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 we can see from China what can happen. I would add that the measures put in place to control spread of the virus are almost as challenging as getting the virus.

FFS . The op said that the NHS declaring a level 4 emergency was hysteria and panicking . It most definitely is not. It is. proper response to a real threat

Individuals running around panicking is a different issue entirely and I accept that is is pointless. Prepare as best you can, follow any guidelines and get in with your life.

Do NOT however go around telling everyone that the NHS and governments are overreacting and hysterical because it makes you feel better .

Far better to say, it is worrying but we are doing what we can to.control things and hopefully that will.work.

How likely is this worst case scenario of 80% infected? The virus is said to have peaked in China with less 0.01% infected (80,000 in pop of 1.3 billion). Even accounting for lots of undiagnosed cases and a couple of months of trailing off this is signifantly lower than what is projected in the UK. Is it becuase the UK govt are not imposing isolation to the extent of the chinese? Can anyone explain?

I see no hysteria, just awareness that the situation is serious and we all need to do what we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones. I am worried about the knock on effects of a large part of the population being ill and needing to self isolate - things could get nasty if we don't have enough staff to keep the NHS functioning, or if there are not enough people to maintain power stations and sewage treatment plants. Our modern society could suddenly become quite basic, if the power grid goes down, or the shops have no supplies due to shortage of delivery drivers. So, no hysteria, but a fear that things could turn nasty, which is why I've stocked up with extra food just in case things get rough and we need to hunker down till the worst is over.

@Wehttam
I don’t think there is anything to suggest they are not reasonably accurate. I am sure the number of people who had the virus is higher as many may have had mild symptoms in January and did not even know they had the virus.
From my personal knowledge nobody I know in my city (and many people stayed) has had the virus, nobody at my husband’s company, nobody in our compound - not scientific data, but suggests numbers are reasonably sound.

I havent read through the 8 pages of posts, apologies for that.
Here in Ireland there seems to be 2 reactions from people ...

1. pure hysteria, as in, we're all gonna die ...or
2. pure complacency, as in, its only another flu . I think the people on the 2nd category are more dangerous as they don't seem to consider anyone but themselves.
   They are obviously well enough and don't have any chronic conditions or have a loved one with a chronic condition. They reckon 2% death rate is low, because they are more than likely in the 98% who would survive if they got it. However, we need to be cautious, (not hysterical ) and follow guidelines and protocols are being given to us, to protect our most vulnerable people. Complacency wont help but neither will hysterics .

But presumably we aren’t going to do nothing...

Of course not but I.was replying to the op's incredulity that the NHS had declared a level.4 emergency.

I am in no way saying the worst case scenario is inevitable I was just pointing out to another ostrich head in the sand person that there is a realistic worst case.scenario which warrants the declaration.of an emergency

Burying your had in the sand and saying it will.all be fine is a perfectly normal way for a human to behave in a situation where frankly they have very little control but when they start saying that governments and health organisations are panicking unnecessarily, just because they want to ignore the possible consequences then they need to be called out.on it

We need to take.this seriously. We can do that without panicking

However, we need to be cautious, (not hysterical ) and follow guidelines and protocols are being given to us, to protect our most vulnerable people.
Complacency wont help but neither will hysterics .

This is exactly what I was trying to say, but not as well

Mittens030869, I hear you about differences between bird flu and swine flu. However, as it were public health experts who modelled 65,000 deaths from swine flu in the worse case scenario, I presume they knew the difference between bird flu and swine flu and were modelling their figures on swine flu alone? Or have I misunderstood something?

As posters have said on here, just because swine flu ended up having much lower cases than forecast it has no bearing on predicting what will be the figures for CV.

I have read the absolute worse case scenario is 80% of the UK population being infected with CV - and the public spokesperson stressed this was highly unlikely - but have they said over what time period they would expect this to happen?

I haven't yet RTFT here but The Guardian said yesterday that the Coronavirus is 10 times more deadly than the flu.

Seasonal flu's mortality rate is 0.1% whereas the Coronavirus mortality rate is 1% - there's a big difference.

I remember the outbreak vividly, actually. As I recall, it wasn't always clear which variant of flu they were talking about back then. Bud flu (HN54, I think was the technical description) came first; they were going on about how deadly it would be if it mutated and passed from human to human. That number of deaths was touted as a possibility. Thankfully, that scenario never materialised.

