Quote:
Originally Posted by pleasefade
Yeah I'm not so sure that this virus is going to do anything to the WSOP. In the desert it won't survive as easy in the heat, but more importantly -- although we're prepping for a breakout, it hasn't happened yet
LOL. That's one heck of an assumption. What in the world would the desert heat have to do with the spread of the virus? It spreads person-to-person, not person-to hot sand to-person. Plus, there is not yet any study or evidence that heat affects this particular virus.
There is an awful lot unknown about this virus. For instance, close to 100 of the people that were released in Guandong Province, China after recovery (symptoms gone, cheek and nose swabs negative, etc.) were called back for anal swabs. Of those,
13 of the swabs came back positive for the virus! It is unknown yet whether they are still infectious or if it is an active form of the virus.
It is also still unknown the actual morbidity rate of the disease. According to official counts, it's running about 2% to 3% in total. Compare that with the 0.1% morbidity rate of the flu. However, there may be many un-diagnosed, uncounted cases of infection, just as there may be some uncounted deaths. Still, an apparent morbidity rate that is possibly 20+ times the morbidity rate of the flu is scary. Especially since the transmission rate is much higher than the flu, plus it will be at least 12 months before a vaccine is developed, prepared and widely available.
As of yesterday afternoon, there are verified infections in 50 countries. So far, most show an expansion of the number of confirmed infections starting about 2 weeks after the first infection appears, despite best efforts to contain it.
There is no doubt that we are looking at the start of a worldwide pandemic with the potential to cause deaths on the order of the 1918 Spanish Flu, in the millions. While medical science is far advanced from 1918, we can at least expect rapid spread of the disease and severe changes in societal behavior.
I don't think it is unreasonable to speculate that the WSOP may get cancelled this year.
Last edited by PokerXanadu; 02-28-2020 at 08:03 AM.