Greetings,
this might not be the right forum for discussing about a subject such like this one, but I ultimately decided to open a thread about COVID-19, the disease which is ultimately spreading around the world. My intention is to clarify, if needed, which impact this syndrome could have in your daily life.

Avoiding any unnecessary alarmism, I feel the urge to tell you what is currently going on here in Italy, where the infection is propagating exponentially. You can also read here for further information.

On 16 February, a 38-year-old italian felt unwell and went to the hospital, reporting respiratory problems. He later tested positive for COVID-19, but in the meantime he has unintentionally spread the disease within the hospital. This was the start of the outbreak.
Since 16 February the disease has dramatically break out in Lombardia (a region in the north), and it has spread in the other regions.
Currently (8 March) in Italy there are 3557 people hospitalized of which 650 under intensive therapy: this might not appear too much, but at the current increase rate, soon there will not be enough intensive care machines for all the people in need!

Italy's healthcare system is considered to be good (source), but even an excellent system would ultimately fail in case of an outbreak of people needing an intensive care.
As a consequence Italy's government has lately taken some serious decisions:
- Three regions (roughly 16 million people) quarantined, meaning the people can't leave those regions;
- Suspension of unnecessary surgical interventions;
- Schools and universities closed until 3 April;
- Café and restaurants open from 6 to 18 o'clock, with the order to maintaining a social distance of at least 1 meter;
- No marriages nor funerals;
- Theaters and museums closed;
- Gymnasiums and swimming pools closed;
- Pubs and discos closed;
- No spectators at sport events;
- Order to avoid any unnecessary movement and stay at home as much as possible, maintaining a social distance of at least 1 meter.

EDIT: today (9 March) the Government extended the lockdown to the entire country.

Other countries in Europe (Germany, France) and Asia (South Korea, Iran) are facing similar difficulties. However the whole World is facing this problem, and everyone should be informed on the subject.

Please, don't be scared: I'm not here to spread panic and you have no real reason to be frightened. By the way I intentionally avoided to write anything about mortality rate: it is far too early to have a correct statistic about this. However its mortality rate doesn't seem to be particularly high, especially on young people.

Please, don't discriminate any people (Italians, Chinese or any others): this is very illogical, stupid and barbaric.

That said, I created this thread to underline that the COVID-19 is a disease that must be taken seriously because of its contagiousness and because we currently don't have a vaccine, and to inform you that an outbreak is able to considerably alter your habits and your life styles.
In other words, this is an humble suggestion to stay safe and be ready to fight, avoiding to underestimate the enemy.

Please, follow the World Health Organization's basic protective measures against the new coronavirus:
- Wash your hands frequently;
- Maintain social distancing of at least 1 meter (3 feet);
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth;
- Practice respiratory hygiene, covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing;
- If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early, but don't go to the hospital directly;
- Stay informed and follow advice given by your healthcare provider.

Best of luck to you in Italy, I hope the quarantine measures in northern Italy help to stem the tide. Such drastic measures seem to be the only thing that works once an outbreak has started to get out of control. Alternative is the collapse of the health care system, which would kill a lot of people (even many not suffering from Covid-19).
Here in Germany lots of people are still awfully complacent and don't seem to get the gravity of the situation...government is incompetent as usual. There are now more than 900 confirmed infections, I expect large parts of Germany will be like northern Italy in 1-2 weeks.

mate, they banned political threads not related to gaming on here. you should know by now how these kinds of threads end up - whether or not you intend this to be political, thats how it will end. in a flamewar.

meh, imo this isn't strictly political (unless people bring their usual culture wars bs into it), more of an issue that will affect all of us in the coming weeks. I can certainly understand Dr. Schliemann's need to talk about it, this is an existential issue after all like never happened before in our lifetime.

Are you an adult of average health? Then you have very little to worry about. The vast majority of healthy adults get nothing more serious than standard flu symptoms that soon go away. You are more likely to be harmed by the panic and paranoia than the virus.
Here they are sensationalizing and reporting on the virus each hour like football scores. It's very irresponsible, but what do you expect from the media?
They report first Australian dies from COVID-19!!!! Dig a little deeper for facts and you find out the person was 95 years old with pre existing health issues and was already at risk from standard flu. The media did not tell you that part.

If you are healthy just go about your life like normal and trust your immune system to do it's job, it won't let you down.

I'll give my two cents, but don't expect much.

