COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[Mon Autre]

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.

I'm not suggesting everyone should be going all out panic, but in what way are you helping things by saying it's no worse than normal flu? We already know it's more dangerous than flu. As for taking the usual precautions, well we can't. Normally we vaccinate those most vulnerable against flu and it's proven hugely effective. We don't have a vaccine for this and it's leaving some people exposed. Mass hysteria and panic buying is ridiculous, selfish and counter productive. On the other extreme, pretending everything is totally fine isn't especially helpful either when we should be educating people on how a few simple changes to their every day habits could be of help.

There's a pragmatic view somewhere in the middle. We should recognise that we have an opportunity to manage this effectively and buy ourselves time if we all just stay calm and accept the advice we're being given. Stop buying bog roll, hand sanitizer and face masks. Wash your hands. Wash them regularly and wash them properly. People also need to stop acting like this advice is beneath them "oh of course I know how to wash my hands". The truth is that most of us don't know how to wash our hands properly. Even health professionals get it wrong sometimes. So yes let's not be hysterical but let's also listen to what the experts are urging us to do and follow the advice.

 

[Chippy_boy]

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?

Of course mate I am not suggesting an actual 30-odd percent mortality rate, and yes of course most of the active cases will recover. But what "most" means, is still an open question.

There could be many reasons for the discrepency you describe. A couple straight off the bat are the age and general health of the respective populations - Italy is known to have a higher proportion of older people, for example. And the capabilities of the respective healthcare systems? I note (last time I looked) Singapore had zero deaths, and I wonder to what extent that is down to them having a superb healthcare system, which it is.

 

[blueinsa]

Here come our resident left wing nutjobs......

 

[Ban-jani]

Of course mate I am not suggesting an actual 30-odd percent mortality rate, and yes of course most of the active cases will recover. But what "most" means, is still an open question.

There could be many reasons for the discrepency you describe. A couple straight off the bat are the age and general health of the respective populations - Italy is known to have a higher proportion of older people, for example. And the capabilities of the respective healthcare systems? I note (last time I looked) Singapore had zero deaths, and I wonder to what extent that is down to them having a superb healthcare system, which it is.

Yeah that makes sense. Italy may well have an ageing population in northern villages and I reckon SK have top notch healthcare facilities, I don’t know this and just guessing but I can imagine they do.

If the majority of cases are in Seoul then the likelihood is it’s the young that are catching it more.

I just found it strange that so many where/are dying in Italy compared to elsewhere.

 

[Chippy_boy]

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.

I made a similar comment about how this could be the wake up call for the world to start pumping *serious* investment into finding an effective anti-viral which will protect against as yet unknown future viruses. If this has ebola-like 80% mortality rates, but with similar transmission rates to covid-19, we'd be truly fucked. And it is just pure luck that this is not the case right now. It could easily have been.

 

[urban genie]

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?

I ain't an expert but North Korea has long been rumoured to have biological weapons, I believe defecter are tested for anthrax and other contaigons

So I would hazard a guess SK had units already set up for quarantines and dealing with a biological threat.

May be why they have controlled it well.

They are constantly on a war footing after all

 

[Ban-jani]

I ain't an expert but North Korea has long been rumoured to have biological weapons, I believe defecter are tested for anthrax and other contaigons

So I would hazard a guess SK had units already set up for quarantines and dealing with a biological threat.

May be why they have controlled it well.

They are constantly on a war footing after all

That’s maybe another point to consider.

It may be a combination of things and I think the main one is probably the age of those catching it. If the majority are in Seoul (?) I’m presuming like here their cities have a younger population than the villages in the countryside, and Italy’s cases are in the norther provinces, where there are many villages full of the elderly.

 

[SWP's back]

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.

When are you reading that?

 

[Chippy_boy]

Yep thats the Tories for you and now they are going to be found out, at the cost of lives.

Take it to the political threads. We do not want a political slanging match in here do we?

 

[SWP's back]

And woe betanyone dares to suggest it's no worse than normal flu

Because that’s simply not true. Anyone making that claim is either; lying, not aware of the facts or a fucking idiot.

It’s at least one magnitude more than and possibly 30 to 40 times more lethal as per WHO and CDC.

Do you really think Italy would take the economic hit to their economy of quarantining 16 million people if this was just a normal flu? It’s not even a type of flu.