COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[Newman Noggs]

The world has lost its collective fucking mind over a strain of the flu that has been shown to be nowhere near others in terms of its mortality rates yet here we are effectively locking the globe and life down over it?

Fucking ridiculous.

It's mass hysteria and there's nothing people love more than an excuse to panic and virtue-signal. And once the people panic, the government has to too because of social media pressure and, worse even than the cost of implementing pointless and draconian control measures, incurring some bad publicity. And woe betanyone dares to suggest it's no worse than normal flu and all one can do is take the usual precautions, then the mob will be on you. Off down to the shops now to buy more toilet roll in an ostentatious display of how concerned I am about my fellow citizens.

 

[Uffa]

Surely these people should not be allowed to go anywhere if they’re in a Red Zone?

It's not technically a Red Zone yet, it was a Yellow Zone until a day ago and then someone leaked the draft of the decree (or the government intentionally shared it early, which I find unlikely) and then the decree itself before actual control measures were put in place.
Those people fleeing are egoistical idiots but I understand why some of them might be doing this.

 

[cibaman]

A couple of cases in Washington DC. Fingers crossed

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Do you *seriously* suggest that national governments would be implementing such incredibly damaging draconian measures (such as in China and northern Italy) were this to all be nothing much more than flu? The pressures to sit back and carry on as normal, hoping for the best, are simply enormous - in terms of jobs, trade, the economy, peoples' way of life, freedom - pretty much everything. And yet draconian measures ARE being taken, because these governments, advised by their scientists, can see the severity of the crisis.

The world has lost its collective fucking mind over a strain of the flu that has been shown to be nowhere near others in terms of its mortality rates yet here we are effectively locking the globe and life down over it?

Fucking ridiculous.

While this isn’t a virus that has bird flu mortality rates and chicken pox transmission rates; the point is, it is still containable if people actually listened to their Govts and isolated themselves as instructed.

It’s not particularly about how serious an infection it is, it’s about containment and eradication, which will save millions of lives.

Plus I also think it’s a good opportunity for a “test run” of what to do if any virus ever did come out that was as lethal as bird flu and contractible as chicken pox. Although, it’s not “test run” in Italy at the moment.

 

[Cityfan]

And woe betanyone dares to suggest it's no worse than normal flu and all one can do is take the usual precautions, then the mob will be on you.

I've not seen any mob, but if people keep on insisting 2+2=5 they can expect to be corrected.

 

[Mikeegrini]

Taiwan appear to have a grip of it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_outbreak_in_Taiwan

"The first domestic case was diagnosed in Taiwan on 28 January.[12]

The first death in Taiwan was confirmed on 16 February involving a man in his 60s who had Hepatitis B and diabetes.[13]

A woman in Taiwan was reported to have tested positive for novel coronavirus on 19 February 2020, though she had not traveled outside of Taiwan for two years.[14]

Five new cases of coronavirus were reported in Taiwan on 29 February 2020, four of which marked the first transmission of the disease in a hospital setting.[15]

As of 6 March, there are 45 confirmed cases, including one death.[16][13] Among the confirmed cases is a Taiwanese man in his 50s who was fined NT$300,000 for failure to report his symptoms and attempting to conceal his subsequent activities, leading to a potential contamination incident at a ballroom in Kaohsiung.[17]"

Edit the fine is about £7500

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

I think it's a bit more serious than we all first thought. But the selective way the media report things doesn't help. From what I've read it is much much more deadly for elderly people and people with poor immune systems. The figures that shocked me the other night was that 20% of people in Italy with this infection needed ICU treatment. That is pretty serious indeed. However a little bit of research revealed that the average age of those that have died in Italy was apparently 81. Clearly this isn't great but it does mean for the vast majority of the population this isn't that deadly , probably about the same as normal flu. The problem lies with how to deal with it. You can't just segregate out the elderly and frail or ignore their plight and go oh well. Similarly surely the country needs to carry on working providing services and earning a living otherwise we will be bankrupt in a very short space of time. So it's the balance between mass panic and overreaction and appropriate action that is needed. Clearly what action is appropriate is pretty hard to determine and is why the governement is struggling to decide what to do. Other things that appear common to this infection is that it appears to prosper in cold countries. China, korea, Iran northern Europe , USA , it doesnt seem to be that infectious in equatorial countries as yet. So hopefully as the summer arrives and countries warm up across the northern hemisphere things will improve. For the time being we as a family are just washing our hands much more, eating healthily and carrying on as normal.

 

[urban genie]

I’m sorry but you are wrong.
There’s plenty of evidence in this thread, even on the last page of it.

Making jokes about loaves of bread isn't slagging people off.

The thread has criticised those bulk buying leaving others unable to get basic hygiene products not about being prepared and sensible.

It also offered sage advice about hosing your arse, fanny and balls to save paper

People fighting over bog roll deserve to be laughed at tbf.

 

[Ban-jani]

There’s been 150 resolved cases of which 42 died. So probably not.

50 have died now out of 7,313 cases.

When we’re considering that it’s much quicker to die than recover and because the vast majority of that 7000+ figure have had it for a period of time, the figures are so much more positive in terms of surviving than Italy, who have less cases but 5 times the deaths.

SK got up to Italy’s amount of cases quicker than Italy but have had 5 times less deaths, is the simple way of describing what I’m trying to say.

 

[Ban-jani]

Of the cases with outcomes in South Korea, 38% of people have died. Who knows what will happen to the currently active cases

Well the majority of the 7313 have had it for a period of time that hopefully suggests survival.

It tends to kill you a lot quicker than you get rid of it, as we know.

My point is that SK went past Italy’s 5000+ figure earlier than Italy and yet Italy has 5 times more deaths than SK.

They don’t strike me as a country that would mislead like China and so why the discrepancy?