You know it's never good when a public health scientist starts off a tweet with "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD"

[Leith]

6. I'm with you

We all know what a "pandemic" is and it isn't hard to figure out "thermonuclear."

Okay, I'm not a stupid person, but I got the lowest passing grade in Probability and Statistics 301 in college (about 1/3 of the class failed) and I was ecstatic. And I have no background in the medical sciences.

So, what does "3.8" mean? What is "reproductive R0?" What does a "virality coefficient" do?

I get it - it will spread faster than the flu outbreak of 1918 which killed more people than WW I did. So obviously it's horrifically bad. There are documentaries on YouTube which explain the Spanish flu that are scary as hell.

So, can anyone explain this Asimov style?*

* That mean taking difficult and complex scientific concepts and explaining them in ways that a normal person can understand. Thanks in advance.