Get over yourself, Dan. Although the gossipy chatter thing does suit you nicely.
I don't have the time, patience or desire to go over old ground for the umpteenth time. You bring up some of 'Watcher's posts - not sure which one(s), but obviously you're tracking everything so closely. I'm sure you noticed that there were issues I've raised that 'Watcher didn't decide to engage in. And that's OK. I don't have any God-given right to expect 'Watcher, or Darius, or you, to answer everything I (or anyone else) put out there. 'Watcher has his opinions, and I have mine. He doesn't accept my data, and I don't accept most of his. It's OK. I haven't changed his mind, and so far, he hasn't changed mine. We'll both sleep OK tonight on that front, I'm sure.
I hate to make this about 'Watcher BTW … but you force the issue when you virtually try to become his surrogate. Let's just say, we probably both have a sense of who 'Watcher is, what he does for a living, and I'm not going to go further than that 'cuz that's not fair to 'Watcher. But I respect what he does, what he says, and (most of the time) how he says it. 'Watcher's not off looking for outside affirmation, or commiserating on how "Chuck is such an a-hole, isn't he, tee-hee-hee?" That would be you.
Now, for some "data" on the COVID-19 virus a/k/a Wuhan Flu to date, here in the US, compared with annual influenza deaths in the US. And I'll take it from a link to what is no doubt an acceptable source for you, and some of your like-minded liberals:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/26/health/flu-deaths-2017--2018-cdc-bn/index.html
Overall gist of the article? Annually, there have been a minimum of 12,000 US influenza deaths, and a maximum of 80,000 US influenza deaths over years since they began tracking that data (1976?). That means, on average, even in the quietest of years there have been deaths on an average of at least 35-40 people per day. At the apex, the daily death rate was over 200 deaths.
Where was the panic over those staggering number of deaths over many, many years?
Right now, we've got 68 US deaths due to COVID-19. The recent rate has been 7-8 per day. It's sad, sure, but hardly in line with the panic-stricken behavior being driven out there. We keep hearing about "exponential" and multipliers, but right now it's still addition. And even if the rate moves up to 100 deaths per day, every day, for the next two (2) months … you're still "only" at 6,000 (and I put "only" in quotations lest you think me unduly coarse) which is a number that scrapes half of what the lowest annual flu-related death count on record has been.
Dan … this is going to be your world to live in for FAR longer than it's going to me mine, or probably for most of the other folks on this thread. If you're comfortable with the constant barrage of "existential threat" narratives that get thrown at all of us, all the time nowadays, be prepared for even more in the future. A lot of the rest of us grew up in grammar school classrooms in which drills for responding to nuclear attacks were a fairly routine and accepted part of our young lives. I was too young to realize what was going on with the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I bet other folks on here remember it vividly. I assume you're old enough though to have had mature thoughts and reflections after terrorists flew planes into NYC and DC back in 2001. If you think what's going on today - especially in comparison with past flu seasons noted above - constitutes an "existential crisis", please just go into it with eyes wide open, and expect that bar to continue to be lowered in coming years later in your life.
I'm not saying not to take reasonable precautions, Dan. I am saying, we don't need to shut down the country to take those reasonable precautions. There are a lot of good people out there, in the private sector, running small businesses, which are their dreams, and this heavy-handed authoritarian shut-down of vast segments of our economy is going to do damage, and I truly believe that damage is avoidable. For folks who are on public payrolls, there is relatively no economic pain. Even people like myself who work for larger private entities, life will go on, with relatively little economic pain.
I live in New Hampshire. I interact with dozens and dozens of small business people every day of my life up here, and they're the ones who are going to pay the economic price of this "you can't be safe enough" groupthink. I pray that Governor Sununu doesn't go down the same path that Governor Baker just went down, in shutting down sit-down restaurants. That's been a much-needed breath of fresh air for us folks up here. Maybe some of our neighboring MA folks who want some semblance of normal life will come up and patronize our wonderful establishments. I drive by the local hospital daily in my travels, and can assure anyone that the amount of traffic in the lots over there are the same as it's always been. To paraphrase Mark Twain … news of our alleged imminent demise has been greatly exaggerated.
P.S. to Darius - my comment about Fourth of July or Labor Day was a comment about when I expect it will take until things to return to any degree of normalcy. I hope I'm wrong, but voices of optimism are being crushed, and the stank of panic will make it hard to be among the first to step forward out of this situation. Look at all the crap I draw just on here (and lest anyone say I'm "whining" - no, I'm not, I'm still here, and I accept it all, good and bad), and multiply that by a million or so, and that's the burden that will be out there on the first few folks who dare to step out, and invoke the wrath of the "safe at all costs" brigade.
P.P.S. - going to another thread to speak ill of your pals here … tsk, tsk, you're better than that.
Of course, Jeanne Pirro runs a close second...over to you, e.cat 
, but my department is acting like reasonably inconvenienced patriots and staying home.