I started to spray around Lysol, even in the cars, mail and mailbox, ... wandering if it helps.
The CDC is certainly recommending it. I've started carrying around a bottle of Purell when I'm not home and using it often. I've always washed my hands when I first come home from being out and about. All I've changed is actually using the Purrel before I touch the door/doorknob etc., or spraying it afterwards. As for public restrooms I always wash my hands thoroughly and close taps or touch handles with a tissue or piece of paper toweling. My mother, like Trump, was a germaphobe, and I've been doing the prior since I was a little girl.
Whatever the fatality of this disease, data from Hong Kong and Korea shows that all infectious disease occurrences are down substantially, so, maybe we should all have been doing this all along, if not for ourselves, for others.
As for masks, I think the authorities are giving out mixed messages or just plain misinformation. I've heard a number of public health officials say they don't protect you, and are just meant to protect others from your coughing. Think about that: there's a lot of cognitive dissonance there. If you're wearing it not to infect others, then obviously it prevents viruses from going into the air. There's always going to be idiots around who just cough into the air, so clearly it would help. Also, at the same time they're saying these things, they're saying don't buy them because then people who might really need them, like health care workers, won't be able to get them. So then, they do protect the health care workers. See what I mean?
Also, I unfortunately accompanied someone to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center yesterday, to the transplant floor, and the first thing they did was instruct everyone entering to put on a surgical mask.
The fatalities out west for now are centered around a nursing home. Seven patients there are dead and others in hospital in critical condition. That highlights that the people really at risk are those who are 60+ and/or have underlying conditions.
I wish they'd get the numbers right. The WHO released figures from China saying that in Wuhan 16% or so got critically ill, and 3.8% on average died. In outlying provinces the CFR is only .7%. Has the virus mutated to become less lethal? Or, is it a question of the fact that Hubei province didn't have enough ICU chambers to handle the massive onslaught and people died unnecessarily?
Meanwhile, an epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins gave a talk to investment banks and stated that the Case Fatality Rate is 0.1 to 0.5%, which would make it only a bit more lethal than the regular flu. That's probably why the markets rebounded. Is it true or are the WHO figures more accurate?
I have no idea, but better safe than sorry. Also, that CFR figure isn't for people over 60 if you use the data from China, where, if you get COVID 19, apparently, the CFR is closer to 4%, and goes up substantially with each decade, and especially for those over 80. The moral of that story, as far as I'm concerned is that people in those age brackets shouldn't be going to large gatherings, and should be extra vigilant. People who are at all unwell should also not be going to see them.