worried about coronavirus (covid19) part 15

[usernameishistory]

Helpful links

WHO media speech for world plan of action

updated data on this page every day at 2pm until further notice.
www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public#number-of-cases

It's not just like flu www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/yes-it-is-worse-than-the-flu-busting-the-coronavirus-myths

Why WHO not declaring a pandemic www.newscientist.com/article/2235342-covid-19-why-wont-the-who-officially-declare-a-coronavirus-pandemic/

Worldometer www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

BNO News bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus-cases/

Link to WHO report www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

The Lancet coronavirus hub - latest research and comment www.thelancet.com/coronavirus

JAMA coronavirus research centre jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/pages/coronavirus-alert

German measures would not necessarily work here. In the whole, the German people are a lot more culturally compliant with official rules and regulations than the British and you /will/ get pulled up by strangers for not following the rules. They are not good systems to compare.

@Oakmaiden I totally agree with everything you have written. And that is the same message we’re hearing from the scientists. any actions taken have to be carefully timed so they are most effective at slowing the spread.

@Langbannedforsafeguardingkids

I have long been an advocate of home birth and would think that it is highly likely that if we get to a situation where healthy people are told to avoid hospitals then more women will be advised to give birth at home.

Not the premature/pre-eclampsia/multiple pregnancies obviously.

I also think that the rate of inductions will plummet.

@QueenofmyPrinces it’s the fact a good percentage of the global population may get a new virus at the same time with no immunity. It’s very different to the flu in that respect.

What are you guys using for cleaning your phones? I'm thinking mine must be a perfect breeding ground as I wash my hands but not my phone!

I use a Dettol wipe for my phone

Oh please, flu is endemic and kills around 0.1%, it's had the whole winter season to build up its hosts in the southern hemisphere before it repays us the favour in the northern hemisphere. The large number of deaths caused by flu are due to its established nature. This little covid-19 bastard hasn't really got going yet, its trying to extend its reach. If it is as successful as the flu it will dwarf the number of people it kills.

@QueenofmyPrinces everyone will look at things different. I read something earlier that made me feel better.

Any article with the following words: may,could,possibly,worst case scenario, or might is guess work as nobody actually knows what is going to happen here.

As I said before, the death rate for the flu is not really comparable because all the people likely to die from it are vaccinated. The deaths are in the unvaccinated. So the covid deaths will be the elderly who are normally flu protected AND the usual deaths combined.

This little covid-19 bastard hasn't really got going yet, its trying to extend its reach. If it is as successful as the flu it will dwarf the number of people it kills

Remember though that a virus needs its host. If it kills its host, it dies too. The cleverer viruses just make you ill, they don't kill. So lets hope it's a clever one.

What are you guys using for cleaning your phones? I'm thinking mine must be a perfect breeding ground as I wash my hands but not my phone

I was thinking this yesterday.

I had another horrible thought yesterday with everyone rushing out to buy anti-bac stuff even though this is a virus. If everyone is overusing anti-bac stuff does that raise the spectre of there being a widespread antibiotic-resistant bacterium? It could be a lot worse than this. We forget that there is a very real risk of us losing the ability to kill bacteria - climate change is a huge threat to us but so is that.

i use a screen wipe on my phone

@pelicanPie I would get decent travel insurance and wait things out.

As my anxiety has been bubbling up through this week I have been thinking about those things i can do that are positive steps and it has made me feel better being on top of those things i can control. Over the last few weeks i have gradually built up enough food for a couple weeks.
I have a 12 yr old daughter who is reasonably able in the kitchen so I have concentrated on her being able to feed herself well should the need arise. It occurred to me it was pointless having lots of dried goods if she isn't sure what to do with it!
Things like basic pasta sauce, how to use the soup maker, how to make simple bread - that kind of thing. (Dont worry i havent bombarded her!!)
Also checked she knows how to use washing machine and tumble drier.
I figure if i get this I will be v poorly - (late 40's smoker with high blood pressure) Knowing she is informed & capable has dialled down my anxiety a lot. I just wanted to share this in case anyone thinks it maybe something they could do with their older children.

@FourTeaFallOut You are right to be cynical. The trouble is, without the source data we don't know anything. Plus the data may be incomplete, incorrect etc etc.
I think the death rate is high for CV. I think it is terrifying. I also think we will all get it at some point and we have to hope we will make it.

If we take hope away, the world collapses. The only way of preventing true chaos (be that complete civil unrest, the break down of all law and order and government, the break down of all the banks and financial institutions etc) is by telling people to keep calm as it will be ok.

If I thought there was a 99% chance of me and my family dying from this and that even if we survived there would be broadly only 1-10% of the population left, that would be a different alien and inhospitable world, and I would be thinking of alternative plans and doing some last minute crazy fun stuff.

It's grim and I'll steal any (false) nuggets of hope there are left at the moment.

@QueenofmyPrinces

In some respects, Cv29 will probably make the flu a much less dangerous disease, because it will kill most of the people flu kills. I would expect flu death rates to come right down over the next few years. From a natural selection point of view, cv19 could wipe out flu.

DH works for a "household name" tech company. Their US offices have now moved to have staff working from home for the foreseeable, and UK staff were asked to take laptops etc home with them on Friday in anticipation of the same happening here soon.

Oh please, flu is endemic and kills around 0.1%, it's had the whole winter season to build up its hosts in the southern hemisphere before it repays us the favour in the northern hemisphere. The large number of deaths caused by flu are due to its established nature. This little covid-19 bastard hasn't really got going yet, its trying to extend its reach. If it is as successful as the flu it will dwarf the number of people it kills.

But another key factor is that there's a flu vaccine available, so the elderly and vulnerable don't die of it for that reason. Eventually there will be a COVID-19 vaccine, and then we'll be able to make a proper comparison.

There's another thing, too. Flu can turn into pneumonia (mine did last year), but that's bacterial pneumonia. COVID-19 causes pneumonia in critical cases but because it's viral pneumonia, it can't be treated with antibiotics.

Sophie mine is waterproof - I wash it with soap when I do my hands

@EenyMeenyMinyNo I think that's great life lessons whatever. Seriously tho try and stop or cut down smoking. I'm trying to do everything to help me get through it and it's included some hard and drastic changes

TheMustress that all makes sense. It seems that maybe there is a way of using your expertise without placing you in a higher risk hospital environment then? I'd hope that the health bosses would think strategically about using retired midwives like this (even just as someone on call to help out younger colleagues in home environments if needed).

I would be rather terrified if I was pregnant now...

If you introduced both flu and Covid 19 to a population who had experienced neither before then one suspects they probably would be far more similar

But that isn’t true we have vaccines/treatments/immunity and that is what sets this apart

I have a 12 yr old daughter who is reasonably able in the kitchen

We were joking about this yesterday, as we have a nearly 4 year old and a baby...if we all caught corona virus DS1 could feed us all jam sandwiches!

With the schools thing, maybe they could extend the Easter break by 2 weeks whether it be a week each side or 2 weeks before/after. Then take those 2 weeks off the long summer holidays. Obviously if people have already booked holidays then they should be allowed to take them without a fine. Teachers are getting the extra two weeks off at Easter so it's not like they are being made to work more.

What are you guys using for cleaning your phones? I'm thinking mine must be a perfect breeding ground as I wash my hands but not my phone

Milton fluid on loo roll, which I then flush as soon as I get home. Also wipe down my Oyster and the contactless card I use during the day.

Remember that the flu numbers are annual. We have really only had Coronavirus in Europe since the end of January.
Plus we all have some natural immunity to the flu because the strain changes each year.
And: there’s a flu vaccine which is given to the most vulnerable.