i am no expert, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt and correct me if i am wrong --
it is hard to know where this will all be in mid-May, which is still 8 weeks out. Hamvention, the vendors, and the local community all likely have concerns and we will probably have a much better picture a week from now on whether this keeps blowing up here and also how health officials and businesses are deciding to handle it.
it is important not to panic, but taking proactive measures to contain this "flu virus on steroids" makes sense. As has been pointed out the flu kills thousands, yet we are not stocking up toilet paper and water over that. getting in a car every day is probably far more risky to our health, but you dont see people calling for no non-essential driving, or cars with ten times the amount of air bags... otoh conventions bring a lot of people to a locality and much of the attendees do a lot of world travel or are from distant locations. the local community and the vendors may feel the health risks outweigh any financial boon the convention brings...
in the worst cases the severity of symptoms can be very debilitating and make a person wish they were dead or even cause them to die. young people are least likely to die from COVID-19; the few out of 100 cases that do lead to death are usually folks who are quite elderly and / or have underlying pre-existing health conditions, but if the few out or every 100 who die are your self, your loved ones, or your friends then it is a huge problem and a community like Xenia may have warranted concerns as might attendees of a convention... still --
For most, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and a cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover.
According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness get better in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where the virus first exploded, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 58,000 have recovered.
source:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2-new-covid-19-cases-in-indiana-boost-states-total-to-6/2234480/