UPDATE: Please also see our COVID-19 landing page for many more up-to-date articles about the pandemic.

Two 80,000 Hours researchers, Robert Wiblin and Howie Lempel, just recorded a discussion about the 2019-nCoV virus.

You can get it by subscribing to the 80,000 Hours Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about the show.

In the 1h15m conversation we cover:

What is it?

How many people have it?

How contagious is it?

What fraction of people who contract it die?

How likely is it to spread out of control?

What’s the range of plausible fatalities worldwide?

How does it compare to other epidemics?

What don’t we know and why?

What actions should listeners take, if any?

How should the complexities of the above be communicated by public health professionals?

Below are some links we discuss in the episode, or otherwise think are informative:

Advice on how to avoid catching contagious diseases

The Wuhan Virus: How to Stay Safe by Laurie Garrett

Forecasts

Metaculus aggregated predictions regarding nCoV

General summaries of what’s going on

Our previous episodes about pandemic control

Thoughts on how to communicate risk to the public

Official updates

Published papers

General advice on disaster preparedness

Prepare a household disaster kit

Tweets mentioned