About the best thing you can do to prevent getting this virus is follow basic hygiene procedures. That’s about the only thing you can control. You can’t control whether the person next to you on the bus is infected. You can’t get a vaccine right now. But basic germ control is something you can do for yourself and those around you.
And don’t be racist. The white guy in the expensive suit may be more likely to have been exposed than the random Asian person at the grocery store. Instead, do the things we know reduce spread.
Panic won’t save you any more than a good handwashing will.
ETA: also
Again, have a grip on reality and don’t be a racist ass.
Chinese restaurants are suffering from reduced patronage here (Melbourne, Australia) because… people are stupid, racist dickheads? I can’t think of any other reason for people going “there’s a new pandemic, likely to have emerged in China, and I don’t want to catch novel coronavirus, so the solution is to not eat at Chinese restaurants”. Fuckwits.
2 aspects of Coronavirus here in the Southwest corner of British Columbia:
A local Chinese restaurant closed for Chinese New Year so their employees could go back to China. Was supposed to reopen in the 14th if Feb, hasn’t reopened yet. Apparently, the owners don’t see the point in reopening… they figure they won’t recoup their expenses if they open because of Covid-paranoia (my term, not theirs).
My (Asian) friend went to Disneyland for a week. Came down with flu like symptoms toward the end of their stay (fever, cough, chills, general blahs). Returned to the country without incident. Went to see their doctor for flu relief once back in Canada and immediately got sent to the ER, where they were immediately admitted and placed in isolation and screened for Coronavirus. They were released after they confirmed that it was a plain variety flu, but it just goes to show how high of an alert people are in here.
I do wonder if the response would have been different if my friend was not Asian…
According to PHAC we’re at 11 total cases in the country, 7 in BC, 6 in ON. I have greater confidence in Canada’s ability to handle a pandemic than the US, right now.
Oh, I agree that Canada will probably handle this better than the US. Clearly the Fraser Health Authority at least doesn’t have faith that the US has Covid under control.
ETA: If you want to appreciate the seriousness of the situation, this is a Beth Mole article and she plays it straight, no puns, no double entendres, nothing. I have never seen that from her!
Here’s the thing. Quarantines virtually always fail eventually. And the larger the population quarantined, the more quickly the failure. Someone panics and runs, or is bound and determined to get back to their family, or whatever. China has a history of tight government control of their population and no legal restraint on their use of that control (see: welding shut the door of apartment complexes!) Expats or those with experience in Asian cultures could speak to this far better than I, but my impression is that there is also a greater value for “the many” vs “the one” as opposed to western, and especially American, culture of "rugged individualism."Keep in mind, China was able to largely seal off a city of millions. Anybody wanna bet on the outcome if we tried to seal off Dallas? And that is before we get to the economic issues mentioned in your post. IMHO, the US could not do what China did. And I am not so certain that what China did will turn out to have made as much difference as it appears to have at this time. The Chinese economy requires the reopening of Wuhan. What will happen when it does?
