I, along with everyone else in the public health community, have been tracking the progression of the COVID-19 epidemic. At the beginning of March 2020 I traveled to Oporto, Portugal to take part in the examination committee of a doctoral thesis. On the very day of my departure my daughter called me from Berlin to ask if I had seen the news of the closing of the Oporto University’s Medical School, where the examination was going to take place. After a quick exchange of emails it was confirmed and so I went.