A few reasons are likely:

(If I make any mistakes someone please feel free to correct me)

This disease is more transmissible and infectious...due to this plus it's minimum mortality rate of around 5%, if a good chunk of the population got it then it's possible millions would die.

Add to that that scientists make a vaccine for the most common flu strains every year and many take such vaccines(thus limiting the impact of each year's flu season).....whereas this disease has no vaccine pre-made, and they are still working on one.

All the above aside, the actual/possible financial/supply chain problems(happening now or that might happen down the line) are much more sever than those we see during other flu seasons, and will also likely negatively impact many more people than regular flu/flu seasons have(on average) in the past.

(Plus addition: The user in POST 341 also brought up another good point, which I listed/replied to below)

As for HIV: We can contain it, for the most part(at least in most first world countries) as it is(afaik) only spread via bodily fluids/etc....i.e. it is harder to transmit & spreads less quickly & can even be blocked easier.
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Now all the above aside, I am NOT saying people should worry TOO MUCH, but I also can see why some are worrying a lot more than normal.
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Forgot this bit...thanks for bringing it up/mentioning it. :)

But yes, this is another reason why this is more serious/worth "worrying" about than the normal flu: As this seems to be overwhelming(or will overwhelm) many area's health care systems it puts undue strain on those systems and makes it harder to get treatment for future cases of COVID or other things(even things that are nearly or as deadly/serious).

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This entire post was very spot on and makes good points. Well said.

Now is also probably the time to download games from here, especially the ones you want to play.

Yes, it is :D

Good advice, in general(I have 90% of my games backed up, minus a few which got updates that I didn't re-download, etc).

Also I have been DLing extra cracks for my (bought)steam games if need be, and various films/tv shows/etc, if the net ever(gods forbid) goes down for awhile due to this.

Well, I'm working from home today, and for the rest of the week. My company has taken a rather curious decision to split the company in half, and team 1 works in the office for one week while team 2 works from home, then they work from home and team 2 works in the office the next week. This is a scheme invented by people that live in the suburbs and drive to work.

However I do like the home working so far. Normally I get out of bed at 5:55, haul myself through a shower & shave then onto the London Underground, arrive at work for about 7 (I really only need to be there for 7:30, but leave some room for delays), then work 'till 4:30 and get home for 5:30. Today I got out of bed at 7:10, was online for 7:30 with no chance of delays, and then will log off at 4:30 and go straight into my game of Kenshi. It's saving me 2.5 hours a day, and giving me some much desired sleeping in.

This view may change as the week goes on.

AH!
Lucky you. A bit jelly atm since I saw Kenshi the other day on my gog shelf just... patiently waiting for me.

You've said it all. Go sleep those needed extra hours.

ps: our work routines/time frames are basically the same, heh.

Funny thing is I think that kind of virtue signalling hurts them in the general, rather than help them. Also with old people more likely to stay home, Bernie Sanders is likely to do better than he otherwise would have tomorrow, which isn't what Pelosi wants. They had every reason to delay the primary, so I'm pretty surprised it's still going on. Only thing I can guess is that it would have cost a ton of money to move it.

I wrote "weeks", as far as I know full recovery often takes 3-6 weeks (probably more in severe cases), so it's very hard at this point to determine if people who get it again have been re-infected, or weren''t fully cured and just had a relapse. The disease has only been known for a few months, obviously much about it is still unclear.

Post on facebook from gog:
https://www.facebook.com/gogcom/photos/a.395694872656/10156795002702657/?type=3&theater

Good thing GOG takes care of its employees. Also, it's a good thing that gaming services and other online functions continue to work as normal under quarantine.

Stay safe everyone!

There is certainly politics at play, but shouldn't be. This in-person voting is misguided and dangerous. The money to move the elections should be of no consequence in a pandemic.

Well of course...that's a no brainer**.....but they'll likely never realize that(or maybe they do and don't care).

Again, i'm shocked they didn't just set up a website or limited e-voting machines for it, OR go the old school route and have everyone mail in their vote.

That way people get to vote and not mingle in large crowds much/at all.
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(**=Just like how people low rating me, you, and others[without saying anything] are hurting the forums more than helping)
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True

Some new questions:

What about China? Surely they have data on average numbers of re-infections(amounts/average rates) by now.

I live in the land of eternal winter, so I more or less cough and sneeze all year long. How do I know if I suddenly catch the real deal?