Should non-essential gatherings be shut down to slow down COVID-19?

[parochial boy]

Switzerland just shut down large events including their annual watch fair which is a big deal for the nation. Baselworld 2020 is canceled.

Is... it?

Basel Fasnacht being cancelled was a huge deal, but I'd never even heard of the watch thing.

And that said, part of the difference is that we are practically on the front line, given the open borders with and proximity to the worst hit part of Italy.

[parochial boy]

Switzerland just shut down large events including their annual watch fair which is a big deal for the nation. Baselworld 2020 is canceled.

Is... it?

Basel Fasnacht being cancelled was a huge deal, but I'd never even heard of the watch thing.

And that said, part of the difference is that we are practically on the front line, given the open borders with and proximity to the worst hit part of Italy.

It is a big deal for me, as I sometimes attend Basel and SIHH, but for the general public it isn't, really. It's mostly industry people and journalists, along with a few locals who pop in on the last day to browse.

But yeah, I am cutting my own travel down a lot, mostly to set an example for others.

I’d never even heard of SIHH either, and I only lived there for 25 years. The irony that the rest of the country considers Geneva to be « ghetto »...

I’m seriously doubting whether to go skiing this weekend. Things look like they’ll be getting really sucky here fast unless the situation in Italy improves.

[parochial boy]

Pandemics are something that blindly obviously require a concerted government directed response in order to manage. Therefore, in line with the spotless logic that everything government does is bad, the risks presented by this pandemic must clearly be being massively overhyped. And it's not even a pandemic to begin with.