I have a pretty high baseline level of anxiety, particularly regarding health, and this whole coronavirus thing is really freaking me out! Anyone have any coping tips? Comforting activities?

Best tip I have: Remember the Ebola outbreak in 2014 when a third of the US population got sick and died? Well that last part didn’t happen, but the media certainly made it seem like it was going to at the time.

You should be more worried about the flu than the Coronavirus. Last I saw there were only 5 cases in the US. The mortality rate is also less than 3% at the moment - mostly impacting older people

If you are really worried you can bathe yourself in Purell hand sanitizer and crawl around on the floor like a slug

I lived in Beijing during 2003 SARS outbreak. That thing was even more intense because China hadn’t faced anything like this in modern history. I survived it. During that time I spent a lot of time with family, going to the gym and watching TV. It was the happiest days of my life. Just look at the statistics: less than 2% of the infected died. If you are under 60, the chance of getting infected and die is roughly equivalent of winning powerball 5 times.

The news of this outbreak is so overblown it’s ridiculous. The flu kills thousands of people every year in the US, and we barely bat an eye. The death rate of this virus isn’t nearly as high as SARS or Ebola and the dying process isn’t even comparable to the horrible death of Ebola. Now, Ebola, that shit is scary. I don’t want that. This isn’t a big deal and is just a giant fuss for no reason, in my opinion.

I’m with SM1. Also, more likely to get in a car accident than contract the corona virus.

Just put a lime in the top of the bottle and you will be ok.

Thanks everyone, i do feel comforted by this! I think honestly my main fear is the mortality rate that theyre calling 2 or 3%, but theyre doing so by counting the dead over total infected. Really we wont know until theres a big enough number of recoveries in the system, since right now theres more dead than officially recovered. Lots of professionals smarter than me have called it 2-3% and said many must be unreported but that just doesnt seem strong enough to calm the nerves

You are 1000x more likely to die from a heart attack by being stressed about the corona virus than the virus itself. If you are worried, implement some controls to lean the probabilities in your favor. Also - when it’s time, it’s time - YOLO!