Is this whole thing being exaggerated?

[agentstarling]

Coronavirus seems to only affect mostly older people with already compromised immune systems. So far we have had only 11 deaths some being 80 even a ninety-year-old. The press is whipping people up into a hysteria in my view I have a degree in biology I am not a doctor but I would say that some of this is ridiculous.

The life expectancy in this country is 80 if people die of coronavirus they are effecticely still dying of natural causes imo. The person who says their mother in law is 84 and she still hopes to have another ten years. Do you realise how absurd you sound?

By that Ridiculous and uneducated logic why give Cancer treatment to kids or try to save babies born with complications, or bother giving anyone antibiotics. Technically all death to anyone is ‘natural causes’.

quite apart from the figures for deaths, just consider the effect of what the govt calls a mild dose of CV.
that is pneumonia. it is any case that does not go to hosp.
and most will not, cannot go to hosp because there will be no space.
will the OP be willing to step up and care for any of her relatives who get ill and need to be nursed at home.
with all that means for bed-bound nursing.
that is what many of us will have to do.
there will not be anyone else to do it.
how will a bed-bound ill person alone be able to access water, food, be cleaned.

they will likely get dizzy and fall over if they try, if they are able, to get out of bed. fall, hit head, or lie unable to get up, reach to call anyone. and most dont have everything they need to hand in the same room.
but perhaps these people would statistically have been likely to die anyway within the next 5 years, being older/weaker, so why bother, even if they would have probably survived this illness with careful nursing. is your name malthus, OP ?

Not all lives are worth saving. My Ddad had Lewes Body parkinsons for which there is no treatment. It is a horrific condition and the sufferer can end up locked into a fit healthy body so death is not fast. My Ddad decide to starve himself to death by refusing to eat. It took over 2 weeks and was horrific to watch but we had promised not to intervene.
I watched my Dmum die in her 50s of cancer. There was no available treatment so no choice. I see this virus in the same way I see most of these killer diseases, for most it will be a breeze but for some medicine can’t help. Neither of my parents could have been helped. It’s all down to luck. I just hope me and mine are lucky.

well, historically in my family the maternal side have an avarage age of death in their late 90s - my grandmother was 97, her sister 98, her mother 102, HER grandmother 104. And thats stretching back to pre-penicillin times. My mother is 74 and currently very ill - been in bed for 3 weeks now breathless and coughing - my father has it too - he is 70 - he has isolated her and is wearing gloves when colelcting deliveries from the door. They were rejected by 111 because when it all started mainline Spain wasnt seen as a risk area, and now, as she has had it so long they again dont want to know. She managed to walk for 5 mins yesterday in the garden and had to go back to bed.
So actually I have good reason to think that she HAS got another 20 years in her.
We havent seen her for a month now, and the thought that things could turn and we might never see her again is really upsetting, even though its probable that she 'just' has the flu despite the vaccination.
But she has kept us away, mainly because of my daughter.

I think we are going to have to step up to the mark. Pre nhs most people were nursed at home because they couldn’t afford basic medical care. We are going to have to go back to basics and learn to nurse our own relatives a skill we appear to have completely lost.

home nursing is a skill that can be learned, where there is a will there is a way.
and its easier now with so much information online, one can look up read and watch something being done, with tips and explanations, even as we are attempting to do it.
we dont know what we are capable of until we try.
good luck everyone. let us all pull together.

So I sound “absurd” OP ? How rude and callous. My MIl is probably in the top ten per cent of her age group health-wise, she swims, goes to yoga, goes to the gym, travels, drives. She has no health issues whatsoever. Her own mother lived to nearly 100, and was very healthy until her last few months, no memory problems, nothing. So it isn’t “absurd “ to look at Mil and think that she has a good chance of another decade.
I have a friend who is also 84 and has only recently lost her mother, who was 108. This lovely, beautiful, clever, funny friend is still working. Some people just do better in the genetic lottery, and longevity runs in families. Both these women have a very good chance of getting into their nineties.
Older people ground us all and hold so much knowledge, history and culture. The thought of losing many of that generation within a few months is extremely bleak, it will be all our loss.
You sound totally heartless.

@Oddboots thank you.

@Alice02132354 I'm neutropenic so immunocompromised and work FT. I would lose my job if I said I'm isolating until this is all over
What I am doing is only going to work and home, nowhere else. And hospital as I have to go every 10 weeks

People on here are being ridiculous lmao also I didn't mean to say that it is absurd to suggest that maybe you hope someone lives to 94 but please accept most people die at around 80 and it is not really sad when someone that age passes away. George Alagaih has terminal cancer he must get fed up reporting on stupid foolish people fighting for toilet paper.

