# How concerned are you about this Coronavirus? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 29, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164 "2020-01-29T15:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/362 "2020-03-02T02:51:37Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > And, I’m sure, it’s in Texas given the complete ineffectiveness of Cruz and Cornyn. Do you think there is something an “effective” politician could do to keep this from spreading to Texas or any other state? I don’t think it’s possible to prevent the spread based on how contagious it appears to be and the fact that it spreads when there are no symptoms and after symptoms are gone. Best you could do is slow it down. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/363 "2020-03-02T03:01:42Z")
Did you read the article? The CV patients were to be transferred to a better facility in AL than the current makeshift one @ Lackland AFB. Shelby, upon learning this, blocked the transfer. Cornyn and Cruz were ineffective in getting this block lifted (their staffs told me they were ‘working on it’ when I called Friday). The patients are still here and the CDC apparently released one (if not more) person prior to all the test results coming back. I’m stand by my statement. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/364 "2020-03-02T03:45:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That doesn’t explain non-smokers/non-vapers who have been made seriously ill by this virus. China has a massive smoking rate - especially among elderly males, who also are the main victims in Wuhan. Wuhan is also quite a polluted city. Heavy industry like Wuhan Iron and Steel, and automotive industry. It cannot be helpful to be breathing polluted air and getting a coronavirus lung infection. Jus’ sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/365 "2020-03-02T03:49:59Z")
I’m now concerned enough that today I started wearing a mask at work. I just started a gig that will have about 130,000 attendees from all over the world and I figured hey, better safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/366 "2020-03-02T04:18:50Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > I am also baffled by how the combined efforts of the entire world’s epidemiological experts can’t “find a denominator” to calculate a good estimate of the death rate in any population. And in a similar vein, I am baffled by the shortage of test kits, and their unreliability, given how billions of dollars are being thrown at this particular virus. Now that it has been reported in dogs, I suspect it has been spreading via animals all along, so the quarantines weren’t really trapping it. So on the bright side, I am optimistic the denominators of the rates in various populations actually should be much larger, and thus the death rate a lot smaller than the doom and gloomers fear. One thing I think we can be sure is NOT happening: people are not collapsing all over the streets in the countries it is newly popping up in, like some reports said was happening in Wuhan not too long ago. So either those reports were hoaxes, or the virus has already mutated to be LESS serious, or there was something else going on. In two threads in General Questions, I argued China has a concurrent epidemic of “vape lung”: > [2019–2020 vaping lung illness outbreak - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_vaping_lung_illness_outbreak) > Wikipedia says a vape lung epidemic is almost exclusively happening in the USA, but given that the vape hardware and dangerous vape additives are made in China: > [Journey of a Tainted Vape Cartridge: A Leafly Investigation](https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/vape-pen-injury-supply-chain-investigation-leafly) > I think people had/have vape lung in China too. So I hope the world doesn’t have a monster virus, but instead what we saw was a typical coronavirus hit people with the new “vape lung” condition during flu season, making Chinese doctors search for the cause of an upspike in pneumonia, and they just singled out a not so harmful virus. SInce the current narrative is that we are all doomed, I have nothing to lose by hoping my guess is true, and the added optimism will boost my immune system, and then if it really is a monster virus, I have a better chance of surviving. Also the air pollution in Wuhan and other Chinese cities is terrible. Far worse than anywhere in the US. Another thing is the fact that most men in China smoke cigarettes like crazy. All told there are 350 million Chinese smokers. Sixty percent of DOCTORS smoke in China! With these two factors, its no wonder a flu sickness is killing large numbers in China. The death rate in China cannot be used to predict what the death rate will be in the US if this flu spreads. ---
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/367 "2020-03-02T04:25:39Z")
I am concerned enough about the new coronovirus that I researched it a ton and has been following the news intensively since late January 2020. I am more concerned about the consequences of the virus, such as closing the universities and schools, recession in economy, or people losing their jobs. