coronavirus

[Rickeap]

how are people reacting to the coronavirus?
There has been panic buying of toilet paper(of all things) in Australia. The shelves are empty!
There is a lot of concern.
Personally, I'm due to fly to Europe via Hong Kong in late April and I'm worried about the flights and being in busy tourist areas. Luckily, at this stage, none of my destinations are hot spots.
As someone with asthma and other respiratory problems that have happened after long-haul flights, my doctor has recommended i consider cancelling if it doesn't clear.
but then it's also hitting close to home. My little city of 35,000 people has a person being tested for the virus.

[John]

how are people reacting to the coronavirus?
There has been panic buying of toilet paper(of all things) in Australia. The shelves are empty!
There is a lot of concern.
Personally, I'm due to fly to Europe via Hong Kong in late April and I'm worried about the flights and being in busy tourist areas. Luckily, at this stage, none of my destinations are hot spots.
As someone with asthma and other respiratory problems that have happened after long-haul flights, my doctor has recommended i consider cancelling if it doesn't clear.
but then it's also hitting close to home. My little city of 35,000 people has a person being tested for the virus.

My little village has one infected teacher, two schools closed for deep cleaning, another school in the adjoining village where she attended a training course also closed. I think two of them are opening today/tomorrow. The third can't re-open as many of the staff are still in isolation. The teacher's family is still in isolation.

So while the local councillor has put out a message on FB,

"There have been no further confirmed cases in the borough and the contact tracking for the confirmed case is now complete"

there are still an unknown number of people in isolation who came into contact with the teacher, who in turn came into contact with, who knows how many other people? Here if one person sneezes one weekend, hundreds have caught it by the following weekend. We all use the same supermarkets, shops, doctors, schools etc.

I too have respiratory problems and a weakened immune system and I'm old. I really don't want to go out there.

[Colin B]

I'm worried that it's being 'talked up' into more than it is.

Traditional winter flu, which is around every year, affects more people & causes more deaths, but gets little media attention.

Here's an 'expert' opinion:

Coronavirus - i Newspaper - 29th Feb 2020 - 001.jpg

[John]

I'm worried that it's being 'talked up' into more than it is.

Traditional winter flu, which is around every year, affects more people & causes more deaths, but gets little media attention.

Here's an 'expert' opinion:

At the moment we don't know that. Coronavirus is too new to compare. If you get the flu, your family, your colleagues etc do not get isolated. Your workplace does not close and need a deep clean.

[Colin B]

I'm worried that it's being 'talked up' into more than it is.

Traditional winter flu, which is around every year, affects more people & causes more deaths, but gets little media attention.

Here's an 'expert' opinion:

At the moment we don't know that. Coronavirus is too new to compare. If you get the flu, your family, your colleagues etc do not get isolated. Your workplace does not close and need a deep clean.

That was exactly my point.

[John]

I'm worried that it's being 'talked up' into more than it is.

Traditional winter flu, which is around every year, affects more people & causes more deaths, but gets little media attention.

Here's an 'expert' opinion:

At the moment we don't know that. Coronavirus is too new to compare. If you get the flu, your family, your colleagues etc do not get isolated. Your workplace does not close and need a deep clean.

That was exactly my point.

That's not the way I read your post.

You said

I'm worried that it's being 'talked up' into more than it is.

I say

Coronavirus is too new to compare.

Your expert says

Is it as bad as a traditional influenza season in the West? No!

I say

Coronavirus is too new to compare

so how does your "expert" know?

[Colin B]

The media are talking about it as a national disaster which requires schools shutting, events cancelled.

I'm agreeing with my 'expert' who has pointed out that currently it's not as bad as the traditional winter influenza cases & deaths, which don't get the frenzied media attention, closed schools etc.

Coronavirus - 001.jpg

[John]

The media are talking about it as a national disaster which requires schools shutting, events cancelled.

I'm agreeing with my 'expert' who has pointed out that currently it's not as bad as the traditional winter influenza cases & deaths, which don't get the frenzied media attention, closed schools etc.

Coronavirus - 001.jpg

My point is that he doesn't know that it's not as bad as it's too early to say.

If you have someone with flu at work, or at school, you don't go closing the place down and deep cleaning it and putting everyone in isolation that has been in contact with the person with flu. This suggests that flu is not as bad. Given the number of cases around the world in such as short time, it appears to be far more contagious and spreads more quickly than flu. Covid-19 appears to kill a higher percentage of those who become infected. It's an unknown factor in terms of how to deal with it.

So much for your expert.

[John]

So I've just popped in to see my daughter. She told me she was on a girls' night out last Friday, and in the group was a teacher from the school where the infected teacher attended a training session on the Tuesday before. It wasn't announced till Saturday morning that this teacher had tested positive. That school closed for a deep clean this week as did the infants school she works at locally, as did the juniors school on the same grounds.

The infected teacher is in hospital in London. Her family is in isolation. Several of the teachers that worked with her are in isolation.

The local news says that all people that were in contact with the infected teacher have now been tested. However, the teacher that was on the girls' night out says neither she or any of the other teachers that work at the school where the training sessions took place, have been tested.

The government have now announced that we're entering phase two of the prevention programme where they want to delay the peak of the infections so that the NHS can deal with normal winter sicknesses. Erm, how about just take immediate action, close all schools, stop public gatherings, do what Italy has done?

Business are already suffering as people are staying indoors. Hotels are largely empty, travel is ceasing, supermarkets and shops and restaurants are not as busy, Make it official and close everything, within reason, and that'll go a long way to stopping the spread of this virus.

[Mister Moon]

We'll never get out of this world alive, folks.

[Colin B]

We'll never get out of this world alive, folks.

Sadly true...

[John]

We'll never get out of this world alive, folks.

No, but I'd like it to be quite a while longer before I don't. I got a lot o' livin' to do.

[Bob]

If time were not a moving thing.....

I got a lot o' livin' to do.

Your posts today, are music to my ears.

[John]

If time were not a moving thing.....

I got a lot o' livin' to do.

Your posts today, are music to my ears.

Hmm, let me think. If you were to say tell my why, I'd say it's just because it's getting a bit too much and I'm not really sure if I'll be there tomorrow night, but that's all right, that's life.

[Bob]

If time were not a moving thing.....

I got a lot o' livin' to do.

Your posts today, are music to my ears.

Hmm, let me think. If you were to say tell my why, I'd say it's just because it's getting a bit too much and I'm not really sure if I'll be there tomorrow night, but that's all right, that's life.

You even incorporated a Sinatra song in your poetry!

This piece of art was sent in anonymously on November 21, 1956, by a kid with way too much time on his hands (probably Colin).

.