2019-nCoV vs The Flu

I have been following updates about the new corona virus as much as anybody, especially interested in whether quarantining Wuhan will slow the spread, but it seems to me to be a distraction from the peril of regular old seasonal influenza. According to the CDC, from October 1, 2019 through January 11th of this year, 6,600 people have died of the flu in the US. I was irritated at the NPR reporter last week who was talking about how hard it was going to be to decide which people to scan at world airports because lots of people would be traveling with the flu anyway, and be feverish. He acted as though this is a normal thing. I suppose it might be, but people with the flu should not spend hours infecting people in a nearly sealed cylinder. Just my opinion.

*Not* lost in translation

It has been a while since I sat quietly in an immigration courtroom, but I still do related activities. One of the people for whom I took the bond check to ICE is scheduled to be deported in a couple of weeks. I got a certified letter saying to have him at the ICE office near where he lives (in Virginia, as it happens) at the right day and time. I passed along the information to people who are actually in touch with him - we've never met. I don't THINK I'll be subject to arrest if he doesn't appear (he would be). A more cheerful, sort of, think I do sometimes is drive people who got to stay to their doctors' appointments. The first time, the 12 year old kid acted as translator between his mother and me. The most recent couple of times have been for a different family. I speak English to the mom and kid. She talks (briefly) and texts to me in Spanish. Gestures can be involved. Context is a wonderful thing - if I know one word per sentence in the texts, it's good enough if I know there are only a few possible messages.
The public restroom in the Trader Joe's has an infant changing table. There are safety admonitions in four languages with which I have a least some familiarity. There is no Mandarin, though, which is the second most spoken language in Lexington, not that I could read the warning. The English, French, and Spanish ones all say generally not to let the kid roll off the table. The German one specifically says to use the safety belt (Sicherheitsgurt). I don't know what to make of that.