Coronavirus Hype

[I-5]

Where is everyone on this topic? I have to admit I'm a bit all over the place. One day I think it's doom and gloom, then the next day I think how is it that different than influenza since the mortality rate is around 1-2% - despite the stigma? My coworker said he read that eventually, 40-70% of the world will get it according to the CDC.

The biggest difference that I see is how the public, WHO, media, stock markets, and gov't reacts to it. To me, the reaction is as scary as the disease, but I could totally change my mind tomorrow.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/25/cdc-says-americans-should-brace-significant-disruptions-amid-warnings-coronavirus

[RiverDog]

I'm retired and we do very little traveling, so I'm not worried about it at all. But my daughter is a charge nurse at an immediate care facility in Spokane, and those folks are on the front lines as sick people usually come to them first and they're very much at risk of contracting a communicable disease like the coronavirus. Indeed, the hospital that's in the same network as she works for (Sacred Heart) has two cases of coronavirus from people that returned from the cruise ship.

I've heard for a long time that the bigger threat to the human species isn't nuclear war or global warming, that if something takes down the human race, it will be some type of highly communicable disease. But the biggest threat at this point is an economic one as we saw yesterday with the giant sell off on Wall Street.

[I-5]

I agree with you on the biggest threat. We've all heard the conspiracy theories about the virus being developed/leaked from a bio lab. I don't necessarly give credence to conspiracies, but I would fully expect that China, Russia and even the US or studying biological warfare, and that this is something they have already considered.

[RiverDog]

I agree with you on the biggest threat. We've all heard the conspiracy theories about the virus being developed/leaked from a bio lab. I don't necessarly give credence to conspiracies, but I would fully expect that China, Russia and even the US or studying biological warfare, and that this is something they have already considered.

I wasn't thinking along the lines of biological warfare, more like something on the order of an innocent spreading of something similar to the coronavirus but much more lethal. Sort of like the Andromeda Strain.

The coronavirus doesn't match the hype of the AIDS scare when it first appeared back in the late 70's-early 80's when people were afraid to receive blood transfusions.

[I-5]

I think people are more scared of this virus than of AIDS, because literally anyone can get this virus it seems, just by being near someone who may or may not even know they're infected. It's the uncertainty that is scary.

[RiverDog]

I think people are more scared of this virus than of AIDS, because literally anyone can get this virus it seems, just by being near someone who may or may not even know they're infected. It's the uncertainty that is scary.

One of the things that was scary about AIDS was unprotected sex. Ever since the pill became readily available in the 60's, people quit worrying about protecting themselves until the AIDS scare in the late 70's/early 80's. It had a huge psychological effect on society. Magic Johnson's announcement shook up a lot of people. I haven't seen anything like that out of coronavirus, at least not yet.

[Aseahawkfan]

From what I read the Coronavirus is another cold type virus, a respiratory infection. It has a lower death rate than the flu, but a very high communicability making it likely a bunch of people will get it which will likely push up the death total just due to sheer volume. It isn't contained well, so it should spread. I don't think it will be the catastrophe the press is pushing.

On an economic note, the markets are getting hammered by coronavirus fears. I picked up some stocks at a lower price. If the market keeps dropping due to the coronavirus, I plan to pick up more discounted stocks.

I think the fear is overblown. As is usual, we will see how it plays out. The vast majority of the public translates this as "Oh no, we might die from a plague." For those of us able to see the probabilities and understand the science know coronaviruses are fairly common. It's a respiratory infection. It has a low death rate overall. It's the high rate infection and the possible spread that is most concerning.

At the moment I'm not overly concerned, but I am watching. I'm putting my money out there thinking it will be a short-term downside risk on the economy that will prove to be not nearly as bad as advertised once it plays out. Coronaviruses are common and the human immune system can handle them. We should be fine.

[I-5]

I agree it might be a good time to buy stocks. Interesting to see how it spreads and/or fades. Hoping the latter.

[idhawkman]

Personally I'm not worried for myself or family but I'm terrified for my dad who is now 86. Just like the flu, mortality is high among the frail and weak ( elderly).

When I get the slightest sign of cold or flu I climb in my dry sauna for an hour at 137 degrees. I haven't had a cold or flu in many years and honestly can't remember the last time I was sick. Just cooks the virus right out of you.

[Aseahawkfan]

Personally I'm not worried for myself or family but I'm terrified for my dad who is now 86. Just like the flu, mortality is high among the frail and weak ( elderly).

