End of the World

[Jenasaurus]

Did anyone think when this virus first made the news and seeing the media reporting on China and then realising it was en route to the UK and everywhere else, that it may be the begining of the end.

I was talking to my DS today and he asked me if I thought those poor people who were terminally unwell had thoughts, this is it, the world is ending, it seemed so scary in the first few weeks.

I now feel more calm and positive about it but in those first few weeks I was quite scared. I think this was compounded by my DDs 21 year old friend sadly passing away from it and a couple of other good friends at work dying of it (I work for NHS so a lot caught it but only 2 sadly succumbed to it)

Just wondering if anyone else will admit to thinking in the beginning, "Is this how it all ends"

I was petrified from February. Glued to the news, watching documentaries on The Blitz.

After lockdown I didn't even leave the house to go out for a walk

I was ill in March/April with what I presume was tonsillitis and spent 14 days in self isolation, 7 away from my immediate family, shut in my room. It was miserable. The PM had Covid at the same time and it was scary to be ill with a high fever at the same time.

After that, I decided not to hide anymore. That as soon as I could go out, I would.

I've gone the other way now, am on holiday in the UK in a hotel because I refuse to live in fear.

Social media, MSM and the Govt have not helped - they have created panic and scaremongering. Boris Johnson's "you will all lose somebody you love" (or similar words) was fucking ghoulish.

End of the world??!! You are being melodramatic. Not even close. It is not the first pandemic in the history of our world. Vaccine is on the way and all will be back to normal soon. I am currently out of the country somewhere and I tell you there is NO sign of this ever happened in this western part of the world except you need a mask in shops. Human nature I'm afraid.

Once things began to seem more serious here, I wondered if it was the end of the world, or at least something that would change life beyond all recognition, bodies piling up etc. I wondered which of us in my immediate family (parents, siblings, no DC myself) would die.

I was strangely calm and strong about this. (Perhaps because of the difficulties I've faced in life.) What broke me was that just as the things that matter in life - love, family, friends - came sharply into focus, and I just wanted to spend whatever time we had left together, we were all separated. I live alone so this was particularly horrible.

I tell you there is NO sign of this ever happened in this western part of the world except you need a mask in shops.

For some people masks seem to be the end of the world!

I was so calm at first but as the months go on I seem to get more anxious and down! I’m now on medication to help so I hope soon I’ll start feeling more calm!
I do think decent treatments will be discovered as well as a vaccine...HIV had 100% death rate at one point and now you can live a normal life with it

Oddly it more feels like the end of the world now I mean not literally the end of the world but the end of the world as we know it.

I think originally I saw it as a short term extreme action which would be “over” and we could return to normal now I realise normal is a long way off if ever with fundamental changes to life going in for a long time (and my life has changed a lot as result of this I socialised a lot, communited to work, had children with busy social lives). I am fearful for the future now as I realise the fundamental impact the whole thing will have on the society we live in in a way I didn’t feel at the height of the crisis.

@Discobar

A meteor is more likely the final end. If you were already diagnosed as terminly ill, hadn't the end already come?

we are well defended against that

Nope. It was annoying having the supermarkets stripped of everything by panic buying. Then WFH was a novelty and rather enjoyable. Would have liked to have seen my parents more this year and all the signs about social distancing in shops are quite tedious but that's all.

I've been irritated by the whole thing a lot, I'm resentful of how many restrictions there still are and a bit sad about how long it might go on for and how DC1 has missed a lot of the normal transition activity from nursery to school. Never scared though.

Yes, because of family circumstances, very scared back in Feb\March.

Much calmer now, though the realisation that we have to dig in, be very patient and live much, much smaller lives for the foreseeable is pretty depressing.

It all depends on immunity, either natural or through a vaccine. If there is no immunity, and we all catch it twice a year, with a 1% chance of death each time, that gives the human race approx 75 years left.

That is the worst case scenario, and yes, it plays on my mind, but I think its very unlikely.

I think some people were already immune, from exposure to similar viruses. And that it might not be possible to catch it twice within a short period of time. Maybe twice in 5 years, rather than twice in 1 year.

What is more likely is that either we get a working vaccine in place, or we adapt to masks and social distancing, and accept it may well shorten each of our lives by a decade or two, but be an extinction level event.

@SkinSkin

I expect they thought that with the bubonic plague and Spanish flu? But no, it didn't need then and it's not going to end now either.

That's a nonsense argument. It hasn't happened before so it won't happen now? In any case, it has happened before, entire human populations have been wiped out by viruses, and so have whole species.

I work in a biomedical field, so, no.
I'm also a biologist, so, for me, the end of the world would implicate the Sun exploding, or a planet destroying meteor hitting, or total planet sterilization.

In terms of our species being wiped out, I'll worry seriously when we're hit by airborne Ebola at least.

Lweji

“ ..... would implicate the Sun exploding, or a planet destroying meteor hitting, or total planet sterilization. grin

Gee, thanks for that mate 😂

No, of course not. The human race has survived Ebola and Bubonic plague with very little medical treatment.

The human race will struggle more with climate change and infertility.

or a planet destroying meteor hitting,

That wont happen. We are defended

@Mintjulia

No, of course not. The human race has survived Ebola and Bubonic plague with very little medical treatment.

The human race will struggle more with climate change and infertility.

. The human race has survived Ebola and Bubonic plague with very little medical treatment. huge populations didn't survive bubonic plague, and it is far less infectious.

@mosquitofeast

or a planet destroying meteor hitting,

That wont happen. We are defended

How?

*mosquitofeast

or a planet destroying meteor hitting

That wont happen. We are defended

How?

David Tennant as the 10th Doctor made it very clear he defended Earth!

