Okay, let's make this a bit more graphic. Suppose you caught it. It means you may get sick for several days. Sucks, but hey. However, it also means you'll be c

Okay, let's make this a bit more graphic. Suppose you caught it. It means you may get sick for several days. Sucks, but hey. However, it also means you'll be contagious for the next couple of weeks. Before you get sick, but also after you got better. Anyone who comes in contact with you runs a risk of catching it from you. What does that mean "contact"? Simple. You're basically shedding viral particles. An invisible cloud of them hovers around you. A cough, talking, touching anything ranging from toilet seats to doorknobs to tables,... You basically leave a trail of particles that has the potential to infect others long hours after you've passed by. And you wouldn't even realize you're doing it. Because this is exactly where you'll get a demonstration of power laws in action. Suppose 1 person infects 2 others over the course of those weeks, those will go on to infect 4, 16, 32,... you'll get what's going on here. Basically, you're that first match in a stack of matches that got lit, and before you know it, the entire stack has burned down. Why is that bad? Because maybe two or three hops from you, there's a specialist, a couple of nurses, a few people who are designated to help out elderly people and maybe a couple of people with health conditions such as asthma, COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure,... You didn't just got sick, you also provided a gateway for the virus to jump to all those people as well. Meaning all those who got sick can't provide healthcare anymore; and a ton of people end up in an already strained healthcare system. And that's discounting people who have bad luck and end up having a heart attack, a stroke or a bad accident. If the ICU's are overloaded with COVID patients, stark choices will have to be made on who gets to live and who is left to die. That's where they are in Italy right now. We aren't just talking about "patients", we are talking about your and other people's loved ones. Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends,... That's what we are discussing here. Wrapping up. If you think that barricading yourself in your house for weeks/months is a "no go", well, you're not gonna like what's going to happen next either. Stay in your home. Avoid contact if you can. Follow the WHO recommendations. Be responsible about this. That's how you help saving lives.