[Edward64]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I'm left with the question, just how serious is this?

If you are older and have pre-existing conditions that make you vulnerable (there's a list somewhere), pretty serious. Not end of the world though.

Is this just another illness like the flu? More serious than the flu?

For right now, more serious than the flu. Mortality rates and infection rates seem higher. This is based on China data right now so I suspect the %s will go down. (or higher, Iran seems to have higher %s but who knows)

For next year, likely vaccine will be out and so it'll be like the flu.

Should we be freaking out about it?

Because there are quarantines in western-like countries and some panic buying, I suggest you buy extra canned food, soups, rice, pasta, water etc. that you would normally eat anyway (and toilet paper!).

Is the media hyping it more than it should be?

I'd break this down on (1) markets and (2) health to you. Unless there is good news on vaccine progress ...

For markets, I don't think its overhyped at this time with a 12% correction. No doubt supply chain has been impacted (e.g. supply of iPhones) and demand from consumers hurt because they see their savings decrease (me), concerns about job stability, and who wants to fly on an international flight or get on a cruise. There will be reduce profits overall, not sure if its recession level though.

For health, if you are a healthy younger guy and in the US, then probably overhyped. If you are an older person with pre-existing, it seems pretty serious (70+ is 8%, 80+ is 14% mortality; flu overall is .1% but not sure about age breakdown for flu).

I have a feeling that unless this thing wipes out large numbers of the world's population, we'll never get a real sense of what this thing is. You won't get the truth from any where.

China may be fudging nos. But I think it'll come out as the western nations fight this thing.