Takeaway: We don’t know yet.
The precautions being taken are just that – precautions. Authorities have to also be careful not to cause undue worry/panic for no reason. It’s too early to tell how dangerous it is and to whom (young, old, etc)
Currently, there are many unknowns about what is informally referred to as “Wuhan coronavirus,” for the city where cases were first diagnosed. Among the questions being investigated: how the disease is transmitted and how lethal it is.
“Whenever a virus enters the human population from animals, we don’t know its full potential at that time,” says David Heymann, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.