Here is the latest news about the coronavirus pandemic. The New York Times reports the mortality rate is now estimated at 2.3% by the Chinese CDC. That compares to the rate of 0.1 for ordinary influenza. The Times also reports that the Director of a hospital in Wuhan has died of the disease. That is ominous because presumably he got the best possible care. People who get first-class medical care seldom die from ordinary influenza.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html Courtesy of the Bloomberg campaign, here is Pres. Trump's take on the coronavirus. Here is what Trump said in recent video: "The virus. They are working hard. Looks like by April, you know in theory, when it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away. Hope that's true! Rough stuff, I tell you. Rough, rough stuff." Trump plans to cut the CDC and other world health budgets by $3 billion. https://twitter.com/Mike2020/status/1227320432405221377 If an ordinary person on the bus said something like this, you would think he is drunk or crazy, and you would move away from him. It is true that influenza epidemics tend to abate in warmer months, but they do not miraculously go away. Here is the mortality rate per month for the 1918 - 1919 influenza epidemic in England: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#/media/File:1918_spanish_flu_waves.gif