This is the number of deaths due to malaria everyone at this pity party can read them (mostly children)

www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria

OP there are plenty of stats out there that will tell you that in a worst case scenario there could well be more deaths in the UK alone from corona virus than the annual death toll from Malaria. And that is not for a moment suggesting that the situation regarding Malaria isn't tragic and of course should be addressed with more urgency.

We don't know yet and people are varying in their reactions according to how the envisage the situation will play out by extrapolating the data, knowledge of the current situation, their own risk status, and their degree of empathy with others at risk.

But I have absolutely zero respect for anyone that uses the term lmao and refers to people as foolish and stupid because of their fears in a global pandemic that could (and yes for the moment it is could) cause millions of deaths. And if you take even the 0.2 percent mortality rate for people aged between 10 to 40, on a global scale, that could be a very large number of young people dying.

And as for using the term pity party to refer to people who are terrified of losing their loved ones, I find that utterly disgusting.

I'm out.

There's little point in trying to reason with someone who ultimately belittles anyone they don't agree with.

Carole, there are loads of them taking pleasure in scattergunning their rubbish all over the threads. And yet the people posting scientific fact are the ones lying. You couldn't make it up.
If they're in the UK, they'll be eating their words in 10 days time.
For more reasoned Covid discussions, from intelligent posters who are following this carefully, the long running threads are helpful if a little info heavy.

No it’s not being blown out of proportion but we can only see what’s been happening around the world and take heed

I have to say I completely disagree with having to isolate anyone 70 or over as that’s just stupid. We have people in their 70’s that are probably fitter and healthier than many in their 50’s and 60’s

Coronavirus is like flu, you are only likely to die from it if you have other underlaying health issues, those that do should heed Government advice

I think it's really important that as many people as possible become immune whilst at the same time protecting the vulnerable. The vulnerable should probably be self isolating now but I think the rest of us need to carry on as normal. I'm really not sure how a lockdown would end as once you start , how do you know when to stop. The population will not be immune and the virus may still be out there. Personally, I think our government is reacting correctly.

I will put money on less people dying of Covid19 than die from the flu virus. The hysteria around this is really whats causing the problems.

Well I live in Holland and we have just been told it's a complete shutdown from tomorrow. Even the coffee shops will close, it's got to be pretty bad.

How long until the next one?

SARS came from bats in China. Coronavirus came from someone eating bats in China. Nothing will change with their practices surrounding the sale and consumption of animals so we’ll likely be in for another pandemic in a few years time.

I am sure the world's health experts and WHO will agree with you that it is just hysteria.

Talk to us in 2 weeks.

Well if the OP with a degree in biology says it’s rubbish il tell DH with respiratory problems he’ll be ok then, even though I have a masters degree in epidemiology and am currently scared shitless for him. But yer of course it’s all ridiculous

Zombie fan ... you could try telling poor Italy and China that ... everybody would love
It to be the case that it’s not serious as we have found out ... but only people who
are living in cloud cuckoo land will think this ....

@MashedPotatoBrainz has put it perfectly. Is your nan expendable? How about your friend with the kidney transplant? How about the kid in your middle son's class having chemo?

I will put money on less people dying of Covid19 than die from the flu virus. The hysteria around this is really whats causing the problems.

What problems? It is Covid-19 that is causing hospitals to overflow with patients in Italy, and leaving treatable conditions untreated and medical staff utterly exhausted because of the massive extra demand.

What some people on this thread don't seem to be able to grasp is that infections from Covid-19 are incremental to all the other things that lead to hospitalisation. People are still getting sick and having accidents in the usual way. Moreover, the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing exponentially. And our hospitals in UK are running at full stretch as it is.

See, for example, this account by an Italian nurse. Italy, by the way, has one of the best health systems in Europe, way ahead of the NHS.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/italian-doctor-an-experience-i-would-compare-to-a-world-war
(And incidentally, China - which someone was dissing earlier - also has a high quality health system.)

All the pubs in Ireland including in hotels have been told to close tonight at 12 midnight. This is very serious guys.

in general the world has a pandemic every 100 years roughly - we are over due, the last serious one being the 1918 flu.

That said we had the same hype over bird flu and a few others and that didn't amount to much.

This could go horribly wrong or it could blow over. The way the government are handling it is ridiculous.