If there is no immunity, and we all catch it twice a year, with a 1% chance of death each time, that gives the human race approx 75 years left.

How did you calculate this?

The current world birth rate is about 1.8%.

But even without births, an excel calculation would give, from current world population to 100 000, about 200 years.
And if you add current other mortality, 150 years.
Without births.

Even so, it is highly unrealistic. Not all of us will catch it every year, let alone twice a year. Not even a significant percentage. Even without significant distancing.

No we are far from the end of the world! We may however be end of the world as we know it. Post Covid era we need to recalibrate to think and act differently and more cautiously. This is possibly the latest once in a century killer disease and yes there will most likely be no cure but may be some helpful medical interventions at best. Previous other coronavirus like SARS and MERS never lead to any major life changing medical breakthrough cure.

Many of us Brits saw what was happening earlier this year in mainland China when the initial news finally escaped the mainland media firewall (after a few months deliberate delay) to international and then still open first world advanced society Hong Kong and Taiwan of this rapid exponential highly contagious outbreak and possible deadly ramifications.

Obviously we had a good insight later on when this first impacted Italy not far from home. We all witnessed the events unfolding on saturation media and ignored what was happening in mainland China and continental Europe as did the majority population including senior political leadership did. Many of us felt this was something that happened and happens elsewhere and will not take place in the British Isles.

As a mother with prompt foresight I was horrified when I heard of fellow school pupils returning from half term school break skiing in the Italian Alps. I did not appreciate this relaxed not going to happen to us attitude and promptly made up some excuses along the lines of possible but asymptomatic flu like issues at home and removed child from attending school not knowing of future school closures. I postponed all work related meetings and stayed away from others in public areas and avoid shared mass public transportation. These were Covid mitigation measures long before any political leader or medical scientist muttered the phase social distancing and subsequently R rate and flattening the curve.

However a few minority of us initially right at the outset hoped for the best but prepared for the worst! As a responsible adult and parent to a child with independent thought leadership - guess which camp I jumped into? Common sense dictates when in doubt go into worst case scenario survival mode. So yes bulk brought long life grocery store cupboard pantry staples and medical war preparation essentials including clinical face coverings and masks, surgical spirit, disinfectant, sanitizer, other personal care products. I even had some extreme sports high attitude helicopter skiing and mountaineering portable oxygen equipment! I did but not stock up to hoard toilet tissue as I think one probably needs food and water first before anything comes out of the other end and there are toilets with built in personal cleaning or simply showers etc if caught short at home. I simply did not understand the psychological comfort blanket of excessive toilet tissue. Face masks yes but not loo roll! When initially doing this, other shoppers where surprised in seeing my makeshift homemade hazmat suit (repurposed hooded sports clothing) gloves and clinical face mask bulk buying as if hibernating for months on a deserted island! However as it turned out I was not the only one doing this but still a rarity at the time in early February 2020 in the UK.

So long story short this is not the end of the world but just the start of the new Covid normal world where personal leadership and responsibility is stress tested and possibly the only factor is the survival of the most ignorant and risk adverse. Covid evidently only discriminates against those who take the greatest risk of exposure such as the unmasked brigade and those as we constantly hear who like participating in illegal parties and over crowd beaches etc. Some probably still think is is just a touch of pesky flu and sunlight will make everything better despite being still in the middle of the global pandemic with millions impacted and economies devastated. That's some pesky flu going on! Long term Covid impacts on herd immunity and survivors organ damage anyone? We are still scratching the surface of the Covid learning curve so be prepared for a bumpy ride. Physically and mentally prepare for a robust challenge, hope for the best but possibly prepare for worst things to come. The USA has already proven what can happen when humanity returns to reckless selfish jungle caveman mentality with no governmental leadership nor sensible personal responsibility and hence the unreported Covid numbers still at top of the class you don't want to be in. Self responsibilities and civic duty for overall community benefit seems to be missing in certain parts of the UK as hence need for further local and strict lockdowns.

So thanks for reading this far and stay safe people. Take back personal control and do what you think is right for you! After all this is real there are excess fatalities and this is not unfortunately a made up Hollywood surreal movie but happening in real life in place near to you!

I think it more now than I did.
We might no all.die from.the actual virus but the implications of this virusnos the end for Alot of people.in many different forms.
Life as we knew it has gone. That life and that world has died.

@DappledThings

*mosquitofeast

or a planet destroying meteor hitting

That wont happen. We are defended

How?

David Tennant as the 10th Doctor made it very clear he defended Earth!

The skys are watched around the clock by scientists all around the world, who pool their data and check each others calculations on a daily basis. There are thousands of Near Earth Objects in our vicinity - obviously! hence the name. But one big enough to cause an extinction level event would be seen years in advance. There are several plans and means for it to be deflected, it would be well within our capability.

That does not mean you and I are safe from an impact though, it just means humanity as a whole is. We don't have the capacity to monitor, track and predict the course of all the millions of smaller objects, the size that could destroy a city. It is possible that one of those could catch us off guard, although hopefully with enough warning to get the population to take cover.

And there are yet smaller ones, capable of demolishing a house or a car, no way can we predict those.

@RhianFuckingMorris

I think it more now than I did. We might no all.die from.the actual virus but the implications of this virusnos the end for Alot of people.in many different forms. Life as we knew it has gone. That life and that world has died.

unless and until a working vaccine. We might need to take it every year, or even twice a year, but I do think this is a real hope

@mosquitofeast It wasn't me who asked "how". I just made facetious reference to sci-fi. I give 0% of my time to worrying about meteorite impact.

But one big enough to cause an extinction level event would be seen years in advance. There are several plans and means for it to be deflected, it would be well within our capability
You're too optimistic.