With the last week’s news many people have come to realize that COVID-19 is unlikely to be contained. Just as Korea, Iran and Italy are grappling with outbreaks, the same might happen here in the United States. Given that the US is currently incapable of testing at scale, as Canada or Korea has, when the outbreak is first detected here, it might be larger than in Singapore. If so, contact tracing might not be feasible any longer. So how can people prepare and not panic? The best guide that I’ve seen so far for individuals and families is this blog post by Australian virologist Ian Mackay. This is a pandemic and now is the time to take reasonable steps.