[COVID-19] General Discussion

[Amiga500]

my gut feeling is that the government won't delay this until the summer.

How this plays out will be determined over the next 2 weeks, likely the next week. If it is not too late already.

 

[ncurd]

my gut feeling is that the government won't delay this until the summer.

I think that's best case scenario, I'll be just as shocked at that as the worst case scenario.

 

[The Seeker]

They canceled the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California due to Covid 19. It's a big deal, considered the best tournament outside the four majors by most tour players. https://bnpparibasopen.com/coronavirus/

 

[McTallshort]

China needs ******* for this and companies in the UK need to start sourcing their parts more locally. Jaguar Land rover going on a 2 month shutdown as are JCB because they are waiting for parts from China

 

[Bada-Bing!]

They canceled the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California due to Covid 19. It's a big deal, considered the best tournament outside the four majors by most tour players. https://bnpparibasopen.com/coronavirus/

Palm Springs is like retirement area as well right? so increased risk for elderly who attend together tournament.

 

[The Seeker]

Palm Springs is like retirement area as well right? so increased risk for elderly who attend together tournament.

Yes, there's a lot of retired people in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area. It's known for golf, tennis and gambling at reservation casinos.

 

[Amiga500]

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ensive-ars-technica-guide-to-the-coronavirus/

Ars is a good site, this is another good read from them.

Of particular interest is:

In a press briefing on March 3, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros emphasized that "this virus is not SARS, it's not MERS, and it's not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics."

"Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory disease and spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick," he said. "However… COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza, from the data we have so far. With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19."

While media reports have widely circulated fears that asymptomatic people are silently spreading COVID-19 around communities and countries, there is little data to back that up. In fact, asymptomatic cases appear rare and potentially misclassified.

Dr. Tedros noted that only 1 percent of cases in China are reported as "asymptomatic." And of that 1 percent, 75 percent do go on to develop symptoms.

For COVID-19, the data indicates that people coughing and sneezing are the biggest drivers of the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the thrust of the epidemic in China has been from the spread of the virus through households and close contacts, not unconnected community members.

Both good news.

A bit more panic out there might raise levels of diligence among those that are spluttering.



edit: Oh, and would it kill the BBC to run a piece like that on their website instead of their twitterati/instacrap that seems like it needs to be <100 words to hold the limited attention span of idiots?

 

[keith daley]

This

When I was considering cancelling my trip to Japan I saw a bunch of people on Reddit managed to claim back because they could prove that things they were going for were cancelled (Disneyland etc) so their trip was ruined.

Well, just in time the FC&O office has issued a warning not to travel to Italy. I was due to fly out this afternoon!
I can now claim on my travel insurance.
Keith

 

[ncurd]

Just a heads up, being told likely some kind of national update tommorow. Looks like disruption to our daily lives is about to begin.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Taking an average daily increase of 15%, a morality rate of 2% and assuming that linearly applies for forecasting, after 30 days we could be looking at 21,000 infected and 422 casualties and after 60 days 1.4 million infected and 28,000 casualties. Granted it may not grow this way but there is no way the NHS will be able to cope if it does.

Incidentally by pure fluke, that meant the number of casualties would match the number of known cases 28 days later exactly...

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

The UK health minister has tested positive. Is this likely to cause more of a reaction?

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-51827356

 

[ncurd]

The UK health minister has tested positive. Is this likely to cause more of a reaction?

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-51827356

Honestly no, any reaction or otherwise is likely from the overall 'plan' rather than individual cases. Although it may appear to be that way.

 

[Reiser99]

I think the UK will have to react soon. People who say it's just the flu are wrong. It has a higher mortality rate (though exact number hard to say right now) and is more infectious than the flu. The problem countries face is that if too many people get infected at once then their healthcare system cannot handle it on top of other health needs. This is the point most people miss when they say let it run it's course or it won't be too bad. Yes most people will recover, but the mortality rate of those who have more severe symptoms or underlying illnesses will be larger because the system can't cope with the numbers. On top if the healthcare system is put under strain then people with other deadly conditions are more likely to die as doctors and nurses will be in short supply (those numbers are unlikely to be added anytime soon). Finally the disease spreads before symptoms show, which is why it has spread so quickly and so it is extremely hard to contain because by the time your symptoms show (if you have any) then you have probably already passed it on. The evidence is in Italy where they haven't managed to stop it spreading and now their healthcare system is struggling to cope and it's why they have a higher mortality rate than other countries such as South Korea. For me it's obvious that the government hasn't contained it (and tbh it never was going to, though ask air stewards to watch for symptoms on incoming passengers was just plain stupid) and so needs to enter delay phase now. Yes it might hurt the economy, but it's a matter of people's lives. The idea of delaying it until the summer is good, but it seems that the government wants to protect the economy as long as it can at the risk of the disease spreading quickly and rapidly. As I said before time will tell if they make the right decisions, the problem is if they don't, it's peoples' lives on the line.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

People are starting to take this seriously. Work-wise meetings are being cancelled all over the place and from Friday everyone in our office will be working from home until further notice.

 

[ncurd]

Hancock supposed making statement at 7pm tonight, seeing suggestions (from twitter) full measures will be put in place 'Sunday' giving businesses time to prepare rather than sudden shutdown.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Plz don't block flights until Wednesday

 

[ncurd]

Plz don't block flights until Wednesday

Want to escape Japan that much?

 

[FLOBALOB]

Hancock supposed making statement at 7pm tonight, seeing suggestions (from twitter) full measures will be put in place 'Sunday' giving businesses time to prepare rather than sudden shutdown.

Oh goody! Only another 4 days to let the virus run riot .
With another 168 deaths in Italy in last 24 hours , you have to wonder whats ahead next week for the NHS.
Oh well ! At least they got Cheltenham in ..Eh !!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Want to escape Japan that much?

Not at all, but my bank balance has taken a beating and I don't fancy sleeping under the underpass with the other homeless guys in Shinjuku D:

 

[ncurd]

Officially global pandemic according to WHO now.