When I get the slightest sign of cold or flu I climb in my dry sauna for an hour at 137 degrees. I haven't had a cold or flu in many years and honestly can't remember the last time I was sick. Just cooks the virus right out of you.

Seems like that would work. It's basically using an external source to give yourself a fever as the body does to burn infection out of your system. Viruses don't seem like to increased heat.

Yeah. My elderly parents are more concerning.

[I-5]

We didn’t have a sauna when i was a kid, but my mom used to pile heavy blankets on us when we got sick. Even in summer. It was uncomfortable and hot as hell, but eventually i would start sweating and the fever would break. I guess she knew.

[idhawkman]

We didn’t have a sauna when i was a kid, but my mom used to pile heavy blankets on us when we got sick. Even in summer. It was uncomfortable and hot as hell, but eventually i would start sweating and the fever would break. I guess she knew.

I think many cultures have figured this out over the years. I like your mom's method - I could see myself burrowing down in a bunch of blankets like that.

I got my idea from the American Indian culture when they had sweat lodges.

[RiverDog]

So now the NCAA is prohibiting fans from attending their men's and women's basketball tournaments:

The NCAA made the unprecedented decision Wednesday to hold its men's and women's basketball tournaments without fans because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... nt-go-fans

It might be about time for several of us to admit that we've been underestimating the threat. I'm pretty sure I have.

[c_hawkbob]

Yeah this damn hoax is getting outta hand ain't it?

[I-5]

Yeah this damn hoax is getting outta hand ain't it?

Yup. I assume people here have seen the article below. This is the most thorough writing I've seen on the real potential of this pandemic, and it's alarming. Basically, Washington State is Wuhan, except it could be worse if they don't take similar action as China did.

Quick takeaways:

"The coronavirus is coming to you. It’s coming at an exponential speed: gradually, and then suddenly. It’s a matter of days. Maybe a week or two. When it does, your healthcare system will be overwhelmed. Your fellow citizens will be treated in the hallways. Exhausted healthcare workers will break down. Some will die. They will have to decide which patient gets the oxygen and which one dies."

Sounds like a horror movie, except this sounds exactly like what is happening in Italy right now, from firsthand reports I've read.

"Washington state has today 22 deaths. With that quick calculation, you get ~16,000 true coronavirus cases today. As many as the official cases in Italy and Iran combined.
If we look into the detail, we realize that 19 of these deaths were from one cluster, which might not have spread the virus widely. So if we consider those 19 deaths as one, the total deaths in the state is four. Updating the model with that number, we still get ~3,000 cases today."

Scary, but based on stats, this crazy number has to be closer to the truth than the 'offical' case count based on the casualty rate.

You can read the full article for yourself (warning, it's a long read), but there is some hope of at least slowing it down if severe measures are taken. I don't even want to imagine what happens if it completely gets out of hand in Washington, which it very well can as early as next week.


https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

[RiverDog]

That's a good article, I-5. Although I'm not sure about their math, the basic concept is the same as I've heard repeated for the past several days: The object is to buy time, to flatten the curve and spread the cases over a longer period of time.

For me personally, my wife and I are pretty much living in isolation anyway, especially this time of the year. The biggest crowd of people I encounter is in my weekly trip to two big box stores for groceries and household supplies.

Wall Street had another big hit of 8-9%. It's down 20% from its high a few weeks ago. IMO that's a bigger threat than the virus itself, if it pushes the global economy into a recession.

[Aseahawkfan]

Yeah this damn hoax is getting outta hand ain't it?

Did some web site you go to make the corona virus out to be a hoax?

[Aseahawkfan]

i still believe a lot of people have had the corona virus before it blew up in China and caused a cluster of deaths in Washington. I think it's been going around for a while before they were testing. 80% of cases are mild or asymptomatic, which would have caused a lot of people either to not go to the doctor or sleep it off at home. 20% are fall into the other category, which prior to testing would have likely have been accounted for as flu deaths. Then COVID19 was diagnosed and the world went insane. We'll see if it helps.

It will be interesting to see if the measures taken for a world spreading disease can be contained using the current measures. I imagine they will be collecting a ton of data.

