Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

@KratosMD Unless it's essential sack it off mate!

@KratosMD
I would suggest a short courtesy call explaining you won't be attending due to the risks to you and anyone you live with. Small possibility they might reconsider the phone interview.

@KratosMD Yeah, my sister had to have her interview with the NHS over video instead so maybe that’s an option if you ask?

@KratosMD That’s a tough one though, because finding anyone hiring during this pandemic has got to be rare. It may be the last opportunity for a while. Kinda depends on how good the job is and what your would have to do. If it’s a well paying job where you can work from home then that’s hard to pass up. Likely it’s a job where even if you’re hired you will have to put yourself in harms way to go to work, so interviewing would be pointless if the job entails putting its employees at risk.

@KratosMD I'd tell them that is 2020 and there's a pandemia out there so it's reasonable to use... computers? My company is a tour operator and obviously they do most of the interviews via skype since we collaborate with people all around Italy.

Coronavirus claims another victim

@KratosMD Your individual risk for a single trip out getting to close to new individuals is fairly low. If there are significant financial benefits in doing so it may be worth it.

Of course if everyone thought like that at a population level we would have a significant problem.

Meanwhile, in Italy (part 2)

@Ryall that’s it at the end of the day, I guess you never know who you might pass it onto if you did get it

It probably says a lot that this thread started us just making jokes and now has actually good advice and general panic. It’s as if we’re a microcosm of the western world.

@nessisonett gotta keep it real!

@LaJettatura What's the time frame though? I hate to diminish these horrible results, but the public reaction to 1 million dead over several years, as opposed to 1 million dead in 6 months would be very different. Just as an example. We have lots of people suggesting infection rates and numbers of potential dead, but I have seen almost nothing suggesting if these numbers reflect their expectations for the next 6 months or the next 6 years.

@LaJettatura Yep, the sheer variety of victims and symptoms is utterly bizarre. It probably spares quite a number of people, even those who tick a lot of "risk group" boxes, and then it'll go and kill people who seem utterly healthy and normal otherwise.

You mention asymptomatic people, but the sheer degree of people who are asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic (like, not even realizing they have anything beyond a simple cold) is staggering.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/01/europe/iceland-testing-coronav...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/20/eradica...

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/people-with-mild-or-no...

Anywhere from 33% to 70% of those infected could be spreading it without even realizing.

Which makes me wonder. Intellectually, I know the "cold" my family and I have recently suffered from is probably just that: a cold. My mother, who already has difficulty breathing as a result of pre-existing health issues, also took it pretty easily, which led to us completely brushing off the idea of a COVID infection.

But, hell, who knows? We could be carriers. Unless it suddenly torches us (a possibility that's always there in the back of my mind), we'll probably never know.

Meanwhile, vibrant, healthy communities and families are destroyed within a matter of days of symptoms first appearing.

@Heavyarms55 I imagine numbers being thrown around are projections based on this first wave of the disease. Nobody even knows if it'll return in the future, so I doubt people are speculating too heavily about that.

Yeah, I actually wonder if COVID-19 has been around longer than we realize. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t even start in China, or at least if it has been outside of China for longer than 2-3 months. It could have been floating around for any number of months being passed off as “the Flu”. We’ll never know, but it could account for some people seemingly having immunity to the virus already.

@LaJettatura Then I don't understand how they are getting these estimates for numbers infected and numbers dead. How do they calculate it?

Do we have a running tally on how many people have died of the flu over recorded history? I bet if someone had that number it would be horrifying until you point out it goes back hundreds or thousands of years. You could say 100 million people were going to die of COVID19 but if you're talking over the next 30 years that number's not as bad as if you're talking over the next 3.

@Th3solution On an individual level it’s difficult to recognise whether you have coronavirus or flu. On a population level COVID-19 causes a large number of people to die of breathing difficulties. If this is the second wave where were the excess deaths on the first wave?

@Ryall
Around 500,000 people die from flu every year. It doesn't make headlines as it's considered normal.

@LieutenantFatman Yes that half 1 million happened. A unchecked wave of coronavirus would’ve added more than another half 1 million and people would’ve noticed if last year seasonal flu had had 1 million deaths accounted to it rather than the normal half 1 million. That’s before you take into account at Corvid 19 has a high mortality rate and flu.

@LieutenantFatman I'm so sick of hearing that. People keep pointing that out like they think it means this isn't an issue or at least not a serious one.

Here's something people need to understand. Think of the medical system like a fire with an endless source of fuel - all the normal illnesses and issues people have. The medical system around the world already really was a flawed and struggling system that just barely managed to keep that fire in check, more or less under control.

COVID-19 is someone walking up to that fire and dumping gasoline on it. A lot of of gasoline. And doing so while the fire pit is surrounded by lots of dry branches and other flammable material. Every problem we already had is still there. But now we have this new one on top of it, a serious problem in it's own right, and it's stressing a system that wasn't prepared for the sudden massive increase of "fuel".

Right now, all these lock-downs and quarantines are the fire department trying to keep that fire from getting worse. If they fail, that somewhat flawed but mostly under control fire is going to explode into a monstrous blaze and cause catastrophic damage.

If my point still isn't clear, think of it like this. If you own a car, you take it in for regular oil changes, tire rotations and other routine maintenance. Why? Because doing that prevents a much more major problem in the future. This pandemic is like discovering your brake pads are almost worn out, you're due for an oil change, your tires are bald and your alternator is faulty, all at the same time. You could wait until your brakes fail and crash before calling it a problem, or until the dirty oil ruins your engine, or the alternator completely dies and your car wont start in the middle of winter. Or you take your car to the mechanic and you fix these problems now - and low and behold, the mechanic finds out you had a gas leak too and he fixed it before the leaking gas set your house on fire!

I was like you about 3 months ago. I was saying the same thing. "Look at all these other problems that kill people in greater numbers! The flu, car crashes, cancer, heart disease etc etc..." At that time, outside of China, there were a tiny amount of cases.

This morning one of my coworkers (thankfully in a different building) tested positive. As of this morning there have been over 1 million confirmed cases. 1,015,000 confirmed cases. Up from 935,000 just yesterday. Tomorrow there might be another 100k more confirmed. In just a single day.

The medical system can only treat so many people at the same time. Countries don't generally have tens of thousands of extra hospital beds. Not to mention the staff to handle that.

It's not just about the number of people who die. It's about overloading the medical system and countless people dying who by all means should not have.

@Ryall
You might be surprised, the number of flu deaths have increased in recent years, but they are an estimate to begin with. It's impossible to accurately record the true number.

As for suggesting covid 19 would have already killed half a million people in a potential first wave, I think that's a bit of a leap. These viruses can mutate, sometimes for better or worse. So the mortality rate would be anyone's guess. This is true for when the next wave hits as well.