I heard someone say that looking at data on number of #coronavirus cases is like looking at a star in the night sky - what you are seeing is never a current picture, but always a snapshot of events in the past. A thread on delay in complex systems from epidemics to #ClimateCrisis

Important delays in the coronavirus system appear to be on the order of days to weeks.



Important delays in the climate system are on the order of years to centuries.



To understand the urgency of climate action watch the havoc that delay causes in the coronavirus situation.

What do I mean by delays? For the virus:



Biological delays: the time between infection and onset of symptoms or the time that virus particles remain infectious on surfaces.



Social delays: between events happening and their being reported or the public adopting new habits