Corona Virus

[Guest Kopfkino]

The press reporting of it has, as you'd expect, been mostly crap. Even the BBC has resorted to too much sensationalism. The highlighting the raw figures involved in seasonal flu is useful to provide some perspective and possibly to stem some of the panic. But also this obviously has to be treated with plenty more concern than seasonal flu because the mortality rate, even if we are missing lots of cases, is obviously quite a bit higher (though in line with, or even below, past pandemic flu), nobody has built any kind of immunity, there are no specific recommended treatments (Remdisivir seemingly offers hope but we won't have the data until next month), it's overwhelming health services (possibly unnecessarily in a lot of cases) and we don't actually fully understand it all. Hopefully, the changing seasons could buy time on treatments and vaccines. It might be that it circulates as one the regular seasonal respiratory diseases but by then we'll probably be on top of it. 

 

Best things people can do is follow the guidance on properly washing hands, don't touch your face, eat properly, and get proper sleep. 

[SheppyFox]

8 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Anyone who caught the millennium bug knows that that was no laughing matter.

You shouldn’t tell jokes on here, We’ll get into trouble 😱

 

It’s incredible with our press reports, people really can’t think for themselves. If the BBC or whichever one says it is then it is. The panic about this is hilarious. 

[VLC86]

1 minute ago, SheppyFox said:

You shouldn’t tell jokes on here, We’ll get into trouble 😱

Knock knock

[SheppyFox]

2 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Knock knock

Who is there? Black Plague? 

[VLC86]

Just now, SheppyFox said:

Who is there? Black Plague? 

WHO’s there? Oh **** where is it now?(https://www.who.int) 

Here all day.

[SheppyFox]

The Media says;

 

”Grass is red, it isn’t green.”

 

British Public says;

 

”I guess it is pretty red when you actually look at it.”

Honestly just try to think beyond the obvious. How much money is being made by companies because of the scaremongering? 
 

alcohol gel, face masks, anti bacterial products and wipes and so on. 

[brucey]

8 minutes ago, Kopfkino said:

The press reporting of it has, as you'd expect, been mostly crap. Even the BBC has resorted to too much sensationalism. The highlighting the raw figures involved in seasonal flu is useful to provide some perspective and possibly to stem some of the panic. But also this obviously has to be treated with plenty more concern than seasonal flu because the mortality rate, even if we are missing lots of cases, is obviously quite a bit higher (though in line with, or even below, past pandemic flu), nobody has built any kind of immunity, there are no specific recommended treatments (Remdisivir seemingly offers hope but we won't have the data until next month), it's overwhelming health services (possibly unnecessarily in a lot of cases) and we don't actually fully understand it all. Hopefully, the changing seasons could buy time on treatments and vaccines. It might be that it circulates as one the regular seasonal respiratory diseases but by then we'll probably be on top of it. 

 

Best things people can do is follow the guidance on properly washing hands, don't touch your face, eat properly, and get proper sleep. 

It varies by country I suppose. While the UK may be guilty of slight sensationalism, some other countries like China, Iran and the USA (imminent outbreak in Washington) have been guilty of the opposite - government cover-ups and downplaying the seriousness of things. Always better to be over-cautious than under-cautious initially, until we actually know more, as slowing spread down in the beginning can help massively with the final impact.

[Stadt]

I’ve got a morbid streak tbf but does anybody else find it a bit exciting? I know it sounds daft and it’s potentially very dangerous but I wasn’t old enough to remember SARS and Ebola always seemed quite far flung 

[Izzy]

7 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I’ve got a morbid streak tbf but does anybody else find it a bit exciting? I know it sounds daft and it’s potentially very dangerous but I wasn’t old enough to remember SARS and Ebola always seemed quite far flung 

[ithuriel]

Simple fact of the matter is, no one knows exactly what's going to happen if this does become a widespread pandemic, which is why it is best to try containing things early on but I've a feeling that in the UK it will be locking the barn door after the horse has bolted and the NHS will not be able to cope.

If it does get out of control, it makes you wonder how far the authorities will go, cancelling sporting events? closing cinemas and shutting down public transport? certainly interesting if you can stand back from it.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

17 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I’ve got a morbid streak tbf but does anybody else find it a bit exciting? I know it sounds daft and it’s potentially very dangerous but I wasn’t old enough to remember SARS and Ebola always seemed quite far flung 

Nope. Come back to me with a zombie apocalypse and then we're talking.

[VLC86]

3 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Nope. Come back to me with a zombie apocalypse and then we're talking.

Ever been on coach 1? Recon you would love it.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Call me nasty, call me a cvnt, I can cope. But call me left wing? That's on a whole different level of insult 

[ScouseFox]

is this actually all media bullshit though? i thought it was and laughed it off but there are a serious amount of things getting cancelled at the moment. 

 

the olympics is odds on to not go ahead. cheltenham is in serious doubt. they're cancelling all sorts in italy and france. 

 

i ain't sure we're joking around anymore

[brucey]

Massive cover up in Egypt as well apparently. 

[Carl the Llama]

5 hours ago, SheppyFox said:

The Media says;

 

”Grass is red, it isn’t green.”

 

British Public says;

 

”I guess it is pretty red when you actually look at it.”

Honestly just try to think beyond the obvious. How much money is being made by companies because of the scaremongering? 
 

alcohol gel, face masks, anti bacterial products and wipes and so on. 

Is that bad?  Apart from the face masks those are all things that most people should have (or equivalents of) already for basic hygiene reasons.  If they already have them then they're not going to run out and buy more, if they don't then it's probably a good thing this has encouraged them to do so.

