Since I don't really follow the news can someone explain to me what's the fuss with the corona virus? Is it just the usual case of the media trying to create some panic for that sweet sweet ravenue? The excitement for discovering a new virus? Or is there some danger I can't see?
As of yesterday's WHO report there are hardly 10k cases worldwide of which less than 3k have actually been confirmed to be related. Moreover there just about 100 deaths due to said virus. Tragic as any case can be, these are hardly the numbers to justify all that panic..
In late December/early January there were reports of a Sars like virus coming out of the Wuhan/ Hubei region of China. "everything is fine" was the official message. "No signs of human to human transmission". For the rest of the world, it was pretty much page 3 news.
In the days leading to Chinese New Year (a period of absolutely massive human movement). China issued a wholesale quarantine of Wuhan, a metropolis of roughly 11 million people. By the next day, 15 other cities joined the quarantine, affecting 41 million people. Pretty much the entire province has travel restrictions
Now there's a huge disparity between the numbers China is reporting and China's actions. The country is forgoing billions upon billions of revenue for a 'simple flu'? Raises a big red flag. Purported videos that have come out of the Wuhan region paint a scenario that is much worse than reported. Videos of people collapsing. Videos of desperate medical personnel having breakdowns. Are they true? Are they false? Nobody can say for certain, as China is controlling the flow of information. We do know that they're building two new hospitals from scratch.
As it's the early stages, numbers have been all over the place, with even epidemiologists having widely different reactions and numbers. People don't know how infective it is. People don't know how severe it is.
The current best bet is to listen to your local health authority and to be prepared