I’m listening.
No one I’ve come across in LA has encountered a victim of any variant of the flu. Or anywhere else I’ve been the past few months. This doesn’t mean anything apart from what it says.
If one in fifteen will lose their lives in Italy, there are many ways of reading this.
In your view, how concerned should we be? Those of us native to the country; those who’ve taken early refuge here like my friends?
Because I’ve been trying to calm everyone with word this is all over-blown. Based on the best information I had at the time.
It’s not overblown. COVID-19 is here (posting from Orange County).
So far in the US we have few cases, but we clearly have community spread.
In Italy they were caught napping and now it is a disaster. I suspect their death toll will overtake China’s within a week. And that’s after they belatedly took drastic action to contain the virus.
So 1 in 15 of all Italians aren’t going to die, but in the most affected area, they have 1 in 15 infected dying because they lost control and it blew up their HCS. That 1 in 15 doesn’t include collateral damage, either.
If you did basic prep you ought to be fine. A couple of weeks binge watching your favorite show or reading or catching up on (inside) chores is hopefully the worst you’ll have to face. There will be hotspots here and there but with the country effectively on a war (and this is war, albeit against a nonhuman adversary) footing, outbreaks should be squelched without too much disruption.
Most people will be fine. The danger is primarily in the potential to overwhelm the HCS. Social distancing, being prepared, those are the most effective tactics and everybody can do them.