At the same time that the Coronavirus outbreak had just begun in China, the Society for Applied Microbiology was publishing an article called ‘A Germ’s Journey’ documenting how scientists , teachers and teacher educators worked together, sharing their knowledge freely world wide, to create a MESHguide knowledge map/research summary (www.meshguide.org) for teachers - to promote personal hygiene and cleanliness and stressing the importance of careful handwashing.