The virus is overblown. It's a more contagious flu, and you're only really in danger if you have an immune disorder or are really old/young. As we don't have the real numbers the death rate could be the same as the flu (very low) or very high (19% in some cases, although when there was the possible ebola virus going around with 50+% death rate it was downplayed and thankfully never took off)

If you aren't under lockdown (and they certainly are pushing it) i say, CALMLY go to the store, stock up a little bit, say extra rolls of toilet paper, some dry canned goods that will last a while (and worst case you eat it in 2 months as part of taco night), and have a water purifier or a bit of water saved up in the event you don't. DO NOT rush to the store, buy every single roll of toilet paper/towels/sanitizer and 3 years worth of food. Remember the typical stores in a town only have 3 days of food and supplies, so trying to take far more than you really need will cause problems for anyone else if the supply sources stop.

Don't expect it to last too long, or at least that it will die off due to the heat and summer because apparently it doesn't like the heat. If you get sick, take the time to rest and have plenty of fluids and you will probably be fine.

Yeah, who cares if only the sick and elderly die, eh? Real humanitarian sentiment.
Besides, this complacency is totally misplaced. The epidemics in China and Italy have pushed even advanced health care systems in the affected regions close to collapse, with many doctors and nurses becoming infected themselves (with even hospital staff in their 20s in some cases dying, presumably due to exposure to high viral loads)...there's no vaccine for it to protect hospital staff. Intensive care beds are a limited resource, if the disease spreads in an uncontrolled way, one runs out of capacity soon, and death rates will shoot up, because many in need of intensive care can't be treated anymore with ventilators etc. Of course the old and sick will be affected worst (they'll just be left to die), but once the health care system has collapsed, fatalities could spread beyond those risk groups.
And a collapsed health care system obviously won't be able to provide services more generally, so lots of people might die of other causes unrelated to Covid-19 as well.

AGH HAHAHAHAHA everyone's losing their sh!t over an influenza virus.

AGH HAHAHAHAHA won't kill me, Wash your hands with SOAP and water.

Hand sanitiser doesn't WORK!

I know lets get the Military to sanitise the whole world with NUCLEAR WARHEADS!

I would guess that most people are less worried about our own safety and more worried about our young friends and relatives with health issues and our elders.

Most of us don't have severe health issues, but most of us know people we love and care about who have severe health issues. That's enough to get people worried. We don't really know yet, fear sells and generates clicks though. We'll just have to wait and see, hopefully you're right.

Sunlight/UV rays probably work....

Yes contracting melanoma works!

Coming from an Emergency Management family, I will say...

... do not underestimate the effects of both the virus...

... and the social effects / disruption brought by a pandemic.

COVID 19 has two known strains:

COVID 19L

COVID 19S

COVID 19S is ATM more widespread but lacks severity. Most end up with general flu symptoms.

COVID 19L is the virus steadily spreading from Wuhan China since late 2019 and is EXTREMELY deadly and EXTREMELY contagious.

Most who have been claiming COVID 19 is nothing more than "normal" flu have probably been experiencing COVID 19S or hearing reports based on COVID 19S.

It is theorized that COVID 19 may ultimately spread to 3/4 of the population and will probably not "die out" in Spring and Summer as influenza usually diminishes as temperatures rise. Although COVID 19 does seem to prefer colder temperatures, scientists theorize that the virus is more heat resistant than influenza.

Whether infected or not, the problem with pandemics is social disruption and broken supply chains. If the virus progresses quickly in cities and towns, there is a high possibility that those cities or towns will need to be "cordoned off." This possibility is already being discussed by the US Surgeon General. Should this happen...

... make certain that you have adequate supply of necessities -- food, prescription medication, toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer (above 60% alcohol), trash bags, etc. I would suggest 2 - 3 months supply if possible. I would also suggest protective eyewear and N95 masks should you have to leave the house during an outbreak.

It is best to prepare prior as there will be runs on all of the above once reports of additional deaths (which there will be) come in. Whether COVID 19 is catastrophic will only be known in time. But COVID 19 will be a severe stress to the social and healthcare systems. This is known.

Currently in California there are many reports that major grocery chains are out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer or are rationing what's left. My wife and I are also seeing empty soup and canned good shelves across multiple stores in Los Angeles.

I urge everyone not to underestimate this pandemic (yes, I know it hasn't been labeled "pandemic" yet, but it already fits all of the pandemic criteria). I also urge you to stay calm and prepare asap should this pandemic continue escalation. Should things get bad, there is the distinct possibility -- if you waited to prepare -- that you will find empty shelves.

I'll skip the daily habits to deal with the virus. Those are readily found online.

Hopefully this does not become a catastrophic situation and wishing you all safety to you and your loved ones until this outbreak is over.

Stay safe.

Can vampires get it if the victim is infected?

LOL