Coronavirus: COVID-19

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Gosnell
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Coronavirus: COVID-19

Post by Gosnell » Wed, 22. Jan 20, 20:42

Given the escalating nature of the outbreak, I thought I would start this thread. As of now 17 dead and Wuhan have been quarantined.If this spreads over the next 7 days there may be a full blown pandemic.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Alan Phipps » Wed, 22. Jan 20, 20:56

The one bit of good news is that China and other countries affected are actively working internationally through the World Health Organisation to control this outbreak. Here is the relevant WHO website with useful links to such as Disease Outbreak News.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by silenced » Thu, 23. Jan 20, 14:39

Amazing that it took only 3 weeks to finally start doing something against. These things should be done much better in our modern connected world, where you can spread anything literally everywhere within 24h.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by RegisterMe » Thu, 23. Jan 20, 15:07

I don't disagree... and yet they're (China, WHO etc) certainly working faster, more aggressively, and more openly than they did with the SARS outbreak a few years ago.
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Chips
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Chips » Thu, 23. Jan 20, 20:36

Erm, how many people die in normal flu every year in UK or any other country? I imagine all that died are old, ill, or weak in some way.

Sure, quarantine as otherwise it'll kill more - but is it really dangerous to the healthy? Not saying that's a reason NOT to try their best, but... can't help but feel the death toll fascination is slightly over exaggerating it.

*edit* real quick look, flu is generally 0.1% death rate. Isn't this about same so far, though may rise?

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Gosnell » Fri, 24. Jan 20, 01:45

18 of 600 is 3%,factoring unconfirmed cases that figure would fall,but should the virus reach densely populated areas with poor healthcare,the figure could spike,think africa and ebola.They are still figuring out the R0 of the virus.Also factor in the potential for mutation and this may be bad in the short term.Its not a global killer,but with the wrong response it could develope into one.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Gosnell » Fri, 24. Jan 20, 01:50

On a seperate note england is investigating 14 suspected cases,one aspect to look at is the amount of chinese students flying back after the chrismas break,with a 2 week incubation period its probable that some infected may already be here.Being a university student the thought is slightly worring.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by felter » Sat, 25. Jan 20, 03:24

I think the Chinese have and are handling this pretty well, they certainly learned from the SARS outbreak they had a few years back, even down to the part that they threatened any officials that tried to cover up any of it. I do think they are doing a better job than most western countries would do. I can't imagine what it would be like if it was in America, what with their healthcare being tied to money and who has it, it would probably be a total catastrophe. You have to give the Chinese credit, they are short on hospital beds so they are building a brand new 1000 bed hospital, from scratch, and they expect it to be finished in 6 days. If it was here in the UK, it would take them 6 years of talking about it before they even start on the design and even then they would mess it up.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Tamina » Sat, 25. Jan 20, 11:13

The flu is just starting as well. I imagine a superinfection of flu and coronavirus in a parallel outbreak could be potentially devastating.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by felter » Sat, 25. Jan 20, 21:30

The flu scares me, I'm just currently recovering from a cold and that's bad enough, the flu would probably kill me right now.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by fiksal » Sat, 25. Jan 20, 23:27

so what's the plan? avoid crowds and travel for now?
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Observe » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 02:37

fiksal wrote:
Sat, 25. Jan 20, 23:27
so what's the plan? avoid crowds and travel for now?
That's my normal default strategy, but it didn't stop me from getting the flu recently. But yeah, sound advise. Otherwise, I guess for most people, it's best to just carry on as normal. Unless you are old and/or have a compromised respiratory system, even if you catch the virus, chances are you'll just get sick and recover on your own. Probably no reason for most people to panic.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Gosnell » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 03:08

The problem is however as the virus spreads ,more and more healthy people will go to hospitals for test,only to become infected there.Furthermore as more and more become genuinely infected,the hospitals will come under increased strain and the quality of care will decline,which will cause more deaths and more panic.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Observe » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 03:38

