.)

tweeted to her millions of fol-

lowers on Saturday.

“To everyone in NYC but ES-

PECIALLY healthy people &

people under 40, (bc from what

I’m observing that’s who needs

to hear this again), PLEASE

stop crowding bars, restau-

rants, and public spaces right

now. Eat your meals at home.”

Across Europe, where social

life is shutting down faster

than in the U.S., a divide is

spreading between the young,

many of whom say they don’t

fear the virus, and their el-

ders, including politicians and

scientists, whose alarm about

the illness is growing.

On Sunday, Berlin health of-

ficials said 42 people were

thought to have infected

themselves in Berlin clubs.

Some of those were club-hop-

ping, spreading the virus as

they went.

“This is the attitude of peo-

ple who are part of this night-

life,” said Lutz Leichsenring, a

director of the association of

Berlin club owners. “So what?

Crowds return to Hong Kong’s

trendy Peel Street. Right,

Colorado College senior class

members hold a bittersweet

celebration at the probable end

of their school year on campus.

Scientists and government
officials fighting the coronavi-
rus epidemic say they have a
problem: Carefree youths.
As authorities moved to re-
strict social gatherings last
week, bars and restaurants

from New York to Berlin filled
up with revelers, illegal “lock-
down parties” popped up in
France and Belgium, and cam-
puses in the U.S. lit up for
end-of-the-world dorm parties.
So far, most young Covid-
patients have experienced
mild or no symptoms from the
virus, while more severe cases
are concentrated among those
age 50 and over. Data released
last week by the National
Health Institute in Italy, cur-
rently the world’s worst-hit
country, shows mortality rates
starting at 0% for patients
aged 0 to 29 and edging up to
peak at 19% for those over 90.
Yet scientists say tests have
shown children and young
adults are no less likely than
older people to get infected and
transmit the virus. Epidemiolo-
gists are growing concerned
that the millennial pushback
against social-distancing mea-
sures—and an emerging gener-
ational divide about how the
disease is perceived—could
undo all efforts to slow the
spread of the virus and put vul-
nerable people at high risk.
President Trump on Mon-
day stressed that young peo-
ple can spread the virus even
if they only have mild symp-
toms and recommended that
Americans avoid restaurants
and gatherings of more than
10 people. French President
Emmanuel Macron announced
a nationwide lockdown and
punishment for those who vio-

ByBojan Pancevski

in Berlin,Stacy

Meichtryin Paris and

Xavier Fontdegloria

in Barcelona

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

You get the flu, you’re not go-

ing to die.”

Despite the pointed fingers

and occasional excesses, many

young people bristle at the ac-

cusation of selfishness, saying

the new social constraints are

disproportionate and unfairly

target their generation.

“They’re preventing us

from living,” said Timothée

Thierry, a 30-year-old statisti-

cian at France’s health minis-

try. He spoke on Sunday, after

the government shut bars but

before it locked down the en-

tire country.

Some say they are less frus-

trated by the prospect of ex-

treme confinement than they

are doubtful it could ever

work in the West, which prizes

individualism and freedom.

“If I get sick, I will spend

some days at home to avoid

spreading it to others,” said

Monica Rubio, 19, who was hav-

ing a late breakfast with three

friends late last week in Barce-

lona, Spain, one of Europe’s

most heavily affected countries.

“Otherwise I won’t change my

life because of it. I can’t imag-

ine people would stop shaking

hands, kissing or hugging. It is

deeply entrenched in our soci-

ety.”

In Asia, there have been

fewer complaints from author-

ities about younger people

flouting social-distancing

rules, but with the epicenter

of the pandemic now shifting

to Europe, the sense of ur-

gency, palpable at the peak of

the Chinese epidemic, has be-

gun to recede.

On a recent night in Hong

Kong, Peel Street, a thorough-

fare lined with bars and popu-

lar with expats, thronged with

hundreds of maskless drinkers.

“I stayed at home for two

months. I’m not staying any

more,” said Ryan, 26, who was

walking with his friends down

the main strip of nearby Lan

Kwai Fong, a series of streets

filled with bars and clubs.

“Life goes on.”

“We worry,” said Nicole, 25.

“But either you worry yourself

to death or you drink yourself

to death.”

Generation Gap Widens as Cases Spread

In U.S. and Europe,

some younger people

take cavalier attitudes

in the face of outbreak

MIKE BIRD/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Seize the Moment

Albert Janesch

Important artist. Rare self portrait. Hidden

meaning.This original oil by the Viennese

painter Albert Janesch is exemplary of his

distinctive style. Within this self portrait, he

is shown enjoying life’s simple pleasures

with his wife and dog. Yet, a reminder of his

mortality looms in the distance, urging the

viewer to seize every moment of happiness.

Signed (center right). Dated 1933. Canvas:

40”h x 36”w; Frame: 46^1 / 4 ”hx42^1 / 2 ”w.#31-