China - HMPV Virus

[RisingSunn]

Am I right in assuming that because they know what the virus is. It shouldn’t be as worrying as COVID was at the beginning?

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/china-rejects-claim-of-flulike-virus-spreading/news-story/8c980054af93d2e865d49e39c61fb3bd?amp

Sometimes it’s hard to decipher real potential health dangers and sensationalist headlines.

Thanks.

Yes - I am totally aware there is always monitoring but what I think is irresponsible is the reporting on it. If that makes any sense.

For example - I now know there are cases in Malaysia. Why report this on our national media if it’s of no international consequence. And if the virus is known and apparently very mild as you’ve mentioned.

Since international flights go back and forth all the time between all countries it's only a matter of time before any virus spreads so I don't think it's irresponsible to report it. However the manner of reporting needs to be responsible and not sensationalised.

Viruses have been around for as long as man has been walking the earth. They change all the time. I would have hoped that we'd have learnt from the absolute nonsense of 2020 not to make a fuss about any of them any more!

I'm not sure what shit we were spun. My sibling, 40yo teacher, was in ICU on a ventilator, almost dead from covid. Just because it didn't hurt some people, doesn't mean it didn't kill/really fuck up others. And at the outset, nobody knew what was what. Many countries operated lockdowns. We were not out of step with the world.

Remember during Covid when people said they knew “this” was coming months before we had a name or any lockdowns. I wonder how they are reacting to the news of this virus? probably knew about it already.

My dad died of it (nope not with it, he was in his 60s but no underlying conditions not even overweight), and having been a nurse i worked through it and was sent to ICU it was awful. I can see why people oppose and are sceptical of the government response; but those who seem to be of the mind that covid didn't exist, it wasn't that bad or whatever are just ignorant and let's be real probably not the brightest.

Agree there was a great deal of hysteria, but I don't think it would be repeated now.

Lockdown happened because covid occupied a Goldilocks spot. Dangerous enough to frighten people into voluntarily changing their behaviour, not dangerous enough to make the people who stack the shelves, fill the pumps and drive the buses stop coming into work. Not sure that actually exists now. If a new pandemic did happen, a good chunk of the population would probably think the covid vaccine had caused it.

Additionally, it's not possible to have lockdown in a country like the UK unless a lot of people are being paid to stay at home. There'd have been nowhere near the sustained support and relatively high compliance last time if we didn't have furlough. And it's just so abundantly obvious that we couldn't afford to do that again now. Thus, no lockdown.

It's also not the same as this has existed for many years and although does kill people and leave some very poorly, it's a 'known'. The start of covid where little was known was worrying.

Have you seen the hysteria on TikTok about bird flu? People in the US (and here), already calling for lockdowns, saying anyone who wouldn’t have a vaccine should be put in prison.

I don’t trust people since covid. I watched on with horror. I quit my job in a care home over the awful things I saw happening.

There's a lot of batshit on Tiktok! As I understand it, the algorithm means that if you've seen a couple, you're then likely to be shown more. So you won't be getting a remotely representative sample. The majority of the UK population don't even use it.

One of the worst things that happened during covid was that some people started thinking of lockdown as a thing that automatically kicks in once a pandemic happens. But it's not, it's something that was able to happen during a very specific set of circumstances that might never even be repeated.

I completely understand having trauma from some of the worst aspects of restrictions last time. But the money issue alone means it's not happening now, to say nothing of the lack of public trust in public health messaging now. I don't say that lockdown could never happen again, but it's going to take more than a few years.

My point is though, that there are people out there who would act completely unhinged again.

I have no trauma from restrictions, I am talking about medical negligence, medical neglect and outright lies I witnessed in care homes, which happens anyway, but they could freely get away with it in the name of Covid.

I have no faith in the general population at all. People are mainly fucking idiots who will turn on each other through fear.

I understand - but we wouldn’t normally be updated about an uptick in regular flu or common cold in China and/ or in Malaysia for example.

(Just using these examples because it’s a known virus and apparently mild).

Or maybe I just don’t recall this level of reporting!

Oh sure, there are some people who would. No argument there. There are some people who are still batshit about covid.

There's a massive gap between that and there being enough public will to make a lockdown possible. It's not something that can be imposed from the top down in the UK. We don't have anything like the coercive apparatus needed. The pp who said it won't happen again is right. People won't do it.

Speak for yourself. If a virus emerges with unknown etiology I'll be listening to those who have greater knowledge than I do.
If we hadn't have locked down COVID would have killed very many more than it did during the pandemic.

I think the point to make is that a formal lockdown would require substantial public support before being put into place, and without that it won't happen. Actually being able to stay at home is something that's beyond a lot of people, and the number is even higher if the state doesn't provide financial support. If you're not one of them, that's a fortunate position that many simply can't access.

Whether a lockdown might be the best long term way to deal with a particular pandemic and whether it's actually possible are not the same question. And really, nobody is qualified to assess at this stage whether lockdown saves more lives overall than not locking down. It takes expertise well beyond simply knowing how best to manage the one specific virus. We don't know the answer for covid yet, so we're clearly not going to know it for the next pandemic.

How come China doesn't have primary health care and GP's? So do people have to go to the hospital for everything even though it's not serious.

Remember the mystery unknown virus killing people in the Congo just before Christmas? Widely reported. the "mystery unknown virus" otherwise known as malaria?
Now tell me - which is the better headline:
Mystery virus kills dozens in Africa followed by (real Daily Mail headline this...) Fears mystery Congo disease already in America as Ohio hospital quarantines African traveler with unknown flu illness
or
A lot of African people got malaria and died

Which one of those sells papers / advertising on the website?

"For example - I now know there are cases in Malaysia. Why report this on our national media if it’s of no international consequence"
A better question would be why are you reading it? It's (currently) clickbait (and you just got suckered by it) because people are running with the story after Covid. The media reports what people want to see, even if they don't know they want to see it themselves. For every story they print millions don't appear - because people won't click on them.

I think we're all overly sensitive to the words 'virus' 'flu' etc.!

I agree. It's quite shocking what people 'think' they know or want to tell themselves. Covid was very real sadly.

I know 2 people who have been in hospital over the Christmas break with complications from the flu. Our local A&E has been packed and someone took photos of the waiting room and all the ambulances queued up outside. This year seems to have been particularly bad for it.

I actually agreed with the very first lockdown. I think that minimising the spread of a novel virus seems like the smart thing to do. I do think they went on too long and didn't take into account all the other factors at play.

People say they will never lockdown again but I think they would change their minds for something with a higher mortality rate. I've seen photos of people dying from ebola and I would happily lock myself away for years rather than have that fate.

The thing with the higher mortality rate= willingness to lock down assumption is that it doesn't consider what happens if people get really scared.

In order for lockdown to happen, lots of people had to be willing to go out to work. Staying the fuck at home requires someone else not to. If we don't have both of those things, we aren't locking down.

You might be willing to lock yourself away for years to avoid ebola. That doesn't mean people are going to take risks so you can stay fed, watered and unattacked at home while you wait it out. It might not be a choice you (general) have.

Our local A&E has been packed and someone took photos of the waiting room and all the ambulances queued up outside. This year seems to have been particularly bad for it.

we also have an ageing population so this will likely become more common.

Ha! You’re probably right.

Yes, these things hit very differently than they did in 2019! If you could measure the responses on a population level I bet there'd have been a real swing.