Corona virus

[stefano]

please my friends,
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE CORONAVIRUS


we are living in a post-apocalypt world
(except for internet, food and music that are ok )
no people on the streets
we are all close at home, no work (except for health and essentials jobs, like food markets, or government office, like me), no pubs, no restaurants, no theatre, cinema, coffee shops, schools are closed
NOTHING
be prepared to stay at home, no handshakes nor kisses nor hugs nor friends
one metre of distance in social contacts
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE CORONAVIRUS

[stefano]

another video from our (near) collapsed hospitals

[Kit Rae]

we are living in a post-apocalypt world

This is hardly true, but I agree that everyone should take precautions to avoid getting this virus or spreading. Avoid shaking hands, frequently wash your hands with soap and hot water, avoid touching your face, and wear a mask if you are sick - the same things people should be doing every flu season, by the way, but most do not.

It's overwhelming the hospitals in many countries unfortunately, but it will burn out eventually, just like they all do.

[Roscoe59]

Everyone should take care. Our college is closing tomorrow along with all the others in the Chicago area. We'll be self-quarentining ourselves next week prepared to stay at home for as long as needed. The most critical thing is to try and prevent hospital surges.

[stefano]

we are closing internal airports
no funerals cerimonies, cemetary and churches are closed

stay at home
wash your hands
do not shake hands
if it is possible use a mask
do not touch your nose, mouth, face

stay at home and listen music

stay at home

contact your local politic and stress him/her to start these new rules

[heartofthesun]

I keep going to work because it is not possible for me to work from home.
If I want to go outside it is necessary to complete a self-certification
If you do not have self-certification, the police will fine you

it's surreal, it seems to live in a movie

[surfling]

Take a look at this site, this will help you to not underestimate what's going on with the virus:

https://www.flattenthecurve.com/

[snagu]

The most critical thing is to try and prevent hospital surges.

^ This.

A plausible projection is that a non-trivial proportion of the population will become infected. The more extreme measures now will hopefully space the infection rate out enough for the infrastructure not to be overwhelmed at once and to buy time for vaccines and treatments to be developed.

And from the other thread where oldpink said:

It's more than likely that the virus will peter out once we get the dryer and much warmer weather of late spring and early summer.

Yes, that's well and good for the northern hemisphere but don't forget we're on a globe and the southern hemisphere is coming into winter and can build up a nice reserve of infections to re-infect the north. Unless / until the R&D into vaccines and treatments kicks in. It's unlikely to die out of its own accord if we pretend we don't need to take some countermeasures now. Some people where I work aren't waiting for a management directive; they just announcing they'll work from home anyway (we fortunate we can do so in our jobs).

[oldpink]

Not really downplaying this one, but is there no sense of proportion on this, and does no one have a sense of history?
The main difference between this one and SARS, H1N1 (aka "Swine flu"), or the truly lethal Spanish flu at the first part of the 20th century and other such infections isn't numbers of potential infections or lethality; it's largely all about a hyper-connected world and a news media eager for ratings by fanning the flames of this to make it out to be a real life outbreak of Captain Trips, complete with Randall Flagg and all.
I'll be taking my own precautions for my 78-year-old dad by altering my plans by not spending time with him for the next few weeks, since he's in the truly at risk category for this, at least until this runs its course, so I'm not blowing it off.
Oh, and while on the subject of the news media, it's telling and shameful how the media have dutifully renamed this from "Wuhan flu" (just as "Spanish" flu referred to its general geographical origin) into a somewhat innocuous name "Covid19"/Corona virus in deference to the wishes of the communist autocrat of China.
It's a dead certainty that if this had originated in say Oklahoma, the news media wouldn't be almost exclusively referring to it with a technical sounding name that would normally be used by immunologists only.

[goldenband]

(just as "Spanish" flu referred to its general geographical origin)

No, it absolutely didn't, and we've known that for decades. Wartime propaganda made it verboten to talk about the effects on Allied soldiers, so cases in places like Spain were overreported by the media --but Spain wasn't even particularly hard-hit.

The likely origin of the 1917-1919 flu is unclear, but there's some evidence for the United States as the origin (specifically Kansas), and some for China.