I first heard of a distant plague in early January and was somewhat concerned by mid-February but we didn’t take it seriously enough until late February after we visited an attraction (Monterey Bay Aquarium) drawing scads of international travelers. MrsRico picked up some respiratory infection and has suffered ever since but we’re not COVID symptomatic. Alas, it’s really been just a month - much of which had us snowbound and thus quarantined my Ms Nature.
What was funny (like “hmmm”…not “ha ha”) was a couple I am friends with in NYC was posting the usual “just big flu” and “X people die anyway” stuff" a few weeks ago. But then about the time our lockdown started in Hoboken, they were like “shit be crazy!” and headed off to their vacation home in the woods.
I took it seriously at the beginning because I figured if China’s govenment is announcing something that shows the government or the country in a bad light, it must be serious, damn serious.
The seriousness of it hit home when I returned to Beijing on 13 February. Having to get scanned at the departure airport and being required to show my mask to go through the security check and also to get onto the aircraft also indicated how serious this had gotten by that time. Also showing the seriousness was the fact that upon arrival in Beijing, there were very few people in the immigration queue, both in the foreigners section and the Chinese citizens section. Getting home required wearing a mask, having my temperature taken a few times, going on a bit of a road trip with the taxi owing to some of the communites on the way having walls around them with security guards stopping all who do not live there from entering. And of course having to complete forms for the local government.
The latest development (foreigners banned from coming to China) should show exactly how serious this is here.
Last week of January. I have a friend couple in Japan whom I was going to meet in Thailand and expressed concerns to them on chat about doing that. I just went back and read the chats. I ended up not meeting them partially because of that, and I’m glad I stayed home, though Thailand was quite safe until just recently.
About the same here. About then I read an article that had satellite shots of cargo ships anchored outside the Chinese ports. Realized then that China, Inc. was going to be out of business for a while. Added 1 jumbo pack of TP to the list for my wife’s next Costco run. Started looking for everything from China I might need by summer such as new wiper blades and made sure we could last that long. Expected it to at least cause a serious recession here so we slowly topped off the freezer over the next month. Refilled medicine cabinet too.
Same here. I would say around March 9 or so is when I really started to get concerned.
I have some money invested with Edelman’s financial services. They are pretty good at keeping their customers informed, kinda. Mostly they just want us to not worry our pretty little heads over things and send emails to reassure us that everything is wonderful and the market will rebound before anyone knows it. Until yesterday, the emails were signed by Ric Edelman, Founder. Today’s email came from his wife telling us to wash our hands.
The moment China announced a lockdown over more than half the population. China might be willing to sacrifice a single province for PR reasons but China wouldn’t hold a gun to the head of the entire economy unless the government knew something way more serious than it was letting on.
What’s been more surreal is how long everyone else has been totally complacent absent the few countries around China that went through SARS 1.0 (or MERS as is the case of South Korea). I’d lived in Mainland China before and was following the news closely so it’s been surprising and baffling to me how even basic measures that the Chinese took to suppress the virus were either outright dismissed in the West or even aren’t known about. Instead, the sum response of China has somehow been distilled down to “welding people into houses” and a total lack of curiosity of anything beyond that.
I also never anticipated the out and out suspicion of any news at all coming out of China being treated with a blanket dismissal of “Everyone knows the CCP lies”. If you think the CCP lies, shouldn’t you have been more freaked out by this than even the Chinese were? Shouldn’t you be even more curious about anything you can get out of China? Everyone knows the CCP lies about Xinjiang but the reaction to that has been to try and spread as much reliable news about Xinjiang out into the West as possible. Now the CCP is lying about the virus but the reaction is to not listen to anything anyone in China is trying to say?
I suspect some hindsight bias in this thread. From what I remember, very few people took this virus seriously before a couple weeks ago.
For me, it was when I heard that Italians were leaving old people to die, because their medical resources were that overrun. Before that tidbit of information, I and all the people I spoke to couldn’t understand why this virus was a big deal, because it didn’t seem any more deadly than a number of other health conditions out there. When I heard about Italy, and realized that what sets this disease apart is the transmission rate, rather than the symptoms, that’s when I understood why we were taking the precautionary measures we were, and why not doing so would create a healthcare crisis beyond anything I’ve experienced in my lifetime.
A few of you have mentioned March 11. That’s the day the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. It was either the WHO’s declaration that day or news from Italy around that time that made me think the problem wasn’t goiing away. It was coming our way.
Bottled water, small additions to canned goods, & the core of a bug-out bag, in late January.
I liked the folding knife so well, I have ordered a second.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WKQW3Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mid to Late February when things were starting to take off in Korea.
With Amazon’s $3 digital credit for slow delivery, it’s only like $5
According to my browser history, I became aware on January 25th and quickly determined (e.g. over the next week) that it was something to be aware of and serious about, even if it was unlikely to be a health risk for me, personally.
Since the first SARS outbreak. 
Actually, yes. I mentioned 3/9, but 3/11 is where it was for me. I remember I was working a candidates’ night for the primary and then, as the night went on, it was one thing after another. First, NBA postpones season, then Tom Hanks tests positive with COVID-19, and then … I don’t even remember. It just went to hell in a handbasket that night.
I had concerns in late February about using the airports. I started pretty strict social distancing on March 13, 2020.
One thing I find interesting is that here in Texas, at least, the panic shopping didn’t start till Friday 13th, when it exploded. I went to the store on the 11th and the TP was all but gone, but everything else was fine, and it wasn’t crowded. Friday it was a mob scene. Part of that was that the 11th was that terrible Oval Office talk, Tom Hanks, some other things, but I also think that part of it was that people were waiting to get paid: Friday was payday both for people who get paid every other Friday and people who get paid on the 15th, so it was a big payday. This seems to say a lot to me.