The worst of the Chinese outbreak is in Wuhan and the province of Hubei, in which Wuhan sits. By all accounts the healthcare system there is failing - understandably, given the scale of the problem. The number of cases and deaths amongst medicaland care workers confirms largely inadequate protective equipment and the pressures they are under. The reports from there also suggest that anything other than cases due to the virus are being ignored or given low priority.
One day a novel virus will spin the evolutionary mutation wheel of fortune and hit the jackpot; that much is almost inevitable. For me this is as much about learning the lessons and recognising the lessons that won't be learned. We have become very complacent about some potentially dangerous/deadly diseases that already use us as hosts (Roger's post earlier about the MMR jab is a gray example). There are others that the threat is rising, and will rise, due to climate change: malaria (once widespread in Europe), West Nile disease and many others. The lessons that probably won't be learned are humans having unnecessary close contact with animals that are hosts to viruses that can jump into humans (AIDS, Ebola, this new Coronavirus, for example). Catching and killing for food and 'traditional medicines' and population growth encroaching into wild areas where these diseases are endemic in the animal populations.
The nightmare scenario is something that spreads easily in the air and surfaces (like the common cold), takes months before symptoms appear (like AIDS) and has a high death rate (like Ebola). With our globalised world with millions travelling by air that scenario would be a real disaster.
But is this new Coronavirus the one? The evidence says no - unless it sins the wheel some more, which seems a low risk at the moment.
Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White