Let's talk about Coronavirus

No implications in the original post that the virus was not serious because yes its seriously dangerous -- influenza is seriously dangerous -- many diseases/viruses going around today are seriously dangerous. But what seems to be even more seriously dangerous is our inability to do long term preventative measures versus short term overreactions and further I am not necessarily saying these overreactions are not warranted now but they are only warranted now due to the lack of long term planning.

Still even if warranted these overreactions are much more harmful than good in the long run and we need to stop the short term knee jerk overreactions and start implementing some short-to-long term strategies that will actually mitigate the effects of the virus while putting into place things that will help treat it and other future viruses so that we do not need to panic due to a lack of resources. Its like we are being blinded side by something that has been hitting us over and over again for centuries. This virus is going to continue to spread and its going to spread fairly quickly (as it has) and widely (as it has) and what we need to get on the ball about now is up-scaling the infrastructure to handle it not undermining the infrastructure trying to prevent something we cannot even hope to prevent. And no I am not saying let it spread willy-nilly I am saying stop the overreactions and focus on the actual problems -- which appear to currently be testing materials and the ramping up of facilities to handle seriously sick patients until they can recover while continuing to work on preventive measures and maybe even treatment measures. Yes communicate that the virus is serious and if you are feeling ill get tested asap then if you are infected -- like any highly communicable disease isolate yourself as much as possible and disinfect.

To me its standard operating procedures of day to day living, do the preventative measures you can habitually and not do the things that would increase my likelihood of picking up a cold, virus, and/or disease also habitually. If everyone did just this the spread of any infectious virus would be minimized. However to many of us go around acting like nothing can affect us and then get surprised and panicked when it does affects us and start overreacting due to the surprised panic.

Basically I am a proponent of can we address the real problem while dealing with this symptom of that real problem. This ones nasty and seriously dangerous but so will be the next one and the one after that and .... ad infinitum if we do not start strategically planning for this ahead of time rather than overreact when it hits us.

Given the international and dangerous nature of the situation, I'm going to leave the thread open, but only if it stays clean. Talking broadly about what could be done I think is ok... but if you think your statement could even accidentally be taken politically, just don't say it please?

ahah why would this ever turn political ;)

anyway, 1) do not panic unless zombies are walking the streets. 2) Don't act italian and go on tv showing off how tough you are and that no virus will stop you from hugging and kissing people. 3) If you happen to be british royalty, don't make flu jokes ;) 4) Drink water, eat food and remember that toilet paper is not edible :)

Aren't we supposed to be pro at handling zombies' matter ?

That's me, and everyone else here who are located in a Third World country. I'm in the middle class. 70% of my countrymen have it far worse.
Agreed. But past tense, not future tense: it ALREADY HAS cost lives. Thank your privilege if you're insulated from it.
Same here, to be honest. But I do believe OP's intent was innocent: just to check up on fellow members of this community, rather than opine on the complex socio-political and economic issues surrounding the pandemic (which, ironically, I've just done with this post). So whatever. As they say, "If you don't like the discussion, you don't have to participate."

Moving on to first world problems, we had a virtual coffee meeting just now, asking how everyone was doing. As I mentioned, the schools are now closed. This is day 1 of them staying home. One of my colleagues was despairing; he has 4 teenage children who... do not get along. And he's locked with them in one house. For weeks.

Forgive me if it appeared that I was implying that lives haven't already been cost - clearly, they have. My point was more that the refusal of many governments to be proactive in their responses is going to result in a death toll far beyond what it could have been.

Could be a blessing in disguise, who knows. They may come out of this in six to eight weeks having learned how to coexist. You never know. :)

Here is a dashboard from Johns Hopkins University, which shows the current spread of illness.

Their data, which you can look at, is on Github, and anyone who has a data background can view and visualize their data as you see fit.

That's a great map, but use this link instead, which is the official site. There are a bunch of malware-distributing copies out there.

They are both good. The visual I sent is what they posted online using ARCGIS, their GIS visualization tool’s on-line portal (similar to Tableau Public). It is a safe link.

Sit them down at a table and game... (Update: Not you personally but their parent)

Thought I'd share this here. The content creator quoted below is a personal friend.
Whether you pick the AL bundle (which contains his content), or pick one of the other bundles, proceeds of these will go towards helping the fight against COVID19.

Here's the link.

My company (25k employees global) just sent out a mail asking all staff to accept a 20% voluntary hour&pay cut for the coming 3 months. This does not bode well.

One last try for those app developers out there :D

...and it looks like I'm the queen

That's quite good!

Now that lockdown is starting to ease, has anybody here seen their IRL groups start back up?

My group is still playing online and I'm actually enjoying that xD They'll probably want to switch back at some point but the online gaming has its advantages as well