Might I suggest a more appropriate name for this virus?
Just call it "Chicken Little Disease".
G
Perhaps. Consider though, if you have, let's say about 3000 people infected, and 3 have died. (Just making up numbers for an example BTW) That gives you a .1% mortality rate. Or does it? We have been watching, country after country having a doubling of infected people every day. That means you go from 10, then 20, then 40, then 80, then 160, then 320, then 640, then 1280, then 1560, then 3120. 10 days to get from 10 infected to over 3000. Now if it takes 7 or 8 days from infection, to death on average, you are dealing with a situation where those 3 deaths really came from a pool of infected that was much closer to the 20 to 40 range, not the 3000+. Suddenly the mortality rate is not longer .1%, but rather 10%. Bottom line, I don't think we have near enough reliable data to determine much at this point, other than it is very effective at spreading.
When the stock market took a dive back in 2008, there were people on this forum who were certain that it was going to bottom out at zero or barely above. The same holds true for damn' near everything possibly bad that has happened.
if you're really worried, I suggest that you move up above the Arctic Circle many miles away from human civilization and burrow down below the permafrost.
I'll stay here and wait with baited breath (I'll eat gummi worms) for the horrible end of all humanity to come and free me from this wretched coil of existence. When I kick the bucket, you'll have the opportunity to smugly say you told me so before you also kick the bucket.
Or, to quote Country Joe and the Fish, "...and it's 5, 6, 7 open up the Pearly Gates, Ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopie, we're all gonna die!"
Yes, we are all are going to die. But the difference here is you normally do not know when you are going to die and it happens suddenly, so you live your life happy before that moment. Now the situation is different, with coronavirus you know exactly you are going to die within 1-3 months and now you do not feel happy anymore.
Probably true. The point being, I started with an assumption that it would be somewhat worse than the flu, but didn't state that explicitly. Then I went through all those known unknowns, and pointed out how each had to be a best case scenario to have be only somewhat worse than the flu. In fact, it's a pretty safe bet that it will be much worse than the flu. The big question at this point, that I didn't try to address, is how fast will it spread. It's out in the wild around the world, and spreads very effectively. It's not a matter of if it goes throughout the US, but simply when and how fast. Those are big unknowns that hopefully have been helped by limiting entry from affected regions early on. Time will tell.
It's a good idea to have a few weeks of drinking water in plastic bottles in case the power and utilities fail. ( I don't, but should ) ditto a few weeks of food that's fine for years without freezing or refrigeration. ( I don't, but should )
And "wash your darn hands" "with soap!" is good advice without an ongoing flu season and probable biological war ongoing.
And my 401k just took a hopefully temporary hit that's very real and may put a serious crimp in my plans to actually go to a Buell event, get the muddy driveway graveled, or not need 2-3 part time jobs in convenience stores to get by.
Of course, some speculation is a bit hysterical... Like this next comment.
If Pooh's Breath ( Covid-19 ) came from an American city with a biological warfare research lab, and the Government covered up the very existence of the sudden and ever increasing pile of extra bodies for a Month, then lied, repeatedly, and obviously, about the danger, while arresting and apparently murdering people for posting about it, you'd suspect it was the opening scene from The Stand too!
Or at least consider it's a loose bioweapon.
Frankly I'm amazed some PETA critter loving terrorist attack on a drug testing lab ( there have been several ) hasn't "freed" some rats or monkeys that then spread Captain Trips into a community. See also, the brilliant movie 12 Monkeys.
If Pooh's Breath ( Covid-19 ) came from an American city with a biological warfare research lab, and the Government covered up the very existence of the sudden and ever increasing pile of extra bodies for a Month, then lied, repeatedly, and obviously, about the danger, while arresting and apparently murdering people for posting about it, you'd suspect it was the opening scene from The Stand too!
Or at least consider it's a loose bioweapon.
Plum Island, New York bioweapons research laboratory US Army. Lyme Disease too
N95 filter masks are unpleasant to wear. It's Work to suck air through them. Fit is important.
Obscure trivia, in the Tom Clancy novel Executive Orders, during a biological warfare attack, people were getting sick by spraying antiseptic on paper masks to try and improve protection. Don't Do That!