Public emergency declared by WHO on coronavirus

[JustonTime]

The extremes countries are going to in order to stop it spreading suggest that it is more deadly than we've been told i.e that it's like a flu? We don't shut down countries for flu. What are we not being told?

mumwon I was very annoyed when I got chicken pox first- my brother got to stay off from school while I was sick and then I had to go back while he still had it - cheated!

sigh & by the way it isn't flu its a different family of virus linked to the cold & Saars which is why they haven't got a vaccine for it yet & why China has a quarantine to give them/us time to find a treatment/vaccine. While I don't like Chinese politics - I do respect what they have tried to do about this.

> Proceeds to type two paragraphs accusing the world's governments of hiding a deadly virus, in collaboration with the airlines.

Eh no - that shit is in mainstream media making most news headlines. Well the flights being grounded anyway. That the British government have sent all passengers to the Wirral for 14 days. That's fact too. I never accused the world's governments of hiding anything - I stated that it has been mentioned that it is probable that China has covered up the severity of the illness.

Perhaps the Chinese govt is not releasing all the information, but sensible precautions have been put in place and this is the most important factor. Ime people are being sensible and staying at home and avoiding public places. This is being encouraged by the govt as school holidays have been extended and also the public holiday.

Yeah I'd be gutted if I was sent to the Wirral for two weeks, too.

Have a carefull read through this article it will give you a lot more usefull info than most sources!

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30211-7/fulltext

ShanghaiDiva - we have friends in the same situation, not too far from you :) School expected to return Feb 17th. I have everything crossed that this awful situation will fizzle out soon and you can get on with your lives!!

Justaboy, thanks. But it's a medical article not designed to be read by Average Josephine; it is a great way of trying to prove your intellectual superiority perhaps, but not really an adequate means for me to come to any conclusion. Do you think that Sky News, ITV, BBC don't have medical experts who can interpret prose like that for the common man?

@PolPotNoodle: I was just thinking the same - haven't the poor sods suffered enough?

@ShanghaiDiva are you able to go to the shops for food, and are there many supplies left in the shops? Take care

But if it's just a flu, which we get every year, why all the precautions?

@GarlicSoup
So far so good and luckily my freezer was full!

You keep saying "just a flu".

Have you ever had the flu?

The flu ranges in symptoms from mild to severe. Its not the case that every single person who gets it is totally incapacitated. This virus appears the same. It's dangerous for those who are older or have underlying conditions but most people will recover. For every person presenting to a hospital in china and being counted in the figures, there are many times more who are asymptomatic or only experiencing mild symptoms. It will take a while for the true fatality rate to be calculated. Panicking wont help but practicing good hygiene will.

I am probably the furthest person you could get from a conspiracy theorist. But I can read between lines

Thank god you can! And then you can tell us all about it but the MSM and the govermorons won’t!!!!!!

Do you comment a lot on newspaper articles, OP?

@JustonTime
Am not sure what your point is. Precautions are being taken and the Chinese govt has been praised by WHO for the actions they have taken. This is all positive,. Ruminating as to whether something has been covered up achieves nothing.

I think too many people are getting worked up over the WHO's declaration; it's the 5th in 11 years. Not as if it's a rare and unusual event.

There are plenty of flights still going in and out of China ( see flightradar). Just not by BA and some other airlines

For every person presenting to a hospital in china and being counted in the figures, there are many times more who are asymptomatic or only experiencing mild symptoms.

Do you have a source for that @FromEden?

Just not by BA and some other airlines

When have BA AND 'some other airlines' stopped flying into China or indeed anywhere before?

the WHO decision means they can now release parts of their budget doing certain things. The WHO decision doesn't mean "Wow everyone should be terrified."

It’s common sense that there are vast numbers of undiagnosed cases in China and elsewhere. First of all, you can be infected and not have any symptoms at all. Then the first symptoms are similar to a cold. Do you go to A&E when you have a cold? I don’t. Most people don’t.

I’m also in China and my son has a cold. No fever. There’s no way I’m going to take him to a hospital right now. We’re keeping a watchful eye on him. If he starts having a fever we will reassess.

Our supermarkets ran out of food this week. I’ve done my first (and hopefully last!) doomsday shop so we can sustain a siege of several weeks.

Regarding the severity of the virus, it is indeed different from the flu. First of all because it is contagious even when no symptoms are showing, second of all because the incubation period is not fully understood yet. And mostly, because it has the potential to be much more severe. The death rate for the flu is 0.01%. The death rate for this virus is around 2%. Around 25% of cases are severe - this means pneumonia. Which can lead to lifelong issues.

They know a lot more than they're telling us.

Things I'm reading about influenza
Contagious before symptoms show.
Death rate seems to be at least 1% (varies hugely by age group & region)
Causes 10s of thousands of hospital stays in Britain every year, maybe 1,000 deaths/yr as an avg but huge variation
About 1/3 of people infected show no symptoms but are still infectious to others
Incubation period tends to be around 3 days
mutates often
So that's influenza.

The new coronavirus is new. That's a big fact about it.

@RevolutionofourTime and @ShanghaiDiva

I'm in China too - Shandong. How are you both holding up?

Yeah I'd be gutted if I was sent to the Wirral for two weeks, too
Oy! My place of birth - the Wirral (well the Dee side of it anyway) is lovely.