Don’t panic. But stock up.

Everything you really need to know about the coronavirus

Yes, you really do need to go out and buy toilet paper and two week’s worth of food. But not because we’re all going to die. Not even because we’re all even going to get sick. You should do it because it’s the best thing you can do for the rest of our society.
You are probably going to get the Coronavirus.
In fact, Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch predicts that in the next year, some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. He does, however, say that he doesn’t think those four billion or so people will get really ill — most of the cases are mild, and up to 25 percent of the people who get the virus have no symptoms at all.

So, if up to 70 percent of the world will get this virus, why shouldn’t we be panicking? Honestly, because you’re not panicked about getting the flu every year, and this virus isn’t much worse. The coronavirus really isn’t much worse than the regular flu, unless you’re a smoker, you’re older with other health issues, or you have respiratory problems. If you are in these categories, the flu would worry you, too. Yes, we think the death rate is higher with the coronavirus, but we don’t know by how much, because medical care and reporting in China are so different than what we have here. It’s possible that the death rate in the US will turn out to be below one percent, or about the same as a really bad strain of the flu.
So, if it’s just like the flu, why…