Prepping for pandemic...

[wheresmymojo]

I was quite blasé about the novel corona virus outbreak but things I've read today have changed my mind.

I'm not usually a prepper but best things to stock up on for a pandemic?

Surgical face masks?
Latex gloves?
Anti bac wipes and hand wash?

I haven't seen anything about the suspected case in Birmingham

The guy on Birmingham returned from Wuhan on 31st Dec and became ill with what he thought was a bad case of flu. He has recovered now but undergoing tests.

I’m wondering how the Birmingham guy only just thought to notify someone about it. This has been all over the news for about 10 days now.

ennith I read (it was in the mail though) that he was received in the hospital by people in suits but there were ambulance staff without too.

People returning on rescue flights will be expected to self isolate ! Can you believe it

Exactly Miss Poldark. You just can't trust others to do the right thing. My son is immunosuppressed and parents send their kids to school knowing that they are ill. This will be the same. People just don't think.

I’m wondering how the Birmingham guy only just thought to notify someone about it. This has been all over the news for about 10 days now.

I think that generally, we don't take this seriously. Up until Friday I was very blasé too - I never usually give things like this a second thought. Yes he had been in the affected area, but it was probably the stuff of jokes and CGI film in his mind. That, and by the time you get an appointment with the GP it's way too late anyway. Can you imagine trying to explain to a UK employer currently that you're self-quarantining?

@Thedeadwood I did not know that

What sort of silly name is Johns?

Well apparently...
In the ancestry of Johns Hopkins the person, there was a woman by the name of surname of Johns. Margaret Johns married into the Hopkins family and the name of one of their children was taken by combining the two family names - Johns Hopkins (the first).

Wow....that guy from Birmingham. So basically he's been wandering around shopping and at the GP surgery and working since 31/12.

Let's hope it comes to nothing...but yeah, good example of how much you can rely on the public to be informed and take precautionary measures.

So if you’re fit and healthy or young you should hopefully be able to ride out the worst of the symptoms

What about pregnant people?

I assume being flu like this could lead to birth defects or stillborns?

In the absence of any more specific information I would expect it to be the same as SARS which is closest to this Coronavirus.

So basically high incidence of miscarriage, preterm delivery and restricted growth.

Full report on impact of SARS on pregnancy here

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15295381/

Thank for the publication

So the FO just announced their advice against travel to the whole of China rather than just Wuhan.

Does anyone know if during the SARS outbreak in 2013 whether FO also said to not travel to the whole of China or was it just worst affected areas?

FCO now warning against all but essential travel to China as a whole (not just Hubei).

I suspect most people would have been wary at the moment anyway.

In laws are due to go to Vietnam & Cambodia in 3 or 4 weeks, will be interesting to see if that's possible by then...

Cross post!

I should have said 2003 rather than 2013

I think it was just to areas with clusters - have had a quick Google and can only see articles about not travelling to specific areas in 2003 (Hong Kong, specific parts of mainland China).

@imiss

Have you read the full thread?

Surgical masks? Pointless for this sort of outbreak. Have a read of this www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr619.htm

You can see a comparison of the spread of SARS and this Coronavirus virus on this graph