6/9/22, 10:18 AM Connected by extension - How paying connects old regimes and new isolations - Allegra Lab In the beginning of March, as COVID-19 began to affect North America and Europe, Myanmar seemed relatively calm. The Myanmar government hadn’t reported any cases yet. Taxi drivers told me the hot climate and high exposure to various bugs kept COVID-19 away. In religious contexts, people praised the prayers of Myanmar’s population for keeping the virus out. Those with friends in the northern states of the country closest to China wondered if the virus had already come and gone in some regions of Myanmar. Many anxiously wondered how it was possible and if it was (https://allegralaboratory.net/wpcontent/uploads/2020/11/burma.png) A person, ‘Burma,’ pointing at their head with the caption “There can’t be any comfirmed [sic] cases if we don’t test anybody”. really true that there were no cases in Myanmar. The Asia Times(https://asiatimes.com/2020/03/myanmar-in-denial-with-zero-covid-19-case-claim/) called the Myanmar government “in denial” and a social media meme(https://www.facebook.com/yangoninformer/posts/2708965292535886) ridiculed Myanmar’s lack of tests. The WHO declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. The same day, people in Yangon started stocking up on dry goods, an indication of growing anxiety. The first of my friends went out less, carried disinfectant and talked about social distancing more. They followed global and local news, knew about the measures advocated in several Asian, European and North American countries and by the WHO. They tried to propagate the measures on social media and in their families and sought to re-affirm a semblance of order thrown into doubt by the disease. Two things felt particularly difficult: getting their elders to listen and getting trustworthy information. A friend who remembered the onslaught of cyclone Nargis in 2008 and ensuing empty shelves urged me to stock up as well. Another friend, who feared that unreliable news would spread, promoted a dashboard of social media news on COVID-19 in https://allegralaboratory.net/corona-connected-by-extension-how-paying-connects-old-regimes-and-new-isolations/ 3/12