new coronavirus outbreak China, Korea, USA - mod warnings in OP (updated 24/02/20)

darjeeling wrote: »

That's what I'm thinking.

Any epidemic here is likely to play out over months, peaking a few months after person-to-person transmission takes hold, and taking months to fall away after that.
In terms of practical things people can do to prepare, that time scale is important.

For people at risk of a poor outcome should they be infected, but who can take steps to avoid getting it at all, it would make sense to figure how to avoid infection.
That could mean things like:

• figuring out where to get good reliable information and advice on the progression of the epidemic and how to take care of yourself
• bringing forward essential travel to avoid travelling when infection rates are higher
• bringing forward minor and routine medical appointments and procedures to avoid needing medical services at the height of an epidemic
• choosing to avoid social gatherings you might otherwise want to attend - e.g. large family events
• restricting contact generally with people who might be infected
• seeing if you can get your groceries delivered rather than having to go to busy supermarkets

For people who are going out to work, living in city centres, travelling on public transport, dealing with large numbers of customers, avoiding infection is going to be much harder.
Though at least most urban-dwelling, bus-commuting shop workers are likely to be younger and so at lower risk of adverse outcomes.

For businesses, plans should be made for avoiding cross-infection between staff where possible, for operating during higher than usual staff absence, for home working etc.
We had the flu run through our office in December, and about a quarter of us caught it by the end. Some people were out for over a week. This new virus could easily be more disruptive than that.