Hello Dan,

In response to your MotD: You're taking meaningful measures to lower risk of infection as well as risk of anxiety. Relying on actual news sites instead of random things from the internet is a good thing, and I realize I am undermining that with this post, but I want you to keep one thing in mind:

For young and healthy people, the risk of of dying from COVID-19 is really low. Even if you catch the virus, Minerva, Emily, you, or me, we are young, for us it's very likely gonna be a bad cold and we'll recover. Now my 70-year-old mother or Minerva's grandparents, they shouldn't catch it. (Or your other grandparents, I'm sorry about your grandfather passing away last month.)

For 80% of us, the risk of severe complication is low, but - this message goes out to the voices who still think we're over-reacting - it's our responsibilty to slow down the spread of the virus to protect the other 20%, the old, sick and weak among us.

I've been relying a lot on this map chart. (Source is Berliner Morgenpost, a big German non-tabloid newspaper.) What gives me hope is to see the green circle of China growing bigger day by day. (You might have to click 'weltweit' to get the worldwide view.) Green is the number of people who have recovered. Every death is one too many, but in China for every person who died, there's over 20 who have healed.

Germany went into a corona shutdown this weekend, but seeing the recovery rates of China, I'm hopeful that this is gonna be a temporary shutdown, and not a total breakdown of society. Some things are different in the US, lower health insurance coverage is the first thing that comes to my mind, so you're a better judge of how things might play out on your side of the Atlantic. But you and you family are young, you are resourceful (setting up a local phone-based net!), and recovery rates are high. There's gonna be a rocky ride ahead, but most people will get through and you've prepared your ride well.


Dan, is it OK that I posted this, or would your rather keep corona out of the Enquirer, and ouf of Player Chat?