Corona Virus - Should we be worried?

[stuartbert two hats]

A fellow remote worker with a dry cough and elevated temperature just mentioned he was going into the office on Friday, joking about being recovered by then and being a "superspreader".  Yeah mate, line manager informed pretty sharpish on that one.

That's the worrying thing about this casual approach from our government, folk really don't seem to be taking it seriously.  He might not feel that bad, but it sounds like classic coronavirus to me - as much by the symptoms he doesn't have by the ones he has.  But because he's not feeling that bad, doesn't seem all that worried about going into the office.

[Freddyflintstonree]

I think it's safe to say it's reasonable to be worried. The question is how worried. 

[squirrelarmy]

4 minutes ago, st dan said:

Poland (17 cases) have banned all mass events and Czech Republic (40 cases) are closing schools and banning all events of 100 or more people. 
The inconsistent approaches of each country is interesting - I think you’d have to say that the UK is being the most ‘relaxed’ of the big European countries so far - whether that is a wise choice will remain to be seen.  

Both countries along with Ireland have relatively few cases and still at the containment stage. Once the number of cases exceeds 100 there isn’t much point trying to stop external transmission of the virus and they move to the next step of the process. 

[Madyaker]

When our PM spoke yesterday he looked more shook than I’ve seen him and he’s a doctor. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Madyaker

[chazwwe]

2 minutes ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

It's kinda unfair people try for years and don't get lucky and when they do its cancelled. It should rollover and give people the option for 2021 as it will make some distraught.

(just as a point of interest I have a ticket) Its kind of unfair that you try and fail for tickets for years, to be told 'you're 100% not going next year due to something we can't control' 

2 minutes ago, jparx said:

Is that better than the joy of securing tickets, spending months excited to see the announced acts, the festival is cancelled and then you miss out tickets for the following year?

There's no right answer. Personally I think they would give those who got tickets for 2020 a chance to secure them for next year in a presale type thing. Would be fairly easy to set up an algorithm that only allows certain reg numbers to log on and buy a ticket. Then you have the general sale in October with the leftover tickets. There would still be a fair chunk of tickets available - not every current ticket holder would take up the option of going next year.

There is no right answer. I'm not sure I've heard of any music event thats been out right cancelled and moved with the tickets transferring, especially up to a year. 

[Joshuwarr]

Matt Hancock taking questions on Instagram (go on his story). May be worth flooding it with a few questions about outdoor summer festivals?

[st dan]

1 minute ago, AlexOvd said:

The more relaxed? Spain only suspended classes yesterday for two areas of the country (Madrid and Basque Country).

Fallas are taking place daily in Valencia (almost a millon of people expected) and still not cancelled:

Madrid 800 cases and growing every second and the only thing they did it's suspend the schools yesterday. This happened on Sunday.

Tell me about "relaxing approach"...

Well we haven’t suspended any gatherings at the moment have we? 
And Spain are starting to, including playing football matches behind closed doors etc. Albeit this may be too late, they are at least one step further on than the UK. 

[hfuhruhurr]

There is absolutely no reason to be worried. Ever, about anything, it's a daft thing to do.

Worrying about something outside your control is bonkers.

Worrying about something inside your control is you wasting time not doing the thing that would stop the worry.

[Pipine]

The reports from doctors in Italy look bleak.   Pretty sure our government needs to be a little less cautious and bring in the measures it’s taking about for next week now. 

[RarerThanDandyB]

Just now, chazwwe said:

(just as a point of interest I have a ticket) Its kind of unfair that you try and fail for tickets for years, to be told 'you're 100% not going next year due to something we can't control' 

Still feel it being taken away is harsher and to people who try for years it seems the lesser of the two evils to rollover.

[AlexOvd]

Just now, st dan said:

Well we haven’t suspended any gatherings at the moment have we? 
And Spain are starting to, including playing football matches behind closed doors etc. Albeit this may be too late, they are at least one step further on than the UK. 

We have 1400 cases, I guess UK is still a bit far. 

[RarerThanDandyB]

How has Spain got so bad?

[chazwwe]

1 minute ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

Still feel it being taken away is harsher and to people who try for years it seems the lesser of the two evils to rollover.

