To have not done anything about the c virus?

[bingbangbing]

Despite a member of my household being in an at risk group?

We always washed our hands anyway.

We haven't bought hand sanitiser. We haven't started stockpiling. We're still going to work etc

I think the current coverage is irresponsible. It's mainly causing people with underlying anxiety issues to panic.

What is the great hardship in wearing a mask and gloves if it saves lives?

It's not a bad thing, unless you're wearing them every day without symptoms or being in close contact with people with symptoms.

The thing is that there are only so many to go around, including to health services, and people stockpiling them and wearing them as they go about their every day lives, can mean that people who actually need them or should wear them, can't.
So, risking lives.

It is neither the end of the world nor is it 'just the flu'.

And you end up sounding like "it's nothing" to those panicking, and "it's the end of the world" for those who think it's nothing. At the same time!

This thread with all its 'bemusement' at other people taking any precautions is just the other end of the extreme panickers spectrum.

I suppose being boringly in the middle is just, well, boring.

@Porcupineinwaiting

I haven't been able to get my usual weekly delivery due to no available slots. So those saying they would just get a delivery might be in for a long wait.

Then amen to boring.

I have not been buying anything extra apart from a small handbag size sanitiser to use when out, if necessary (which so far I have forgotten to use, anyway). However, I am washing my hands when I return home from being out.
My adult DC are still commuting to work each day.
I have postponed booking a summer holiday (original intention was to go to Italy.., duh!). That does not mean we will stay at home, but will possibly wait a few months to see how things will pan out, and then see what and where is available. If my DH and I are well, then I still intend to have a summer holiday, but this may well be in the UK instead of somewhere abroad.

Popped out for normal (non panic not stockpiling) shop. Central London small supermarket. All shelves full. Nothing appears out of stock including items mentioned on this thread. All normal.
Have come back to reports that supermarkets have not been contacted re maintaining food supplies as per Matt Hancock’s assurance. He really is an absolute liability - now more than ever.

Well I am late forties and have lived through many a media whipped up 'crisis' but on this occasion think it is cause for concern and people should be preparing for the worst case scenario. The NHS will be overwhelmed at some point. The current plan is to try and delay the peak of the infections to try and mitigate against how severe this overwhelming will be. Normal life will be affected. It is only sensible to buy a little extra food, avoid unnecessary gatherings, follow handwashing etc... protocol etc.... Like the WHO DG said last night "This is not a drill".

The OP didn't actually state they are doing nothing.

If they already wash hands regularly and actively avoid catching colds and the flu, then they are already doing enough.

There is no point in stockpiling beyond having food and supplies for a couple of weeks. We should all have some paracetamol and ibuprofen at home already.

Having said that, it's not quite true that there is one new strain of flu every year and that vaccines cover it.

And, yes, we should be extra careful around suspected cases. In particular if you have susceptible people at home.

Lweji sorry, should have made clear my comment was directed at those on this thread with a laissez faire attitude, not specifically the OP.

I just don't understand how people cannot be at least a little concerned enough to do some basic research about this virus. Even the WHO are concerned that certain countries are not taking this seriously enough and doing all they can to try and contain it. The death rate is higher than flu.

BEST case scenario is 15 million dead globally. Are people really so dumb they just want to pretend this isn't happening? Maybe they are scared, they should be

@Lweji

Totally agree with your post.

But a couple of weeks food is more than I usually buy so for me it is ' stock piling'. So I have changed my behaviour with regard to that.

OP thinking it's 'weird' to go out and buy paracetamol ( actually they said 'despicable' later ) is just

Its so tediously " I understand this better than the herd" that is just as inflammatory as the super panickers.

And for the record OP got it wrong about the hand sanitizers.

And

If the Covid19 virus does hit this country badly ( and of course it's an IF )

do posters seriously think grocery deliveries will just stay the same?

All it takes is a Bank Holiday and you can't get a slot round here! ( never mind a pandemic flu) 😂

Why should I be scared? How is that going to help the situation at all? Maybe I will be dead from this in three months time, maybe not. Me being scared and worried about it now is not going to make difference. I'd rather just get on with my life as normal. Normal for me is using soap and water and having a generally good level of hygiene. I thought pretty much everyone did the same (although from the media coverage, I am now starting to wonder about that...).

