Coronovirus message from Italy

[gardenflowergirl]

Saw this message from an Italian on Facebook, saying it's going to be worse than we've been told:

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD

Hello everybody, long post.
It's again about Corona virus. As you might know the situation here in Italy is tragic. With the wrong decisions that have been taken not to stop the economy, we are now at the point in which in the next 2 weeks we can expect to have the doctors to cure those who have a longer expectation of life and not to cure the others. Many many people are sick and many people need breathing support. True that italy has dismantled the best health system in the world (and we are now rushing to buy breathing machines) and we pay he consequences of this but it is also true that his virus is a true calamity, something that we have never seen before. So the message is to warn you. If you have cases in your country and they are telling you it is just a flue, it is wrong. It is just a flue for some but we have also 30 years old or less in intensive care, not to talk about old people or 50/60 years old people. The virus is highly contagious, I need to remark this.... and it spreads also before symptoms appear. From what I see there are cases in Europe, in the US etc. They will probably tell you the situation is serious when it will be serious so please start to take precautions now. It doesn't matter if you feel that you appear over worried, believe me. Some weeks ago we had an important basketball event, February 13th/16th with many people coming from the north. Now, March 10th, we have about 20 people in intensive care (100.000 people city) and in Niguarda hospital in Milan (much bigger) they have 30. Regular hospitals activities are no longer possible, if we don't stop the virus we might die also for a very stupid reason because the regular hospital activities are blocked. Even this past weekend people where at the beach and this happened for 3 reasons: italians tend not to respect the rules, young people think they don't get sick but they don't understand they'll make their parents sick and finally you don't see this enemy until doctors start to literally beg you to stay home because they have been working non stop for days and nights and they know they won't be able to assist everybody...or you start to hear that someone that you know is sick, two of my friends have sick parents for example. Personally I am doing all I can including using all the means I have not to go to work but many firms still haven't understood that they must stop. Please pray for this nightmare to end, it is the greatest struggle we have faced since world war. Schools are closed and we are trying to stay connected and work from home. Supermarkets now force you to keep distances and use masks...I mean, it's an apocalipctical scenario hard to believe and to explain. Do all you can to ask your governments to act immediately and strongly, no economy is worth a massacre like this. The world needs to review priorities. Again please say a prayer for us, we don't deserve to end like this. Take care ❤

[emsy86]

@Dusty01 This is what the media do they pick the story and big it up to get people to watch. If you think it being on there constantly has anything to do with anything other then ratings that’s just silly. Only 4 weeks ago even during this virus crisis there main story was Caroline flack and they spoke about suicide etc constantly while barely mentioning the virus.

Bottom line is if it was as bad as they say they would be letting news cameras in to help warn the world. They would have marital law in place and they would have curfews in place!

[Purplewhitelie]

We have some of the busiest airports in the world and with one of the busiest underground’s with over crowding. And a underfunded health service.

I mean looking at the virus trends what could possibly go wrong?

[OnceUponACat]

@ElderAve “ Things are clearly bad in Italy but I'm not convinced they're "that" bad.“

If you know better than people who are living it...

People are not panicking in Italy but the whole Country is housebound. I get it that it is hard to understand but trying would be a step forward.

[Sparklingbrook]

I was thinking more about RL @bellinisurge. I would be wary of using MN as my source of information and advice about Coronavirus.

[ElderAve]

OnceUponACat you've used half a quote. I explained why I have that view.

[DominicCummingsForehead]

The belief many people have, despite all the evidence from epidemiologists/scientists (a wealth of information only a click on a mouse away) , as well as first hand accounts from Italian doctors, that nothing bad will ever happen to them/in Britain is fucking shocking.

[TheMagiciansMewTwo]

@melassa thank you for clarifying the situation in northern Italy. I have family there and made the same point on another thread to be told people were ignoring the lockdown, my relatives must be stupid, etc.

[ElderAve]

The while country housebound is not the same as the hospitals are at breaking point and people are being left to die.

[emsy86]

@ElderAve exactly over time many more people would die due to an economy crash than this virus would kill.. people might not like to hear it but the economy cannot and will not be shut down and for good reason too!

