Is this an Epidemic ? everyone seems to be talking about it…
The corona virus is a big threat. We should all be as cautious as possible with it.
I would assume so… Its already affected 3 events in the last 3 days. one of them almost had to cancel all together.
Before the weekend I assumed it was just minor thing like the flu… didn’t realize how serious it was until this morning.
COVID-19 is a bit of a mixed bag, which is what makes it more of a problem in many respects. Its fatality rate is about 2%, which is higher than the basic flu but still low enough that it actually gets the chance to spread (as opposed to something like SARS or Ebola, which kill so consistently that transmission is relatively difficult). It can also be pretty asymptomatic in whether or how it presents, so people can be contagious and either feel only a little bad or perfectly healthy. Which obviously presents more vectors/opportunities for it to transmit.
Because it is a pretty mild virus though, catching it is probably not the end of the world. Vulnerable populations (those with chronic illnesses or the elderly) are the most at-risk, with fatality rates for older people at ~6% last I saw. If you’re an otherwise healthy adult you’re most likely to just feel under the weather for a few days until the symptoms pass.
So yeah, be smart (wash hands, keep hands away from eyes/nose/mouth) and perhaps avoid large conventions or international travel, but for the most part it’s not something to panic about. It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to really “contain” it, but also unlikely that it will kill huge numbers of people.
For reference, the basic flu killed 80,000 Americans last year, and has an estimated fatality rate of about .1%. Some of the newer findings on COVID-19 estimate that it actually may have a similar overall fatality rate (is suspected that there are lots of people who caught it who never got sick or never got it reported), but that’s not something we’ll know for sure for a while I imagine.
So basically its like a mutated version of the flu ? and the purpose of its awareness is to actually stop it from becoming a part of our daily lives like the flu is ? or am I underselling it just alil bit ? 
Whether or not it’s being over or undersold is a judgment call, but to my mind American media is really bad at covering disease stories. The crazy Ebola panic a few years ago was almost malpractice as far as I’m concerned - the disease is really nasty and dangerous, but is actually an especially “bad” pandemic virus. It’s far too lethal to spread well, and that’s even ignoring that the only way to contract it from someone is direct contact with their blood or other various fluids.
COVID-19 is a much more likely pandemic virus due to its contagiousness (equivalent or greater than common flu) and general profile at least. To be fair to the outlets covering it COVID at present is a flu-like disease with a much higher fatality rate (2% compared to .1%), and that would be a big deal long-term. I think they’re sensationalizing a lot of the coverage and (as always happens during outbreaks) ignoring some of the more basic and actually-useful stuff they could be sharing, but since I’m not as plugged into US coverage these days I’ll refrain from any more sweeping judgment than that. COVID-19 really has done a lot of damage in China and elsewhere, so at the very least I think media and governments being involved in awareness and response is the right call.
Ah I see, that clears things up for me… thanks for explaining it. Well then… I guess all we can do now is be cautious and see how things play out.
Rambling
2% Fatality Rate does seem like a big jump over something so easily contactable and slow acting. I guess thats the trade off. If it did kill faster it would burn its self out faster than it could find new victims but also thats not particularly good for those who contract it since theres less time to treat them. but if it kills so slowly then it can travel and affect more people before any previous victims succumb (Thus rendering them unable to affect others) but atleast theres hope for treatment for those who’ve had the
disease longer. Unfortuantely as you said, The Inconsistent Nature of the Symptoms makes it harder to diagnose… hence The Awareness.