Gosnell wrote:
Sun, 26. Jan 20, 03:08
The problem is however as the virus spreads ,more and more healthy people will go to hospitals for test,only to become infected there.Furthermore as more and more become genuinely infected,the hospitals will come under increased strain and the quality of care will decline,which will cause more deaths and more panic.
True.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by felter » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 05:13

For me I have a suppressed immune system, meaning I have difficulty fighting of any kind of infection. For example: a common cold for me can take weeks to get over and knock me out for six, while a normal person it will be a few days before they are back to normal. Next to my phone I have emergency phone numbers that I'm supposed to use when it gets bad, like if I catch the flu, but they only work during working hours on weekdays, if I'm bad over the weekend or evenings I'm supposed to go directly to the hospital A&E. My family are pretty cool if they come down with anything, they keep well away. But in general people don't give a damn, as they think it's not killing them, so it won't kill anyone else but that's far from the truth. If I was to catch the current Coronavirus I would probably have a pretty slim chance of surviving.

You can't avoid crowds, it's next to impossible in the world we live in, unless you don't ever leave the house. But even then you will still come into contact with others at some point, and they will have been in amongst the crowds. All you can do is hope that the person that just sneezed or coughed on you while shopping, is not going to kill you. I detest people who don't cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, with a good reason.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Chips » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 19:27

I think the idea of avoiding crowds or someasmuch is, at present, hysteria - unless you're in a quarantined location.

The outbreak is in China, there are cases in other countries (some, many), but the reality is most nations people posting here have zero, or a handful at worst so far... out of tens, or hundreds, of millions of individuals. Your chance of contact at present is basically zero.

When you've an actual risk, take advice and precautions. Until then, get a grip.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by felter » Sun, 26. Jan 20, 20:57

Yeah I agree right now it is not worth worrying about but due to it's nature that can quickly change so it is worth keeping an eye on it.

There's a video on the BBC where they go into Wuhan, a city with over 11 million residents, which has now been totally shut down. They get stopped going in and told they can go in but they will not be allowed back out. So they go in and the streets are pretty much empty, all the shops are closed, next to no vehicles on the roads. While looking around they get approached by the police and are quickly escorted out of the city. All I could think was, they were told they could go in but they would not be allowed to leave and here was the police kicking them out. So much for a quarantined city.

It's also been noted that you can have the virus for up to two weeks before showing any symptoms, and you can be contagious during that time, which is not good.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by Golden_Gonads » Mon, 27. Jan 20, 12:43

My plan is to ignore it till it goes away. Just like with bird flu, swine flu, or whatever other pandemic has hit the headlines in the last decade or two.

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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by fiksal » Mon, 27. Jan 20, 14:36

@felter, that sucks! does a flu shot help you a little?


Well, I have a kid and I dont want to take risks. We are reconsidering our immediate travel plans.
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Re: China Coronavirus

Post by felter » Mon, 27. Jan 20, 20:06

It actually sounds worse than it is, and there are a lot of people worse of then me. I've been like this for around 14 years now and not once have a I had to use those emergency phone numbers or go to hospital because I was so ill, but I did come close once. I would reckon I have a greater chance of being run over by a retard using his mobile phone to text while driving, than catching something that is going to kill me.

Also it could be worse, we have a pretty good health system here that is free, which gives me my meds and check-ups that I need. If i stayed in America I would probably be dead by now, as there is no way I could have afforded the medical bills I would have accumulated over those past 14 years. Let alone the 20 grand it cost for that single dose they used to destroy my immune system. That's 20 grand here, the way the American health care system works, you would probably look at over 100k for the same thing and it could have taken up to 3 doses, here it only took the one, in America they would have used the 3, so triple the cost.

I do get the flu jab, but it's impossible to tell if it works or not. I suppose I would have to come down with the flu to say that it doesn't work and so far that hasn't happened, so maybe it does work.
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