Government public health experts have been full of advice about how we can minimize the risk of catching coronavirus. This is a good example:
If prevention depends on not touching our faces, we are in trouble. Nevertheless, I think the likelihood that coronavirus will kill more than the 80,000 Americans who died from the flu virus two years ago is slim.
PAUL ADDS: In China, where the outbreak first occurred, the death toll reportedly is 3,158 (out of 80,790 known infections). The number of new cases has declined sharply.
Of course, the number of Chinese deaths may be under-reported, and there will be many deaths in China going forward. Furthermore, the extent of the Chinese lockdown, though slow in coming, probably won’t be matched anywhere in the U.S.
Even so, the current Chinese death toll should provide some perspective when it comes to guessing how many Americans will die of this virus. There is also reason to believe that warm weather, which isn’t that far away in many parts of America, will halt the epidemic. (See the very low number of infections in warm weather nations.)
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