Coronavirus Thread / New / Old / Merged

[Sgt Fulham]

At this point the virus cannot and will not be contained. Just let us be thankful that it is a low mortality rate and let it be a wake up call for future containment. Very sad for those that wont make it, but unfortunately life has always been ruthless and cruel no matter how comfortable we try and make it.

[Holders]

At this point the virus cannot and will not be contained. Just let us be thankful that it is a low mortality rate and let it be a wake up call for future containment. Very sad for those that wont make it, but unfortunately life has always been ruthless and cruel no matter how comfortable we try and make it.

Agreed, "Nature red in tooth and claw" - and that includes us. It cannot be contained for two main reasons: It is thought to be transmissible whilst in incubation (14-24 days) and minor symptoms can appear as common cold or flu which would not give rise to isolation in the same way. Attempting to delay it until the spring/summer, as they are, takes pressure off the NHS and allows time for (perhaps) a treatment to be developed.

But the learning points are clear in case the next time around it's more virulent.

[RaySmith]

Actually I have a heavy cold at the moment - for a week or so, and am 71.

But it seems unlikely that I would have been in contact with  anyone with CoronaV, and anyway, I choose to think it's no more than  the Common Cold, unless forced to think otherwise.

But someone else might panic in my situation, I suppose, which shows the problems here.

I'd have to get tested to see if it was more serious than a cold, but that would probably be hard to implement with current pressures on services, and advice, if I could get it , would be to self-isolate - so cutting myself off indoors with a what's likely is just a cold, which I obviously won't be doing.

[SuffolkWhite]

I think Covid19 starts with a fever? I to have a slight cold but no temperature and no fever. We cant stop work until the temperature goes up imo.

[RaySmith]

At this point the virus cannot and will not be contained. Just let us be thankful that it is a low mortality rate and let it be a wake up call for future containment. Very sad for those that wont make it, but unfortunately life has always been ruthless and cruel no matter how comfortable we try and make it.

Agreed, "Nature red in tooth and claw" - and that includes us. It cannot be contained for two main reasons: It is thought to be transmissible whilst in incubation (14-24 days) and minor symptoms can appear as common cold or flu which would not give rise to isolation in the same way. Attempting to delay it until the spring/summer, as they are, takes pressure off the NHS and allows time for (perhaps) a treatment to be developed.

But the learning points are clear in case the next time around it's more virulent.

Any reason why viruses and epidemics should be more serious than in the past, especially now we have modern science and medicine to  deal with them?

Historically in the UK we've had Bubonic Plague, caused by infected rats,  Measles, Mumps, Diphtheria etc, dealt with by vaccination, though  a return  of these things with people not wanting to be vaccinated - due to online  alarmism and panic based on the spread of misinformation..

Also,  environmental diseases like Cholera and TB, due to poverty and poor sanitation.

So are we not generally healthier and less at risk of disease than in the past?

One reason why there might be an increase in the viruses and  disease is built up resistance to modern medicines, as in the case of antibiotics.

Jut wondering whether or not we are becoming more vulnerable to such illnesses , after years of being much less vulnerable to infectious diseases through scientific and medical advance.

[grandad]

600 people a year die from the seasonal flu. In some years it has been as high as 13,000. Forms of cancer, pneumonia, car deaths, murders etc account for thousands a year. Let´s keep it in context.

[RaySmith]

I think Covid19 starts with a fever? I to have a slight cold but no temperature and no fever. We cant stop work until the temperature goes up imo.

But how much knowledge do people have about this. Things like rise in temperature - well most people. like me, don't know how to take this.

I was just about to go out yesterday - to Manchester in fact - when someone said on the radio, an 'expert'  -'if you have  a sniffle, best to  stay indoors.'

I obviously ignored this advice, but some might not, since it was an authoritative voice on the BBC.

Like most people in this country, I propose to carry on as normal, and think there will be strong resistance to stopping public gatherings like Football games, and think the govt. knows this.

[MikeTheCubed]

I am amazed at the amount of times I've seen people conflate Fatality Rate with Total Deaths.

[RaySmith]

600 people a year die from the seasonal flu. In some years it has been as high as 13,000. Forms of cancer, pneumonia, car deaths, murders etc account for thousands a year. Let´s keep it in context.

That's my view too, but the panic about this virus is something I've never experienced in my life before, and some statements made me ask the question, whether things are worse in this regard, rather than far better in than in the past.

If this isn't the case, then all this alarmism seems unwarranted and well over the top.

[Sgt Fulham]

At this point the virus cannot and will not be contained. Just let us be thankful that it is a low mortality rate and let it be a wake up call for future containment. Very sad for those that wont make it, but unfortunately life has always been ruthless and cruel no matter how comfortable we try and make it.

Agreed, "Nature red in tooth and claw" - and that includes us. It cannot be contained for two main reasons: It is thought to be transmissible whilst in incubation (14-24 days) and minor symptoms can appear as common cold or flu which would not give rise to isolation in the same way. Attempting to delay it until the spring/summer, as they are, takes pressure off the NHS and allows time for (perhaps) a treatment to be developed.

But the learning points are clear in case the next time around it's more virulent.

Any reason why viruses and epidemics should be more serious than in the past, especially now we have modern science and medicine to  deal with them?

Historically in the UK we've had Bubonic Plague, caused by infected rats,  Measles, Mumps, Diphtheria etc, dealt with by vaccination, though  a return  of these things with people not wanting to be vaccinated - due to online  alarmism and panic based on the spread of misinformation..