[WigstonWanderer]

10 hours ago, SheppyFox said:

This virus is very unlikely to kill you. It’s very unlikely to infect you for that matter.
 

I’m concerned because it may ruin my extensive holiday planning however. I think in the main the people getting all worked up about this will be the same type of people that got worked up about the millennium bug and every other nonsense thing pushed by the media for sales  

You are of course free to not take this seriously. We must all react as we see fit, typically based on our own risk profile. For me, if there’s say 1 chance in 10 of an epidemic taking off where I am I’d prefer to take whatever preparations I feel I can.

 

Even if you don’t catch it, or If you do but survive, there’s likely to be economic and supply chain knock on effects of actions taken by governments worldwide to avoid the spread. In a modern “just in time” economy there simply isn’t a huge depth of supplies in shops and factories.
 

Anyone talking about only a few cases at present so no need to be concerned, simply does not understand the arithmetic of the exponential function. Hopefully containment measures will limit the time of the exponential phase of the spread, as appears to be the case with China.

[Izzy]

4 hours ago, Carl the Llama said:

Is that bad?  Apart from the face masks those are all things that most people should have (or equivalents of) already for basic hygiene reasons.  If they already have them then they're not going to run out and buy more, if they don't then it's probably a good thing this has encouraged them to do so.

I use those sanitizer hand gels regularly and carry them around with me and in the car etc.

 

I ran out recently so went into my local town yesterday to buy some more.

 

Boots, Superdrug, M&S, Waitrose, pound shops, everywhere, completely sold out.

[Guest BlueBrett]

There is a rumor being circulated here, presumably originating in the Propaganda Ministry, that the virus actually came from America 

 

Prejudices and patriotism being what they are, it seems a lot of Chinese actually believe it as well 

 

[Innovindil]

9 minutes ago, BlueBrett said:

There is a rumor being circulated here, presumably originating in the Propaganda Ministry, that the virus actually came from America 

 

Prejudices and patriotism being what they are, it seems a lot of Chinese actually believe it as well 

 

I blame the chlorinated chicken. 

[brucey]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I use those sanitizer hand gels regularly and carry them around with me and in the car etc.

 

I ran out recently so went into my local town yesterday to buy some more.

 

Boots, Superdrug, M&S, Waitrose, pound shops, everywhere, completely sold out.

I didn't have any on hand and had the same problem when I went to buy some, unavailable everywhere except from the price gougers on ebay.

This is the only site I found which had stock at a reasonable price. (50 ml since gone out of stock but looks like 400ml still available) 

https://www.gompels.co.uk/product/search/?sort=p.sort_order&order=ASC&page=1&end=1&search=Sanitiser

[Finnegan]

10 hours ago, ScouseFox said:

is this actually all media bullshit though? i thought it was and laughed it off but there are a serious amount of things getting cancelled at the moment. 

 

the olympics is odds on to not go ahead. cheltenham is in serious doubt. they're cancelling all sorts in italy and france. 

 

i ain't sure we're joking around anymore

 

Depends what you mean by serious. 

 

The disease itself is pretty benign, if you got it it would be unpleasant but you'd be fine. It's barely killing anyone or causing lasting damage, a few coffin dodgers or already weakened people have died to it but regular influenza does that anyway. 

 

But right now we're teetering on the brink of it really breaking out, so they're taking containment very seriously and shutting down as much as possible because even if a true pandemic wouldn't be lethal, it'd still be extremely costly globally. Lots of people unable to work, etc. 

 

Plus, I mean if you can avoid deaths, even if there aren't many, you're going to try. 

[Bellend Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

I use those sanitizer hand gels regularly and carry them around with me and in the car etc.

 

I ran out recently so went into my local town yesterday to buy some more.

 

Boots, Superdrug, M&S, Waitrose, pound shops, everywhere, completely sold out.

I don't know if anybody else heard this but there was some infection control expert guy on 5 Live the other night saying that if you use alcohol based hand gels you should also wash your hands in the 'normal' way 15 minutes after using them.

 

Apparently this is because although they kill a lot of bad stuff, some very bad infections actually like living in alcohol, so there's a risk that you sort one problem and give yourself another.

 

That last paragraph sounded like Trump speaking, apologies for that

[stripeyfox]

9 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Depends what you mean by serious. 

 

The disease itself is pretty benign, if you got it it would be unpleasant but you'd be fine. It's barely killing anyone or causing lasting damage, a few coffin dodgers or already weakened people have died to it but regular influenza does that anyway. 

 

But right now we're teetering on the brink of it really breaking out, so they're taking containment very seriously and shutting down as much as possible because even if a true pandemic wouldn't be lethal, it'd still be extremely costly globally. Lots of people unable to work, etc. 

 

Plus, I mean if you can avoid deaths, even if there aren't many, you're going to try. 

Agree. I'm more worried by the econmoic impact rather than the virus itself. Disruption to work, travel, deliveries, public events, sport etc

 

[brucey]

8 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I don't know if anybody else heard this but there was some infection control expert guy on 5 Live the other night saying that if you use alcohol based hand gels you should also wash your hands in the 'normal' way 15 minutes after using them.

 

Apparently this is because although they kill a lot of bad stuff, some very bad infections actually like living in alcohol, so there's a risk that you sort one problem and give yourself another.

 

Alcohol is effective against enveloped viruses of which coronaviruses are one. 

 

Handwashing is generally more effective than hand gel at killing stuff. But obviously in a public place, handwashing might involve touching public restroom doors etc. so may not be better.

 

Working in a hospital I've never heard the thing about having to wash hands after using hand gel. Googling doesn't show much except someone being paranoid about the 0.001% of things that aren't killed. I don't think it's necessary.