I might get flack for this but I don't really give a damn because of how disappointed I am in some folks. People are DYING. God forbid a trip gets cancelled or I go without sports for a few months or holy hell, maybe it's a political game!!!!
Here are the numbers.
The current R0 of COVID-19 (last I checked about a week ago) is around 3.8 at about 90% certainty. R0 is a measure of the number of people infected per infected person. So, on average, 3.8 people would be infected per carrier. An R0 greater than 1 is enough to create a pandemic. Swine flu in 2009 had an R0 ≈ 1.5. Seasonal flu ≈ 2.5. Low-end estimates put the R0 of COVID-19 at 1.4, but it's exploded very quickly in certain areas and that # doesn't seem to align with its ability to escape containment. Likely because many infected don't show symptoms.
A Harvard scientist recently predicted between 40-70% of Americans will be infected. At a current case-fatality rate of (conservatively) 2%, this means that we can estimate (again, using the smallest numbers) 2.6 million lives of the 327 million in the US lost. Most of these losses from the elderly and immunocompromised (autoimmune, chemo, HIV/AIDS, co-infected, weak lungs, etc). Even if you disregard academics and say only 10% will be infected, that's over half a million people gone.
It's hopeful we have a vaccine by spring, but the methods we're trying to employ aren't proven. Promising, but unproven. COVID-19 may not be all it's been propped up as. A lot of information from China may be junk. We'll learn a lot from Italy. But, every situation requires a strong response. We aren't above nature even though we like to think it. Plagues can still bite us in the *** if we allow them. Yes, absolutely cancel the Olympics, school, sporting events, conferences, and the like. The fewer people exposed to the virus, the fewer we put in danger.
This post is by no means meant to incite fear. These are facts, and by God, I'm trying to put the situation into perspective for some folks. Props to you all that are taking this seriously and who are keeping up with the situation.
Be well, my big blue family.