Corona Virus

Subject: Corona Virus 

The world is in lock down. The financial markets are in a frenzy. People open their newspapers or tune in to the news broadcasts with evermore alarm as the Corona virus sows its seed into the fabric of nations around the world.
Amidst all our surety and self entered confidence, a virus similar to that which causes many people to die each year, the influenza virus, has caused the world to panic. Goods fly off the supermarket shelves as people make the provision to withdraw from normality and hunker down in their homes away from the crowds and the possibility of infection.
Are we though over reacting are we getting things out of proportion, are we panicking because we are being fed facts and figures in this blow by blow contest which, if we were to elevate the flue virus in the same way and would also scare the pants off all of us.
I am nearing 80 and it would seem a prime target, if I catch the virus to succumb to some sort of respiratory condition so obviously I must be careful not to mix in the crowds but with the bulk of the population no such 'sword of Damocles' hangs over their head and one wonders why the story isn't more proportional. Of course the death toll in Wuhan has been dramatic as it is in Iran and South Korea. The infection rate in Italy also leaves that country very vulnerable but death comes in many forms and disguises. The deaths on our roads are far more alarming but we never flinch from going out in our motorcar  in an effort to avoid becoming one of those statistics.
Is it a question of presentation, is it part of that mass panic which forbids 'crying fire' in a crowded cinema. Is it the manipulative power of the story which, from the soothsayer to the Red Top, distorts our sense of reasoned decision making. Do we always follow the herd.
The reporting of the so called pandemic (of which I only questions the severity of the consequence) has filled our media each day as confirmed cases rise exponentially each day with maps showing the hot spots, China a sea of red the Middle East also cherry red but strangely Africa seems unaffected. India also has few reported cases.  These are the very areas where one would expect contagion given the poverty and the population density.  Is it under reporting or is it that people die in such numbers in Africa and Asia that there is a callousness in finding the cause of death when it happens and that people who have the virus are not registered as to it being the cause. South America also seems unaffected and perhaps the same is true, death is no stranger to some societies and it's cause is an every day fact of life and is therefore immaterial.
Stay in if you must, practice safe hygiene and indulge yourself with kicking the ankle or bumping the arm of friend or foe. It seems to me to be the perfect moment to get your own back by being a more vigorous with the ankle tap. Perhaps a well executed Kibisu-qaeshi with plenty of Waza would be appropriate in settling a few old scores.