Some people suggest stopping all travel etc.. they don’t realise that Heathrow alone employs over 70,000 people plus the other 39 airports across the country.. lets just close it down and have hundreds of thousands of people not earning anything for the next few months... yea that’s a good idea!

[leomama81]

I've got messages like this from friends in Italy. Those raising eyebrows and doubting the veracity of it really need to open their eyes to the fact the unimaginable does sometimes happen. Doctors in Italy are saying this, the footage is all over the news. Comparisons to a standardly overwhelmed NHS are ridiculous. It is not happening here, yet, but Italy is indeed a cautionary tale. They don't put a whole country on lockdown for nothing.

[ChardonnaysPetDragon]

I don’t think that message is not true, or at least the situation behind it is true, even if that particular messages isn’t, but what good does it do?

It just whips up even more panic. Denial is not helpful in the situation we’re in, but surely there has to be a middle ground?

I’m scared, but I go to work, take precaution and am as careful as I can.

So while I’m terrified myself I don’t think mass panic is in any way productive and some threads on MN are even worse than the Daily Mail for it.

[bellinisurge]

There you go with some snarkiness @Sparklingbrook .
Well, in real life, guffawing at people with concerns is unhelpful.

[OnceUponACat]

@ElderAve about the army or international help? What kind of argent is that? Only then it becomes serious? Blocking everything is not enough? Jeez. Those would be the next step imo. China is sending oxygen masks and providing help as we speak. Maybe it is because they know it is not bollocks.

[ChardonnaysPetDragon]

Some posters, not on this thread I don’t think, but on similar are breathlessly predicting riots.

How is that helping?

Can we all take a step back please?

[bellinisurge]

Not seen it @ChardonnaysPetDragon . Seen lots of "you are all worrying over nothing, it's just flu".

[Sparklingbrook]

That’s not ‘snarkiness’ @bellinisurge that’s just sensible. You wouldn’t use a chat forum for info, there are better sources. That’s all I am saying. 🤷‍♀️

[littlecontis]

People in the UK just seem to want to learn the lesson the hard way. Not saying we should all panic but the relaxed attitude and approach will only lead us to what Italy is going through, especially when the NHS is massively underfunded.

[ChardonnaysPetDragon]

Well, I have seen both, the’*I m going to carry on with my hols in Northern Italy’ and the ‘I’m so worried I’m thinking of harming myself’ types and they are both equally unhelpful.

[bellinisurge]

Extremes . Not vast majority of posts. And the "it's just flu" is far more common.

[BarbedBloom]

My italian friend works in a hospital and has said similar privately. She said things are very bad

[TheMagiciansMewTwo]

Having been on a few of these threads. I don't think the posters looking to Italy are 'panicking'. I think they're questioning the government response and trying to work out what decisions to make for their families.
But then the threads get derailed by people rushing in, shouting 'you're all panicking!!' And every thread gets drawn into a debate about different sources and different views.
I don't understand why the people who are quite happy with the government's response feel the need to virtually shout at people who aren't.
But more and more it feels to me that they're the ones panicking and creating hysteria.

[Babyroobs]

Anyone who thinks it isn't going to happen here is clearly in denial. We are in big trouble, especially with the capacity of our NHS and lack of beds.

[OnceUponACat]

give up. There’s mansplaing and there’s elderavesplaing. Ignore the adv of people who are living it and listen instead to those who have formed an opinion from the coziness of their safe lives then.

Cassandra springs to mind.

Have knowledge and panicking are not the same thing. Imho I think that the british gov is not at this point undersetimating it and I am sure it is using knowledge from other countries to find the best way to go about it with the less painful measures. At least I am hoping. Although how the NHS will cope I have no idea. Or the economy as Aside from understanding the implications of business closed and lack of tourism and loss of jobs I do not know the ins and out of the deeper british economy.

I certainly do not know the answer to how to best tackle an epidemic but I would certainly not sneer or rubbish who know more than me about it through lived experience.

[OnceUponACat]

A week ago I wanted to go back to Northern italy for a weekend. This is how much I also thought it was an overeaction. They all did in Italy too. They are trying to tell you don’t be like them.

[Purplewhitelie]

Business mag last night quoted one in 5 patients are between 19 and 50 in Italy so not just the old, more but not all.