I'm making plans to travel in March and again in late summer. I wouldn't go to China right now, but that's in part because my rather irrational, alarmist government says they'd quarantine me when I returned. I might be reluctant to head out on a cruise with stops in Japan right now, but then again I'm not a cruising kind've guy.

The real answer is that no one knows what's going to happen past, say, the end of this week. Best bet as far as I can tell is to make plans but stay flexible...and read the fine print on any travel insurance you buy. If I had a bike in Sicily like the OP, I'd go there and carry on with my trip, but I'd keep my ear to the ground and be ready to abort.

It's pretty clear that we're still at greater risk from influenza than we are from this new virus, and when was the last time you arranged your travel plans around flu season? Instead, you probably try not to let people sneeze on you. Only half of the US public gets vaccinated against influenza, while the rest basically just trust their dumb luck. This is a virus which kills between 12,000 and 61,000 annually in the United States (according to the CDC), and from 291,000 to 650,000 internationally. That's yearly, i.e., this year, last year, next year, and the year after that.

If the new coronavirus turns out to be as deadly as influenza, I'll be very surprised. On the other hand, I've been wrong before....

Mark