Well I've heard 500 cases in the USA, with 21 deaths. That's 4.2% and in a country with full rescue facilities. These people died in spite of heroic attempt to keep them alive. 

I can see that many milder cases may not be reported, so that percentage could come down, but we don't know. I've also read that somewhere (Korea I think) they went back and tested people who had mild symptoms that might have been COVID-19, and there were very few positives. So maybe there aren't a lot of unrecorded cases. Like I said, we don't know. It seems that half the articles claim it's no big deal and the other half say it might be. I guess we'll find out one way or another. The death rate in Korea, where they test a lot and it's unlikely to be a [BLEEP] number gives a death rate of around 1%. That's bad. Not Captain Trips bad, but Spanish flu bad.

And no matter how limited the testing facilities are, I'm absolutely sure that 472 is way too small a number allowed to be tested considering the diverse locations of the known cases. 

And yeah, I see the discrepancy in 500 vs. 472. Maybe the difference is that some of the 500 were tested elsewhere and brought here under quarantine. Or maybe the 500 was from rounding up. Maybe the article I posted was wrong and 472 is the number of positive tests, with lots more negative tests.

Your guess is as good as mine. I hope you are right.

I'm not saying that it's not a big deal, but the mortality rate in South Korea as of this morning was down to 0.6% and the expect it to continue to decline. Initial reports of high numbers are driving a panic and that is irresponsible journalism. What I am saying is that we are going to do something far worse by destroying our economy over it due to panic than it will actually do to us clinically. Everyone should be following basic precautions at this point, ie wash your hands frequently especially after you sneeze or cough, use hand sanitizer if you have to touch things in public places (e.g. use the wipe on your grocery cart) and use Lysol and stay home if you feel unwell. Don't empty your bank account or go punch some old woman to get the last rolls of toilet paper at Costco. If we all work together then we'll keep community transmission down and everything will be ok. As Byron said, the commercial labs will have tests available soon and everything won't have to be run through the Health Department, that will make testing easier and quicker so we can get actual cases into quarantine and get them care. The greatest dangers in this whole thing are fear and misinformation, and those two things are how the media makes its living.

The drop in death rate in South Korea is good news.

The criticism of the CDC continues:

CDC info lag

---

                                                                          

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

I'm not saying that it's not a big deal, but the mortality rate in South Korea as of this morning was down to 0.6% and the expect it to continue to decline. Initial reports of high numbers are driving a panic and that is irresponsible journalism. What I am saying is that we are going to do something far worse by destroying our economy over it due to panic than it will actually do to us clinically. Everyone should be following basic precautions at this point, ie wash your hands frequently especially after you sneeze or cough, use hand sanitizer if you have to touch things in public places (e.g. use the wipe on your grocery cart) and use Lysol and stay home if you feel unwell. Don't empty your bank account or go punch some old woman to get the last rolls of toilet paper at Costco. If we all work together then we'll keep community transmission down and everything will be ok. As Byron said, the commercial labs will have tests available soon and everything won't have to be run through the Health Department, that will make testing easier and quicker so we can get actual cases into quarantine and get them care. The greatest dangers in this whole thing are fear and misinformation, and those two things are how the media makes its living.

The drop in death rate in South Korea is good news.

The criticism of the CDC continues:

CDC info lag

I agree that the government should be giving us timely and accurate information.

---

“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

And from the less concerned side:

Don't Panic!

---

                                                                          

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

Dudes, I just thought of something. What if there was a virus similar to HIV AIDS but it was transmitted through the air. All hell would break loose.

---

"When I was hearing the amount of people that died with the flu, I was shocked to hear it," Trump said while touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters. "Over the last, long period of time when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying. I've never heard those numbers, I would've been shocked. I would have said, 'Does anybody die of the flu?' I didn't know people died from the flu."

Ya just have to laugh.

