Coronavirus _ worried?

[Pat Barry]

Are you starting to worry about Coronavirus yet?

[Ron Citerone]

Are you starting to worry about Coronavirus yet?

Not really, the death rate is less than the flu so it's not worrying me too much even though I am 61 and a heart patient.

I will say from working in schools, it is amazing how fast a flu or stomach virus can race through a school.

[Pat Barry]

Not really, the death rate is less than the flu so it's not worrying me too much even though I am 61 and a heart patient.

I will say from working in schools, it is amazing how fast a flu or stomach virus can race through a school.

The death rate is approximated as 2%. Contrast that with typical flu of 0.1% and coronavirus is 20x worse death rate than the flu.

Ed: There are currently 81,714 confirmed cases worldwide, including 2,771 fatalities which equates to a 3.4% death rate

[Stan Calow]

Its not the death rate that's the problem, its the potential for high rates of sick people, filling hospital beds, unable to work and earn money, schools closed, factories and businesses closed due to high rates of absences. Every sick person requires other people to take care of them. Thats a huge drain on a local economy, let alone a country or region. Even if you dont personally get sick, there's an impact.

[mike stenson]

Even if you dont personally get sick, there's an impact.

Already has been so far. I'm honestly hoping it doesn't help bring on a recession.

[Wade Lippman]

The death rate is approximated as 2%. Contrast that with typical flu of 0.1% and coronavirus is 20x worse death rate than the flu.

Ed: There are currently 81,714 confirmed cases worldwide, including 2,771 fatalities which equates to a 3.4% death rate

That is complete nonsense. It is everywhere; every country, every city.... Yet only 81,000 cases? It is obviously very contagious, but it seems to be infecting almost no one. When China said there were 4,000 cases, medical authorities in Hong Kong said the true number was 80,000. Nearly all were too mild to attract attention. Likewise, I am sure there are now a million or two. So 2700 fatalities is about the same as the flu.

[Jim Koepke]

The SXSW festival here in Texas was cancelled late today, at a reported cost of $250million to Austin in lost business. They made the right decision (after weeks of dithering.) That's _nothing_ compared to the economic cost of quarantining the whole city.

Large events like this filled with attendees from all over then returning home or traveling to other cities can become major vectors of illness.

Has anyone watched the movie Inferno?

That is complete nonsense. It is everywhere; every country, every city.... Yet only 81,000 cases? It is obviously very contagious, but it seems to be infecting almost no one. When China said there were 4,000 cases, medical authorities in Hong Kong said the true number was 80,000. Nearly all were too mild to attract attention. Likewise, I am sure there are now a million or two. So 2700 fatalities is about the same as the flu.

The numbers you quote from Pat's post are at least 4 days old. There have been many new cases reported since. Maybe if our testing comes online soon we will find more nonlethal cases to lower the percentage of fatality, maybe not.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

We go in to town usually at most a couple times a week. If more cases start showing up in our area, we may load up the fridge and freezer and stay home more.

jtk

[Roger Feeley]

Jim, good for you. Some might think that you are just looking out for #1 and that’s true. But you are also subtracting yourself from a pool of a possible vectors.

[mike stenson]

Eh, it's coming. Nothing can be done about that. Wash your hands, stay home if you're sick. Don't sneeze/cough into open air, etc etc. Be happy this isn't 100 years ago. FWIW, I regularly work with people in China, I've been concerned about this for them for a bit already and I'm honestly surprised it hasn't hit the US more heavily already.

[Doug Dawson]

Are you starting to worry about Coronavirus yet?

It only attacks the old and infirm, re mortality, so keep healthy and get over it. The really awful consequences historically were when these things took down otherwise vigorous young people.

Just say no to anyone offering you a taste of monkey meat, etc. That's where it started.

[William Chain]

It only attacks the old and infirm, re mortality, so keep healthy and get over it.

That is incorrect. A number of the dead were young healthy people. For example, the thirty something year old physician trying to treat patients in Wuhan.

[Pat Barry]

Misinformation is worse than no information, particularly about things like this where there is a clear lack of good information. The death rate may be significantly worse (or somewhat lower) than the 2% approximated and unfortunately it will take quite a long time (months) to know for sure.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Misinformation is worse than no information, particularly about things like this where there is a clear lack of good information. The death rate may be significantly worse (or somewhat lower) than the 2% approximated and unfortunately it will take quite a long time (months) to know for sure.

If you want to know if it will make you sick, just look at your 401K's value in the last two weeks

[greg Forster]

yup...I'm invested in a Chinese wealth management company (NOAH), dropped from $39 to $29 in a couple of weeks