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/368 "2020-03-02T04:52:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > …Again - I think a lot of people are nervous and want to DO SOMETHING. If buying cans of food, more toilet paper, and wipes makes them feel better well, there are far worse they could be doing. Yeah, I bought a month’s worth of dried rice and beans. I doubt we’ll need it. But it makes me feel like I’m doing something, and what’s the worst that could come of that? Maybe rodents in the basement? And we’ll probably eat the rice and bean eventually. > [@monstro](#): > > I’m skeptical that we’d ever be told that the Pope tested positive for it. Because I agree with **Snowboarder Bo** that a lot of people will lose their heads if he’s infected. Especially if he falls seriously ill. Huh, that seems off to me. He’s old. Popes die. > [@monstro](#): > > He isn’t special to me. But if he dies from COVID-19, Imma have a hard time surpressing the thought “The shit is getting real now.” > > Celebrity deaths, regardless of age, tend to have that kind of effect on people. Okay, that makes sense. It already IS real to me, but I suppose it will feel more real to a lot of people if they “know” someone who has it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/369 "2020-03-02T04:53:50Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > My wife and in-laws are really starting to piss me off now because they are in full-blown irrational panic mode. They believe every stupid conspiracy theory their friends forward them on Weibo and WeChat. My MIL in particular has been crying off-and-on since Thursday. I won’t run down all the CTs, but the last they told me was that there are actually 18,000 deaths in the U.S. that the government is covering up to make China look bad. > > We have a huge pile of crap in our living room now, and they buy more every day. A couple of months worth of stuff easy, and they seem to be expecting total societal collapse. We have 14 5-lb. bags of flour and I asked what the hell are we going to do with all that, and they said it’s for trading. Oh yeah, another CT they mentioned is that the CDC was supposed to make an announcement over the weekend, and after that all of the supermarkets will be cleared bare by Monday and you won’t be able to buy anything. Oh, wow. I’m sorry. Best wishes dealing with them. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/370 "2020-03-02T06:32:31Z")
Panic buying has hit my suburb suddenly. No tissues, no toilet paper, no rice, flour, oil, or pasta to be had. It’s a bit crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/371 "2020-03-02T07:44:09Z")
In the Bay Area we already have earthquake supplies, so we should be good. So long as the electricity and water and internet don’t go out, we can handle a quarantine, no problem. In fact I have a colonoscopy coming up Thursday, so can you make it quick, guys? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/372 "2020-03-02T07:50:34Z")
I’m in Southern California and hit up three different supermarkets in the past week just buying random stuff, half part of my normal routine and other half just buying several gallons of water and a couple dozen cans of soup just to be safe. Not really seeing any panic buying even in toilet paper. However all hand sanitizer is gone, bottled water is all gone (but everything else from liter bottles to the 2 gallon jugs are all fully stocked), and for some reason the cheap hot dogs were all gone (the ones you get for under $1 an 8 pack) but every other brand of hot dog was still there. Guess nobody wanted to pay the extra 50 cents for Oscar Meyer. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/373 "2020-03-02T10:08:05Z")
As usual I’m much more concerned about what people will do in reaction to a thing that the thing itself. Specially when the news industry sets on a fear mongering narrative. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > China has a massive smoking rate - especially among elderly males, who also are the main victims in Wuhan. > > Wuhan is also quite a polluted city. Heavy industry like Wuhan Iron and Steel, and automotive industry. It cannot be helpful to be breathing polluted air and getting a coronavirus lung infection. Jus’ sayin’ Another factor, I think, is that the Chinese government promotes the use of traditional Chinese “medicine”, as opposed to actual medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/374 "2020-03-02T12:59:53Z")
Seemed like a good time to reorganize the disaster that was our pantry and stock it with some useful supplies. A few extra boxes of pasta, cereal, some beans. While I’m not expecting pandemic disaster, it IS possible that there will be a quarantine or other restriction of movement, and may as well have a few meals socked away. I’m not sure what the hoarding of water is for, unless people just really have undrinkable water. If coronavirus gets bad enough that water stops flowing, we are well and truly screwed. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/375 "2020-03-02T13:54:18Z")
There’s 8,000 foreign students from Asia in my little geographically isolated town. The majority of those students are from the PRC. Spring break begins March 28 and ends April 6. If a lot of those students head home for break, I’m hoping they don’t bring anything back. There’s a lot of town/gown mixing. Many international students shop at Wegmans, which is packed from 8 AM to 10 PM daily. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/376 "2020-03-02T14:12:20Z")
