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K. Balakrishna, a 50-year-old Indian father-of-three, may be the first suicide victim linked to the coronavirus epidemic. Panic is suspected of precipitating his death. Historically, disease pandemics have been associated with grave psychological consequences. This should not come as a surprise. In its simple definition "pandemic" describes the spread of a disease across a large region, but words such as "pandemic," "plague" and now "coronavirus" are not experienced in a simple way; they come riddled with fear, anxiety, grief and chaos. Balakrishna kept watching coronavirus-related videos and became convinced he had the virus and would infect his family: he was a victim of panic contagion. Panic can demoralize us, it can paralyze us with paranoia and fear, and these emotions in turn lead to hopelessness and desperation.
Comment: Scott Adams sums up the two narratives which will compete in the coming months:
Austria could re-open small businesses in mid-April, with a gradual "resurrection" of the local economy - if things "go well", that is. Spain plans to extend testing to people without symptoms (something South Korea was doing from the beginning). But Russia is reporting new cases, including it's biggest one-day spike. Turkey has forbidden people under 20 years old from leaving their homes. Iran is developing its own AI software to detect the virus.
As for the masks destined for Germany that were bought up by the U.S., apparently the story is not so simple: See also: