Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare expert. You might care to read from those who are:
https://www.ready.gov/pandemic2019-nCoV is a viral disease spread by droplets and close physical contact, possibly by contaminated fluids, including human waste (sewage). Literature I've seen suggests relatively close prolonged contact is necessary -- hours around an infected individual. There've been some "super spreaders", including apparently a woman within a South Korean church, who've infected numerous other individuals.
There is no vaccine or effective curative treatment. Medical treatment is currently limited to diagnosis, and treating symptoms.
At an epidemiological level, the outbreak will be halted when the level of transmission (R value) of the disease falls below 1: one infected individual on average infects fewer than one other additional persons. The outbreak will continue for some time after this, with occasional new cases, but the total new cases should fall.
Halting transmission means disrupting transmission vectors:
- Less person-to-person contact.
- Less high-risk contact.
- Reduced risk of exposure through contacts.
Keeping yourself and the things you touch clean is the single most effective thing you can do.
Soap and water are a low-tech effective mechanism. Wash your hands. Often.
Alcohol-based hand-sanitizers work.
Antibacterial sterilisers are not effective against 2019-nCoV, though may reduce risks of secondary / opportunistic infections.
Soap, detergent, or bleach sterilisers on high-contact surfaces should be useful. Taps, light switches, door handles, elevator buttons, toilet handles, counters, keyboards, touch devices.
Note that many modern devices disinfect poorly if at all. Many are harmed by water. Consider, e.g., keyboard covers if necessary.
Barrier protections such as gloves, masks, or eye protection may be useful if:
- You cannot avoid touching possibly-contaminated surfaces, e.g., shopping trolleys, on public transit. Discard gloves and masks after the exposure episode, dispose as hazardous waste, and wash hands after removal.
- You are or may be infected yourself, to avoid infecting others.
- You're assiting others who are or may be infected (family, friends, neighbours, etc.).
Masks and gloves should not be worn as a matter of course (e.g., around the home) so long as there's little risk of infection.
Be generally aware that an epidemic may be declared where you are, and what the implications are likely to be.
That includes several weeks of reduced transport, possibly including long-range transport. Schools and businesses may be closed. Medical services may be overextended.
Workplaces should make contingency plans for remote work or possible shutdowns, as well as assess and implement cleaning procedures.
If you have not yet had a flu shot get one now. Not because it will prevent 2019-nCoV infection, but because 1) you don't want to be getting sick with something else in an epidemic and 2) you'll reduce load on medical services and risk of nosocomial infection through healthcare services.
(I've been fighting with close family and friends on this point -- idiotically stubborn individuals are an exceedingly unfortunate and frustrating reality. The elderly, uneducated, and or mentally handicaped (Parkinsons or other conditions) may be especially resistant to sensible preventive actions.)
Consider changes to routines (e.g., work, school, socialising, religious worship, fitness or gym) in the event of a local outbreak. Preparing to minimise transmission risk will be useful. Do so for others in your household as well (partners, children, parents, housemates).
Get in touch with neighbours and have a mutual support plan in effect. Buying supplies for someone who's sick is low-risk, but will make their recovery far easier.
Overall severity for most people is low, deaths outside China have been reassuringly low. The worst places for the outbreak seem to be those with poor public infrastructures, public health, general healthcare, and institutional trust. Unfortunately, the US has been trending in the wrong direction on all these measures, but in large part remains among the more prepared countries. Countries lacking these traits, having poor communications and public health, and cold, dry conditions are most at risk. North Korea has been on my watchlist since early in the outbreak, and the lack of any case reports seems improbably accurate. Iran's outbreak may be concerning.
China's containment efforts seem generally to have been working well, with a few possible exceptions. Prison outbreaks are among the more troubling notes in recent news.
Coronavirus generally thrives in cold and dry conditions, which should become far less prevalent as Northern hemisphere spring and summer arrive. To that extent the epidemic being self-limiting is likely.
Second-order effects, including disinformation and panic, are all but certain to be the most severe disruptions anyone will personally experience. Global economic and supply-chain shocks are possible, though if handled sensible, not a tremendous risk. Money doesn't grow on trees, it's easier to come by than that: central banks can inject it at will.