I think the government have officially advised against all but essential travel to the impacted Italian towns. Hancock has made a balls of relaying that message.
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
Surely it's only a matter of time before we get a full UK outbreak?
Quite possibly to the individual towns, but not Italy as a whole.
If the workplace in question specified anyone travelling to areas against government advice, then they won't receive sick pay, I can see that being fine. But to ban travel to Italy, I would think goes against the rights of the individual.
Yes, there are cases in most countries now, it will soon spread
It feels inevitable really. The thing that bothers me is that my children are scared. Whatever is being said at school, either by the school or by friends, coupled with what they see on the news every day it seems they are really frightened.
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No news yet from Italy is a bit surprising.
I thought Singapore would be full on about it. I guess I'll see what it's like when I go back in a week and a half.
Yeah, I'm travelling to Singapore and other areas of SE Asia at the end of April for a month. Its going to be really interesting to see the reaction over there
My friend is currently travelling the world and has been in Asia for a few months. I asked him how the virus is affecting is travel etc and he said no one gives a feck and finds the western media coverage on it massively over the top.
I know I keep on coming across potentially as a bit of an ass on this thread, I don't mean to I promise.
Those normal checks they do at airports (temperature scanning) are not particularly effective and are arguably done more to be appearing to do something rather than as an actually useful measure. To stem panic if you will.
I've worked with colleagues who are public health doctors in HK (who've been involved in programmes previously where they've done it) and they've said the same.
The issue of course is that there are ways to mask fever (simple Paracetamol for example), not everyone who has an illness is constantly pyrexial and there are also reasons other than infection for being pyrexial.
So all in all, it isn't a particularly effective method.
I'm not saying no screening should be done at all but there are more efficient ways really.
And I still maintain that the hysteria people have shown on here (and in the West in general) is slightly insane.
It's all becoming a bit of a mess.
They're having an argument in how the cases are reported. Samples are tested twice, first by a local hospital and then verified by the central laboratory in Rome. Sometimes the local tests are giving false positives. So far only 190 cases have been confirmed by Rome and the government is getting pissed off at the regions reporting cases and then retracting them.
They have also been testing people with no symptoms and about half the cases have come from that. They're annoyed that it's leading them to report so many more cases than the rest of the EU who are only testing people with symptoms. Reading between the lines there is going to be a big political fall out within the EU from all this.
I'm witnessing all this from an institution employing hundreds of Italians and with hundreds of people travelling to Milan every weekend and indeed for now it's only Italian regions that are included in the travel "ban" (it's not really a ban, you just have to telework) list, harsh on them as I guess it's not much more likely to catch virus these days in some remote village of Emilia-Romagna than in some major European city like London or Paris, but then again I am looking at this outbreak also as a test for society in terms of how it deals with such extraordinary situations and whether we are able to introduce and respect measures that are supposed to protect us. Corona doesn't seem very deadly and I'm far from more and more common panic, but had it been a more dangerous virus I really wonder to what extent we'd be able to stop it from spreading all around the globe.
I was in Singapore 6 weeks ago and they were temperature scanning as we got off the plane and then again 2 weeks later as we were leaving.
While I was there, the government compulsory purchased every medical mask in the country to distribute directly to households.
Surprised to hear there was nothing noticeable now because everyone was wearing masks a month or so ago.
My parents will be taking this route in a couple of days.
Heathrow-Singapore-Australia.
I'm more concerned than they are,though.
This is the kind of measure I think is reasonable and logical, though perhaps easier to do in a society/ government like Singapore's, which is a democracy quasi dictatorship.
Noone's stated in the cases where people have 'tested positive again' whether they've actually managed to 'catch' it a second time...
Or, more terrifyingly, whether it can simply keep coming on once someone's caught it...
This is something that is crucial to know.
Yeah I keep hearing this more and more
Japan closing all public schools temporarily. They're not fecking around.
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I am not a medical professional, however judging by the extreme measures in China - building hospitals in days, welding people in their buildings , locking down whole provinces- perhaps this coverage is not that much " over the top". I presume there are certain aspects of this virus that are deemed unique in comparison to previous outbreaks .I know I keep on coming across potentially as a bit of an ass on this thread, I don't mean to I promise.
Those normal checks they do at airports (temperature scanning) are not particularly effective and are arguably done more to be appearing to do something rather than as an actually useful measure. To stem panic if you will.
I've worked with colleagues who are public health doctors in HK (who've been involved in programmes previously where they've done it) and they've said the same.
