Coronavirus Testing

With all the space and facilities that Australia has, their government decides to send its citizens evacuated from China to Christmas Island!

Talk about dumping your problems on someone's else's doorstep; they must have the resources in mainland Australia to deal with this.

....and, I might add, most will be fit and well so will not need medical care, just regular checks of temperature and condition once or twice a day. Conditions like an old fashioned holiday camp, but without the entetainment team or, probably, the bed makers.

Jennifer......Agree. If it's a viral infection, antibiotics are useless. The issue is that most viral infections tax the immune system making a person more vulnerable to (secondary) bacterial infections.
Antibiotics may be ineffective against viruses but will take care of bacteria that would otherwise have an opportunity to raise even more havoc.

My understanding is that the mortality rate is 11%.

I had a text from my doctor's practice this morning.... saying that if I've been in China recently and feel unwell, I should ring the doctor but not leave my home. Has anyone else had a message like that?

No, but think that is excellent and proactive.

Haven't had the message but it indicates there are going to be a lot of people roaming around who might be infected. The government are telling people who arrive in the UK to 'self-isolate' as if you can trust people to do that!
The mortality rate may be 11% in total but is much higher in the over 60s. I am getting the pneumonia jab in Boots just to be safe. The doctor's surgery has no vaccines at the moment, but I may have that one later as I think it's different from the Boots jab.

It sounds Salsa as if the doctor is saying “Don’t come near me!”
Out of interest, not counting the poor Chinese Dr who first raised the alarm and has just died, how come doctors don’t catch everything going?

No texts but similar wording is in a hard to miss block at the top of each section of our practice web site. It goes on to say anyone in that situation will be visited immediately at home by a paramedic. I imagine the last thing any surgery wants is to put patients at more risk than anyone ever is from the mix of germs in a waiting room.

MawB that doctor raised the alarm quite a while ago now and was ignored; he either did not catch the virus from his first patient and caught it from another patient later, or he developed complications from which he has died.
We found the time lapse rather odd.

The national advice is not to go to GP Surgery or A & E but to phone in. Its obviously the best way of minimising the spread. It does seem that it is highly contagious. There are over 60 people on the cruise ship who have tested positive. It seems unlikely that the doctor who first raised the alarm would have been careless.

But how many people will follow the 'national advice'? People are often pretty stupid, they will go to surgeries.

I fear the cat is out of the bag.

There's a notice on the door of our local chemist saying keep away if you've recently returned from the East and are unwell. Phone the doctor etc.

There are mixed messages though.

Our friend's DD is being brought back from China where she has been volunteering for almost a year.

Now she is going to a Scottish island for a few days to stay with other friends. Surely she should keep away for a week or so?
Her mum is a nurse at the hospital and has been given different information.

Should we be panicking? My instinct is not to panic but to play safe.

Grammaretto if she is being brought back with the others in the general evacuation I would think she will have to go into quarantine straight from the plane.

Callistemon yes I thought that too. I wonder if it's Chinese whispers.
Naturally her parents are very anxious and maybe don't know what is going on.

I think different countries seem to be instigating different procedures and I am worried about my Australian family.
I thought the procedures here apply to all the UK, or does Scotland have a different system?

After the 14 day quarantine period, where will they all go? They won’t be able to return to China and their homes and jobs for ages.
Apologies if I’ve posted this before.