Do you have teenage boys? @sonjadog

yes pointless to be scared .

If I somehow happened to get corona virus I would just get the stuff I needed delivered.

Good luck with that if everyone else decides to get deliveries at the same time for broadly similar reasons and the delivery person is off sick with it.

The thing with extant infections is that the population generally has some immunity to it. If there's a new variant of flu around, having had a previous variant will confer some immunity. It's why having cowpox helped against smallpox - it's not identical but it is similar enough that your immune system can cope (apologies to any immunologists, I know that's grossly over-simplified).

COVID-19 isn't like a new strain of flu. It has the potential to be more like the effect of measles on the population of America when the Europeans arrived. Something that's a nuisance to a population that's seen it before is deadly in new populations. And for humans this strain of the corona virus is just that - too new for us to be used to it. So it will likely spread more quickly and be more deadly when it does.

So it makes sense to have enough in your stock cupboards to see out a couple of weeks without needing to go shopping again. I have this anyway, as a few days snow where I am can see the supply chains disrupted for weeks. Don't buy all the loo roll. Do pick up an extra packet. Unless everyone else already has and there's none left

I have little doubt that should I catch Corona I may be hospitalised as a precaution which is what will happen in many cases. If you have breathing difficulties already then there’s a good chance you will need to go to hospital to make sure that those aren’t made worse by the virus, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to people “needing” hospitalisation because of the virus.

If you catch it at the same time as lots of people you will absolutely not be hospitalised as a precaution, or possibly even if you need it a moderate amount, because there won't be enough beds for you. This is the problem and this is why changing our normal behaviour is important.

All of the patients in the UK with it are not in hospital. the milder cases are at home, in quarantine, there are simply not enough hospital beds and we are at the beginning of the epidemic

The profiteering needs to be clamped down on - £299 for a big bottle of Purell hand sanitiser on eBay.

Most of the UK cases so far have been caused by the "carry on as normal, its just the flu" types going on holiday and bringing the disease back with them

What a stupid comment, yeah, all those carry on as normal people who went to countries with no cases as the time they went or came back. By your ridiculous logic no one would go anywhere in case new diseases started while they were there, are you going to stay in your house for the rest of your life?

I agree. I bought face masks in January, as a precaution as I could see how this was going to go, I bought them for £3.99 per 100 pack. They then went to £150 and are now out of stock.

From the WHO site the latest thinking is that COVID isn't as infectious as Flu, BUT its consequences are more serious on the outcome espically for older people and those with b co-morbidites.

That said most all people will have had a version of the flu at some stage so they will have some risistance to it wheres the COVID hasnt been around before so no ones got any inhertant risistance.

So it could go on ofr some where untill a lot of people have had it and some overall risistance is built up.

I see that around a 100, thousand are now infected but in china 80 thousand are listed as infected with 45 thousand recovered!

Seems that the infection rate as dropped to a very low rate and the recovered is steadily rising

If I somehow happened to get corona virus I would just get the stuff I needed delivered

Yeah, good luck with that if things get worse. This is my line of work and you can GTF if you think I, and my colleagues, won’t be self isolating.

KisforKoala I'm not concerned about the virus, it's a cold!

Are people really this poorly informed? A cold is not flu (of any type, including Coronavirus) and vice versa.

bingbang That's actually despicable when there are people who genuinely need it to function.
Yes, it's definitely 'despicable' to keep some paracetamol in the house in case you get coronavirus, period pain, headache, joint pain, etc Is it also 'despicable' to keep a box of aspirin or ibuprofen in your medicine cupboard for the same reason?
What is wrong with people?

If I somehow happened to get corona virus I would just get the stuff I needed delivered

Delivery slots are already getting hard to book. Even if you get a slot, they can only deliver what they have in store - if they've run out of loo roll, they're not going to deliver any to you are they? Of course, that's if they've enough shop pickers and delivery drivers working and not off due to the virus/self isolation etc.