---

When it's this bad, all you can do is joke about it:

My Corona

---

                                                                          

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

"When I was hearing the amount of people that died with the flu, I was shocked to hear it," Trump said while touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters. "Over the last, long period of time when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying. I've never heard those numbers, I would've been shocked. I would have said, 'Does anybody die of the flu?' I didn't know people died from the flu."

Ya just have to laugh.

If it was mandatory for a presidential nominee to be a doctor, then I heard that, yeah, I would laugh.

---

"When I was hearing the amount of people that died with the flu, I was shocked to hear it," Trump said while touring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters. "Over the last, long period of time when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying. I've never heard those numbers, I would've been shocked. I would have said, 'Does anybody die of the flu?' I didn't know people died from the flu."

Ya just have to laugh.

If it was mandatory for a presidential nominee to be a doctor, then I heard that, yeah, I would laugh.

Hey, he did say he could've been a scientist as well.

---

I'll play you in ping pong. 

Well I've heard 500 cases in the USA, with 21 deaths. That's 4.2% and in a country with full rescue facilities. These people died in spite of heroic attempt to keep them alive. 

I can see that many milder cases may not be reported, so that percentage could come down, but we don't know. I've also read that somewhere (Korea I think) they went back and tested people who had mild symptoms that might have been COVID-19, and there were very few positives. So maybe there aren't a lot of unrecorded cases. Like I said, we don't know. It seems that half the articles claim it's no big deal and the other half say it might be. I guess we'll find out one way or another. The death rate in Korea, where they test a lot and it's unlikely to be a [BLEEP] number gives a death rate of around 1%. That's bad. Not Captain Trips bad, but Spanish flu bad.

And no matter how limited the testing facilities are, I'm absolutely sure that 472 is way too small a number allowed to be tested considering the diverse locations of the known cases. 

And yeah, I see the discrepancy in 500 vs. 472. Maybe the difference is that some of the 500 were tested elsewhere and brought here under quarantine. Or maybe the 500 was from rounding up. Maybe the article I posted was wrong and 472 is the number of positive tests, with lots more negative tests.

Your guess is as good as mine. I hope you are right.

I'm not saying that it's not a big deal, but the mortality rate in South Korea as of this morning was down to 0.6% and the expect it to continue to decline. Initial reports of high numbers are driving a panic and that is irresponsible journalism. What I am saying is that we are going to do something far worse by destroying our economy over it due to panic than it will actually do to us clinically. Everyone should be following basic precautions at this point, ie wash your hands frequently especially after you sneeze or cough, use hand sanitizer if you have to touch things in public places (e.g. use the wipe on your grocery cart) and use Lysol and stay home if you feel unwell. Don't empty your bank account or go punch some old woman to get the last rolls of toilet paper at Costco. If we all work together then we'll keep community transmission down and everything will be ok. As Byron said, the commercial labs will have tests available soon and everything won't have to be run through the Health Department, that will make testing easier and quicker so we can get actual cases into quarantine and get them care. The greatest dangers in this whole thing are fear and misinformation, and those two things are how the media makes its living.

Very well said. This is it. Just regular, sensible good hygiene. I never realized so few people knew how to waah their hands. I never realized how much people need TP more than food!

Thats my main frustration, one day its scary measures and take precautions and then the next day its dont panic. Feel like im getting spun in circles.

I did hear the dreaded words today from an old lady. 'Im not a panic buyer but because of all the other panic buyers i may need to panic buy'. No!!

---

They won't need 72 rolls of TP unless they buy some, you know...food. All I see are carts full of TP. I hope it tastes good on Day 43 of the famine.

