I am one of those people that feel that even though there is a loss of life and the virus is quite scary that this entire thing is overblown. I don't know who to believe and the internet and particularly social media is jumping on every little thing the same way the always do about anything.
I'm quite near the source of the whole thing and it has disrupted life over here quite a bit - likely more so than most of the rest of the world although it hasn't really affected me directly to a very high degree.
Seeing as how I have spent the last year living in 2 of the most polluted cities in the world, it really wasn't anything new for everyone to be wearing masks all the time. Particularly in Chiang Mai, where the Air Quality Index is routinely over 300, wearing masks was just a part of day-to-day life. However, these days I live somewhere with fantastic AQI and nearly everyone is wearing masks everywhere you go.
The fact that these masks have been pointed out to be ineffective in stopping the virus doesn't seem to matter a great deal but I'm not going to be a judgy-pants, I think it puts people at ease.
While this doesn't apply directly to me it does to a great many people that I know over here in Asia. Lots of my friends are English teachers and most of them are not going to school because schools are shut.
This is true in Singapore, China, Thailand, Korea, and parts of Vietnam (probably others as well but these are just the ones I know about first-hand.) It started out as them getting paid but as the weeks have gone by many of them are getting time off without pay. For the sensible people who save some money over time this isn't a big deal... for others, they are in big trouble because their life is one of those "paycheck-to-paycheck" ones. I feel sorry for them, but not having any savings is a notion I have a difficult time relating to, especially if you aren't 22.
Also, various countries are becoming more and more leery of neighboring countries as we see flights cancelled and admission to the country denied in an effort to curb the spread. This started out just being a China ban, but as time went by we saw flights being banned from other destinations that have a known Chinese and then later Korean, tourism or business population.
The city that I live in now is very popular with Koreans and I can't say if it was a ban on flights or because Koreans are staying home right now, but the streets where the Korean tourists tended to flock to are very quiet right now.
There is some concern when people are traveling at the moment, that they might not be allowed back into whatever country they originated from (in the expat community, of course citizens would be allowed back in) and this can be problematic for those of us that have to travel for visa reasons.
Since I work online, none of this really affects me much but if the virus isn't under control by say June, it could become a problem for me as I have to leave the country for a visa. Of course I hope it is under control in a general sense by then, and not just for selfish reasons. Even though I have a chip on my shoulder towards Thailand's tourism industry, the hit that they are taking right now is massive and I actually feel bad for them now.
Tourism is obviously down dramatically across the board and a lot of the countries over here depend on this to a high degree. Recently, Cambodia made headlines for being the country that "isn't worried about it" and was just allowing everyone in. This could be a very dangerous move on their part.
Mostly, other than the fear of international travel being held up or cancelled, my life really hasn't been disrupted that much at all. I'm curious how it has affected your lives, if at all, particularly if you are in the Western world such as USA, Cananda, or Europe. The news would have us believe that it is all panic, all the time, and I'd rather hear real stories than sensationalism.