# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/21 "2020-01-29T18:46:00Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > ETA: based on current information, the fatality rate is between two and three percent, which is multiple orders of magnitude higher than the fatality rate for seasonal influenza. But the flu is far more widespread, with the net result that it kills 12,000-60,000 people in any given year in the US. And traffic crashes kill another 40,000 (about half of whom WERE wearing their seatbelts). **KarlGauss** is right: anyone in the western world who is currently worried about coronavirus should be MUCH more worried about a lot of other things. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/22 "2020-01-29T18:51:37Z")
2, I guess. There will be a pandemic at some point. But the odds that this is it is probably low for now. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/23 "2020-01-29T18:55:36Z")
None. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/24 "2020-01-29T18:59:23Z")
People acting like the death toll is high, must have a distorted concept of the population of China. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/25 "2020-01-29T18:59:41Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > ETA: based on current information, the fatality rate is between two and three percent, which is multiple orders of magnitude higher than the fatality rate for seasonal influenza. But there’s a reason to doubt that number. The number of people infected is almost certainly much greater than what is being reported, both because people with minor symptoms aren’t going to the hospital, and because China probably isn’t reporting the most accurate numbers. That means the fatality rate is likely much lower than 2%, perhaps by a few orders of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/26 "2020-01-29T19:08:12Z")
Not at all. I’ve seen this movie before. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/27 "2020-01-29T19:23:16Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > If someone is concerned about this new virus, there is something they can do that will dramatically lessen their chance of getting sick or even dying. > > Get vaccinated against influenza! Wrong. A Coronavirus vaccine is still probably months away: [https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-vaccine-expected-in-phase-1-trial-within-months-who-to-reconvene-on-thursday-2020-01-29](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-vaccine-expected-in-phase-1-trial-within-months-who-to-reconvene-on-thursday-2020-01-29) ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/28 "2020-01-29T19:50:23Z")
Update: shortly after I commented, my son was diagnosed with influenza B. Goddammit. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/29 "2020-01-29T20:09:37Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > Wrong. A Coronavirus vaccine is still probably months away: > > [https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-vaccine-expected-in-phase-1-trial-within-months-who-to-reconvene-on-thursday-2020-01-29](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-vaccine-expected-in-phase-1-trial-within-months-who-to-reconvene-on-thursday-2020-01-29) I’m willing to bet he knows. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/30 "2020-01-29T20:10:46Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > Wrong. A Coronavirus vaccine is still probably months away Whoosh I agree with **KarlGauss** , who knows more about battling deadly viruses than anyone else on this board. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/31 "2020-01-29T20:13:03Z")
It’s a good reminder that I should be washing my hands more diligently. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/32 "2020-01-29T21:24:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I was a little concerned this weekend when I realized that I am ill-prepared for a prolonged illness. So I went to Target and bought a bunch of “sick people food”. It will also double as a “shelter in place” kit just in case the virus causes my city to shut down. > > I am not too concerned about it, though. Not because I have any doubts about the reports, but because I am the kind of person who only gets worried about stuff when the “stuff” is literally staring me at me in the face. I have a bunch of ‘sick food’ made and frozen from the whole cancer kerfluffle - rice congee, with chicken, with pork, with shrimp; barley stew with beef, with pork and with garlic sausage; rischert with pork and with sausage. I also tend to keep pantry staples around - dried legumes [split peas, white beans, kidney beans, lentils] rice [a particularly nice very long grain jasmine and a mochi] flour [wheat, oat, rye, barley] grains [barley, tebbouleh, buckwheat, hatamoshi] spices and herbs, and some fresh stuff [generally I always have potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and cabbage around] and a bunch of canned tomatoes, assorted boxes of pastas. We would be able to deal with no shopping for fresh for at least 3 or 4 weeks if we didn’t mind boring food =) > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I was extremely worried about SARS, and I still have part of the case of face masks I bought in case it came to my city. > > I’m only slightly worried about this one. I still have the face masks, after all. 