If there's no easing off then yeah, schools will be next. Crime will spike. i saw the first ever person I've seen in Waiuku wearing a face mask today. Concerts and other big events will suffer if the infection rate continues to rise. The UFC fight at Spark Arena had about a million people attend but as soon as we get our first domestic case things will change

High infection rate, low death rate.. from my understanding lower than the normal flu.
And then from what I understand is those who are hit hard have other issues ranging from over weight and other dietary and fitness issues.
 On that basis add into that NZ has one of the highest rates of dietary, over weight and fitness  related deases in the world.
Should be worried? maybe so.

As to economic effects..
 Tourism .. A 1400 km road trip...we took our time and only 2 cars passed us and where followed by other cars not much more than that.. no slow tourist vans... camp/cabin sites MT.

Wondering how our charter guys are doing.. most likely ok this week due to Nationals.

Banks and economists have been putting out a few negative comments in last few weeks.. and all along the same lines. Even if Corona does hit us personally.

Throw the longer term effects of Trump and his trade wars.. which includes NZ.. that are just starting to kick in, and Corona more immediate and medium term effects..
An infrastructure that is struggling to keep up with population growth.. including energy..

A 'she will be right' attitude going into possibly another situation as in the late 60s and 70s with a majority of population that has never experienced such things..
 bit of a worry..
And hope to be wrong.

In a couple of years it will be another type of virus...
Bird..... swine...... corona..... next

Close the border.Go back to manufacturing googds and food in NZ no importation.

This virus will be with us forever,we know stuff all about it,and the countries that do know are not sharing info transparently. No vaccine for at least 18mnths. I don't think our health system is ready for the ****storm that is coming. China has alot to answer for in their shady tactics in hiding this before it got to this stage. It will take years for things to get back to normal.

It is no Spanish flu.

One thing is for sure China needs to sort out it's relationship with animals. Namely the filthy wild market places that breed these things.

Maybe they could learn that rhino horn has no magic properties, bats, monkey brains and all that other weird stuff too.

I feel the US CDC and the WHO are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at the moment. I've seen video of portable crematoriums made from shipping containers and other odd things. Have a look on windy and go to SO2 emissions coming out of China at the moment. Sulpher dioxide is produced by burning organic matter,could be pets they are known to be killing,I don't know . Apparently there's a theory that someone took a test animal home to eat cause of swine and bird flu knocking down the amount of protein available in China at the moment,and the rest is Chinese whispers.

fish-feeder wrote: I feel the US CDC and the WHO are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at the moment. I've seen video of portable crematoriums made from shipping containers and other odd things. Have a look on windy and go to SO2 emissions coming out of China at the moment. Sulpher dioxide is produced by burning organic matter,could be pets they are known to be killing,I don't know . Apparently there's a theory that someone took a test animal home to eat cause of swine and bird flu knocking down the amount of protein available in China at the moment,and the rest is Chinese whispers.

Good post Chris.

The only thing about this virus that isn't bad is that young healthy people have not been adversely affected by it.

At the present time it must be in New Zealand and most other places in the world. Very soon it is going to explode everywhere. There is virtually nothing we can do about it except stay at home and pull the curtains.

The travel bans probably won't last, simply because every country will have it.

There is however a great dilemma brewing for tiny nations that rely on tourism. Kiribati has denied entry to anyone from any country that has coronavirus cases. That included all the fly fishers from the United States that are the mainstay of their economy. Very soon they will have to make the call on whether to close their borders entirely. The measles disaster that hit Samoa will be very fresh in their minds. Once they lose the air link through there being closed borders who is to say that the air link will ever return.

Interesting times...

chris_gee wrote: Some ill informed opinions so far. Even with incomplete knowledge to date there is plenty of reasonable analysis available. The death rate seems about 2.3% much higher in the 20% with severe infections. This far higher than the flu .05%. To compare existing deaths from the flu with this misses the point, as is saying it is largely confined to China. It seems like the cases double in just under a week and China had a head start by almost two months. The progression is  2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 ....... and on to a very large number in months. The Korean rate suggests they have gone from 1-2 to a thousand in a few weeks That is the problem and that it is infectious without symptoms eg the Italian dr self managing a supposed cold leading to the lockdown of a resort of a thousand potential contacts. Those interested in being better informed might start with https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130