I'm still not seeing the reason for the hype. Just lots of maybes, mights, and the like. Now people are getting tested and diagnosed if they get sick, when people were getting sick for a while with similar symptoms that were attributed to other sicknesses. I had quite a few people where I work with symptoms much like the corona virus. One person had a serious sore throat and went to the doctor because it would not go away. They did a quick check on her and then sent her home to rest. This person rarely gets sick. They recovered in a week and didn't miss much work. A bunch of people had fevers and runny noses and the like, never got tested for this virus. It was all chocked up to the flu.

Even I had a sickness that did not act like the usual flu or cold I get with a serious running nose. This was months before Covid19 became a serious threat. I spent a week coughing up mucus rather than blowing it out like I usually do. I told myself this is something different, oh well, rest it off and spit it out.

Now they are diagnosing and tracking it causing a major panic on a worldwide scale with all types of experts talking about the possibilities scaring people. For the sake of the elderly this will hopefully help, but man, this sure seems blown way out of proportion to what it is. Even their own data indicates most cases are mild which is why the are likely not even diagnosed given mild conditions usually don't precipitate a doctor's visit.

Hopefully we'll see in the next few months at most how this plays out. All I know right now is people are acting like this is a death sentence. I have to calm some of my co-workers and explain the science behind it because some of them literally believe that getting COVID19 means they are going to die. It's pretty unhelpful the way the mass media can induce this level of panic.

These are experts at John Hopkins providing more science than hype:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnk8DuAly9Y

John Hopkins built a dashboard to track the corona virus movement. Probably the best web site to track it.

[Hawktawk]

I think we may want to look at what's going on in Italy right now before dismissing this thing as overblown. Deaths are spiking by a third every day, pushing hospitals to the breaking point. people are being intubated in hallways, health care workers are infected and still playing god deciding who to treat and who to let die. Washington state is ground zero, Americas wuhan province. Just the sheer devastation in that one rest home tells me what i need to know as a 60 year old with so so lungs. Its gonna suck for a while.

[I-5]

HT, I think everyone here agrees it's not overblown at this point. At least I'd like to think so.

I've read some of the guidelines that doctors in Lombardy are using to decide who to help. Basically, if you're old or have underlying issues, you'll probably be left to die. I've read multiple articles that predict this will be happening in the US as early as 2 weeks from now.

[Aseahawkfan]

I see now. Fox News Hannity calling it a hoax and some like him. It's pretty clear this isn't a hoax. Overblown, but not a hoax. It's scaring a lot of people, especially younger people that have never been in something like this. Older folks definitely need to be worried as it is hammering them.

That's why I don't watch Fox News, especially talking heads like Hannity. They are dumb. There's too much bad hype, then there are the idiots calling it a hoax. The extreme on both ends.

[Aseahawkfan]

I think we may want to look at what's going on in Italy right now before dismissing this thing as overblown. Deaths are spiking by a third every day, pushing hospitals to the breaking point. people are being intubated in hallways, health care workers are infected and still playing god deciding who to treat and who to let die. Washington state is ground zero, Americas wuhan province. Just the sheer devastation in that one rest home tells me what i need to know as a 60 year old with so so lungs. Its gonna suck for a while.

I'm not sure what's going on in Italy. They aren't a first world nation, but not a third world nation. I wonder if they have a lot of very old or unhealthy people due to something else. I know they are one of the blue zones where there are a large number of very old people due to their diet. They seem overwhelmed. I think the United States will handle it much better, but we will see.

The worst part of the sickness here in Washington is somehow it got into several care centers taking care of a lot of old folks with medical problems. That is the literally the worst place for this virus to go. Older folks get hit hardest to start with, but old folks with existing medical conditions compounds the problem.

[RiverDog]

That's why I don't watch Fox News, especially talking heads like Hannity. They are dumb. There's too much bad hype, then there are the idiots calling it a hoax. The extreme on both ends.

I'll watch Fox News as often as I do the liberal side, ie MSNBC and CNN, but not Hannity or Watters. Those guys are idiots.

While I think I've underestimated the threat, I do think a lot of people's reaction is way over the top. I mean, why is Costco having a run on toilet paper for crissakes?

[RiverDog]

I think we may want to look at what's going on in Italy right now before dismissing this thing as overblown. Deaths are spiking by a third every day, pushing hospitals to the breaking point. people are being intubated in hallways, health care workers are infected and still playing god deciding who to treat and who to let die. Washington state is ground zero, Americas wuhan province. Just the sheer devastation in that one rest home tells me what i need to know as a 60 year old with so so lungs. Its gonna suck for a while.

