Has The Coronavirus Infection Just Begun?

& other thoughts from a foreigner living in Taiwan.

The DL

Only a few days ago over 800 cases of Coronavirus had been confirmed and some 20 people were dead.

On January 26th, the number of dead rose to more than 50 and over 1,800 people were confirmed infected.

On January 27th, the death toll rose to 80 and over 2,700 cases became confirmed.

As this draft sits another day, I’m certain the number of infected will rise by a thousand.

14 Hours Later

Today it’s January 28th and as I read continuous news updates from CNN, over 100 are dead now and over 4,500 cases have been confirmed worldwide.

I wanted to be wrong, but that’s a 1,800 increase in cases. Almost twice what I predicted.

February 14th update: 64,000 cases worldwide and 1,383 dead.

So far all deaths and the majority of cases are in China. Countries such as the U.S., Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, and Germany have also confirmed the Coronavirus has landed.

By the time you’re reading this, the numbers above may have doubled or tripled, but I hope they won’t have. By the time you’re reading this, I hope that the news has stated this is under control, but perhaps it’s only just begun.

The thing is, I’m only an ocean straight away from Mainland China: I’m in Taiwan. According to The Taiwan News, the 5th case in Taiwan has been confirmed.

By the time you’re reading this, I hope that number hasn’t grown.

February 14th update: Taiwan has recorded its 18th case.

A Vulnerable Country

When I first heard about the outbreak I wasn’t concerned, but as I’ve watched numbers rapidly increase in a matter of days, I realize s*** might hit the fan.

Because symptoms don’t show immediately, there could be thousands of people around the globe carrying and spreading this virus.

In this CNN article, Professor Gabriel Leung states that as of January 25th, there could be up to 44,000 people in the incubation period, the period in which the disease is spreadable and symptoms aren’t active.

Holy f***.