[fullmetal]

I did read the Ro figure as greater than 2 in a couple places online.  You may presume that 15-16 Chinese cities (45 million people) would not have been quarantined (essentially martial law for 3+ weeks now) if the Ro were not truly worrisome.  (Think about that scale.)  The Chinese govt is taking this extremely seriously.  It's very hard to contain a disease where contagious carriers don't know they're infected until 2-14 days after initial infection.


The reported mortality rates mean that you as an individual probably have a decent chance of survival, but applied to entire populations, the implications are not good.  Modern society, and the economy, can't handle large numbers of the population out of commission with the illness even if they do survive.  What we do in response to this virus is to protect all of us and not just ourselves as individuals.

[fullmetal]

I did read the Ro figure as greater than 2 in a couple places online.  You may presume that 15-16 Chinese cities (45 million people) would not have been quarantined (essentially martial law for 3+ weeks now) if the Ro were not truly worrisome.  (Think about that scale.)  The Chinese govt is taking this extremely seriously.  It's very hard to contain a disease where contagious carriers don't know they're infected until 2-14 days after initial infection.


The reported mortality rates mean that you as an individual probably have a decent chance of survival, but applied to entire populations, the implications are not good.  Modern society, and the economy, can't handle large numbers of the population out of commission with the illness even if they do survive.  What we do in response to this virus is to protect all of us and not just ourselves as individuals.