I'm not sure what's going on in Italy. They aren't a first world nation, but not a third world nation. I wonder if they have a lot of very old or unhealthy people due to something else. I know they are one of the blue zones where there are a large number of very old people due to their diet. They seem overwhelmed. I think the United States will handle it much better, but we will see.

From what I've read, they suspect that the virus has been circulating in Italy for quite some time. Plus they have one of the oldest populations in the world and they are tourist-heavy, ranked 5th in the world.

[Aseahawkfan]

From what I've read, they suspect that the virus has been circulating in Italy for quite some time. Plus they have one of the oldest populations in the world and they are tourist-heavy, ranked 5th in the world.

I figured something would increase their risk. And I believe it's been circulating for a while now too. It's likely been circulating here a while too. One story I read from a 37 year old lady is she got it at a party. The doctor sent her home to self-care without testing. She had to go back and ask for a test before they gave it to her. She used over the counter flu medications and rested. She was fine. I'd bet there are three or four cases, mostly recovered for every one case tested and reported.

[RiverDog]

I figured something would increase their risk. And I believe it's been circulating for a while now too. It's likely been circulating here a while too. One story I read from a 37 year old lady is she got it at a party. The doctor sent her home to self-care without testing. She had to go back and ask for a test before they gave it to her. She used over the counter flu medications and rested. She was fine. I'd bet there are three or four cases, mostly recovered for every one case tested and reported.

The good news is that the new cases in China are going down, so the lockdowns and social distancing steps are working there and should work here as well. Also, if this virus is anything like flu viruses, the warmer, drier weather will make transmission much more difficult. The virus is relatively easy to kill, with about 60-70% alcohol needed to do the trick.

If nothing else, this episode will teach us all a lesson, including this old man that sometimes thinks he knows everything.

[Aseahawkfan]

The good news is that the new cases in China are going down, so the lockdowns and social distancing steps are working there and should work here as well. Also, if this virus is anything like flu viruses, the warmer, drier weather will make transmission much more difficult. The virus is relatively easy to kill, with about 60-70% alcohol needed to do the trick.

If nothing else, this episode will teach us all a lesson, including this old man that sometimes thinks he knows everything.

We deal with unknown viruses every year. If all that happened was known viruses, we would never get sick again. This one just happens to stand out for its virulence. For all the mild new sicknesses that come out every year, they don't test and don't bother hyping up this kind of panic. I really have no idea why this one blew up so big other than it was big in China and the government always has to appear like it's over-reacting or they get hammered.

To a much lesser extent I liken it to snow in Seattle. We had snow one year that was bad, Seattle wasn't prepared and things got bad. So the next time they over-reacted and the snow as mild, they ended up selling the snow plows they bought in preparation for terrible snow. Right now we're over-reacting to make sure it doesn't get bad and hopefully we'll be better prepared next time.

[c_hawkbob]

Rudy Gobert thought he was being cute, now it looks like he's going to be the face of what not to do (if not outright blamed for shutting down the NBA and getting his own team's franchise player sick).

He got it in his head that the whole Corona virus thing was overblown or some big joke and went around the Jazz locker room touching all the other players and their things in their lockers, as well as jokingly going back after finishing his interview at the press table and touching every mike, cellphone and recorder on it as the NBA was encouraging precautions ...

Two days later he tests positive for Covid 19 and the sports world shuts down.

Good going Rudy.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/205 ... oronavirus

[RiverDog]

Someone once asked me what it's like living in an area with a lot of Trump supporters. Here's a copy and paste from one of my Facebook friend's post from 6 hours ago:

Stop the Madness, you f*****g liberals are doing all you can to shut down America, all you are doing is pushing the country into a recession and putting thousands of good Americans out of work, Please Mr. President shut down all media reporting on the virus this must stop.

[Hawktawk]

https://www.the-sun.com/news/528592/pre ... ike-pence/ Wouldnt that be ironic
A second NBA player from a different team has tested positive as well.

[c_hawkbob]

Someone once asked me what it's like living in an area with a lot of Trump supporters. Here's a copy and paste from one of my Facebook friend's post from 6 hours ago:

Stop the Madness, you f*****g liberals are doing all you can to shut down America, all you are doing is pushing the country into a recession and putting thousands of good Americans out of work, Please Mr. President shut down all media reporting on the virus this must stop.

Jeebus.

