[Recursing]

Meh, I'm in Italy and there's not much going on: some small panic in some parts of the population, school closed and stuff. Nothing worth preparing for. All the deaths were very sick people

Edit: apparently OP by "other countries that are affected" meant "the most badly hit places in Wuhan" and thinks it's going to happen everywhere in the world. I repeat that in Italy there's no apocalyptic scenario going on

[cycrutchfield]

Think of it this way. You are currently living in Wuhan circa mid-to-late January. Extrapolate from there.

[Recursing]

Mortality in the west is way lower than what's been reported in China, healthcare and hygiene are very different, as is the distribution network. Even in wuhan the situation is stabilizing

[cycrutchfield]

Mortality in the west is way lower because the scale of the disease has not yet reached outbreak proportions. When it reaches outbreak proportions, such as what we saw in Wuhan, hospitals get completely overrun. There are not enough ICU beds or ventilators to support patients. Mortality rate spikes.

You are totally mistaken if you think that this cannot happen in the West. But by all means continue to bury your head in the sand.

By the way, you are in a country where the cultural norm is to greet one another with cheek-kissing. You're really in no place to lecture anybody else on hygiene.

[Recursing]

I'm sorry if the comment about hygiene sounded offensive, as a non native speaker I hope my tone was more polite than yours, please let me know if it isn't so I can edit the message

[jacquesm]

That's because we still have plenty of reserve ICU capacity. As soon as that is maxed out the picture changes, rapidly. So better hope we never reach that stage.

[pmoriarty]

"we still have plenty of reserve ICU capacity"

From what I've heard the US health care system is already close to being overwhelmed every year due to seasonal flu.