@abitoflight Maybe I was just unlucky with my Birmingham "cattle crate" experiences then. ;) (I do hate Heathrow even more. That really is like one of the inner circles of hell. Mostly I'd fly from small regional airports like Bristol, Exeter, Newcastle or Belfast, deliberately. But there've been a few times when Birmingham was the only choice. As insanely large airports go - if we're ever able to fly anywhere again - Schipol would be my airport of choice. When I first started flying anywhere, about 30 years ago now, it was still a pleasant experience. It has got worse and worse since, and although I enjoy travel and seeing other countries - or I did - flying is now the worst bit. Ever since 9/11.)
Changing the subject to accusations of racism, Leicester Uni/Hospital have literally just released (in the last 2 days) some initial research based on recent UK critical care figures that seem to indicate those from a BAME background are more at risk. And I can't be the only one who has noticed how many healthcare workers who've lost their lives early on in this pandemic have been BAME. There is also some information from the USA which is suggesting similar findings although it's hampered as not everyone is collecting the same statistics. New Orleans and, I think, Detroit or other Michigan locations are high up the "pay attention" list.
This isn't racist. It's trying to find out whether those groups genuinely are more at risk, and if so, why; once you know the 'whys' you can then see if there is anything that can be done to help.
Diabetes has been mentioned as a potential risk factor and some BAME groups are known to be very much at risk of that; obviously respiratory issues also (I'm from the generation that got the BCG as standard but not everyone does now; I still remember my war generation parents talking about TB in hushed tones); renal; and cardio.
This is a novel virus, so at the moment little is known, still, about how it behaves, but medics and scientists from around the world are contributing to the knowledge out there at a rate I've never seen before. There is masses in the public domain via sites like Pubmed and some parts of the NHS, but a lot of the mainstream media isn't heading for those science, evidence-based sites, but for sensationalism.
I also agree on the "mother tongue" mention above - since English is the main language of communication for science and medicine it's rare to see things translated into anything else (maybe Spanish, French, German, Arabic and Chinese, if you're lucky) but I've come across a site recently where the basic NHS information was translated, by medics, into 34 languages. It really pulled me up short. My first degree was foreign languages so I've always had an interest.
On a separate note, there is unlikely to be a quick fix for this, however much President Trump and the rest of us might wish it. It took 10 years for very experienced scientists to work out the probable origin of SARS (in a bat-cave in China); it took centuries for people to work out what it was that caused the Black Death (I don't mean the rats and/or the carpet and/or the fleas, plus travel, plus lack of hygiene, plus weather, plus health levels & knowledge, I mean Yersinia Pestis itself) so I'd be surprised if we know the real truth about where this came from in the very near future, for all our technology. But if you want to look at how it's likely to spread, the transport links and/or large gatherings are probably as good a place to start as any.
Now that many aircraft are finally grounded, the shipping trade routes would probably be a good place to look for the likely global pattern. Within the UK, look at the motorways, A roads, and trains. The trade and transport routes, after all, were how the Black Death and other pandemics spread. Well, with a bit of help in the early stages from people fleeing the cities too. In England, the village of Eyam was a bit of an outlier and their actions probably saved many lives. It was the medieval equivalent of that little match animation on Facebook, where the match steps out and the rest don't catch fire.
At the moment we're concentrating on getting through day to day, maintain good hygiene, eating sensibly, and keeping our immune systems in as good condition as possible. We obey the sensible bits of the advice we're being given, check the facts, and support the healthcare workers and the others helping to keep the country going.