I think the doctor is spot on. For us in Mongolia the biggest impact at this point IS inconvenience. Here’s an abbreviated list from a recent blog post of mine (those who want to read the full article can find it here):

– Travel restrictions like having the roads in/out of the city shut down for 9 days. Or the flight routes in/out of the country being severely limited. Flights to Korea, Japan, China, and Bangkok are stopped, leaving only Moscow & Istanbul routes (which are expensive).

– Having to wear a mask in public because stores are requiring it, and the police will fine you if they see you in public without one. I f***ing hate wearing these masks.

– Having the schools & kindergartens closed and our kids at home all day. It’s a little easier for us since I work from home and sometimes we send the kids to their grandparents in the countryside, but it is taking time and focus away from my work.

– Having some businesses closed due to perceived risk. You want to go to the theater to watch the latest movie or work out at the gym? Sorry, you gotta settle for Netflix and working out at home.

– Staying at home most of the time so as not to risk picking up the virus and spreading it to my wife’s high-risk parents.

– Having shortages of certain items. While we had panic-buying events twice now, the stores were largely re-stocked within a few days. Our experience hasn’t been empty shelves (at least not for long), but rather shortages of a few specific items like masks and hand sanitizer. Annoying, but NOT a critical issue. Those people I’m seeing swarming the Costcos on Youtube are probably going to see the store shelves mostly back to normal in a week, and kicking themselves for wasted time and buying $200 worth of bottled water.

To be fair, there are others here where this is much more than an inconvenience because they’re now making less money or they’re out of work because of the economic slump coming from border closures, business closures, and people shopping less. But for us it’s been mostly inconvenience and having to adapt our routines. Even our recent ‘scare’ with a suspected case at my wife’s hospital had my thoughts mostly centered on the potential inconvenience of going through full quarantine (I figured all of us are in good health and would get through a hypothetical infection just fine).