by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

This is already the most frightening virus outbreak that we have seen in the past several decades, and it appears that it is just getting started.  A week ago, there were about 3,000 confirmed cases outside of China and now there are more than 10,000.  4,812 cases have been confirmed in South Korea, 2,036 cases have been confirmed in Italy, and 1,501 cases have been confirmed in Iran at this point.  Of course by the time you actually read this article those numbers are likely to be significantly higher.  It is like we are watching a really bad Hollywood disaster movie play out right in front of our eyes, and so far every effort to contain this virus has failed.  On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci stunned many people when he told NBC News that COVID-19 has likely reached “pandemic proportions”…

News of the additional deaths came after Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC News on Monday that the disease had likely reached ‘pandemic proportions’ as 100 cases were confirmed across the U.S.

‘We’re dealing with an evolving situation. We’re dealing with clearly an emerging infectious disease that has now reached outbreak proportions and likely pandemic proportions,’ Dr Fauci said. ‘If you look at multiple definitions of what a pandemic is… multiple sustained transmissions of of a highly infectious agent in multiple regions of the globe.’

Dr. Fauci is definitely not an alarmist, and for him to use the word “pandemic” is a major red flag.

Last week a lot of people were pointing out that not a single American had died from this virus yet, but now six victims have died in the state of Washington alone…

Four more people have died of the coronavirus in Washington state, raising the death toll in the state and the nation to six, health officials said Monday.

Jeffrey Duchin, a health officer in King County and Seattle, said at a news conference Monday that five of the deaths were people from King County and one was from Snohomish County, north of Seattle.

If you live in the Seattle area, you need to understand that you are in the middle of a crisis zone.  As I discussed yesterday, it is likely that the virus has been circulating in that region for weeks, and each day the number of potential carriers will only get higher.

At this point, local officials are specifically warning everyone to “avoid crowded settings if possible”…

“To increase your chances of staying healthy, avoid crowded settings if possible,” King County Public Health said on Twitter. “Especially if you are over 60, or have other chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or a weakened immune system.”

There’s particular concern about the spread of the virus in nursing homes. One such  facility, Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, said in a statement that one of its residents and one of its associates have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The center is banning visitors for now.

And this doesn’t mean that you will need to change your behavior for a few days or even a few weeks.

At a minimum, if you live in the Seattle area you are going to want to avoid crowded settings for the next several months.

Of course it is just a matter of time before other major cities are facing similar outbreaks.  In recent days the number of states with confirmed cases has grown quite a bit larger…

• Arizona – 1


• California – 20


• Florida – 2


• Illinois – 4


• Massachusetts – 1


• New York – 1


• Oregon – 3


• Rhode Island – 2


• Washington state – 18 (includes 6 fatalities)


• Wisconsin – 1

Unfortunately, this list probably only represents the very small tip of a very large iceberg.  Up until just recently, the CDC was mandating that the only people that should be tested are those that have traveled to China or those that have had close contact with a known victim.  By using such restrictive criteria, the number of Americans being tested was kept extremely low, and a lot of infected people slipped through the cracks.

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