If it gets out of control in the US then it will get ugly there and there would be global impacts. Their response so far has been quite poor.

Think that ship has already sailed unfortunately.

Likewise, in 3 weeks' time I'm supposed to be on a plane to St. Kitts for a week, followed by a week in Antigua. No cases there yet, so my concern is a ban on British people entering. We have booked a British Airways package including accommodation, but would they cancel the holiday and give us a refund if the flights still go but the hotels bar us? Or if the flights go and we then end up in mandatory quarantine? Another permutation is being allowed into St Kitts for a week but then not being allowed into Antigua!

Why don't you just take a cruise? Freely extended holiday for months in a row.

The more the crisis deepens in the US, the more unhinged Trump is becoming. This guy should either be sectioned or jailed, he is a global threat.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/us-coronavirus-death-toll-washington-state

Trump said he wanted this over by November. Predictably odd sense of priorities, being more concerned about his re-election prospects. If this does go badly in the US his administration will take some of the flak and deservedly.

Something doesn’t seem right: on several cruise ships there have been cases of Covid-19, implying 1-2 people in several thousand people. Yet that would imply a higher infection rate than is being reported in virtually every country.

Is there in fact a much wider infection level already?

Many thanks for posting it for me, Joe - and you're right, it's a fantastic piece. In fact, it's the best article I've read about this entire shitshow.

Cruise ships are particularly ideal for the spread of  the infection.

I'd be inclined to think that the true number of infected cases is much less than twice the number of confirmed cases in South Korea. With an virality around 2-3 at least you would not be seeing a decline in the numbers if SK was not managing to isolate greater than half of the cases.

Of course on the cruise ships you will be able to determine 100% of all cases, in theory at least.

China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim

China's claims of how it's handling coronavirus recovery should be taken with more than a few grains of salt.

Even before COVID-19 became a global crisis, Chinese leaders had been criticized for their handling of the situation and lack of transparency about the disease's progression. Things now look like they're on the upswing, and businesses even appear to be headed back to work — but whistleblowers and local officials tell Caixan that's just a carefully crafted ruse.

Beijing has spent much of the outbreak pushing districts to carry on business as usual, with some local governments subsidizing electricity costs and even installing mandatory productivity quotas. Zhejiang, a province east of the epicenter city of Wuhan, claimed as of Feb. 24 it had restored 98.6 percent of its pre-coronavirus work capacity.

But civil servants tell Caixan that businesses are actually faking these numbers. Beijing had started checking Zhejiang businesses' electricity consumption levels, so district officials ordered the companies to start leaving their lights and machinery on all day to drive the numbers up, one civil servant said. Businesses have reportedly falsified staff attendance logs as well — they "would rather waste a small amount of money on power than irritate local officials," Caixan writes.

In Wuhan, officials have tried to make it appear that recovery efforts are going smoothly. But when "central leaders" personally survey disinfecting regimens and food delivery, local officials "make a special effort" for them and them alone, one resident told Caixan. And in a video circulating on social media, residents can be seen shouting at visiting leaders from the apartments where they're being quarantined — "Fake, it's all fake."

https://theweek.com/speedreads/900488/chinas-coronavirus-recovery-all-fake-whistleblowers-residents-claim

 Yes , sure to be , if symptoms can be very mild in some people the virus would go un-reported. The more you test the more you will find .

The big supermarkets are still out of bog roll in Haverhill.

You can try the Aussie way

I think more people on the planet are suffering from coronavirus hysteria than from the actual virus itself. 

Oh, they're not shutting any of the building yet either. Just told those who work closest to work from home. 

Yep, those fun-loving Aussies:

There’s still plenty of loo roll in our local supermarkets but no liquid hand wash.  That makes me think people have only just started to wash their hands!  Maybe they don’t know that a bar of soap is just as effective and much cheaper.  If anything good can come from this virus, I hope it’s better hygiene!