Can someone help me understand why this is such a big deal? Because at the moment I really don’t.

[WellErrr]

Why is the world closing down?
Why is this worse than flu (which thousands of people have, and thousands die from each winter)?
Why the massive response?

I just do not get it at all. The only thing bringing the country to a halt seems to be the fact that everything’s shut and/or banned. Not the virus!?

I just cannot get worked up about it and I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe where everybody else knows something I don’t!?

The death rate is much higher than swine flu.

The infection rate is much higher than SARS.

Ebola requires closer contact to the ill person. This virus is passed via airborn particles or from surface transmission as it lives many hours on surfaces.

Bird flu and swine flu did cause a fuss. In the end bird flu didn’t spread as far and swine flu had lower death rates than anticipated.

A death rate of 3.4% could kill 2.21 million people in the UK alone.

Why are we not letting the healthy go live their lives

They don't know yet whether getting it once makes you immune.
They also don't know if it causes lasting damage. Reports from China are saying some patients have 30% reduced lung capacity after "recovering".

Same, all seems completely insane but I’m doing what I’ve been asked to do because someone probably knows better than me.
I don’t know why we don’t give as much of a shit about all the people killing thousands on the roads each year for example but it is what it is and I’ll generally stay away from people until it’s done.
What is really irritating is people not following the advice.

FFS OP. You’ve literally just thanked the one person who happened to agree with you and ignored the posts with facts.

Media was heavily censored during the 1918 flu due to the war.

If the current mortality rate is about 2% for sake of argument, then when everyone gets it (near enough everyone will get it) and intensive care cannot cope and there are no spare ventilators or respirators, then the mortality rate may go up to 10% say.
1 in every ten people dead. That's Armageddon.

@LaurieFairyCake not just respirators, but beds, and more critically, the staffed trained to use them

Then all the nhs trainee staff will catch it with viral overload and potentially die too. :(

*trained

Ok little wide eyed innocent. It goes like this:

A new human transmitted virus is loose in the world. It is not flu but many of the symptoms are similar.

It is a coronavirus which causes a disease called covid-19.

Because it is new, none of us have any immunity to it. Because it is new, there is no vaccine. Because it is new, there is no pill you can take to treat it..

Because of these 3 things the virus is spreading very fast and death rate from catching it is far, far higher than that of any known flu.

10% of people who catch the virus get very seriously ill. Some of these will need hospital treatment including breathing support.

The world is shutting down because we want to slow the spread of the virus, to keep the numbers of people needing hospital treatment low so that they can actually get the treatment they need.

Is that simple enough for you?

It's the principal of exponential growth.

It's estimated that each person who has the virus passes it on to two other people.

So the first person gives it two people, they each give it two people so now four more people have it, they each give it to two people, so now eight more people have it...

The maths says that after twenty 'steps' over one million people have it. Each step is taking about half a week, so it only takes ten weeks to get to that point and we are already several weeks in. The death rate is estimated at 1% so that would mean 10,000 people will die. Likely more than that as the NHS will be overwhelmed at by then.

After 25 steps more than 30 million people have it (50% of the population of the UK). At least 300,000 deaths. If we take no action now we will have reached that point some time in May.

The virus is new and there is no vaccine or cure

Not only ^ this, but the reality is (no matter how many times people say it on the internet or Donald Trump keeps repeating himself as if saying more times makes it true), it WILL.take.longer than 1 year for the vaccine to be developed, tested even fast-trac Ph I, II, III and IV clinical trials and released globally.

If you heard Sir Patrick Valance yesterday, he said years ago R&D scientists would talk in terms of 20 years to produce a validated Vx so the fact we are now talking in terms of single digit years is a miracle in itself!

The OP is the reason why we NEED a lockdown

My mind is well and truly fucking boggled.

Does anyone of sound mind truly believe that ANY government in the world would introduce such extreme economy- and society-damaging measures to try to control this if it wasn't absolutely disastrous for large numbers of the population to become infected?

It beggars belief that anyone would struggle to understand how serious this is.

@WellErrr please have a look at this too, thank you

@WellErrr, I'm not having a pop. I really would like to know where you got this idea of a lower prevalence rate and lower mortality rate?

Shutting places down etc... Is to slow down the spread of the virus. Rates and deaths are going up and up. No cure. Lots of at risk groups. Only so many resources , doctors etc.. To treat everyone. Look at china , italy, Spain ......... It's more infectious than flu , you are more ill than having flu. Lots of people have.trouble breathing. Symptoms include breathing feeling like fire. It's scary.

It’s unknown what the mortality rate will be since as a new viral infection we will only know when a much larger number of the population have had it and recovered or died.
It will infect pretty much everyone unless they have retired to their nuclear bunker for the next two years.
The problem is we don’t want everyone to get it at the same time. They only have enough ventilators for probably 1 in a 1000 initially. Critically ill young (30-70) patients will need them to have a chance of survival.
Having read our local NHS emergency bulletin it’s is happening.

Yes, ordinary flu infects a lot of people every year. But not millions. And not all at the same time. Which is what is going to happen with this one.

hth

I wish it would end. My partner is already getting abusive

• it has a higher death rate than the flu
• there are no vaccinations against it
• it may mutate
• we don't know how deadly it will be here
• we need to slow the transmission rate down

I’m sick of people saying the flu kills more people. Yeah the figures aren’t comparable!

You would understand if you worked in the NHS come and visit sometime and we already know that this is one hell of a lot worse than is being let on to the public.

Tories (the architects of austerity) are throwing money at trying to solve this. That should be alerting you that this is really bad and going to get way worse.

The number of people dead is tiny compared to say HIV but because this is a new virus with no vaccine, it's like the world before the polio vaccine. Survivors will tell you what a horrible illness it is and how the after effects are felt for life.

Go back under your bridge, OP. But while you are there maybe thank and respond to the posters who have given you the answers to why it's a big deal and not just the one who agreed with you?

Did you even get a secondary school education? Because I can't believe an educated adult would even ask that question.

@WellErrr we only have limited resources and supplies in hospitals. Once those spaces and supplies are used then people cannot receive adequate care and the death rate will be far higher. This impacts low risk groups too as if you were in a car accident etc you may also not receive adequate care.

Well, that is a massive overreaction