Well, the Wahun Coronavirus panic is on here. I call it that as that is the traditional way to call a virus a name, by its first outbreak location. The Chinese hate this and are trying to change the name to something else. They are also dealing with it in a really really bad way; to crowd people into makeshift hospitals, and thus exposing more people to it. They are also labeling ~anyone~ that dies of any respiratory illness as caused by Coronavirus, and they are not testing people for it if they die. So the statistics are way way skewed.
Several take-aways from what I have seen on the news and seen locally here. The media is fanning the panic flames and creating a panic far beyond reality. Locally they are sold out of face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, alcohol, bleach and disinfectant, guns, ammo, toilet paper and water. The last two are the most amusing. We have a secure water supply here in this area and this is not a water borne epidemic like cholera. But people are hoarding bottled water anyway. Also they are hoarding toilet paper like mad. I saw a woman at WalMart yesterday buying 2 full carts of TP. I asked her why. She said because they will run out of it. I said go to WinCo and they have an entire isle full of TP and a truck parked outside full of it. Did not phase her. She said she would go there and buy even more. Apparently people are filling their garages here with TP. Dunno why. Coronavirus is a chest infection, not a GI tract infection.
So we are at the point where people are making decisions based on pure fear and nothing else. Trump suspended travel to the US from Europe. The Oregon governor banned all outdoor sports activities today. The NBA is suspending all games. The stock market sold off another 10% today. Another correction in one day. Apparently the world is coming to an end. News at 11... we will all die! Except... we will not all die. It has also become highly politicized here, with left vs right on how to deal with it. Conspiracy theories are rampant. China is blaming the US for it now. South Korea is blaming South America for it. It is always someone else's sinister plot! If you look at the statistics, 4 out of 5 people that get Wuhan Cornoavirus have mild or no symptoms. Tom Hanks and his wife are typical. They feel run down and mildly symptomatic. But they will live. But the headline news says, "Can Tom pull through fatal virus?" Most people will. The average age of fatalities from Cornoavirus is 82 years of age in Washington State. That is because like on cruise ships, Coronavirus spreads easily in crammed quarters and is hard on the elderly with compromised immune systems.
I was on the Ski Patrol here for many years and I hold an OEC card (outdoor emergency care, equivalent to an EMT II). I have been trained in BSI (body substance isolation). I have been to many medical briefings regarding protecting ourselves from regular flu virus every year. In general, the main ways that virus spreads is through physical contact. Like 90%. You touch a surface or someone that is infected, and then touch your face and you become infected. Only 10% is through the air in droplets. So the best defense is to wear gloves and/or use 60% alcohol or better hand sanitizer and wash your hands with soap and water often. Note that hand sanitizer does NOT work for NoroVirus, a GI tract virus that is also common on cruise ships and in nursing homes. But for Coronavirus it does, and hand washing works for Coronavirus and NoroVirus. These precautions also work for the common cold and flu. If you fear the spread by coughing or sneezing people, wear a face mask that is rated N-95 or better, and make sure that it has a good fit. I see people on the news all the time with flimsy face masks, or masks that are not covering their nose. They may as well be wearing nothing. Also wear eye protection. Wearing only a mask leaves your eyes exposed. Use wrap around safety glasses to keep potential spray out of your eyes.
Me? I wear gloves, a face mask and eye protection in public. I live out in the boonies and I only go into town to shop once a week. When I do, I glove up and wear an N-95 mask and safety glasses. Last week people stopped to ask me where to get face masks. I said sorry, they are SOLD OUT in the entire state. I bought to boxes on them 2 years ago for the heavy smoke from forest fires here that summer. Gloves were available here until last week. Now they are all gone. Now more people here are wearing masks, but still no eye protection. Few if any wear gloves. Those touch screens in stores and on ATMs? They are the worst places to touch. So are shopping carts, but most stores have alcohol wipes for them here now. WinCo always had them. People yesterday were cleaning sopping carts like mad.