😉 > > Mostly I’m less worried because the China and the international medical community seem to have successfully contained SARS and MERS. I’m shocked that they did that, but the evidence is pretty compelling. But I’m still a little worried. Something as communicable as the common cold that kills a large fraction of its victims seems like it could cause a massive pandemic, and even if I were to survive that, it would be pretty damn problematic to my life. I still have a double handful of masks left from the cancer thing - we even have a couple masks with both particulate and organic filters, and if I get seriously paranoid a scott air pack =) being industrial is handy sometimes > [@scr4](#): > > It’s a good reminder that I should be washing my hands more diligently. I got into the habit as a young adult [more because I am an inveterate eye rubber and I don’t want to smear chemicals into my eyes] but it is easy enough to manage. I carry soap leaves because I don’t like the smell of normal rest area soap, and have run into rest areas where they were out of soap [and one rest area in Nevada where they were out of water :eek: I used bottled water from the van] ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/33 "2020-01-29T21:43:52Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > People acting like the death toll is high, must have a distorted concept of the population of China. The death _rate_ is fairly high, not the death toll. Not sure that “we shouldn’t be concerned about new disease until it’s killed a significant portion of the most populous country’s population” is a super strong argument against alarm. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/34 "2020-01-29T22:34:20Z")
Here is a free article e-released by the New England Journal of Medicine today. There’s a lot of informative ‘facts’ buried within it. [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316) People over 60 who contract it are the ones coming to medical attention. Presumably younger folks who have it simply don’t get sick enough to seek it. Looks like the incubation period is usually less than a week (peaking around 3 days after exposure) but can be as long two weeks or so. According to the study, on average one person with the illness spreads it to 2.2 people. For SARS the figure was about 3. As noted in the text, until the number is less than 1.0, the ‘epidemic’ will continue. And not a lot of hospital workers seem to be getting it, again unlike SARS. Which is nice. ETA: For the less medically inclined, the tables and graphs, and the discussion section may still be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/35 "2020-01-29T22:43:28Z")
My alma mater has 6 exchange students who are from that area (none show any symptoms) and some teachers recently visited there [https://www.uwplatt.edu/news/update-coronavirus](https://www.uwplatt.edu/news/update-coronavirus) But not very concerned (0.5?) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/36 "2020-01-29T23:37:56Z")
On a scale of 0-10 I’m at a solid zero point nothing. But then, I’m pretty old and have led a rich, full life, so there’s that. In fact, I was just discussing with my wife that this might be a good time to take a tourist trip to China. I’ve spent long periods of time there on business, but other than a couple of long weekends in Shanghai and Beijing I spent all of my time on the job site. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/37 "2020-01-29T23:52:07Z")
Personally, not concerned at this time. Interested, yes - this has some potential to become a problem outside of Wuhan, but as noted up thread both SARS and MERS were contained and I expect this will be as well. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/38 "2020-01-30T00:07:36Z")
[Johns Hopkins Wuhan Coronavirus Tracker](https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6) as of 1/29/20, 6,165 confirmed cases world wide 133 deaths 126 recoveries 95 cases outside China, in 19 countries 6,070 cases in China with a population of 1.3+ billion Not worried, but I’m watching it ---
**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:** [January 30, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/39 "2020-01-30T03:13:30Z")
I am somewhat worried because 1. I lived in Shanghai during SARS 2. Company I work for has a factory in Wuhan with 15,000 people. No one has been confirmed. Some folks have a fever that are being monitored, and not able to track all the migrant line workers that went back home 3. My wife and mother in law are coming in a week That said, this doesn’t seem especially contagious. It’s a coronavirus as is the common cold. Does not seem overly deadly. Wash your hands and don’t rub your nose and eyes and it is highly unlikely to be spread person to person… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164/40 "2020-01-30T05:13:30Z")
Am I concerned about the people in the Wuhan area, as fellow citizens of Spaceship Earth? You bet. Am I worried about myself, or anyone else I know personally, or don’t know, in the U.S. getting it? No. I’m more worried about getting influenza despite being vaccinated, and that’s not a big concern right now for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-concerned-are-you-about-this-coronavirus/847164.md?page=3)