Also,  environmental diseases like Cholera and TB, due to poverty and poor sanitation.

So are we not generally healthier and less at risk of disease than in the past?

One reason why there might be an increase in the viruses and  disease is built up resistance to modern medicines, as in the case of antibiotics.

Jut wondering whether or not we are becoming more vulnerable to such illnesses , after years of being much less vulnerable to infectious diseases through scientific and medical advance.

There are a few reasons that we are susceptible to new pandemics, and by far the biggest is global mobility and population. With so many people with access to international travel it becomes very hard to contain an infectious disease due to the sheer number or interactions any given person may have (chance of transmission). It is inevitable that someone with the virus will travel to a population hotspot (think the London tube) and that's it, game over. Back in the time of the plague or even Spanish flu the population was lower and travel was a lot less so it could be contained.

As for vaccines and other treatments, it takes a while to develop a suitable vaccine for many reasons. The WHO organises it twice a year with the Flu vaccine but a lot of it is based on informed predictions and existing understanding of Influenza. It will be a few months before a vaccine becomes available and that is assuming that it works. With all our modern treatments we have a better survival rate for the same viruses as before, but with pathogens that dont respond to them we become a bit stuck for ideas and have to think further and further outside the box.

I am grateful for the low mortality rate as this is a real wake up call. Coronavirus very likely wont be 'the end of the world', but the point is that it COULD have been. We have come a long way with science, but there is still a hell of a way to go.

[Southdowns White]

To try and place this in some sort of context, Approximately 1650 die each day in the uk, the vast majority of these are elderly and have an underlying heath problem that comes with old age. The Corona Virus will kill mainly older people with underlying health problems some younger people with underlying health problems will unfortunately die. 90% of over 80 year old people who catch the virus will make a full recovery with the correct healthcare intervention in the uk.
There is no spin here from me or any point i am trying to make. Many of us have elderly relatives and friends with underlying health problems and sadly some of us have younger relatives and friends with underlying health problems. These are the people i am worried for, we can only hope that a cure comes for these people.

[Tabby]

So what happens if teams are due to play and some members are diagnosed with the Virus?

I assume they wouldn't be playing and that they'd be put in quarantine away from the rest of the team, like with regular flu. Having the flu tends to be detrimental to physical activities.

[toshes mate]

I read about a group in the US the other day who claim to have developed a vaccine 'that contains the missing protein necessary to combat Covid-19' whatever that may mean.  There was little or no information that I could find to collaborate the claim although it does seem a number of companies are pursuing a vaccine with some optimism although most of the information is (ironically) on the finance pages rather than the medicine pages.

[Holders]

At this point the virus cannot and will not be contained. Just let us be thankful that it is a low mortality rate and let it be a wake up call for future containment. Very sad for those that wont make it, but unfortunately life has always been ruthless and cruel no matter how comfortable we try and make it.

Agreed, "Nature red in tooth and claw" - and that includes us. It cannot be contained for two main reasons: It is thought to be transmissible whilst in incubation (14-24 days) and minor symptoms can appear as common cold or flu which would not give rise to isolation in the same way. Attempting to delay it until the spring/summer, as they are, takes pressure off the NHS and allows time for (perhaps) a treatment to be developed.

But the learning points are clear in case the next time around it's more virulent.

Any reason why viruses and epidemics should be more serious than in the past, especially now we have modern science and medicine to  deal with them?

Historically in the UK we've had Bubonic Plague, caused by infected rats,  Measles, Mumps, Diphtheria etc, dealt with by vaccination, though  a return  of these things with people not wanting to be vaccinated - due to online  alarmism and panic based on the spread of misinformation..

Also,  environmental diseases like Cholera and TB, due to poverty and poor sanitation.

So are we not generally healthier and less at risk of disease than in the past?

One reason why there might be an increase in the viruses and  disease is built up resistance to modern medicines, as in the case of antibiotics.

Jut wondering whether or not we are becoming more vulnerable to such illnesses , after years of being much less vulnerable to infectious diseases through scientific and medical advance.

With the exception of measles and mumps all the diseases you've mentioned are bacterial. Viruses mutate and are more specific and require jabs to match, hence the flu vaccine changes each year. That's why it'll take a little time to come up with a specific treatment for corona. Obviously there's resistance building to antibiotics but otherwise it just seems that once in a while Nature comes up with something more aggressive. One day it will matter but not this time it seems.

I do wonder whether the sanitised environment that many kids are brought up in nowadays retards resistance compared with what you and I probably experienced.

[john dempsey]

coronavirus killed off FLYBE allegedly

[Holders]

And several other airlines at risk as well, supposedly. It'll be interesting to look back at this thread in a couple of months' time and see how it all panned out.

[Mince n Tatties]

People panic buying,apparently Poundland have ran out of paracetamol tablets,as if they do you much good.
One woman in Stoke has filled her cupboards with 80 tins of soup,and 40 tins of rice pudding.. lol,in case she gets laid up.

[SuffolkWhite]

People panic buying,apparently Poundland have ran out of paracetamol tablets,as if they do you much good.
One woman in Stoke has filled her cupboards with 80 tins of soup,and 40 tins of rice pudding.. lol,in case she gets laid up.

Laid up! if she eats that lot she will never get off the Loo  let alone go anywhere 064.gif

[john dempsey]

if you can't get any toilet paper you can always wipe your bottom
on a politician.

[Holders]

In Germany they call it Hamsterkauf. Quite  succinct, I thought.