The issue of course is that there are ways to mask fever (simple Paracetamol for example), not everyone who has an illness is constantly pyrexial and there are also reasons other than infection for being pyrexial.
So all in all, it isn't a particularly effective method.
I'm not saying no screening should be done at all but there are more efficient ways really.
And I still maintain that the hysteria people have shown on here (and in the West in general) is slightly insane.
We're OK ta, there's one case in our region now but no signs of anyone doing anything different, really. I had to go to the doc this morning for a repeat prescription and there weren't any notices up in the waiting room (or hand-gel).
What's going to be a huge issue is mistake self diagnosis, because this is so similar to many other winter illnesses so many people will be suspecting themselves of potentially having the virus. I've got a sore throat now, does that mean I've potentially got it?
I'm living in the mindset it's a sore throat and I'm fine but the reality is I could already have it if it's wide spread.
If I were to call into the Coronavirus hubs at the hospitals that are popping up does that mean my work place will be closed for business?
If so this could destroy so many small businesses that can't afford to lose two/three or maybe more weeks of income.
I'm living in the mindset it's a sore throat and I'm fine but the reality is I could already have it if it's wide spread.
If I were to call into the Coronavirus hubs at the hospitals that are popping up does that mean my work place will be closed for business?
If so this could destroy so many small businesses that can't afford to lose two/three or maybe more weeks of income.
That's good, although I am already armed with hand gel.
I think that's just your friend's view.
I still have a lot of friends in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo from the time i lived there, and life is definitely not normal. Lots of restrictions in place, nobody is travelling, offices are closed all over the place.
10 year old me would have loved this but 34 year old me understands the panic.
We met my wife's cousin who lives there and she said it was like that a couple of weeks ago but had calmed down since.
We took her some masks and hand sanitiser, cos they've sold out there.
I was surprised how few people had masks on.
Where they going in Australia? Melbourne is fine- off to Sydney on Tuesday so hopefully all good too.
The sensationalist reporting of this is not helping.
EDIT: link added https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11052015/coronavirus-closes-primary-school-parent-tests-positive/
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Iran has 250 cases and 26 deaths. Damn thats high.
Ah well. Saving lives is far more important. So many have been infected due to this.
It's worth to keep in mind that a lot of people have the virus without knowing about it. A lot of people get few/no symptoms.
Yeah would think so.
Its a weird one. I'm actually not sure if this is spreading really fast or really slow. For instance, we had the super spreader enter the country (UK) around a month ago and the numbers hadnt changed till recently.
It'd be interesting to know if anyone remember how quickly H1 spread.
Also, is it good news that new cases and deaths in China has barely changed in the last week or so?
The media are definitely being a bit sensationalist but i actually think the public reaction is too subdued. Of course now we're in a situation where average joe is more likely to take advice from Mrs Brown Boys than any expert.
This virus probably isn't going to be an issue for most of us personally but for the elderly and those with conditions it is deadly. Will people care they're putting others at risk? Nah probably not
They're going to Melbourne initially but the Holiday itself is largely a month trip around Australia.
Nice. We're staying with family which is nice, but if you're just sightseeing here there's very little tbh. Tour round the country sounds the best plan.
I read an article that suggested that if they hadn't discovered the virus(i.e. just assumed that it was a common influenza), then there wouldn't have been any panic whatsoever.
I was in Japan during the swine flu of 2009. One of the people I lived with got it, but no one else in the dorm(15 people total) got any symptoms. Granted, this guy quarantined himself for a week and got a million different pills from the doctor. He also had his own bathroom, which definitely helped.
The swine flu was supposedly much worse than this, if I'm not mistaken? Yet for some reason people seemed quite calm in comparison to now. Are we more jittery these days or is this actually much worse than we think?
I had Swine Flu. It was rough.Manifested into Bronchitis and Pneumonia. Fit, young and healthy at the time. Can easily see how it polished off the frail.
It’s not necessarily how bad the illness is. It’s what it can bring on board.
If it’s a robust virus that’s easily transferred you end up with lots of very sick people that are very very sick, needing hospitalisation.
I've seen a fair few reports that this will likely die out when the warmer weather hits
I think the best we can do is be healthy. I've added vitamins to my diet, i eat plenty of fruit, drink more water. I've recommended the same to friends and family. Whether I get it or not, I'd prefer to be strong and prepared.
I imagine most people who have contracted it weren't the least bit prepared.
I think it is.
Was it? I don't remember swine flu being that huge in the UK. Could be wrong though.
And I sort of agree with you regarding the first part. Although its a little worrying when younger people are dying.