Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[dholliday]

My wife went into Boots today for paracetamol, while talking to one of the girls they said that all dried baby milk had been sold and that one young mother had tried to buy some, upon being told there was none left she burst into tears. If I could find one of those who are buying this just to have a cup of tea I think I would burn their house down. It’s disgraceful and I have trouble even understanding what sort of country we have become.....

Nowt to do with UK specifically...it's a particular kind of human nature...like that all over. Germany, Spain, France, Italy etc all report baby milk powder, along with other essentials, being panic-bought by preppers, leaving crying mothers in their wake.

We've got a 1-year old, our tactic is to go out every other day around mid-morning to slightly top up our food cupboard, no bulk buys...it's the bulk buyers that are the problem. There's been no flour or toilet roll in the supermarkets for over a week now. Here in Berlin chunky-looking security blokes are being brought in to enforce a no-bulk-buying rule.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

No mate, apparently it’s the new milk substitute.....barstewards......

Are you sure that’s an actual thing?

When did milk become scarce like?

We’ve got more than our fair share of absolute knuckle draggers in this country, jeez.

 

[bignev23]

No, but we have laws in place about speeding, dangerous driving, seat belts, drink-driving, using mobile while driving and a hundred other measures to reduce road deaths.

This is a new virus, which no-one has immunity to, seems highly contagious and there is no vaccine.

Hence measures put in place to stop the spread to limit the impact. Common sense and logic.

I can see that we have laws and put precautions in place that's what I'd call common sense, shutting whole countries/industries down seems to me to be extreme for a disease with so few deaths so far or appears to have so little effect on otherwise healthy people Maybe I'm well off the mark but if you'd of asked me before this how many people would have to die from a disease/virus before the country was going to be put in lockdown during a pandemic I'd of guessed tens if not hundreds of thousands, not just over a hundred.

Yes they have. But I fail to see how letting thousands of elderly and vulnerable people die from disease is made okay by road death statistics.

Your thought process has no grounds in common sense. I'm going to quote myself here, because you're a prime example of what I mean

Excuse me for being cynical but I have a deep mistrust of men in suits who may have a vested interest in something they're talking about standing there giving advice that's going to cost other people financially but not themselves (in fact they may benefit from it). especially when I think the evidence doesn't really add up. Like I stated in my first post Tinfoil hat stuff. I could of course be completely deluded and deserving of ridicule time will tell I guess but if it has been over egged and fizzles out as quickly as it came Expect Boris and the boys (and the odd girl) to be proclaimed saviours of humanity and all our lives and wallow smugly in their new found status.

Would be interested to see death rates in China(or even Italy) from the turn of the year till now and compare them with the last 10 years to see if there is a spike.

 

[marnie]

By the way, I wasn't told when I get results back when I got swabbed - so I called today with my ref and name.

Not easy for you over the forthcoming days mate.We are here though.Probably sounds like a limp phrase ,but we are.

 

[ilikecheese]

It's been amazing watching and listening to right wing media come to grips with science the past three days.

Last Friday it was all just a big overblown joke. Starting Monday someone flipped the switch on the narrative.

There is a special place in hell for those folks. Just read a statement from a Republican Senator from Wisconsin who is still trying to poo poo the whole thing by say only 3.4% die...and comparing that to auto deaths here in the states. 3.4% of America is like 12 million people.

Bet that A-hole claims to be pro-life too.

 

[JimmyJeffers]

Are you sure that’s an actual thing?

When did milk become scarce like?

We’ve got more than our fair share of absolute knuckle draggers in this country, jeez.

