To be concerned about the new coronavirus?

[MissPoldark]

I’m increasingly alarmed by the developments on this. Today we learn that 1 hospitalised patient infected a number of healthcare workers and the first case has been confirmed in the US (a patient who had been to Wuhan).

There are 3 direct flights per week from Wuhan to London, it only seems like a matter of time
Shouldn’t these flights be temporarily suspended?

Ah, apologies @meditrina I don’t know how I misread that twice either!

YABU. I live in Asia and I’m slightly worried but in the UK it’s ridiculous to worry about it.

British airports are already doing health screening, so as long as no one lies about how they are feeling, that should help.

The news reports are all doom and gloom but statistically it isn't too serious yet. 17 people dead out of a suspected 10,000 cases. (I know 17 deaths is 17 too many) but that is a mortality rate of less than 1%.

Spanish flu was horrific but it happened over 100 years ago, before the NHS, before good hygeine practices, when medicine was just stepping out of the dark ages.

I've only just got over dying of bird flu, swine flu and ebola. This is the last thing I need

I'm not giving it a second thought.

I'm severely immunocompromised so if its going to be the new Black Death, it's probably got my name on it.

No confirmed cases in the UK the last time I heard the news, so it's all "what ifs" as far as I'm concerned.

We've all got to pop off through something at some point.

@PanickedMondays I'm not saying it didn't kill people. I'm saying that mass hysteria is pointless.

What can we do? Practise good hygiene and watch out for symptoms. We should be doing that anyway. People who suddenly stock up on hand sanitiser and start banging on about hand washing drive me crazy, because you should be washing your hands in any case.

I live in Asia and have a baby and I'm no more worried than I would be usually.

Wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough. Don't go to work and spread shit around if you're sick.

The same rules apply as usual. If people actually followed them, we'd all be better off.

Well - I'll still be going to China and the Korea(s) shortly. Well, may not be able to go to Nirth Korea as it's now shut it's border to China!

In the UK the risk is still very very low. You’re much more likely to be killed by normal flu or measles. It’s always worrying when a virus mutates like this but it’s not wildly uncommon and sensible measures have been put in place to stop the spread. I wouldn’t let it worry you unduly.

To answer the questions about masks - they do help, partly in catching any coughs and sneezes (yuck at the idea of a soggy mask though) but also they stop people from touching their own noses and mouths, which is one of the ways of catching cold type viruses.

To answer the questions about masks - they do help, partly in catching any coughs and sneezes (yuck at the idea of a soggy mask though) but also they stop people from touching their own noses and mouths, which is one of the ways of catching cold type viruses.

Just watched an interview on TV with an epidemiologist who has said the exact opposite.

They appear to have stopped travel from the area now.

It's a worry but I'm sure infection control and infection officers are on it particularly in London.

Virologists do disagree with each other about the effectiveness of masks. I guess I've gone with the ones who give me most comfort

Sounds lsimilar to flu - highly virulent, will make most people feel very ill for a week or two but with no lasting problems for most. The elderly and immunosuppressed at higher risk - those who have died were not young and healthy. 17 deaths in 500 known cases is under 4%. Nowhere near the same level of awfulness as Ebola.

We desperately need a pandemic. It’s the only thing that’s seriously dealt with population increase over the generations.

The world is a cruel place. I don’t understand why we think we are special and more deserving of life.

Not really concerned no.

I think I wouldn't take the death rate too seriously at the moment. It will change.

It could:

a) go up. Remember it's very new, infections are rising sharply and to put it bluntly people haven't had time to die from it yet. There are a large number of critical cases who very sadly may not make it still. Also as infections grow it's going to be very difficult to give everyone the very specialist care they need. (which for some is ECMO). That's the pessimistic view point.

b) There may be a large number of undetected and asymptomatic cases. That would lower the death rate. That's the optimistic view point.

c) In either case the virus is still rapidly evolving and adapting to its brand new host - us. Fatality rates may either increase or decrease as it evolves. There is no way of knowing which way it will go.

It's certainly not Ebola, but that's not necessarily a good thing in terms of spread.

No I'm not worried, people die from normal flu every year

Those most likely to succumb are elderly, immunocompromised or asthmatic (like me)

We will never have an Ebola like pandemic in the UK as we have good sanitation, access to healthcare services and better nutrition

Yersinia pestis (Black Plague) was only so bad because of overpopulation and poor hygiene (rats). It's still around in parts of the world but kept under control.

Chinese cities are incredibly densely populated so anything will spread fast there

Apparently the first transmission to a human was from a snake! Always said they were evil!!!

I live about 280 miles from Wuhan and have heard there is one case in my city (population 8 million) but may not be true.
With the new year holiday starting tomorrow, millions of people will be travelling, although flights, buses and trains out of Wuhan have been cancelled and there are extra checks/health screening at my airport and assume all others too.
Having been out today, most Chinese are wearing masks.
Am I worried? Pointless to be worried about something I have no control over. I will continue to practise good hygiene - washing hands, using hand sanitizer when out, not coughing on people ..

Y. Pestis is treatable with antibiotics.

aj That's interesting and surprised me.

SARS is thought to have jumped from Civets. Both the new Corona virus and SARS look to have shared a common ancestor in bats.

MERS seems to have jumped from camels.

That's all you can do Shanghai.

Estimated 50 million people were killed by the flu in 1918

When you read of the levels of starvation prevalent in Europe in 1918, I am not at all surprised that a lot of people died from flu that year.

Why worry about this particular virus? Aren't there lots of unknown viruses going the rounds all the time.

I am very worried about it. Could be in Scotland now according to news.