The 'Positive Mental Health' Corona virus thread

[RapidRainbow]

There are a lot of posts of people worrying. I thought it could be helpful to share positive and assuring information in one thread.

For me, the most reassuring thing so far is the fact that of approx. 1500 people in the UK suspected to have and tested for CV have come back as negative.

I really hope thats whats happening in italy

Even if it's not, there are other factors that make matters a lot worse for Italy versus the UK. They have a lot more elderly people, smoking is more common and the percentage of people who routinely wash their hands is the second lowest in Europe.

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Hopefully link works shows how many in what country and recoverys but also the death toll. And the countries who's had it but are now clear.

I go on wondering how many of the deaths in China are at least as attributable to the really terrible pollution there having already done the people's lungs no good at all, as they are to covid-19.

Even if it's not, there are other factors that make matters a lot worse for Italy versus the UK. They have a lot more elderly people, smoking is more common and the percentage of people who routinely wash their hands is the second lowest in Europe

I just looked uptake hand washing data. There is no way that 75% of people in the UK wash their hands every time they go to the toilet. None. I think Italians are just more honest.

I take comfort in the fact it looks like China has peaked in terms of new infections and deaths, many parts of China will be reopening schools soon. And I read that only about 2.4% of infected cases were children and hardly any of them were severe.

I think it's worth noting that even in Italy where numbers seem to be quite high the number of people infected is actually only 122 per million of the population.

In the UK 4 people have the virus per million of the population. Obviously this is likely to increase but hopefully it helps keep things a bit in perspective.

I'm really not trying to be the thread police but just a suggestion... can we please try to stick to positive/ reassuring posts on this thread? It's meant to be the 'positive mental health thread' for those of us who were becoming really anxious when reading the other thread but it seems more and more that it's being taken over by anxious posts. I totally get that people are needing to vent how they're feeling, but I just don't know if this thread is the place for it?

As I said above, im not trying to be the thread police and tell others what they can and can't post, and if others feel differently to me then I can just hide this thread and move on. But I was getting such reassurance from it that I'd be sorry to have to do that.

Many thanks for all of the time and effort that people have taken to share positive pieces of news.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this previously but I find the Diamond Princess figures (which can be found on Worldometer) quite reassuring. As so many passengers were tested it probably gives a more complete picture of mild and moderate cases than the country figures. There were 696 cases and 7 have died, with 32 serious or critical. So the total serious/critical plus deaths is a little over 5% with a 1% death rate, amongst a population most of whom were over 60.

I find the cruise ship figures reassuring too. Of those who tested positive around 50% were asymptomatic as I understand it. In addition only around a quarter of the passengers contracted the virus even though there was fairly close proximity.

I am also taking a lot of comfort in the German figures. They are obviously doing a lot of things right in testing and containing. I also think there's a cultural thing going on. Southern European culture in Spain, Italy, Greece is about a healthy disregard for government rules and advice. They have the highest black economies:

www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/02/09/where-the-worlds-shadow-economies-are-firmly-established-infographic/#50dbb57e742c

They smoke more. They are more demonstrative with the kissing and close physical contact. Northern Europeans are more reserved and law-abiding, on the whole. Personally I think that culturally we're a lot closer to Germany and the Netherlands than we are to Italy and Spain.

It's great news that it's peaked in China after what - 6 to 8 weeks? And the better weather will be here soon, it was roasting the first week of April last year.

And I saw something (think it was the NY times) that there are teams of scientists all over the world working on a vaccine, hoping to have something ready for first trials in THREE MONTHS only, which is amazing. Maybe next October when we're all called for our flu jab we'll be getting a coronavirus jab at the same time.

As so many passengers were tested it probably gives a more complete picture of mild and moderate cases than the country figures. There were 696 cases and 7 have died, with 32 serious or critical

I also saw something that a doctor said - lock up 700 pensioners, many of whom had health conditions in a ship for 2 weeks and they would have expected 2 or 3 to die of natural causes during that time anyway.

That’s really comforting, thank you Pineapple.

Just incase people missed it earlier... At the begging of the year they predicted over 1 million deaths in the UK they last few weeks we were down to 500k now we are at 100k worst case scenario and that figure includes the people they believe will die from regular flu anyway... What they are essentially saying is worst case scenario we will have 4/5 times as many flu deaths this year... While yes that's not great its hardly the doomsday scenario they were claiming before.. This came from Nicola sturgeon after speaking with her Cobra Comittee

Glad I found this thread- I feel a lot more reassured now!

Thank you @PineappleDanish

Tud, thanks, helpful stat from Nicola there.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/08/how-to-boost-your-immune-system-to-avoid-colds-and-coronavirus

Good article here about how the immune system works and how to boost it. Basically, eat your greens and do some exercise 🥬🏃‍♀️

Morning all. Great reassuring article here from an expert. Aka not someone who's reading the Daily Mail and reposting all the worse case scenarios.

Have a good day x

healthykidshappykids.com/2020/02/27/coronavirus-covid-19/

It's a beautiful sunny morning. I'm going to go out for a walk and breathe in the fresh air. Spring is hopefully around the corner and everything is coming alive again.

One thing I've discovered is how much I enjoy silence. I normally have the radio on all the time but turned it off because of the relentless Coronavirus talk. It's been very peaceful.

Thanks for this thread - I stupidly looked at some others this morning and it's a good feeling to see the realistic optimism here.

Thanks for today's links.

I also saw something that a doctor said - lock up 700 pensioners, many of whom had health conditions in a ship for 2 weeks and they would have expected 2 or 3 to die of natural causes during that time anyway

This is very true. And that is why large ships have a morgue on board.

We held my daughters 6th birthday party at the weekend. The dad of one of her friends works in R&D for one of the major pharmaceutical companies and he was being mobbed by the other parents for information.

Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man give such a massive eye roll as he explained, for what was probably the millionth time that week for him, that they really were not that concerned and that regular seasonal flu was still far more of a threat. That reassured me.

@CaveMum that's very interesting. My friend works in pharmaceutical research and she says similar - that the worry is that vulnerable and elderly people will be at risk as they are not protected by a vaccine in the way they are for flu and that is why it's so important to contain the spread. She can't believe the way the majority of people seem to be reacting.

I have heard some elderly people go on constant cruises instead of paying for care at home!

Just had an email from a London friend.

The offical cockney rhyming slang for corona is Miley Cyrus