Pandemic panic

We've done it before - they know about it
But they're older now, and will expect more.

Fennel you wouldn't really put your GC in a tent in the garden would you?

The medical implications are important, and as elderlies we are probably most at risk.
But the social implications are also important.
Our eldest and his wife work in Thailand. Their teenage children, 18 and 16, are at boarding school here in the UK. So they can't go to see their parents for the holidays.
As a result eldest daughter in SE England has the family duty to accept them for the Easter holidays. Including meeting them off the school bus at Heathrow etc,
Her partner isn't happy about it, in a small 2 bed house. I don't blame him.
We've offered similar - they'll have to put up a tent in the back garden, but we would feed them!

our parents and grandparents lived through two world wars
But many did not, my FIL did not survive.

I saw a firm on TV this evening who make disposable isolation units and are working flat out at the moment.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/yes-worse-than-flu-busting-coronavirus-myths-covid-19#img-1

i am not scientific, but i can read, and indeed listen to scientists mostly on the radio, where perhaps there is time for more in depth analysis and explanation.
i have had my growing concerns confirmed each day by official announcements.
to say that some, even most people, may experience a case of CV as similar to flu, i am not disputing.
but that is not the same as stating that it is much the same sort of disease, same risks, severity, impact on society etc.
and to think that those hospitals hurriedly erected in china and sports halls converted were to treat patients with flu is baffling. during a coronavirus outbreak.
officials say up to 20% of uk workforce may get infected, most of them mild enough to be at home.
now of those infected the WHO says about 15% will be severe, requiring hospital treatment with oxygen etc.
supposing it is only 10%; how many do you think that is.
can you see the problem.
it is not available. not beds. not staff. not equipment.
quart into pint pot wont go.
and i am only referring to severe cases, of those some will be critical, requiring ICU, and there will be some deaths.
it is an unpleasant scenario, but i have not invented it.
where ignorance is bliss tis folly to be wise.
thank you to those who are educated in science, unlike me, and can see what the issues are.

It’s hard to know sometimes where we catch some bugs even the common cold but three years ago I caught whooping cough from my daughter. I honestly thought I would die the fits were so bad at night. Luckily I just said to a gp could it be that because of the stridor noise at night and the result came back positive. I self isolated so no one caught at the care home. Don’t know how serious that can be for some though.

You are right craftyone, flu it aint! Knowledge is power as far as I'm concerned and I prefer to get my info from informative science sites, not the media.
The WHO site states that whilst the effects may be mild for many who catch Covid-19, 1 in 5 will need hospitalisation.
Hygiene practice is crucial, especially for the vulnerable.

Thank you Craftyone. I shall get some (not my precious gin though!)

Ten years ago I had cancer. Quite a serious one, that I was warned was fast growing and aggressive. I spent a fair amount of time trying to come to terms with dying, arranging a surrogate mum for my young adult daughter.

I felt quite isolated and alone (I wasn't, but we all die alone really, don't we?) and very sorry for myself. Then the Japanese earthquake and tsunami happened. I watched the news thinking of all the healthy people who were alive the day before but who had died. I realised you really can't predict who is and isn't going to die.

Anyway, clearly I'm not dead. I'd LIKE to use that lesson not to panic about the virus. Not sure it'll work. But we really don't know who will and who won't survive.

for those unfortunates who get covid-19 and are in the groups which will be most affected. I am afraid that wellbeck is correct and many would need intensive hospital care. We, in the uk, do not have the beds and the elderly and very unwell would be at the bottom of the queue. Hence it is best to try and avoid catching it at all. Also wise to make an assumption that some of the people you meet will have it in its mild state or pre-symptom

Dogs can't catch it. The dog that was tested was owned by someone who had the virus and had a tiny amount probably from just being around the owner. The same as if you sneeze and got something on your sleeve it would not be enough to transmit.
ITS NOT FLU (sorry, just couldn't help it!)

A common sense approach to it all and doing everything you can to protect yourself, thereby protecting others in the process, is the best way forward.

This virus was the first to transfer from animal to human hence the uncertainty of the unknown.