I completely agree, just trying to be in the middle on this one. Its a very tough choice, I also don't know how it works for GFL with tax and everything to have that amount of money sat in your accounts for an extra year. 

[northernringo]

1 minute ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

How has Spain got so bad?

I've heard a few people say it is to do with their mass outdoor street gatherings.

Whether it is true or not, that is what people are thinking it seems.

[Matt42]

1 minute ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

How has Spain got so bad?

Because this is a highly contagious virus that is really dangerous and hard to control and you can’t meme it away. All of the people in high office shitting themselves right now are the people that thought the west was immune to something like this.

Its tarring with a broad brush but I think western society forgets how privileged it is sometimes. They think things like this can’t happen here. They can.

[DareToDibble]

4 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Would moving GF back to, say, early September work?

No, that’s when my wedding and honeymoon are. Sorry.

[squirrelarmy]

A lot of the high European infection rates can be down to the traditional European greeting. A lot more close physical contact especially when compared to us Brits. 
 

 

[AlexOvd]

3 minutes ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

How has Spain got so bad?

People don't take it seriously and the government actions from the very beginning were equal to zero, I think they didn't expect this level of expansion but even now when they see how bad is going to impact the country still not isolating Madrid when obviously there is a huge outbreak that will be even worse. 

UK should start taking radical actions. It's time to focus all of us to fight against this during at least the next month. 

[Ayrshire Chris]

Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer has said cancelling outdoor events like football matches would not necessarily be a decision supported by science. The virus would not last long outside, many outdoor events in particular are relatively safe.

we are over three months away from Glastonbury. The next few weeks will be crucial 

[chazwwe]

Had this discussion with a friend at work yesterday.

If we were to start cancelling events and closing airports. When do you open them. When we don't have any more people with the virus? What about letting people from different countries travel in? Do we have to screen test them before they're allowed to travel? 

[Matt42]

2 minutes ago, chazwwe said:

Had this discussion with a friend at work yesterday.

If we were to start cancelling events and closing airports. When do you open them. When we don't have any more people with the virus? What about letting people from different countries travel in? Do we have to screen test them before they're allowed to travel? 

Literally until the coast is clear, cases significantly reduce, or a vaccine comes around.

Its absolutely mad. It could write off the entirety of 2020.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

11 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Because this is a highly contagious virus that is really dangerous and hard to control and you can’t meme it away. All of the people in high office shitting themselves right now are the people that thought the west was immune to something like this.

Its tarring with a broad brush but I think western society forgets how privileged it is sometimes. They think things like this can’t happen here. They can.

It’s not ‘really dangerous’ what is your definition of really dangerous?

[Madyaker]

1 minute ago, Matt42 said:

Literally until the coast is clear, cases significantly reduce, or a vaccine comes around.

Its absolutely mad. It could write off the entirety of 2020.

You can’t just shutter the entire country for more than a few weeks without destroying the economy which will take years to recover. Anyway your government is adopting a different approach. They know they can’t stop so the plan is to try and slow the spread enough so that the hospitals don’t become too overwhelmed because then people start to die fast like in Italy right now. Containment is out the window. It’s the same here in Ireland. Get in 2 weeks worth of food in case you get sick and have to isolate yourself. Avoid close contact with your parents. 

[Toilet Duck]

7 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Because this is a highly contagious virus that is really dangerous and hard to control and you can’t meme it away. All of the people in high office shitting themselves right now are the people that thought the west was immune to something like this.

Its tarring with a broad brush but I think western society forgets how privileged it is sometimes. They think things like this can’t happen here. They can.

It really isn't a "highly" contagious virus. Confined R0 is about 2.5 (compare this to a really "highly" contagious virus like measles which has an R0 of closer to 18 (in fact, it varies a lot depending on the level of herd immunity in the population)...as it stands, an R0 of 2.5 for a completely naive population isn't "massively" infectious)...I know you don't believe any data from China, but the only complete follow up studies to date come from there and the infection rate for close contacts of nearly 40,000 cases was between 1 and 5% depending on which province the study was completed in...

The second part of your post is entirely true. We really do think everything will be grand and it couldn't possibly happen here!

[stuartbert two hats]

3 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

It’s not ‘really dangerous’ what is your definition of really dangerous?

An 8% chance of killing my parents is pretty dangerous.