[General] How's the virus condition there?

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I have a friend who's in another province of China. She might live in a small town though. I want to know the situation of the coronavirus in her small town. I asked her "How's the virus condition there?" I don't think this is natural. What would be the natural way to ask the question?

 

[tedmc]

I would use "situation" rather than "condition".

She might be living...

 

[Tdol]

How about What's the situation like there regarding coronavirus?

 

[Tarheel]

Silver: What's the virus condition there?
Me: The virus is doing just fine.
Silver: Wait! That's not what I meant.
Me: Well, what did you mean?
Silver: What's the situation there concerning the coronavirus?
Me: So far so good.
Silver: Meaning?
Me: No reported cases here (North Carolina).
Silver: Oh.
Me: Of course, mild cases don't get reported. Also, it doesn't seem to be worse than the flu (not that the flu is good).
Silver: OK.

 

[GoesStation]

Also, it doesn't seem to be worse than the flu (not that the flu is good).

The UK's health secretary says the current best estimate is about a two percent death rate. That's twenty times higher than the typical rate for the flu.

It's very early days, though, and as the linked article shows, the numbers vary considerably depending on age and general health. If the charts prove accurate, my risk would be somewhere around five percent. You recently mentioned your age; based on that alone, you also have a significant risk if you come down with this disease.

I'm not terribly worried for myself, and panic isn't warranted, but this really is not a trivial matter.

 

[Tarheel]

I know what they say, but they really don't know. They're just making guesses. And I didn't mean to suggest that it's a trivial matter.

The mildest cases don't get reported. So they're only guessing at how many cases there are.

It takes a while to develop a vaccine. (On a personal note, I got a shot for flu and also pneumonia.)

 

[Tdol]

My wife works in this area and this is not simply a new flu. There's no cause for panic, but there is cause for realism. They are not mindlessly guessing.

 

[Tdol]

We ran out of toilet paper for a few days in Japan because of this. It's not nice to see a highly developed society have no toilet paper.

 

[Rover_KE]

Silver, I have observed two things:

1) You have not acknowledged any of the above replies;

2) When you posted this thread you had already received four good replies to the same question here, without giving us a link to them.

You must be aware that we take a dim view of this.

 

[Silverobama]

Hi Rover.

I did read this thread but I didn't log in at that time. I needed to use a VPN. Now I have one. It will be much slower to log in here if I don't have a VPN. Most of the time I can read only but not comment or give a like or thank.

I don't want to learn from non-native speakers. And as you can see the time I posted the question on WR, it was much later than I did it here. I didn't give you the link here because I forgot to do so. If I deliberately don't want to let you know what I have done on WR, I would not let anyone to see my posts there. I know you've been watching and reading my threads here and there, and I am willing and happy to let you see it simply because I want you to know what I'm doing.

I will definitely post a link here if I ask another same question on WR, whenever I post them. I hope you can understand that I want to learn from native speakers, is that against the rule? If so, please let me know and I'll be very careful posting questions here.

 

[emsr2d2]

I hope you can understand that I want to learn from native speakers, is that against the rule? If so, please let me know and I'll be very careful posting questions here.

It's not against the rules for you to ignore non-native speakers if that's what you want to do, but you cannot stop them responding. In my opinion, it would be your loss if you chose to ignore responses from some of our extremely able non-native speakers. I think it's a little discourteous to say that you don't want to learn from them. If they know something you don't, it doesn't make sense for you not to take advantage of the learning opportunity.

 

[Silverobama]

Hello Ems.

I must make it clear that I respect everyone here. It's my own problem that I don't want to learn from non-native speakers; it has nothing to do with their mastery of this language.

I was told more than once that right here we have some wonderful teachers whose native language are not English, and I see likes and thanks under their comments, but they're not always correct. Yes, you might say that even native speakers are not always correct, but they've used their mother language for ages.

I am an easygoing person. I am banned on WR because I respect everyone there, so they also know what I need. I love this forum because I can learn from different teachers of English, I believe "Ask A Teacher" is the aim of establishing this forum section, not "Ask A Non-Native".

I'd love to obey the rules here, and I appreciate the help of every native speakers of English here.

I don't even trust my teachers in university. I don't learn from my fellow countrymen because they make mistakes. I make mistakes and they make mistakes, what can we learn from each other. Yes, it's annoying to say such things; it's not good for the harmony of this community. But I hope you can understand me, just like I try to respect every answer here, though I don't think I am liable to accpet it.

 

[emsr2d2]

As I said, you are not obliged to read/accept responses from anyone here. What would you do, though, if a non-native speaker responded first to a question and then several native speakers/teachers/others clicked "Like" on that response? Would you still not accept that it's a reliable answer?

 

[Rover_KE]

I am banned on WR because I respect everyone there ...

I don't think you meant that, Silver.

 

[Silverobama]

Sorry, that was a typo. Anyway, I'll listen to what all of you have said.