I had been planning to travel to Vegas for a few days at the end of the month. Now I am thinking I won’t go anywhere crowded/international until all this blows over. I know that is exactly the kind of thing that dents the economy, but I don’t want to catch it, and I would really hate to spread it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/377 "2020-03-02T14:15:19Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m not sure what the hoarding of water is for, unless people just really have undrinkable water. If coronavirus gets bad enough that water stops flowing, we are well and truly screwed. For me, it’s about general emergency preparedness. I used some of mine during a water main break about a year and a half ago that affected the building I live in. So while I was doing inventory on what I had set aside it just made sense to check the emergency water and rotate out what was getting old. I don’t expect the power to go out, either, but I also checked my battery/emergency lighting supply for similar reasons. Because a bad storm could (and has) left me without power for hours to days. And since I work at a grocery store I’m still expected to get to work on time whether my residence has power or not because regardless people will be at the store wanting to buy stuff. I’m also planning to replace the windshield wipers on both my vehicles in the next couple days because it’s time to do so - although in that case I already have spares ready to go. And while I’m doing that I’ll be checking on my supply of stuff like washer fluid and stuff because why not, I’m looking at the machinery anyway. If you keep up with stuff like that when an emergency or crisis comes up you’ll likely have most or all of what you need already so you don’t have to panic buy or purchase a lot of stuff all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/378 "2020-03-02T14:23:33Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I had been planning to travel to Vegas for a few days at the end of the month. Now I am thinking I won’t go anywhere crowded/international until all this blows over. I know that is exactly the kind of thing that dents the economy, but I don’t want to catch it, and I would really hate to spread it. I think less thought should be devoted to protecting the economy and more to protecting actual people. YOU do what keeps YOU safe. Followed by doing what keeps the people (if any) you are responsible for safe. The economy will recover regardless of what you do or do not do. So don’t worry about the economy until after you have taken care of yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/379 "2020-03-02T15:06:21Z")
Some people appear to not get what I am saying about vape lung. I am NOT saying: if you don’t have vape lung you are immune from the coronavirus. I am saying the coronavirus is out there, along with a bunch of other infectious agents. Someone without vape lung could have considerable trouble fighting off the coronavirus, and could have trouble with other infectious agents too. Viruses have been around and killing some people for all of human history. Without advanced antiviral medicine and other medical interventions like breathing tubes, it is a matter of how strong your immune system is, and in this case how healthy your lungs are. What we are talking about is how dangerous is this particular virus. My guess is it is a typical virus singled out when Chinese doctors started seeing too many pneumonia cases when the flu season started. I suspect they were seeing too many pneumonia cases because they have an epidemic of vape lung, just like the USA (see the wikipedia article I cited in another post). Given that the vape hardware and the dangerous additives are manufactured in China (citation in another post), you would expect a vape lung epidemic there too. The wikipedia article says it is almost exclusively a USA epidemic, which suggests to me the Chinese vape lung problems are being incorrectly attributed. The alternative is that the Chinese are manufacturing these things and none of it makes it to the local markets, which I think would be odd. Another way to look at it: what if there were two different viruses, one a “monster virus” and the other “run of the mill”. What if the world has been focused on the “run of the mill virus” and the “monster virus” is also going around too? This would be the same sort of problem: thinking you have definitively nailed down the cause of the pneumonia spike, but really blaming the wrong cause. (Also I noticed someone misattributed a local shortage post to me above, no big deal.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/380 "2020-03-02T16:11:59Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > Some people appear to not get what I am saying about vape lung. I am NOT saying: if you don’t have vape lung you are immune from the coronavirus. I am saying the coronavirus is out there, along with a bunch of other infectious agents. Someone without vape lung could have considerable trouble fighting off the coronavirus, and could have trouble with other infectious agents too. Viruses have been around and killing some people for all of human history. Without advanced antiviral medicine and other medical interventions like breathing tubes, it is a matter of how strong your immune system is, and in this case how healthy your lungs are. What we are talking about is how dangerous is this particular virus. My guess is it is a typical virus singled out when Chinese doctors started seeing too many pneumonia cases when the flu season started. If “vape lung” is the problem then why aren’t we seeing an equal number of problems with people who vape and also have flu, or colds, or other infections? Do you think no one asked Chinese people about their smoking and vaping habits? Also keep in mind that people in the US have social and even legal pressure to vape due to restrictions on smoking, regulations that, last I heard, do not exist in China. So smokers in China have zero reason to move to vaping because they can still smoke everywhere. That’s where this theory of yours falls down. People are dying places where vaping is not a big thing, where people are still smoking rather than vaping. I’m sorry you have trouble understanding that there really is a new virus on the loose that, while not the zombie apocalypse, really does seem to be more hazardous than the typical flu. But that is the case. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/381 "2020-03-02T16:14:51Z")
Another alternative is under-reporting by some countries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164.md?page=20)