.......
Of course, pretty flaky analysis, doesn’t consider undetected/unreported cases, relative growth rates in case numbers by location, ability of a country to report, the low reliability of small numbers as indicators, and so on. Nor does it consider crowding and concentration of cases in cities. If you did, you’d note Australia’s relative “hotspot“.
Gold Coast, 2, 0.68m, 1/340,000.
Not seeking to instil fear, quite the opposite. ....
It is an unfortunate but inevitable side-effect of these sorts of things that the "harm" caused by fear probably in some metric outweighs the actual direct physical impact. As I say, inevitable, as the need to prepare for or take action to avoid some potential harm will always have that associated fear. Obviously an impossibility in reality, but it would be nice if there was a way to get people to be careful without having the media stir up panic and alarm.
When the Zika virus became the news in 2015/2016, I was living/working in the jungle in Colombia. Obviously, the country entered in to some sort of State Panic, fueled by the media. It was an interesting education for me in how these things go. All the usual - from massive drops in tourism, to people buying out all supplies of face masks, etc etc etc. Zika was particularly cruel (the fad, not the actual disease) as it caused millions of pregnant women and their partners fearing that their soon-to-be-born might have a tiny head. In the end it was a storm in a teacup. But it also probably had a positive effect in that the collective community became much more aware of the general peril that mozzies bring (due to malaria far far more than Zika) And it provided a sudden and desperately needed flood of money to medical services in the jungle, as they learnt the trick of reporting malaria patients as Zika.
Malaria still kills about half a million people every year. And truly makes life miserable for many times that. But as travellers "we" don't let that stop us from travelling to where it is present, which is essentially almost all the tropical areas of the planet, and quite a bit of non-tropical space also. Because it is not in the news.
I have put off an intended trip to SE asia at the moment due to Coronavirus. Not through fear of contracting it, but more through the inconveniences and risks of disrupted travel plans in the current hype.
I suggest that these are greater real factors for travellers than actually dying from the disease. The other side of this is altruism. Maybe AFF people should all cancel their travels, stay in self-isolation for a while, for the common good of not becoming vectors?
Anyway, I have lost my train of thought, even if I ever had one. I sit here on the Sunshine Coast on the back porch listening to the glorious rain. hearing the drops on the trees, smelling the damp, breathing in the delicious moisture. I realize that if it were not for this internet thing, and my trusty laptop, I would be blissfully unaware that Coronavirus even existed. I already have made peace with the malaria, Ross River, and Chagas that I have accumulated through sheer living. So I am happy. Rain has that effect on me.
But I think I can actually hear mozzies making love and breeding....