[Aseahawkfan]

Someone once asked me what it's like living in an area with a lot of Trump supporters. Here's a copy and paste from one of my Facebook friend's post from 6 hours ago:

Stop the Madness, you f*****g liberals are doing all you can to shut down America, all you are doing is pushing the country into a recession and putting thousands of good Americans out of work, Please Mr. President shut down all media reporting on the virus this must stop.

That's crazy. I would like to hear IDhawkman's take on this, see if he thinks it's some kind of hoax or attack on Trump.

[Aseahawkfan]

Rudy Gobert thought he was being cute, now it looks like he's going to be the face of what not to do (if not outright blamed for shutting down the NBA and getting his own team's franchise player sick).

He got it in his head that the whole Corona virus thing was overblown or some big joke and went around the Jazz locker room touching all the other players and their things in their lockers, as well as jokingly going back after finishing his interview at the press table and touching every mike, cellphone and recorder on it as the NBA was encouraging precautions ...

Two days later he tests positive for Covid 19 and the sports world shuts down.

Good going Rudy.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/205 ... oronavirus

What I want to see is how sick he gets. Send a message that it isn't near as bad as people are making it out to be. When I have some of my people coming to me thinking getting corona is a death sentence, the messaging is terrible.

As the cases build, we're down to a 3 out of every 1000 people at risk of death. That is likely still too high given how many cases likely exist but haven't been tested for.

[RiverDog]

Rudy Gobert thought he was being cute, now it looks like he's going to be the face of what not to do (if not outright blamed for shutting down the NBA and getting his own team's franchise player sick).

He got it in his head that the whole Corona virus thing was overblown or some big joke and went around the Jazz locker room touching all the other players and their things in their lockers, as well as jokingly going back after finishing his interview at the press table and touching every mike, cellphone and recorder on it as the NBA was encouraging precautions ...

Two days later he tests positive for Covid 19 and the sports world shuts down.

Good going Rudy.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/205 ... oronavirus

What I want to see is how sick he gets. Send a message that it isn't near as bad as people are making it out to be. When I have some of my people coming to me thinking getting corona is a death sentence, the messaging is terrible.

As the cases build, we're down to a 3 out of every 1000 people at risk of death. That is likely still too high given how many cases likely exist but haven't been tested for.

A professional basketball player that's in Olympic type fitness isn't a good bell weather for how this virus could potentially affect the general population.

I don't care if he gets deathly ill or stays healthy with zero symptoms. What he did was ignorant and irresponsible. If this story is true, the team and/or the league needs to take disciplinary action.

[RiverDog]

Someone once asked me what it's like living in an area with a lot of Trump supporters. Here's a copy and paste from one of my Facebook friend's post from 6 hours ago:

Stop the Madness, you f*****g liberals are doing all you can to shut down America, all you are doing is pushing the country into a recession and putting thousands of good Americans out of work, Please Mr. President shut down all media reporting on the virus this must stop.

Jeebus.

That's crazy. I would like to hear IDhawkman's take on this, see if he thinks it's some kind of hoax or attack on Trump.

I saw that as I was surfing back and forth between my Facebook page and this forum. I thought that you guys would be as impressed with it as I was.

What Trump needs to be doing is getting on his Twitter feed and telling his base that this is no hoax, to listen to the experts and to put your faith in science and medicine. He needs to lead.

And yes, I, too, would be interested in what our friend Idahawkman has to say about this crisis.

[Aseahawkfan]

A professional basketball player that's in Olympic type fitness isn't a good bell weather for how this virus could potentially affect the general population.

I don't care if he gets deathly ill or stays healthy with zero symptoms. What he did was ignorant and irresponsible. If this story is true, the team and/or the league needs to take disciplinary action.

It would still provide some people with relief to know that some of these public figures that are getting sick have mild symptoms and quickly recover. As I stated some people are thinking getting the corona virus is a death sentence and are increasing their stress and hurting their immune systems due to the fear-mongering. Rather than continuing to push the number of deaths and the flashy numbers, how about letting people know how mild the symptoms are and how fast people recover, to calm some of the stress.

Let's be real here. There are a lot of people reacting like this is the end of the world and a corona virus positive is death. And that isn't at all supported by the information available. We need more people who have been sick stepping up and letting people know the information the media tends not to put in the headlines like 99.4% of people recover if not more, the symptoms are mild to asymptomatic for 80 or 85% of people, and it's more important they stay away from at risk groups.