Then we heard about a new strain of flu, namely swine flu, which was HN51. They said from the outset that it wasn't as deadly as the HN54 strain (bird flu). But it obviously passed from human to human so many more people were infected by it,

I'm not sure I've got those technical names right, but they did sound very similar.

Thanks Mittens for explaining further. Sorry you got the swine flu at the time of the outbreak.

On what basis do you think this is an subject on which you are more knowledgable than the public health authorities?

I just don't understand the supreme arrogance of thinking that you understand the current situation better than the NHS does, such that you can assert that they are being hysterical.

This again?

Big whoopdie do dah, you’re not worried. I’m pleased for you.

Have a cookie 🍪 I washed my hands.

your figure of 51 cases is pretty meaningless as the one thing everyone agrees on is that that number will rise

That is 51 confirmed cases

We already know there is a relatively high infection rate (or, how many other people one person can/will infect) and that the death rate is vastly higher than a typical seasonal flu bug (2.0 to 3.5% compared to 0.01 to 0.02%)

Are there any estimates for how many

mild cases there are now or likely to rise to (barely noticeable symptoms so no indication patient needs testing, yet same potential to be as contagious as someone highly symptomatic* )?

disbelievers who will take no precautions or responsibility (also same potential to be contagious* )?

• inability/incapacity to test or process/treat all those who are at risk of being contagious?

• characteristics and prevalence of so called super-spreaders?

• reinfection rates (succumb, fully recovered with negative retest results who become reinfected)?

long incubation period (evidence demonstrating up to 23 days - 3 weeks unwittingly spreading the disease* prior to symptoms)

lengthy non-host incubation period (up to 13 days on inanimate objects, such as door handles, bus/metro/tram/train bells or door/lifts open/close buttons*)

That's without even thinking about humans having no immunity due to being a novel virus

I'm not worried though, yet 😂 🎼🎵🎶🎶🎵

I actually meant to say - yes, there is unnecessary hysteria, mainly fuelled by the Daily Mail media

I find these you’re all hysterical / stupid posts more annoying than anything else on here

There’s plenty of unnecessary hysteria (I know somebody who has installed a bleach footbath outside her home, is bleaching groceries and credit cards multiple times a day, and is stripping and wiping her toddler down with dettol wipes each time they return home, all of which is completely mental because she’s in rural Canada, and there have been no cases in her province or anywhere remotely near her).

But part of the reason the NHS has declared a major emergency is to deal with the knock-on effects of that sort of hysteria (delays to real cases being assessed, staff staying home, dealing with quarantine etc). So even if you think the media coverage is all overblown, surely you can see that declaring a major incident isn’t?

I actually meant to say - yes, there is unnecessary hysteria, mainly fuelled by the (Daily Mail) media.

Ridiculous. The Daily Mail isn't actually a paper that the majority of Mumsnet posters take any notice of.

There have in addition been a lot of deaths from Covid-19, and lots of patients in serious/critical condition

Some people get so worked up and angry on here. Thank goodness for the rational posters like @ShanghaiDiva, who most people seem to ignore presumably because it doesn’t fit their agenda of terror and panic and that a million people will die. I’m sure these types had exactly the same response to bird flu and swine flu as well - I remember the hysteria in the media over those, too.

I wonder how some of you get through life, I really do!

Posted to soon. I was going to say that it's in very poor taste to mock in view of the human tragedy already involved in this coronavirus pandemic. As has also been pointed out by plenty posters on here, the NHS is already at breaking point, so this virus will have a knock-on effect on other patients needing emergency hospital treatment.

OP why did you start this thread?

You can’t seem to tolerate others having a different view or opinion to you. Perhaps Mumsnet isn’t the place for you. Or perhaps don’t start a bloody thread about it.

Yabvu op. People are right to be concerned and yes frontline is already stretched.

Preparation isn't the same thing as panicking. The Nhs need to prepare they are already stretched to breaking point as it is.
The media however have been very irresponsible in whipping up panic as per fucking usual.
They have spent two weeks blasting us with constant scaremongering about CV and then last night on the bbc news they had the audacity to basically say 'get it in perspective' and that ' TB kills 40,000 a day worldwide' yes the sensible among us have always had in perspective thanks. Makes me so fucking angry.