Coronavirus: To Panic or not to Panic?

Hey there! I am just dropping in with a little objective POV on the corona virus.

There is a lot of panic going round at the moment. Masks are sold out, I heard. If you are in panic mode too, I want to give you a perpective on it.

First of all: Yes, this virus is dangerous. If you are living in Wuhan, by all means get panicky (in a calm, reasonable way.)
But most of us don't live in Wuhan or even China. And for all those who don't, I quote: "Don't panic!"

The corona virus is a mutation of a common cold virus, with a high letality rate of about 3% (known cases, may be a lot lower). Getting the virus is definitely life-threatening. But if you don't life in China and don't work at an airport (or have contact with people coming from China) then your chance of catching it is remote. It is literally more dangerous for you to go shopping!

There are a myriad of dangers, and currently for 99% of the people outside China they are all more dangerous than this virus. The common flu for example is. Did you vaccinate against it? Are there daily news about the flu death rate?

For example in Germany in most years we have a bit under 1000 death every year because of influenza. 2 years ago was extreme, up to 25.000.
Current rate of Coronavirus 2019 nCoV infected people in Germany is 8.

Of course the risk may change if the corona virus cannot be contained as it is tried at the moment. But at the moment there is not reason to panic, not even for increased attention for most people outside China.

On a side note: Masks.

Should you buy some? See above. But more important: Most masks you can buy are not made to prevent you from getting the corona virus. They are made, for example, to prevent doctors operating from infecting their patient. They block outgoing stuff, but not ingoing. And they may not be suitable to block the droplets laden with virus anyway.
If you have to buy masks, make sure you get the right ones. And if you are not a at risk group, please leave the masks for those who really need them (immun system deficient people for example). Those panic mask buys might very well kill more people than this virus (again, current status and outside China).

You can look up the current status of the corona virus for example here:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6