There is, as yet, no vaccination for it.

Children are potentially a huge threat as they have discovered children have a higher immunity and do not show symptoms therefore are potential hosts harbouring and spreading the virus.

A large percentage of posters on here are in the vulnerable group which we would not want to put in a more vulnerable situation.

It is very different to Viruses mentioned of the 1950's in many ways, not least for the reason that people travel the World easily now. They didn't in the 1950's.

Panic - No
Act sensibly - Yes

any alcohol tweedle, it does not have to be called sanitiser. A virus has an oily coat and the alcohol will break it down. There are several types of alcohol,just put some high strength in a bottle.

tillybelle obviously does not understand the way a virus of this type behaves. I have specific scientific knowledge btw and am taking every precaution. Be as complacent as you like tillybelle, just don`t put the sensible people down and no it is not like flu and the virus does not infect the cell like flu. Lets leave it at that

I too remember the 1957 flu epidemic when schools were closed and, I believe, large congregations of people discouraged, if not banned.

The problem now is that this is a newly evolved virus for which no immunity has been developed nor a vaccine. People are comparing this to flu but, approximately 70% of the population are vaccinated meaning that we have herd immunity.

I am 76 and mildly asthmatic. Whilst I am not panicking (certainly not stockpiling loo rolls), I am keeping up to date with government advice and considering going to events where there are a lot of people in close proximity.

I have always carried hand gel but it is antibacterial not antiviral. I have been unable to source the latter.

I think the government is being advised by health professionals and the Chief Medical Officer has appeared regularly in the media, XrGran.

Dr Chris Witty is taking this very seriously.

I don’t believe there is scientific evidence dogs can catch the virus rather that virus has be found on dogs in a minute amount and not enough to infect anyone.

Large numbers of dogs could be abandoned if the rumours are passed around on social media???

I’ve signed a petition on change.org from a GP who asks for various very simple measures to immediately be put in place.
I would rather hear from GPs and health workers now what they think we should be doing rather than politicians!

Didn’t I also read that the Chinese have found two strains of the virus?

As it has now been proved that dogs can catch it shouldn't Crufts be cancelled? I believe there is a lot of support for trying to stop it anyway, due to the ridiculous breeding requirements causing distress & bad health to so many breeds.

I am asthmatic, the only thing I have done differently was using a hand sanitizer the minute I got in my car (and on the key) after pushing trolley round supermarket today.

( I was not stockpiling just topping up my wine fridge , the checkout lady said it had been exceptionally busy all day and some of the shelves were nearly empty)

Why the panic now and not previously? I suspect information and misinformation is more readily available now. People have had time to see this one coming from across the world and use the internet to express their fears. Many of us in the UK have not experienced this kind of threat and are perhaps less resilient, relative to the generation that lived through one or two world wars.

More positively, perhaps we have underestimated the benefit that the warning from Asia and Italy has provided so that we can be more prepared. Maybe also we underestimate the effect on our healthcare system relative to some other parts of the world.

The stock market's panic reversal is hard to shake off. China is now a much greater force in the world economy than in the past and, if it grinds to a standstill, its impact is relatively quick, notably on the supply of components. The knock-on effect of the virus is also widespread and potentially severe for travel, airlines, entertainment, the high street etc., adding to existing structural challenges.

Personally, I don't feel panic but I am aware. I do not want to put myself at risk, nor others with whom I have close contact, especially those who are more vulnerable. My hands have never been so clean!

Hear hear Tillybelle

We are British! Our parents and grandparents lived through two world wars. More of the stiff upper lip folks!!

wellbeck

Having been told many times whenever an official comes on TV to speak from the Dept. of Health, that experiencing COVID-19 can be like a bad cold to mild flu with sneezing, a sore throat, cough and possibly a bit of difficulty breathing if you are prone to that say, from asthma, plus a higher temperature and that most people do not feel all that ill, I am at a loss as to how you can say:

it is not just like the flu

Please would you explain why you have such a different area of knowledge about it? Your claims differ greatly from those Professionals who have informed us on the media, who have gained their information from people who have had the flu named COVID-19.