Can freeze milk as well. Doubt people are stockpiling it to put on their cornflakes tbh. Could be wrong of course

 

[LinekersLegs]

I can see that we have laws and put precautions in place that's what I'd call common sense, shutting whole countries/industries down seems to me to be extreme for a disease with so few deaths so far or appears to have so little effect on otherwise healthy people Maybe I'm well off the mark but if you'd of asked me before this how many people would have to die from a disease/virus before the country was going to be put in lockdown during a pandemic I'd of guessed tens if not hundreds of thousands, not just over a hundred.
Excuse me for being cynical but I have a deep mistrust of men in suits who may have a vested interest in something they're talking about standing there giving advice that's going to cost other people financially but not themselves (in fact they may benefit from it). especially when I think the evidence doesn't really add up. Like I stated in my first post Tinfoil hat stuff. I could of course be completely deluded and deserving of ridicule time will tell I guess but if it has been over egged and fizzles out as quickly as it came Expect Boris and the boys (and the odd girl) to be proclaimed saviours of humanity and all our lives and wallow smugly in their new found status.

Would be interested to see death rates in China(or even Italy) from the turn of the year till now and compare them with the last 10 years to see if there is a spike.

Might be worth a listen to this Italian doctor from Lombardy mate, he is seeing it up close and personal and the effect it is having on his hospital

‘It’s Like a War’ (Published 2020)

We spoke to a doctor triaging care at the heart of the coronavirus crisis in Italy about what may lie ahead for the U.S.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Zezti]

I can see that we have laws and put precautions in place that's what I'd call common sense, shutting whole countries/industries down seems to me to be extreme for a disease with so few deaths so far or appears to have so little effect on otherwise healthy people Maybe I'm well off the mark but if you'd of asked me before this how many people would have to die from a disease/virus before the country was going to be put in lockdown during a pandemic I'd of guessed tens if not hundreds of thousands, not just over a hundred.


Excuse me for being cynical but I have a deep mistrust of men in suits who may have a vested interest in something they're talking about standing there giving advice that's going to cost other people financially but not themselves (in fact they may benefit from it). especially when I think the evidence doesn't really add up. Like I stated in my first post Tinfoil hat stuff. I could of course be completely deluded and deserving of ridicule time will tell I guess but if it has been over egged and fizzles out as quickly as it came Expect Boris and the boys (and the odd girl) to be proclaimed saviours of humanity and all our lives and wallow smugly in their new found status.

Would be interested to see death rates in China(or even Italy) from the turn of the year till now and compare them with the last 10 years to see if there is a spike.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

Do you not understand how limiting the exposure to infected individuals saves lives over the long term? This disease can kill. It is killing. Most people will not die, but some will. The more people who are exposed to an infected person, will in turn expose more. Eventually, the vulnerable - the elderly, the diabetic, the asthmatics, etc - are exposed and those are the ones who have a much greater risk of dying.

The fatality rate from confirmed cases is currently sitting at 4.05%. Roughly speaking, if one infected person comes into transmissable contact range with let's say 100 other people over the period they carry it, that's 4 people dead, while all of them who catch it can each then pass it on to another 100, at which point that's 10,000 people exposed.

Going into lockdown turns that 100 figure, into 10.

The government themselves have said the best case scenario is for the total number of deaths to be under 20,000. That's if everything goes to plan and these social distancing measures are carried out from right now -- You don't wait until a disease has killed that many people before taking action to stop the spread ffs!

 

[peteblue]

Nowt to do with UK specifically...it's a particular kind of human nature...like that all over. Germany, Spain, France, Italy etc all report baby milk powder, along with other essentials, being panic-bought by preppers, leaving crying mothers in their wake.

We've got a 1-year old, our tactic is to go out every other day around mid-morning to slightly top up our food cupboard, no bulk buys...it's the bulk buyers that are the problem. There's been no flour or toilet roll in the supermarkets for over a week now. Here in Berlin chunky-looking security blokes are being brought in to enforce a no-bulk-buying rule.

This should have been the first thing that food retailers did, limit the amount of purchases. There is more than enough to go around and I hope that those who have overstocked and therefore deprived others feel thoroughly ashamed, although being what they are I don’t hold out much hope.......

 

[Amw79]

I can see that we have laws and put precautions in place that's what I'd call common sense, shutting whole countries/industries down seems to me to be extreme for a disease with so few deaths so far or appears to have so little effect on otherwise healthy people Maybe I'm well off the mark but if you'd of asked me before this how many people would have to die from a disease/virus before the country was going to be put in lockdown during a pandemic I'd of guessed tens if not hundreds of thousands, not just over a hundred.

