A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Coronavirus

I guess this counts as a public service announcement.

The Surgeon-General of the United States has asked everyone to stop buying face masks in hopes of avoiding the coronavirus.

This makes good sense. I have been giving my students in China and Korea the same advice.
Face masks do little or nothing to protect you from the virus. It is airborne, and can enter your system at the eye. They are useful mainly to prevent you from spreading the virus through sneezing if you have it.

Accordingly, it is important that masks remain available for the ill, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Each mask you uselessly buy now risks taking it away from where and when it is genuinely needed.

Second piece of advice: stock up on non-perishable food. People commonly think of such actions as selfish, “hoarding.” This is the opposite of the truth. If you can ensure that you and your family are provided for during a crisis or a quarantine, you will be reducing the pressure on emergency services if the crisis hits. You are reducing the crowding and the possible spread of the virus if it reaches your neighbourhood.

If it does not hit near you, nothing is lost; you eat the non-perishable food anyway, when it suits you. So there seems to be no downside to stocking up on rice and beans. Don’t forget salt and oil.
I keep hearing about people stocking up on water. This seems to me unnecessary. I cannot see how the virus is going to cause municipal water supplies to shut down. Is the virus going to be spread by water? No indication that this is possible.

At worst, this is not going to be all that bad. And for all we know, the virus may mutate into something harmless tomorrow.