COVID-19 could affect more races this year.

[El Scorchio]

I think in their favour, although there has been a definite level of inactivity and decision making surrounding this until the very last minute, (and you can question the motives) the situation has really ramped up and gone to new levels in the very recent past. Yes they probably should have anticipated it and avoided this situation, but it probably looked possible to run the race at least behind closed doors at the time the teams travelled.

[Fulcrum]

Imagine tanking the world economy and all major events (sporting or other) because of something that in retrospect might possibly be nothing but another flu

Multiple experts in dread diseases and epidemiology have stated publicly, on the record, this is not "another flu".

The conservative estimates suggest a case fatality rate of 1%, with a range of 1-3% being likely. That makes it at least 10 times more lethal than "another flu".

Likewise, the R0 of COVID-19 is closer to 2 than anything else, with ranges of 2-3 being likely, roughly double that of regular flu.

http://virological.org/t/phylodynamic-a ... -china/436

This combination of virulence and contagiousness characterize COVID-19 as being distinct from regular flu.

Quite frankly, the economic cake has already been baked. Recession will be likely for most major economies for the first half of the year. Acting decisively now will prevent deaths, and may prevent the recession lasting even longer.

[JonoNic]

I'm just going to leave it here. Overreacting?
https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw

[saviour stivala]

Looks like FERRARI, Mercedes and Renault will not attend the next race and will not supply engines.

[Fulcrum]

I'm just going to leave it here. Overreacting?
https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw

I've watched it. He's highly qualified to offer an informed opinion.

A lot of it isn't relevant to COVID-19, as it delves into many other diseases (Lyme disease, Chronic Wasting Disease) . The first 15 minutes are though.

At the 15:10 mark.

"My job is not to scare you out of your wits, its to scare you into your wits."

I.e. Don't panic mindlessly, but people need to be paying attention.

[JonoNic]

I'm just going to leave it here. Overreacting?
https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw

I've watched it. He's highly qualified to offer an informed opinion.

A lot of it isn't relevant to COVID-19, as it delves into many other diseases (Lyme disease, Chronic Wasting Disease) . The first 15 minutes are though.

At the 15:10 mark.

"My job is not to scare you out of your wits, its to scare you into your wits."

I.e. Don't panic mindlessly, but people need to be paying attention.

So true. Our governments need to be informed

[Pany]

At this point many teams will immediatly switch focus on 2021 car development. A lot of money is involved and this would be locig conclusion. Probably all teams except the two 2020 title competitora. This mean this season, if starts, will be also boring because results will be vey predictable race by race.

[oT v1]

Looks like FERRARI, Mercedes and Renault will not attend the next race and will not supply engines.

I’ve seen the engine comment twice now, is that official news? I’m behind the curve

[basti313]

At this point many teams will immediatly switch focus on 2021 car development. A lot of money is involved and this would be locig conclusion. Probably all teams except the two 2020 title competitora. This mean this season, if starts, will be also boring because results will be vey predictable race by race.

The problem in this is...no one knows a pecking order. Without the heavy sandbagging we have now common in testing no one can be sure about the performance. Is Ferrari now in the mix or not? Can Racing Point even fight for P3 or is it not even competitive in the mid field???

So I think that at the moment they need to develop for this season, maybe until Baku without knowing what is possible.

[timbo]

The problem in this is...no one knows a pecking order. Without the heavy sandbagging we have now common in testing no one can be sure about the performance. Is Ferrari now in the mix or not? Can Racing Point even fight for P3 or is it not even competitive in the mid field???

So I think that at the moment they need to develop for this season, maybe until Baku without knowing what is possible.

Actually, I think now is the time for teams like Haas and Williams to go all out with the development, to bank on getting some good results if there would be races this year.

[astracrazy]

Nice...every single motorsport event around the world has been cancelled!

That's overreaction in my opinion! A race behind closed doors should have been the way to go...

With the measures taken by many countries around the world i predict a very difficult time for the economy...already DOW was down 10% today! That's not a good sign for the economy...hopefully this whole corona virus thing doesn't get followed up by an economic crisis aka 2008 as it will be a total disaster!

It's not though is it. Flying hundreds of people around the world just for the sake of sport is stupid and irresponsible. What about the participants, staff, marshalls, officiators, suppliers, medical staff, media....the list goes on. They can catch and spread the virus just as much as fans. It's time people get a grip and realise things are going to have to change for a while to get control of this.

In the case of F1: Taking groups of 100's of people from around Europe and flying them to Aus to spend 7+ days together in shared spaces was one of the stupidest decisions F1 has made for a while. The writing was on the wall this would happen. How only one person turned up a confirmed Coronavirus case was a miracle, it could easily have been much worse and the whole circus being quarantined. The crazy thing is, it was all for nothing and now everyone's going home with every chance they are now carrying the virus after interacting with so many people from all over the place.

[RZS10]

Imagine tanking the world economy and all major events (sporting or other) because of something that in retrospect might possibly be nothing but another flu

Multiple experts in dread diseases and epidemiology have stated publicly, on the record, this is not "another flu".

The conservative estimates suggest a case fatality rate of 1%, with a range of 1-3% being likely. That makes it at least 10 times more lethal than "another flu".

What i meant wasn't the technicalities and differences between the viruses or what some experts say but the hard numbers once it's all done and dusted, flu vs totally much worse death flu, total infections and deaths - so far over here (!) the normal flu has been worse (x41 deaths) will be interesting to see whether 'na will overtake it in absolute numbers - i wonder whether it will get anywhere close to the 2017/18 numbers of the common flu (~25k dead, 9m infected despite vaccination, as per RKI)... Of course if the numbers don't get too high everyone will argue that it was thanks to disrupting public life and putting everyone into panic mode.

p.s.: Anyone remember H1N1/swine flu? No? Neither do the 2009 and 2010 F1 seasons.

[astracrazy]

Imagine tanking the world economy and all major events (sporting or other) because of something that in retrospect might possibly be nothing but another flu

Multiple experts in dread diseases and epidemiology have stated publicly, on the record, this is not "another flu".

The conservative estimates suggest a case fatality rate of 1%, with a range of 1-3% being likely. That makes it at least 10 times more lethal than "another flu".

What i meant wasn't the technicalities and differences between the viruses or what some experts say but the hard numbers once it's all done and dusted, flu vs totally much worse death flu, total infections and deaths - so far over here (!) the normal flu has been worse (x41 deaths) will be interesting to see whether 'na will overtake it in absolute numbers - i wonder whether it will get anywhere close to the 2017/18 numbers of the common flu (~25k dead, 9m infected despite vaccination, as per RKI)... Of course if the numbers don't get too high everyone will argue that it was thanks to disrupting public life and putting everyone into panic mode.

p.s.: Anyone remember H1N1/swine flu? No? Neither do the 2009 and 2010 F1 seasons.

You realise it's not about how many people have died from something which makes it worse than something else? It is how many people could.

If the same amount of people caught the coronavirus as the flu, many more would die from the coronavirus and that is the issue.

Using your numbers:

9 million infected with flu lead to ~25,000 deaths means the mortality rate is 0.28%. Well coronavirus has a death rate of ~3% (7% in some countries), meaning the deaths would be 270,000+.

You have to go back to spanish flu (5%) to find something comparable to this, and that was bad (granted in older times).

[santos]

I can't belive that we are in March, and after all what is happening in the world, someone still calls this as "another flu", or a "a bad flu".

[Baulz]

Nice...every single motorsport event around the world has been cancelled!

IndyCar is still going ahead this weekend!