>I think one factor that influences a person's level of
>cautiousness is the region of the country someone lives.
>
>In full disclosure, I didn't take the threat that COVID-19
>seriously at first. But when the number of diagnoses (and
>deaths) piled up here in LA, my cavalierness turned into
>caution. It took living within a community that was
>definitively impacted by the fallout of the disease to change
>my mind.
>
>My sense is that most regions of the country have not hit
>their peak or that their communities are spread out over a
>large geographic area. In either case, the likelihood of them
>coming in direct contact with someone who may be a carrier is
>lower than it is in a major, dense city. Direct experience is
>a greater 'teacher' than observation in most cases.
>
>As the virus builds towards a peak and more communities are
>deeply affected, hopefully more people take this outbreak with
>the proper level of gravity. At least before conditions
>worsen.