“Also, it does appear to hit Asians harder.”
This might be true but it has not been scientifically established.
“It appears to be quite contagious, but it’s hard to say if it’s more contagious than any flu.”
The flu has a well established R0 of 1.3 and the *estimated* R0 for the corona virus is 6. Not 47, but well over that for the flu.
“Nobody knows a thing based on Chinese “statistics.” They lie about everything. Maybe they’re minimizing it, maybe they’re exaggerating it, who knows?”
They are probably way underreporting, given the other information out there and the illicit reports from inside Wuhan. One simple stat: based on reports of the activity at their crematoriums they have at least triple the normal body count and had to call in 40 extra industrial incinerators to deal with “medical waste”.
But you are right. Don’t panic. Prepare and be vigilant.
Exactly. Don’t panic. And panicking isn’t helpful to anybody individually and isn’t going to anything to help us. Be careful, go on with things, be vigilant.
I think the economic consequences might be severe...not because of the flu, but because of the panic. And as I asked elsewhere (no answers so far), who benefits from starting a panic?