Coronavirus

[OhSoOuting]

AIBU to set out some facts because some of the threads about this are utterly ridiculous.

You cannot get coronavirus from having recently eaten Chinese food, sat next to an Asian looking person on the train, or walking on the opposite side of the road to a group of Chinese tourists.

You do not need to withdraw your child from school or university if one person in that institution is self-isolating due to being in contact with someone who in turn was a contact of an infected person. The person who is self isolating is 2 steps removed from the virus, your child is 3 steps removed - it’s not a risk.

The flimsy paper masks do not protect against Coronavirus. All they will do is make you look a bit of a twat on public transport. You either need to go the whole hog and get an N95 respirator which needs to be fit tested by a medical professional, or you could just make sure you wash your hands frequently and don’t touch your face.

If by some tiny chance, you think you may have coronavirus, DO NOT GO TO A&E OR YOUR GP. Call 111, and they will arrange for you to be tested.

If by some even tinier chance you have indeed got coronavirus, remember: the virus has a slightly less than 2% death rate of known cases. This being cases acute enough for medical treatment to be sought. As we’ve seen from the so called ‘super-spreader’, it can be extremely mild or virtually asymptomatic. This means the rate of cases is likely to be about 4 times the known cases and puts the death rate at somewhere under 0.5%. (Statistics from a variety of sources including LSE and the Lancet)

Of the deaths, 80% have been over 60 and 75% had a pre-existing health condition. There have been only 2 deaths outside China. It is almost certainly no coincidence that China has the highest rates of heavy smokers in the world.

We have NO IDEA what is going to happen, so why flap and panic until we have more information.

Well said. Why is everyone freaking out? Nobody acts like this when its flu season and it kills thousands

At last, first sensible post I've seen. Really don't understand the mass panic about it - risks of catching it are so small. What ever happened to good old fashioned common sense?

Media moral panic. Apparently there are already other Coronaviruses that have been around for a while.

With Ebola, I’ve just read, they’d already been developing a vaccine for 20 years. That wasn’t really mentioned in the news reporting until they rolled it out and stopped it in it’s tracks.

The 2% death rate is in Hubei province. The death rate for the rest of China and the rest of the world is much lower, more like 0.2%. That would suggest that a) in Hubei province only the sickest are being diagnosed and admitted to hospital, artificially increasing the death rate, and b) the death rate is possibly being pushed up due to the health system being overstretched. As long as that does not happen here, our death rate should not reach 2%. For reference, the death rate of ordinary flu is about 0.1%.

Thanks for this thread OP

Totally agree.

Still having my Chinese takeaway on Friday. Have it once a month, and I don't intend to stop, OR cancel my appointment with my Chinese doctor on Monday.

People are WEEEEIRD!!!!!!

My concerns are worldwide economic stress leading to potential global recession and the speed of transference, which could overwhelm the NHS if it arrives in higher numbers in the UK. Research suggests the numbers infected and dying in China are far higher than reported. I'm not concerned what the Daily Mail report, but I am following reputable sites and they are still reporting that this is likely to get worse before better.

gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

www.theguardian.com/news/2020/feb/10/will-the-coronavirus-outbreak-derail-the-global-economy

@thedogscollar. Flu kills thousands and coronavirus is at least 10 times more lethal than flu. Fewer people have it in the world right now but it's also much more contagious than flu. Worrying contagious. On 14th January 40 something people had Coronavirus. A month later there are over 45 thousand and that's with multiple cities in China on lockdown. Literally tens of millions in China have their movements restricted and this is still spreading like wildfire and killing previously fit people. I say this on every thread. IT'S NOT COMPARABLE WITH FLU

Yes agree with you ...too much panic and anxiety...calm down and be sensible with any obvious contacts!!

The hysteria and racism is absolutely insane.

Apparently my daughters teacher made a very racist remark to a Chinese student in class the other day. I want to go into the school and complain but I only have the information second hand from my child and I imagine it would be denied.

So fucking over the madness.

YANBU

Yanbu.
Personally I am worried but I worry about everything but I like your post OP because the racism from this is awful!

The virus itself is not racist, it will happily attack any of us.

The reports that say it only kills the elderly or those with existing conditions are harsh - how many of us want our elderly or immuno-compromised to be safe? Plus what about the healthy doctor who reported it who died aged 33?

Nobody can say what the death rate is because we don’t know how many of those currently infected will die vs recover. If you compare current deaths vs recovery it’s about 20/80.

IT'S NOT COMPARABLE WITH FLU
People thinking it’s comparable to flu will kill us all because they fail to take it seriously.

Hallelujah!!!

Thank you @OhSoOuting.

Having no idea what's going to happen is why people are panicking really. Quite a lot of experts have predicted the death rate could become quite a lot higher. The WHO have called covid-19 'public enemy number 1' I really think most sensible people would feel a bit alarmed at that.

News in the past hour is that there has been a sharp rise in cases and deaths.

News in the past hour is that there has been a sharp rise in cases and deaths

That's because, in China, they are now counting clinically diagnosed cases in the total number. So now people with matching symptoms but who haven't actually been tested and confirmed are included. As you can imagine, there are many people at this time of year with cold and flu viruses and many of those symptoms are similar to coronavirus, so it's easy to see why the numbers have jumped up. I guess they just dont have the resources to test everyone so they are making an on the spot call. Some of those are bound to be misdiagnosed.

The fact is, we really have no idea of the true numbers of infected. Many people have mild or no symptoms and recover just fine, and therefore not seeking medical help at all. If this is the case and it seems to be, the mortality rate will be far lower than 2 or 3 %

How many "suspected" cases have turned out to be negative? Hundreds in the US alone. Well now suspected cases are included in the figures for china, without any testing being done. That's why

Reality is those who contracted it early will have higher mortality rates, no one knew what it was. Those in poor areas or with limited healthcare will have higher mortality rates as they won’t be given basic fluids to help fight it. In the UK only those with serious immune deficiencies who contract it will be seriously threatened, but will have immediate medical attention. It’s still a risk if more and more people contract it, but less likely. It does become a serious issue when it hits poor areas in other Countries with limited resources though. That is why WHO class it serious, and what ups the estimated death toll percentage. Most people with medical attention will recover, I only fear for those who don’t 🙁

While we're correcting common mis-information, can I please add a couple that are driving me nuts:

It is not a new strain of flu - it's an entirely separate disease.

It affects the lower respiratory system, not the upper one. If your symptoms are a runny nose and sore throat, you simply have a cold.

What is the risk for those who are overweight?I ask because Asians don't tend to be overweight?

There has NOT been a sharp rise in cases and deaths, there has been a change in the way they were collating the statistics.

Re the young doctor - well I should imagine the immense stress of government persecution followed by intense overwork had a significant impact on his health. He may also have had an underlying condition - we don’t know.

Re the WHO - I have NO IDEA what he was thinking. That was one of the stupidest, most ill-conceived speeches of all time. “Public enemy number one”, “worse than Terrorism” - even COVID19 is a million times worse than we think, that kind of scaremongering language is utterly reprehensible from an organisation meant to be appraising people of the FACTS. I don’t know why he said what he said - it’s not supported by the pure facts as we have them, including the facts and briefings provided by the WHO. If we just look at the UK alone - 1200 people tested and only 9 positive cases, none contracted in the UK. 3 of whom recovered and were released from hospital within a week.

OP Any percentage no matter how little you think the percentage is poses a risk to human life in particular to those with Compromised immune systems (many people fall in this category).
Tell that fact to some one who has lost a baby/child, parent, grandparent etc that it’s only a tiny percentage