China's pollution and the enormous smoking population there are definitely having an effect, but it would be naive and disgusting to not take this seriously since we do not know how it will act and how it will evolve. It also is worth noting that the weaker people you mentioned are still worth protecting; hopefully, herd immunity will help those people, but it's far too early to tell. The press in general just wants to sell a story, and unless it's smearing someone or factually inaccurate, it doesn't do much harm other than taking away from more important stories. For news to be profitable it has to be entertaining after all.
The reactions are still varied, but it's something we should treat seriously. All reputable news organizations have been fact-based and professional.
I hate to say that it's not a big deal. It is a big deal, but it's not an end-all situation like the doom and gloomers say. It's a situation that must be addressed professionally, logically, and to preserve lives, and so far it has been done like that. I don't watch cable news much, I prefer to read AP News, Reuters, and others, but even from what I have seen, they're not going berzerk. The bigger problem are echo chambers on networks of misleading info, but that's a whole other topic.
Unlike the unsubstantiated panic for Ebola and the Zika Virus (unless you, yourself, traveled to infected regions), Coronavirus has shown an acute ability to spread rapidly and undetected. This isn't Planet of the Apes where everyone dies. It seems that the worst-case scenario is this becomes a yearly occurrence like the flu, but a tenfold more deadly one. If it infects close to as many people even modest estimates could see hundreds of thousands dying here a year. That is not something to play around with. We spend so much money a year on government programs like Medicaid and Defense, but relatively little on science and infrastructure that will help in situations like these. That has to change.
Fortunately, it seems to be more related to SARS than coronavirus in that it may not mutate as quickly as the flu. Without China's lockdowns, this would have exploded, and democracies cannot have lockdowns to that extent. China is underreporting its numbers just like they do with their debt and other areas. I disdain conspiracy theories like the ones emerging about the Coronavirus' origins, but we cannot trust China's numbers. South Korea is a better example of how this virus will play out over the short term.
No point to attack millennials, every generation has their own baggage, but the people overly freaking out are just that: people overly freaking out. I'm not even a millennial, but it's silly to have talking points like that when the fears are cross-generational, and primarily amongst older people who fall for phishing emails, and don't rationalize, but that would be mean to say wouldn't it? Like when they fell for that caravan that was dangerous...
It's a tricky situation, with a lot of uncertainty. What's key is that we band together as the humans we are to take this on in a non-alarmist, fact-based, intelligent manner. Government funding for vaccine research, prevention measures, supplies, medical staff, and other good government policy is how you tackle this as a country to the best of our ability. As a citizen, we avoid gathering, frequently wash our hands (not 5 seconds, but 20 like people always should), telecommute, change business procedures, and kick nail-biting habits.
A large concern is our limited hospital capacity (I don't see us building hospitals in 10 days), and the risk that people stay home and brush it off as nothing if they cannot afford healthcare. Fortunately the at-risk elderly are supplemented with Medicare, but there are many people who are unemployed without health insurance or employed with awful coverage. There's also the paid leave situation in the US that would damper containment in a dire situation. What I am saying is every country has its unique strengths and weaknesses, and we don't know for sure until it happens here. We need to get the message out that if you have this you must quarantine and receive treatment if necessary.
I predicted the stock market crash this week, but so many people tried to rationalize the irrational: that it couldn't happen, and now people are rationalizing paranoia. People are so predictable in the ways they move with emotions and not logic. There might be a slight rebound but it will go lower as soon as Asian and to a lesser extent US stocks reveal abysmal earnings. Summer will make or break this thing, but I don't see a world where the Tokyo Olympics are not postponed-- it's unlikely it gets canceled outright with the stake Japan has in it.
A bit outside the discussion, but I felt it gives some clarity to my understanding of the situation:
You know, let's also just set something straight for people reading this because I've seen a lot of people blaming politicians for the coronavirus and the economy, and for what they're actually responsible for. This isn't a political affront to people, but more so just a discussion of how things work. Unless a President has great longterm economic policies, his/her effect on the economy is extraordinarily negligible. Bad policies short and longterm like those that exasperated the Great Recession and Depression are the outliers and that's why they fell so hard, but it's naive to place blame solely on a President for routine economic recessions and growth periods. High oil prices etc. that could affect economies are not fully their fault, but over the longterm, it does matter what foreign policy and economic structures/investments are made since being energy-dependent is in itself bad policy which can affect economic health. Anyway...
Effective governing is pragmatic governing with good monetary and fiscal policy that understands how the world operates and is therefore what helps get the most out of economies. With the Coronavirus, people should not blame leaders, unless the response itself is weak or they were lied to (ex. Iran). If people just thought rationally and took the time to research they'll find that systems work differently than they imagined instead of being blinded by ideology, conspiracy theories, or instead fears (or lack of thereof) of a pandemic. However, if an official goal is to cut everything in government or expand everything they're both equally ideological and don't actually understand how to handle a scenario like this. This is why I'm frustrated with the reactions so far to the coronavirus because it already seems like people are taking stances instead of thinking clearly. It's not something to lose sleep over, but at the same time, effective approaches are absolutely essential to better this country and as a human.
We'll find out next year to what extent this will be, but it's not an insignificant number of lives, and frankly, your point actually makes a case that other diseases should be better researched and not just cast-off as merely a fact of life. Car crashes, suicides, shootings, diseases should all get far more attention. Wouldn't it be a great world if everyone thought through things rationally?
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