Stop flashing the death number like it's the main number. Because that is what a lot of people are seeing. It's irresponsible and creating an excessive panic for a sickness that most people recover from and are fine. It's freaking people out causing a lot of selfish and stupid behavior rather than supportive. It is irresponsible of the media to hype things this way.

[RiverDog]

A professional basketball player that's in Olympic type fitness isn't a good bell weather for how this virus could potentially affect the general population.

It would still provide some people with relief to know that some of these public figures that are getting sick have mild symptoms and quickly recover. As I stated some people are thinking getting the corona virus is a death sentence and are increasing their stress and hurting their immune systems due to the fear-mongering. Rather than continuing to push the number of deaths and the flashy numbers, how about letting people know how mild the symptoms are and how fast people recover, to calm some of the stress.

OK, I see. Tom Hanks recently tested positive, and he's quite a bit older (63), is a diabetic, and a lot more well known. IMO he'd make a lot better example if that's what your looking for. I'm sure that we'll see other well known figures test positive and become ill.

Let's be real here. There are a lot of people reacting like this is the end of the world and a corona virus positive is death.

And by the same token, we also have a lot of people that think that this is all a hoax made up to make Donald Trump look bad. As is the case with a lot of things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Some people needs to settle down, quit hoarding consumables and just take smart, reasonable precautions while others need to wake up and smell the roses and get with the program.

I heard the other day that the Chinese government, with no evidence whatsoever, is accusing the United States military of starting the virus.

[Aseahawkfan]

I saw that stupid crap from China. I have a person working with me that thinks this is a bioweapon released on the public. He's 100% sure. He believes the conspiracy theory over any other experts.

And Hannity and some Trump supporters thinking this is a hoax or some attack on Trump are idiots. No one hoaxes a virus that if left unchecked can spread like crazy. The world is being overly cautious to try to slow this thing and avoid worse. It's people freaking out, not the real experts who are taking necessary measures to slow the progress sufficiently so the medical system can handle it, not because they believe it's going to end the world.

Italy is an example of allowing explosive viral spread that is overtaxing their medical system.

Whereas South Korea is an example of a well managed, slow progression that can be managed by the health system.

We want to be more like South Korea in America. Slow progression that we can handle.

[RiverDog]

I saw that stupid crap from China. I have a person working with me that thinks this is a bioweapon released on the public. He's 100% sure. He believes the conspiracy theory over any other experts.

And Hannity and some Trump supporters thinking this is a hoax or some attack on Trump are idiots. No one hoaxes a virus that if left unchecked can spread like crazy.

You're preaching to the choir. One of the problems is the amount of fake news we've had over the past few years, and DJT is the source of much of it, calling any news report he doesn't like "fake news" so as to deflect criticism. Now he has about a quarter of the country believing the coronavirus is a hoax. I'm all for the 2nd Amendment, but I sometimes wish they'd arrest guys like Hannity that are calling this a hoax.

The world is being overly cautious to try to slow this thing and avoid worse. It's people freaking out, not the real experts who are taking necessary measures to slow the progress sufficiently so the medical system can handle it, not because they believe it's going to end the world.

Italy is an example of allowing explosive viral spread that is overtaxing their medical system.

Whereas South Korea is an example of a well managed, slow progression that can be managed by the health system.

We want to be more like South Korea in America. Slow progression that we can handle.

China got on top of it by implementing some Draconian measures. A totalitarian society can do that and get away with it. It's not so easy in a free society like ours. I'm pretty sure that they don't have someone like Hannity on their tv sets telling them it's a hoax.

So far, I support all the measures that have been taken. Even Trump's European travel ban, which, as usual, was poorly handled, I can agree with.

[Aseahawkfan]

China got on top of it by implementing some Draconian measures. A totalitarian society can do that and get away with it. It's not so easy in a free society like ours. I'm pretty sure that they don't have someone like Hannity on their tv sets telling them it's a hoax.

So far, I support all the measures that have been taken. Even Trump's European travel ban, which, as usual, was poorly handled, I can agree with.

China didn't handle it very well at all. I still believe they are heavily under-reporting cases and manipulating information to look more favorable than they are.

South Korea and Germany are not totalitarian nations and handled it much better. People motivated by personal protect and well-informed with a better funded medical system and open communication can handle this much better than a poor nation like China with poor communication. It will be handled much better in America. I hope we can somewhat equal South Korea and Germany.