Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@themcnoisy That answers a question I’ve had about the death rate, is it lower because we haven’t given people enough time to die? Yes, yes is it higher because of that.
That’s a pretty high, even if my age group is a lot safer. My parents might be a little more at risk and with the time you can carry it before symptoms start manifesting themselves, or look looking to get most people infected. How do we stop or form just making rounds over and over? Wait a year for the vaccine? Combine that with the fact that you aren’t immune after dealing with it and those at risk might even more at risk than the first death rate suggests.
Also, Chinia has been brutal with dealing with it with how it’s treated it’s people. The videos that get have proper seeing a lot of bodies over there too.
We’ve also already started to see some economic effects too.

@KratosMD well, you have people who paid a lot of money for holidays months ago and unless they are compensated they probably just like their odds and are happy to roll the dice. I don’t see the governments stepping in to compensate them any time soon so...

I think the reality is on balance the economic damage is just as much of a problem right now for a lot of countries, and governments will be looking to take practical steps to slow progression of the virus, accepting there will be some cases, while they buy time to come up with vaccines.

The sheer degree of incompetence I've seen in the American government's handling of this is just stunning. If I were a conspiratorial type, I'd take to thinking that the governments WANTS us to get sick.

But, as usual, when human stupidity is a possible explanation, that's typically the culprit.

This is probably what we should expect for electing a senile, ignorant, narcissistic clown as the head of our government, who has been attempting to dismantle our country's ability to respond effectively to emerging diseases for years now. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

@Ralizah I assume if people are afraid to leave their houses, they’re less likely to vote. The less people vote, the higher chance Trump has of winning. I really wouldn’t put it past them.

Shocking thing is why Americans voted for him in the first place. After he got away from being impeached, I thought to myself they probably handed him his second term already.

Edit: Oops, just remembered that we're not suppose to talk about politics here.

@KratosMD 'I feel like it's been such a long time since something like this has happened that we've become inadequate in terms of handling a situation like this.'

Exactly. Although it can be hysteria, you get too many people, my own family included, whom think its like flu. Its not like flu. China know exactly what it is, shutting down 8 million people with multiple deaths everyday in the Wuhan region since early January - even today there are multiple deaths in Wuhan.

China has started quarantining people who are coming back from Iran and Italy. Why are we reluctant to follow suit? They know more than we do, let's start cancelling planes, quarantine return Traveller's and get everyone off work for 2 weeks.

@nessisonett @WanderingBullet @Ralizah
Honestly - I really don't think the Dem's have a snowflake's chance in hell of taking it. For as much of an awful b***ard as Trump is, the country isn't on fire and his term hasn't been an abject failure. I honestly don't think any modern US President is logistically capable of failing within the system of government.

On COVID-19 - people in the UK at least, I think will mostly be fine. More people will die of flu this year than this specific strain of coronavirus. If you're otherwise healthy and get it - it'll kick the crap out of you like a regular, proper flu would for a couple of weeks.
And as with regular flu, if you've a history of respiratory issues or compromised immune system, then it'll hit you very hard.

Just be careful, maintain a good level of hygiene and don't panic!

@themcnoisy But that is in China, where it is at its worst. Its not going to be like that everywhere. People just need to use a bit of common sense and take the relevant precautions for their area.

@themcnoisy Yeah lets not take too much inspiration on anything from China.

@JohnnyShoulder I agree. But China are quarantining people returning from Iran and Italy. They have the most knowledge on the strain, apparently its been around since November last year and exploded in January. I don't understand the theory that we carry on as normal, then in the words of Matt Hancock 'lock down cities' once its bubbling under our noses. I can't emphasise it enough. China are quarantining returning travellers. We need to start quarantining everyone returning from anywhere within x amount of miles from a cluster. Here's an article from a Dr in the Guardian;

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/03/icu-doc...

We won't be able to cope. We told one of our staff to go into self isolation after returning from northern Italy. Unfortunately not everyone will be given that opportunity.

The reason I have been more worried than most is I'm a mile from the Arrowe Park on the Wirral and my wife is in the NHS. 4 kids in 3 different schools.

Yes it's early days and fortunately the spread is less potent than flu (so far). But its potential to wreak havok and become another viral mainstay is strong.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-kill-deaths-uk-who-boris-johnson-a9369201.html%3famp

To summarise, even if the Coronavirus fades away the policies both the WHO and our own government have endorsed have been insufficient. Flying sick people around the globe, the lack of transparency from certain countries and every country is operating independently. Its a terrible combination.

The NHS can barely cope day to day, never mind with the Covid-19 cases. And this is before the government tries to deport half the EU workers who’re keeping it afloat.

@themcnoisy in China they've got "enforcers" dragging suspected infected people off the streets, god knows where they are ending up. The UK government just wouldn't be able to force people to isolate on a mass scale as a preventative measure. Maybe if the mortality rate was higher they could justify getting the military out and start shooting people who don't comply but that's not the reality of the scenario. The strategy of delaying to buy time and spread the outbreak over a wider period (while also developing a vaccine) does still seem reasonable to me...

(I do agree that the world doesn't appear to be prepared to handle a potentially more serious virus any better than it's done right now, and that's a concern. In this case we're lucky it seems quite mild.)

@nessisonett the NHS will cope - they'll just cancel none essential appointments, and as inconvenient as that might be, it'll free up tons of space should they need it.

@themcnoisy I think you are being a tad over dramatic and looking at the worst case scenario. Of course it could get that bad in the UK, but it is very doubtful.

I'm glad I'm not in your household, I bet you have stocked up on years worth of bum wipe lol.

@kyleforrester87 I'm not referring to the methods of China. Rather the principle of where they have been and what they are doing about future cases.

@JohnnyShoulder My sons school shut yesterday as one of the parents has it.

@themcnoisy I agree that if it was a more serious issue we might not be fairing so well, but whether it’s good luck that the virus itself isn’t so aggressive or that our response is just proportional as a result of reasonable planning and risk assessment, I think this time we’ll be okay.

@themcnoisy I work for an arm of the government, the emails we have been getting is that the risk to the public is moderate and low for individuals.

They also advise not to got to a GP surgery if your are suffering from the symptoms, but to call 111, stay indoors and avoid close contact with other people.

The also have continuity plans if things get considerably worse and are assessing things all the time. For instance everyone has been asked who had the ability to to work from home, if things get worse.

I expect what will really be the undoing for a lot of areas of the US over time is our complete lack of protections or provisions for low-income people who need to take time off of work. If you're part of the working poor and you get sick, you go to work anyway, as a lost paycheck can mean dire consequences if you need to scrounge for rent money or are working off debts. So there are going to be a lot of people who will get this virus and then decide to "muscle through it," and end up infecting the people around them.

Really not looking forward to the first time this person happens to be someone who works in the food industry, if this hasn't happened already.

@RogerRoger that in a nutshell!

@kyleforrester87 I hope so Kyle

@JohnnyShoulder That's fair enough. But really is anything changing? Costco had staff wiping the trolleys with alcohol, tesco had nothing. I would love if everyone right now was sent home for 2 weeks and the cases isolated. We've had cases on Wirral and its under reported. The same place the evacuees came. A nurse contracted covid and apparently she got it in Italy (load of BS that). They know they have messed up. But we should all be OK hopefully, young enough to fight it.

@Ralizah yup, the US has all the wrong social economic structures in place. Its really bad for health care the way its administrated, poor people are screwed.