Reckon If we wait until hundreds of thousands were dead before taking serious action, we‘ve missed the boat at that point.

And I don’t think the big concern is over the otherwise healthy people, it’s over the sick, elderly and vulnerable.

The measures are extreme, because we’ve seen the exponential growth rate in other countries, which if mirrored here and not slowed down, would take only 15 more “doublings“ for the entire population to be infected. At current rate, about 2 months.

 

[verreauxi]

Interesting quick summary on co-factors increase mortality in Italy.

99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says

More than 99% of Italy’s coronavirus fatalities were people who suffered from previous medical conditions, according to a study by the country’s national health authority.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Charlie Sweet]

I'm just going to say this now. It may change but despite being a longstanding labour supporter I cant agree I'd rather have Corbyn, McDonnell etc running this shop. Dont get me wrong I'd prefer a national government for more balance but if it's a straight choice then I'm okay with this so far at least.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

Do you not understand how limiting the exposure to infected individuals saves lives over the long term? This disease can kill. It is killing. Most people will not die, but some will. The more people who are exposed to an infected person, will in turn expose more. Eventually, the vulnerable - the elderly, the diabetic, the asthmatics, etc - are exposed and those are the ones who have a much greater risk of dying.

The fatality rate from confirmed cases is currently sitting at 4.05%. Roughly speaking, if one infected person comes into transmissable contact range with let's say 100 other people over the period they carry it, that's 4 people dead, while all of them who catch it can each then pass it on to another 100, at which point that's 10,000 people exposed.

Going into lockdown turns that 100 figure, into 10.

The government themselves have said the best case scenario is for the total number of deaths to be under 20,000. That's if everything goes to plan and these social distancing measures are carried out from right now -- You don't wait until a disease has killed that many people before taking action to stop the spread ffs!

Everything you’ve said there is based on the current understanding and it’s therefore prudent.

However, the potential game changer is when the antibody test is released and is used to widely test large numbers. IF it’s found that the numbers testing positive is high, then that will dramatically lower the current understanding of the death rate.

 

[Harryflashman]

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."

Do you not understand how limiting the exposure to infected individuals saves lives over the long term? This disease can kill. It is killing. Most people will not die, but some will. The more people who are exposed to an infected person, will in turn expose more. Eventually, the vulnerable - the elderly, the diabetic, the asthmatics, etc - are exposed and those are the ones who have a much greater risk of dying.

The fatality rate from confirmed cases is currently sitting at 4.05%. Roughly speaking, if one infected person comes into transmissable contact range with let's say 100 other people over the period they carry it, that's 4 people dead, while all of them who catch it can each then pass it on to another 100, at which point that's 10,000 people exposed.

Going into lockdown turns that 100 figure, into 10.

The government themselves have said the best case scenario is for the total number of deaths to be under 20,000. That's if everything goes to plan and these social distancing measures are carried out from right now -- You don't wait until a disease has killed that many people before taking action to stop the spread ffs!

I do understand this . My only struggle with it is that without a vaccine then ,to use a Brexit phrase , aren’t we just kicking the can down the road ? Unless lockdown is for actual months if not years then isn’t there a real danger of it simply starting again once The lockdown is lifted ? Once people go back to work or you open the pubs ? Or is this the new normal , In which case whose producing the things we need for everyday society ? If we were looking at a lockdown and vigorous testing it’d make significantly more sense if I’m honest .

Like I say it’s probably a stupid question and I can see the time can be utilised to become more prepared by producing ventilators or PPE so that does make sense .

 

[peteblue]

I really don’t get this school closure action. This will drag the economy into the gutter. They are also saying don’t leave children with aged parents, well I am an aged parent and I will be looking after my granddaughter no matter what they say. We have been bounced into this with the panic from the EU, Wales and Scotland. It is the final lunacy that will break our back........