My cousin is a respiratory therapist in Boston, MA and she is reporting that they are extremely busy.  Only one death so far in MA but this virus is definitely real.  A coworker in NJ has a friend who came down with it.  The friend's wife also got it.  And they both reported that it was very painful.  We don't know enough about the mortality because it is early.  But the R0 (Rate of Infection) sure looks high to me.  Two Italians visited a Biogen executive conference (about 175 people) and within 2-3 weeks 102 people who were either at the conference or who came in contact with someone at the conference were infected.  I've never heard of the flu spreading like that.  There is good reason to be cautious.

Also, if you are into unfounded conspiracy theories, why not entertain the idea that Russia/China/Iran are spreading rumors about China coronavirus being a hoax in order to destabilize the US?  If you can believe it is a hoax, why not believe the hoax is a hoax?  There would have to be many thousands of people involved in the hoax.  That really stretches credulity.  

Also, if you are a betting man, consider the risk/reward outcomes.  If you believe it is a hoax and you don't do anything to protect yourself and your family, what do you gain?  Compared to the risk of as much as 1 out of every 10 members of your family dying, the reward doesn't seem that compelling.  Of course, if you are complaining about a hoax on CathInfo while offline you are loading up on toilet paper and N95 masks then you are just a pathetic hypocrite.

CM, Thank you for the most logical and level-headed post about this Corona thing.  With all the conspiracy theories, the fear mongering, and hysteria out there on the internet, we need posts like this one.  I am not normally an anxious person, but I am beginning to feel the need to battle feelings of anxiety over this.

Yes, we can be fooled because we are weak men.  But there is no shame in being fooled by evil doers as long as we don't sin.  But it would be very shameful if like the men of Noe's time we ignore the signs of the times.

Although I genuinely appreciate your post, there is a notable distinction that applies to your final comments.  The men who ignored Noe ignored an extremely holy man's warnings for decades precisely because they were attached to their sinful ways and habitually presumptive about God's mercy even while being warned about His justice.  Those in power in the modern world are habitual liars, murderers and thieves on a scale never even considered possible, so the wiser course is to question the official story on just about everything. In other words, the signs of these times point toward an ever-increasingly demonic world order, about which we have been warned by Our Lady of Fatima, among others.

It is true that God allows everything that has transpired, is transpiring and will transpire, and we can always trust that we are safely in His hands, no matter how desperate or evil the times.  Yet, He has given us our reason and the faith and He expects us to use them for our own good and that of our fellows.  NONE of us would be even loosely associated with Traddieland unless we used our reason and faith to discern that something is radically problematic with the religion being promulgated and practiced by the modern, so-called Catholic Church.

Godspeed to all in these unquestionably strange, difficult and trying times.

Hello fellow Catholics, its been awhile for me.  I am getting old, 80 yrs old but still trying to serve God.

Consider this:  God finally looking down on all of us thinking how naughty this world has become, therefore, I will ground them all.  And He did!

Yes, well said, Clemens. There have been 320,000 cases and nearly 14,000 deaths worldwide, with 188 countries infected. It's a serious matter. There are Priests and Nuns infected and here's a CNA article on FSSP Priests and Seminarians suffering under it: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-invisible-malice-of-malady-invites-us-to-have-more-confidence-in-god-70013 Taking strong measures to defeat this virus once and for all are in order.

A tracker of the coronavirus:

China's numbers are a complete fraud, but Italy's, Iran's, and Spain's are pretty trustworthy. Right now the U.S. shows nearly twice as many dead as recovered.  Now, where the numbers are skewed is that not everyone is being tested.  It's focused on the more serious cases.  But there are enough serious cases where it's overwhelming the hospital systems, and that will soon be the case in the U.S.

For what it's worth, they're now saying there's a strong correlation between having an A blood type and having a serious manifestation of the infection.

No, this is not some worldwide conspiracy to "get Trump".  That's ridiculous but keeps being perpetuated by Trump supporters ... because, frankly, Trump has badly mishandled this from the beginning.  Korea and Japan did a great job with it.

If you are given to reading, O ca I would recommend a book like Heliotropium.  Not every book is necessarily for every person and there are many good books and booklets about trusting Divine Providence, but, having read many of them, Heliotropium is the most thorough book on the subject.  Any investment made reading it will produce immeasurable good fruits for you and those in your life.

It goes without saying that prayer, particularly the Holy Rosary, is of immense efficacy in these difficult days.  God be with you and yours.

I read that book 20 years ago and I can't find my copy, but I just ordered it on Amazon Kindle - 99cents. ( paperbacks and hardcopies more expensive)
Thanks for the invaluable reminder of such a classic and wonderful book!

For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect.


When the vaccine comes out,  ( and it will come out) will you take it?

Excellent question.  I agree: it's coming.  Another question will be....will it be mandatory?

You will be fine Vermont! 😀 Don’t let this setback trouble you, “this too shall pass”. Frankly, I more concerned about the aftermath. Will this be the new norm? I don’t doubt that the spread of the virus is quite pronounced, but according to the article below, the death rate is quite exaggerated:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/perspective-number-of-coronavirus-deaths-in-us-this-year-finally-passes-number-of-flu-deaths-in-us-last-week/

Thanks QvD!  I also wonder about the aftermath.  

There have been 320,000 cases and nearly 14,000 deaths worldwide, with 188 countries infected.

Not to lessen the seriousness of that death total, but I am sure, especially in the U.S. where test kits were/are almost completely unavailable, that that number (320,000) is wayy under-represented of people who are actually infected with the virus. I would think worldwide right now, it could be ten times that number of "cases" that the majority have no clue they were/are infected. Again, not dismiss the mortality rate, but I believe the infection rate worldwide right now is in the millions, if not tens of millions, if this thing is contagious as they're telling us.So 14 thousand deaths among tens of millions seems rather low at this point, granted this thing is just getting going in some places and hasn't begun to run it's course.

But I'm just having a hard time believing that countries like China where this whole thing began is still at about 80 thousand and no new cases and Italy has actually more fatalities with less than 1/20th of the population and growing exponentially with a complete lockdown and all that. We can get into the skewed figures going on in Italy and China right now, but the fact of the matter is if this virus is as contagious as they say it is, you can bank on about 80% of the population getting infected.


We'll get to the point where the "caseload" will almost irrelevant. Because the way the authorities are talking, we'll all be infected.