The Corona Virus

No, the virus hasn't gotten me. As least not yet. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

What the hell is going on? Clearly we are learning about the disadvantages of a global family and the ability to travel worldwide.

If the virus had emerged back in the 19th century it would probably have never made it out of China. But these days, with people jetting all over the place, it was almost certain to escape its original breeding grounds.

So now what? The cases in the US have topped 600 with concentrations around Seattle and Westchester county in New York. World wide the numbers are over 100,000 with over 3,000 deaths. There have been 22 deaths in the US mostly at a nursing home near Seattle.

The older you are the harder you're hit by this thing. One positive note is that children seem to weather the illness fairly well. If you're over 80 though it can be touch and go.

No one is really sure what the death rate is because no one is really sure we have a handle on how many cases there have actually been. As testing becomes more common expect the number of cases in the US to skyrocket.

The stock market has absolutely imploded over this thing. I stopped looking at the numbers because it's just that bad.

In the meantime Trump has gone to his standard response. He's blustering, bullying and alternately blaming anybody and everything for the stock market and the virus and claiming that the virus is a hoax or at least not nearly as bad as the media is making it out to be,

He should tell the stock market that. That he can't claim is a hoax or fake news.

So what happens now? Beats me but the potential for catastrophe is there. If 10% of the population catches this thing that will mean 33 million patients. If 2% die that would be 660,000 deaths. That's more than the total military deaths in the Civil War and more than the total military deaths in World War II.

The scary part is that it could get even worse than that.