Pandemic panic

there we are then, take it or leave it. Just a warning to do your level best to follow the government advice and to try not to get infected or infect others. I have normal bp btw, not all elders have high bp, it does not necessarily come with the territory

Of a group of 170 patients who died in January in Wuhan -- the first wave of casualties caused by a pathogen that’s now raced around the world -- nearly half had hypertension

”That’s a very high ratio,” said Du Bin, director of the intensive care unit at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, in an interview with Bloomberg over the phone from Wuhan.

craftyone I’m not a statistician and feel free to correct me, but I don’t think it’s odd that half the people who have died had hypertension.

Given that nearly all the people who have died in China have been elderly, and a high proportion of elderly people have hypertension, it shouldn’t be surprising that half of those who have died had the condition.

academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/56/4/M217/619961 This article gives a prevalence of 50% in people over the age of 69.

I may be mistaken , but it seems to me that an awful lot of ‘top virus doctors’ are popping up all over the media .
Also a great deal of fake news . I’m relying on the good old BBC to not lead us astray.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-09/top-virus-doctor-says-high-blood-pressure-is-major-death-risk

I have not seen any statistics to verify that, do you have a link please, craftyone?

Older people tend to have higher blood pressure which could lead to other complications which would leave those people more susceptible to diseases such as these viruses and and to the flu virus.

So yes, but is it the high blood pressure alone , or it is a combination of factors?

craftyone, could you please clarify what you mean by ‘very great’ as regards predisposition to the virus, and ‘very great’ as regarding the risk factor . How high is high? Do you have any actual figures?
Unless these statements are borne out by actual medical facts, I feel ‘very great ‘ to be rather an emotive/ dramatic phrase to use .

high bp is a very great predisposition to serious covid-19 consequences. All those with bravado saying they will carry on regardless to groups etc, 50% of those who died worldwide had high bp, a very great risk factor. Just be thoughtful and not selfish. 1/3 of the British adult public have high bp, have some care about not infecting other people.

deanswaydolly these are the symptoms which don't include a runny nose.

Have you phoned 111 yet deanswaydolly?

Phone 111

It is very difficult. I am 62 this year with quite a collection of ailments ( and a smoker :-( but working hard on this issue ) but work a 66 hour week as a childminder. Most of them coming with coughs and colds. Today i feel a bit weird and hot and spacey and sore chest....usual symptoms of coming down with something. How are we to know the difference in routine colds/flu or the coronaviris? sigh.....

catladyuk, you asked:

'Should we just self isolate till the scare is over?'

Is that practical? It seems sensible for those in the high risk category but the virus will be around for years. I doubt that a vaccine will be available for a few years either.

The pasta section in Tesco was nearly empty today, but the assistant said they hadn't run out of stock yet.

We have just received an email from KLM, offering a refund for any flights booked between now and the end of May, vouchers issued and no cancellation fees.

17 Flights in today from Milan alone - which is in lockdown. So how does that work then? The passengers are unable to travel within Italy as it they are trying to contain it, but international travel is fine. Some people will be incubating, some have it and have no symptoms. No health checks at the airport. Nothing. They are being advised to self isolate.

Chestnut; I would only step in for childcare as a last resort.

It too time-consuming to do anything at the airport Fennel and apparently you get a lot of false positives - people with temperatures for other reasons.

It's up to us all to do what we can - I couldn't agree more with what Labaik (Mon 09-Mar-20 12:56:17) said. That includes telling someone at the airport if you are not well and ringing 111 if they have symptoms when they get home.

There simply isn't the money to do all the things for us. Johnson's method of government will be sorely tested. When "running" London he was known as a part-time mayor who avoided scrutiny and was congenitally lazy. It worked because plans and funding had already been put in place by Ken Livingstone. The schemes he took the kudos for - such as the bikes - had already been lobbied for and won funding from the government. Equally, the Labour government had won the Olympics for London.

This is not where we are now. We are all aware that this Conservative government has starved the NHS of resources but what will matter much more is the Local Authorities, who run both Care and Public Health have been starved too. To say the systems are creaking would be polite. Many of them have split open but not actually collapsed.

Add to this the slowness of response he shows and we can see a looming economic disaster. We have no idea if, big majority or not, he can get extra taxation, to pay for investment to grow the economy, through Parliament.

It is wait-and-see but it is also a huge gambol on such a man pulling us through this.

Labaik I don't think us oldies should step in for childcare because we are too much at risk. The children should be left with someone of the parents' generation. I think plans should be made now. We need to keep ourselves to ourselves in order to stay alive.

spain is following italy, up 362 in one day

ps I could be wrong about the health check, it could have been in Thailand before they got on the plane.

Son's inlaws have just returned from visits to Australia, then to them in Thailand.
I expected they might have to be quarantined but no, only a health check at Heathrow and then straight home.
They're both in their 70s, he's nearly 80.

I think it's down to every individual to do everything, within reason, to stop the spread of the virus. In the way that immunisation programmes only work when a certain percentage of the population are vaccinated. My DIL works for the NHS and my SIL has, unfortunately just started a new job in London and is commuting. I want to keep myself safe so that, if needs be I can step in for child care etc if I was needed. As has been pointed out before we just need to hold this back for as long as possible till the weather gets better. So much talk recently about Britishness and surviving things. Well, now's the time to do that, but not by poo poo'ing the situation but working, as a country to keep on top of this epidemic/pandemic until a vaccine is available. Oh yes, and also let's now start listening to experts, having been brainwashed into ignoring them.

I think that we are possibly not being told the full truth of Covid19. It seems to me that too many drastic measures are being taken for a virus that is potentially not as bad or does not kill as many as 'flu? Northern Italy under lockdown? Really? The residents have to obtain permission to travel outside the region but tourists are not affected, is this wise? Do the powers that be know more than is being reported to the general public? Should we just self isolate till the scare is over?
Does anyone else think as I do?
(I should point out that I am almost 80 and colds always go to my chest, but I am not a hypochondriac!)

Every time we go shopping we clean the trolley handle with disinfectant wipes.
Just stand and watch people and see how gross they are.
Makes sense to take care of yourself, who is going to come and look after you when you are infected ?

Italian doctors are warning that 10 percent of patients are needing intensive care beds. Younger people among them. This is another reason that we need to take every measure to ensure that the spread is delayed. Even if they are inconvenient.