Knowing the current situation with the Covid-19 virus, things could certainly change in the coming weeks for poker players. But the poker community doesn’t appear to be too concerned with the mainstream media’s coronavirus coverage.

Does the virus concern you enough to stay away from the poker rooms?

Coronavirus Threat Doesn’t Seem to Faze American Poker Players … Yet

That will change in a few weeks I bet.

Originally Posted by bon2great

That will change in a few weeks I bet.

If the virus hasn't been contained, then yes, it will very likely change.

The world is in quite chaotic situation right now. I agree that close to thousand confirmed cases in the US 'doesn't sound so bad' at least if compared to US population, but for example in Germany there are about 1300 cases and according to todays news the officials gave an estimate that more than 70% of Germany's population might get infected! That's close to 60 million people.

Italy is in chaos, my friends in Denmark have told about increasing restrictions, and also in my country the situation is becoming more severe. Everyone should use caution in their daily lives right now.

We have no idea how many people in the US have it due to a lack of testing. The only ones you hear about are those who get really sick or die. The death rate will probably fall significantly once enough people are being tested. Also the number of new cases in China are starting to drop. That is probably due to the type of restrictions they are able to place on society so quickly. There are slogans posted there about staying at home (only one person per household can leave a day) and riding elevators (they have the floor taped off into four squares and only four people can ride at a time), at the end of each slogan it says "we must do this together to stop the spread of the virus" . They have shut down pretty much the whole country, as has Italy. I worry about our elders and what it does to them. Will people in the States stay at home?? Younger people have little to fear from this but shouldn't they also help prevent the spread to protect the older population. Sorry I got way away from the topic. I believe casinos may actually shut down for a period to prevent the spread. Judging from what other countries have done that are slowing the spread, that is the type of thing that will need to be done to make a difference.

Agree with Joe regarding lack of testing worldwide,
Had a painful chest infection coughing up blood and very ill for 2 weeks end of January.
Nearly 200 people where I work had it unsure what it was nobody tested maybe Covid 19 unsure did not stop me from doing anything.
The last few weeks though delivery drivers must be greeted with gloves and masks if sick.
Scary as people with asthma or other conditions could die precautions are necessary to protect the sick and elderly,
I think for every one person tested for it 100+ more healthy and recovered people probably have had it.
With modern air travel disease can travel the world in hours,
If a Casino is on fire people would still probably not evacuate and ask to be dealt one more hand use a fire extinguisher it will be ok lol.

Originally Posted by Shells

Knowing the current situation with the Covid-19 virus, things could certainly change in the coming weeks for poker players. But the poker community doesn’t appear to be too concerned with the mainstream media’s coronavirus coverage.

Does the virus concern you enough to stay away from the poker rooms?

Coronavirus Threat Doesn’t Seem to Faze American Poker Players … Yet

Sigh....really an article about how American poker players are true degenerates!!

I agree with Norman that room attendance seems about the same as pre-Corona.

I will say that if you are a player that is 70 years old or older or with compromised health then you should consider abstaining from situations where you are in close proximity to others - especially if they are sneezing and hacking!

I mean - how many flu seasons have Americans played through and put-up with catching an illness? Basically it will be the same thing IMO. "Yeah, I caught that thing that was going around."

Ever sat next to a player that is coughing so hard you thought he was going to cough up a piece of his lung??? LOL

Good luck everybody !

Novos knows exactly what's happening. We have a information war... some news saying we have low rates of death, its only a simple disease... others News saying pandemic disease, countries closes, stopped... Lets see next knews...

Obviously today, things finally sank into the US government with the travel bans but this followed the private sector and the suspension of NBA, college basketball etc. Then topping all turns out Tom Hanks and his wife have contracted the virus whilst filming in 'warm' Australia. I am not into things celebrity but I think this news will really bring it home to the average person.

That said, as pointed out by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN today, according to the CDC in the States, yesterday, the government failed to test a single additional person for the virus (tests were being conducted however by private medical services/providers) so we are far from being up to speed as yet.

I've been hearing now a lot of card rooms are starting to notice a decline in #'s

Various events are canceled due to coronavirus. I think that the poker community should treat this situation with dignity and cancel some tournaments if necessary. This is most likely to be the case.

Does anyone hear any rumblings out of the WSOP 2020 (concrete rather than gossip) regarding whether it is going to proceed? I do not see a single update or even mention of coronavirus on the WSOP website.

At least Pokernews is doing an excellent job of updating which global poker events have been postponed/cancelled (including those in the States/Las Vegas)

Regarding the WSOP, the one month travel ban extends almost to the WSOP 2020 doorstep as it is, but I can't see how people would be able to book flights, rooms etc. with any confidence. Plus it will be unlikely the virus will be fully contained by then (the travel ban not regarded as an effective method by experts).

As the worlds biggest single poker tournament you would expect some clarity/direction as to likelihood it will be staged or postponed. Might it no be a better idea to postpone it until the fall at least?

Originally Posted by DS3

Does anyone hear any rumblings out of the WSOP 2020 (concrete rather than gossip) regarding whether it is going to proceed? I do not see a single update or even mention of coronavirus on the WSOP website.

At least Pokernews is doing an excellent job of updating which global poker events have been postponed/cancelled (including those in the States/Las Vegas)

Regarding the WSOP, the one month travel ban extends almost to the WSOP 2020 doorstep as it is, but I can't see how people would be able to book flights, rooms etc. with any confidence. Plus it will be unlikely the virus will be fully contained by then (the travel ban not regarded as an effective method by experts).

As the worlds biggest single poker tournament you would expect some clarity/direction as to likelihood it will be staged or postponed. Might it no be a better idea to postpone it until the fall at least?

It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't hear something very soon regarding the postponement or cancellation of the 2020 WSOP. Keeping in mind there are many, many people who have made travel and accommodation arrangements and that wouldn't have been cheap, so if some kind of update would be really nice especially for those people.