Coronavirus - sick and tired of the hysterical scaremongering

[Ashtower]

I work in an office and I've overheard a number of people blowing the outbreak all out of proportion. One colleague has ordered facemasks off Amazon - we're in SE England ffs. I wish people would educate themselves (from reputable sources) and stop winding everyone up.

Of course, a healthy amount of caution is important but it's made me aware of how mass hysteria ie witch trials occurred in the past. Just takes one ignorant person with a massive mouth (yes I'm talking about you Sue in budgeting).

I'm reminding my kids and family members about good hygiene - hand washing really does make a difference. For healthy people they will fight off but for the vulnerable it is more risky as with many other viruses and flu. My Dad is currently in hospital with severe breathing difficulties and they are inundated with similar patients. Flu appears to have been quite severe this year with more patients in intensive care. Large gatherings and crowded public transport speed up the spread but hand washing and changing clothes do help.

I'm feeling increasingly wary about all this. I'm wondering if this is a "flu-like" virus at all.
56 million people on lock-down? All personnel in Hazmat suits? Staff collapsing in hospital corridors?
Call me a cynic, but...

Well allegedly they (Chinese Government) have been playing down the true seriousness of the matter. Official statistics are around 2,000 affected and 56 dead. They have just got their first case in Canada. Unofficially it's been alleged that 90,000 are affected in Wuhan according to a nurse who is working in the area and treating those affected. They are trying to trace 2,000 people that flew in to the UK from China and there are approximately 100,000 Chinese students here in the UK already. It will be here in a matter of days (it's probably here already but still being incubated by the carriers so once they fall ill and start showing symptoms - then we will start getting a more accurate idea of how many are affected). I actually think your work colleague is extremely wise in trying her best to be prepared. As others have already said, it's killing people and spreading rapidly and it's starting to pop up all around the world. Better to be prepared than not.

It's being reported that it is very similar to SARS.

I agree with you. It’s ridiculous. They were saying on the news earlier that the death toll has reached 41. I’d be interested to know how many people on average die of flu each year or any other viral illness. The numbers would be high for those too but the media aren’t reporting on that. Not a word on whether the people who died of it had any other illnesses,age,etc. I think the press are just sick of writing crap about Meghan Markle so they’ve gone for a “We’re all going to die!!!” angle instead.

The first Canadian sufferer is in Toronto and has recently come back from Wuhan. I wonder if they’re contacting everyone on his flight.

My immune system is shot to bits and any decent infection can make me very ill, even something as simple as a cold sore. I'm not giving this thing a second thought to be honest.

If it comes to the UK and I get it, that's bad luck for me. Nothing more to really worry about than that to be honest. I can't get excited or hysterical over it at all.

It’s going to be fine. Calm down. I don’t imagine it doing much else, other than what it’s already done in China. They are in lock down. Everyone is safe.

When I wear an effective face mask at work, it's fairly difficult- I'm hugely relieved to take it off after 15 mins or so. Unless I'm required to, I'm not wearing one. If the mask is comfortable, it's probably not worth bothering with.

My concerns are that it has mutated quickly so it could mutate again. And if we get it bad over here the nhs won't cope. But other than that I'm assuming at the moment it's just a flu virus so I'm not bothered about my own safety 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dita, Isn't that the point though? There is a flu virus every year. People die. Have you ever seen medics wearing Hazmat suits when treating them? Does that not indicate that this one is a different kettle of fish?
Flu virus my arse!

I'm torn. Either it's scaremongering clickbait as so much is now days,or it's really bad and it's being covered up, or I'm drifting into conspiracy theory land.

I do find it suspicious that a major highest security bio-safety lab was only 20 miles away from the epicentre.
metro.co.uk/2020/01/24/us-warned-virus-escape-lab-near-coronavirus-epicentre-12114591/

And that scientists from Wuhan were escorted from a Canadian bio lab under hush hush circumstances last year.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/national-microbiology-lab-scientist-investigation-china-1.5307424

God only knows at this stage....but I don't trust anyone, especially China with it's previous cover-ups. Time will tell I guess.

I just can't get my head around how China have been able to lockdown and shut off millions of people. There was an Irish guy interviewed on LBC who is in Wuhan and he said it's the strangest sight. There is no transport, even private cars are not allowed. He said he goes out only for essential items when needed and when he dies he wears swimming goggles as well as a face mask as apparently nursing staff contracted it through their eyes! Can you imagine locking down a city here!

*does not dies

I read the stand it always makes me nervous

I'm also immune compromised my condition is dodgy right now and I did catch swine flu the thought of being that Ill again and quarantined is not making me happy

@CallmeAngelina These are people who walk around wearing masks over their mouths all the time anyway but let’s say hypothetically that we’re all going to catch it and die. What are you going to do about it?

I just can't get my head around how China have been able to lockdown and shut off millions of people.

It's the nature of the country. The authorities do what they want and the public comply or face the consequences.

sick and tired of the hysterical scaremongering

So you thought you’d start yet another thread about it?! Do you not see the irony?!

Or... are you actually scared too and you want reassurance that we're not all going to die?

@mrshoho, China can lock down cities because it is a totalitarian state. But now that the virus has been spread to many new countries, it won’t be so easy to contain it. Experts seem to agree that we’ve missed the “golden period” to prevent it from spreading.

@Dita73, first of all this isn’t a flu virus (influenza), it’s a coronavirus. A type of coronavirus that had previously never been observed in humans. No one knows if it could mutate into something more dangerous.

Unlike SARS, this virus is contagious during incubation. Incubation is thought to be 1-14 days.

There are cases that show that a person may be carrying the virus and showing no symptoms, no cough, no fever, but still be highly contagious.

Two days ago there were 26 deaths reported in China. Today it’s 56. Meanwhile, many people are saying they feel sick, but are too scared to go to a hospital; if all they have is a regular flu, they may be infected at the hospital. There are also reports of patients being turned away in Chinese hospitals, of patients dying at home, and of the “cause of death” on death certs to say pneumonia rather than ncov19, as authorities seek to minimise the scale of the problem.

Do you know what other bat virus infected humans? Ebola. Do you know long it took to develop the Ebola vaccine? 20 years.

mrshoho was this the Irish guy who was in the paper saying he'd stocked up on noodles and whiskey and planned on watching a load of Netflix until it all blew over?

very true @PhilCornwall1 . I'm sure if the UK ever had to do something like that we'd be far less compliant. How would we even have the amount of manpower to ring fence an entire city? And building a hospital in a week! Bloody hell no way could we do that.

@RuggerHug I'm not sure as missed some of it. This guy was a teacher and was quite funny as was saying of all the places he chose to travel to it was his luck he ended up in this surreal situation.

@NotMyFinestMoment

"It's being reported that it is very similar to SARS"

It's a form of SARS. I've had the ordinary corona virus, this is a new super strain.

One things for sure. Humans need to stop eating bats.

Well, for fuck sake, if nothing else, it's proof that some animals just shouldn't be eaten. Bat soup, forsooth