Our Desk | A matter of coincidences…

Renato Marques

Those who know me well know that something that I am always completely skeptical about are “coincidences.”
In all honesty, I just can’t believe in coincidences at all; I would rather see daily events from a cause-effect perspective.
With this in mind, I’m not saying that this is the right way to see them, it is just “my way” to do it.
So today on this topic of “coincidences” I’ve decided to share with you a few things that have been bouncing inside my brain for a few weeks already and have now decided to pop-
out by some coincidental reason (some might say).
We all know how “armed wars” start right? – With someone pressing the trigger first! That “pressing of the first trigger” might have been an accident, a mistake, by chance or maybe it was premeditated for a specific purpose – but it will be always hard to tell for sure.
The same happens in our daily life and especially for those (like me) who deal with daily news. Sometimes information gets organized in our heads in a very strange way. This might be hard to understand (I know), which is why I’m giving a few examples, nothing too personal, just “coincidences.”
Fact number 1: Imagine that one day you receive information that the government is urging the construction of, let’s say, an Infectious Diseases building. The decision is not really well accepted within several sectors of the society and the “pot starts to stir.” It is understandable that people do not feel a need to change something unless something else forces that change. Like the old saying goes: “you only remember Saint Barbara when the thunderstorm comes” (Saint Barbara is usually invoked against thunder and lightning as well as accidents arising from explosions of gunpowder).
Fact number 2: Imagine that the same government, due to safety and hygiene reasons, wants to stop the sale of live poultry in markets, replacing them with chilled products directly from the slaughterhouse ([in mainland China). Once again, the decision isn’t well received by parts of society who can’t see the reason behind changing their old habit of choosing the chicken (while it is still alive) that they want to take home to eat.
Fact number 3: Imagine that suddenly authorities detect avian influenza subtype H7 during an environmental sample collection in a local market. Sales of live poultry were immediately suspended and 15,000 chickens lost their lives at the wholesale market in Macau, where poultry imported from the mainland are kept before being put onto the local markets.
The case generated huge media coverage, statements and press releases with staff in almost-space suits taking care of the dangerous-
killing virus, although apparently none of the over 15,000 chickens have tested positive for that H7 avian influenza subtype.
To add to this, a public health contingency mechanism was implemented, and three employees who were in contact with the live poultry were placed under a ten day medical surveillance at the public hospital, although like in the animal cases, none of them were found to be displaying any symptoms of the virus.
For some reason my brain put all these three facts together as if there was a connection between them. Of course, this happens just because I don’t believe in coincidences, otherwise it would be just another huge coincidence.
Still on the topic, my brain decided to play tricks on me again. Imagine that those 219 street surveillance cameras that the government is installing which – guess what – aren’t been well received by many, suddenly start to become useful in catching crimes and other cases of difficult resolution… Surely that would be just another “coincidence.”