To think this coronavirus hysteria is completely OTT

[tacosplease]

I’ve just read that the NHS has declared the coronavirus “situation” a level 4 incident - the highest level of emergency.

There are only 51 known cases in Britain out of a population of 66 MILLION. None of these people have died. In the extremely unlikely event that you do catch it, the chance of death is just 2%.

So, I simply don’t understand why people are getting so hysterical about this. Far more people catch the common flu every year and no one starts panicking over that. Every time you use your car you have a 1/20,000 chance of dying yet people still drive and don’t think twice.

AIBU?

I think the panic buying is OTT . I agree that precautions are sensible though if it’s something that is more infectious than flu you don’t want cases getting so high that all our vulnerable people are at risk. Had an argument with DH who was outraged i gave my son some wipes for school . I tried to explain it’s just a sensible precaution but he started banging on about healthy exposure to germs !!!

There are about 200 kids in my child’s school. 2% dying means FOUR of those children would die. Now I know that children aren’t as vulnerable as older adults but I also know there are at least ten kids at the school with significant long term health conditions that would leave them extremely vulnerable.
Think about it. FOUR KIDS dying in one school. Do you STILL think it’s being blown out of proportion?

Surely the 2% refers to those infected, not 2% of the population.

@MadameGazelle, you're talking about possibilities as if they're a 100% probability. It's ridiculous.

And no children who contracted CV have died from it.

And 2%is nowhere near accurate. The real death rate is almost certainly much lower. Many unreported, mild cases are not included in that figure.

On bbc news (it may/may not be right ) they said the most likely death rate was 1% but as some cases were likely to be mild/not confirmed than the actual figure might be less than 1%.

Well that's because there's a vaccine for 'common flu', which those of us with underlying health issues have every October. There's no vaccine for Covid-19

Its not as neat and tidy as that. The CONVID-19 is more virulent than more common flu strains. Its putting otherwise healthy people into hospital at a much greater rate than other flu variants.

@MadameGazelleIsMyHomegirl
To give you a real example, unlike your school scenario,
Population of Jiangsu 70 million
Your 2% suggests there would be 1.4 million deaths.
Actual - approx 600 cases and no deaths.

What bothers me is the people feeding and enjoying the hysteria. Yes it's contagious and can make people very ill all we can do is keep hand washing and hope for the best.

It's surely the case that it's 2% of those infected with Covid-19, not of the whole population. And, as has been said already, we won't know the total number infected, as people with mild cold type symptoms probably won't seek medical advice.

Check youtube for some videos to help you understand.

I’m not sure whether it was intentional or not, but your post does come across as rather patronising!

There are about 200 kids in my child’s school. 2% dying means FOUR of those children would die.

But your example is assuming that every single child in the school will contract coronavirus. Even the most gloomy forecasts aren’t predicting that!

Thank you @ShanghaiDiva for putting things in perspective.

RSV brings children's wards and hospitals to their knees every year. This year was particularly bad. Hundreds of otherwise healthy babies end up in PICU. Elective work cancelled. No none makes a fuss about that. I'm sick of hearing about Carona virus.

Hmm it only takes one hospital admission to take up an ITU bed and have all the staff they’ve been in contact with sent home for two weeks.

Imagine that multiplied.

That’s happening.

Getting overly wound up about a virus that has claimed zero lives in the UK (and only infected 51 people in total) helps no one.

This is completely untrue. More than 51 people are infected in the UK right now. Testing is around 5 - 7 days behind. Only 51 have been confirmed.

You do seem reluctant OP to take on board anything being said. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but you’re not an expert.

And most people aren’t in hysteria about this - just being suitable and appropriately concerned and cautious.

The other thing that gets me is that we are not being told anything about what’s happening to the 51 people in the uk currently infected.
Are they at home? Are they in hospital? Are they in intensive care?
When swine flu happened, there were people ringing radio chat shows and being interviewed on tv whilst they were recovering. I recall one woman standing on her doorstep talking to a reporter standing on her drive. Why have we not seen or heard from anyone suffering from corona? If they were all mildly ill and at home, wouldn’t they be talking to the media?

It is concerning but I find people like my dp draining. It is all he has talked about for about 5 weeks and it's stressing me out. I don't need to hear negative stuff 24/7 when I have a young baby.

And most people aren’t in hysteria about this - just being suitable and appropriately concerned and cautious.

I don’t think people quoting the worst case scenario figures as though they’re inevitable is being “appropriately concerned” though. It only helps to scaremonger and spread fear, and what’s the point in that?

@MadameGazelleIsMyHomegirl maybe because they aren't better yet and inviting tv crews will spread it.

They stopped trying to contain swine flu after it became a pandemic.

In my area, they're also only testing those who have come back from an infected area overseas or who have had direct contact with someone who has tested positive. There are therefore probably a lot of people who have Covid-19, but who haven't been tested because they don't fit that narrow criteria.

Let's also not forget that what we're hearing right now is two weeks out of date becuSe incubation is at least 2 weeks ... it could be loads more than we realise now

Also how many ventilators do we have in the U.K. ... and how does that compare with how many we need for victims of this if it comes in peaks, as well as those people needing ventilators for other issues unrelated

It's a problem and a big issue
They will absolutely have triage ... let's hope we aren't the ones who aren't deemed as less needy of life 😳

IT IS NOT THE FLU!!!!!!!!!!

If you are so arrogant to think this will simply pass you by then good luck to you and your families.

After all, this is a virus that is very contagious but where carriers have no symptoms or haven't experienced any as yet.

Not everyone would want to talk to the media. I read that the woman in NI who has it is at home, not sure if they’re monitoring people at home to make sure they don’t go out while still infectious. I had thought they were all being kept in hospital even if mild but it seems not.

Experts are worried therefore I’m worried. Hopefully it won’t turn out to be as bad as is feared but it isn’t just media frenzy. Even Boris admits there is very likely to be a major outbreak over the next few months.

OP - do you have expertise in medicine/science/epidemiology etc?