---

Here's a concern:

In China, labs have [font=CJ-PalatinoLT, PalatinoLT, serif]tested thousands of patients each day. By February 23, the Chinese government had approved ten test kits, and production capacity reached 1.65 million tests per week. Meantime, South Korea has more than 500 testing sites and has screened over 100,000 people, reportedly testing 10,000 individuals per day and pioneering “drive-through” testing facilities. This enhanced testing capability is a key reason why the country has reported over 5,100 cases—the second-largest, outside China—including larger numbers of patients with mild illness, as reflected in a case fatality rate less than 1 percent. As of March 3, the U.K. had tested nearly 14,000 cases.[/font]

By contrast, the U.S. had performed a paltry 472 tests by March 2. Further, [font=CJ-PalatinoLT, PalatinoLT, serif]CDC testing criteria have precluded recognizing community spread because of requirements stipulating recent travel to China or exposure to an infected person. Adherence to these guidelines delayed testing in the first probable case of community transmission, in Northern California, by four days.[/font]

The CDC can't even use common sense in a crisis. Tell me again why the Left wants the US government to take over 100% of our health care?

Full Article Link

Confused. China, UK and Korea have less decentralized governments and health systems than the US.

How does this situation argue against streamlining health care in the US?

---

Scientists who know what they're talking about have near universally praised China's response to the out break

---

This whole thing is certainly not as serious as the MSM would have you believe.  The shutting down of events, buildings, cruise ships, etc. is a huge over-reaction.  Are certain people vulnerable?  Yes.  Would those same people be vulnerable if they caught the flu?  Yes.  This is not a plague.  It's simply a virus that will make you (the average person) sick for a few days.  Eat healthy, practice good hygiene and you will be fine.

---

There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

This whole thing is certainly not as serious as the MSM would have you believe.  The shutting down of events, buildings, cruise ships, etc. is a huge over-reaction.  Are certain people vulnerable?  Yes.  Would those same people be vulnerable if they caught the flu?  Yes.  This is not a plague.  It's simply a virus that will make you (the average person) sick for a few days.  Eat healthy, practice good hygiene and you will be fine.

Good time to buy Carnival?

50% loss in 1 month!

---

This whole thing is certainly not as serious as the MSM would have you believe.  The shutting down of events, buildings, cruise ships, etc. is a huge over-reaction.  Are certain people vulnerable?  Yes.  Would those same people be vulnerable if they caught the flu?  Yes.  This is not a plague.  It's simply a virus that will make you (the average person) sick for a few days.  Eat healthy, practice good hygiene and you will be fine.

Its actually worse than the flu and recent studies suggest longer term damage with breathing and lungs

---

This whole thing is certainly not as serious as the MSM would have you believe.  The shutting down of events, buildings, cruise ships, etc. is a huge over-reaction.  Are certain people vulnerable?  Yes.  Would those same people be vulnerable if they caught the flu?  Yes.  This is not a plague.  It's simply a virus that will make you (the average person) sick for a few days.  Eat healthy, practice good hygiene and you will be fine.

I don't recall reading or hearing the MSM commenting on the seriousness of the disease itself, or how far they think it will spread.  All they do is interview the experts.  They do report on the shutting down of events, cruise ships, quarantining cities, etc, but they aren't making those decisions.   Governments and private entities are making those decisions.  I don't see how you can blame what you call the overreaction on the MSM.  The MSM didn't make the decision to shut down parts of northern Italy or entire regions of China.  The MSM didn't tell people not to get on cruise ships; the CDC did that.  The MSM just reports it.  

Trump blames "fake news" for... something to do with all this, but where is the fake news?  I don't see fake news on this subject.  Just news.

---

Yea it's just the flu huh?? As all of Italy just went on full lock down...

Some people really need to pull their heads out of their [BLEEP]... This is far beyond just the flu.

---

Why are people going crazy buying toilet paper?

---

Yea it's just the flu huh?? As all of Italy just went on full lock down...

Some people really need to pull their heads out of their [BLEEP]... This is far beyond just the flu.

So…panic? (shrug)

---

Yea it's just the flu huh?? As all of Italy just went on full lock down...

Some people really need to pull their heads out of their [BLEEP]... This is far beyond just the flu.

So…panic? (shrug)

Not yet, but ignoring this and writing it off as just the flu is down right idiotic.

The best thing to do is try and get ahead of this before it gets way out of control, but since our Country is so [BLEEP] backwards, they're just going to wait/deny until it's way too late. It's going to get ugly.

---