Don,t Panic !!!!!

[Woody Guthrie]

France has gone nuclear.
Everybody get inside and lock the doors.
Gas, electricity and water bills suspended – as are rents.

We get... Stay away from the pub.

[norris9]

Amazon hiring 100,000 new workers in the USA due to huge spike in online orders due to people staying at home.

[bergos]

Its a strange situation, on one hand the media is overhyping certain aspects of this, while underplaying what seems to be the most important.

not to say that panicking will help anything, it will not, caution and pragmatism in a situation like this will however.

This is just the beginning of what is a global health emergency that could be made worse by a speedy spread of this virus and a ceiling on what medically the NHS can do if everyone was to get this sickness at the same time, I think thats one extremely important factor that the media is not really covering so much because its more interesting to show that everyone has for some reason bought all the toilet roll.

Of course this said, for the most part, for most people, everything is gonna be fine, you'll get unwell, you'll recover, we will wonder what all the fuss was about and complain that the whole world over reacted to a cold and you wont worry about buying toilet roll till xmas, but sadly this virus seems to be very effective against the old and the unwell.

Looking at the numbers, which people are constantly saying well "x" kills more people than this every year, I think that arguement is a bit misguided. For one this is the start nobody yet knows how many people this virus will kill, at the moment the WHO has set the expected mortality rate at 3.4% (1917 influenza outbreak which is considered the standard comparison to this had a mortality rate of 3.1%) although currently 8% of cases have proved fatal so far (although, this is assumed to be due to poor or slow management of the situation to begin with, lack of knowledge of the situation and as the situation is monitored more closely its expected the mortality rate will fall). It is expected that this will continue to grow exponentially and by 2021 the expectation is for 40 - 70 percent of the population to have had this illness.

(if these numbers are correct that means roughly between 3 and 5 billion people) so dont expect this to go anywhere any time soon and i expect disruption will only get worse before anything gets any better.

my concern at the moment is that people have the idea that this may only last a short time and that countries had already seen a peek in cases, I doubt this to be the case and no matter how well controlled one nations approach may seem in comparison to others, we will only be as strong as the country taking the least caution, while talk of a vaccine for this keeps popping up in the media, vaccines take a hell of a long time to be developed, recent outbreaks such as Ebola and the Zika virus have had vaccines in development for years, so dont hold your breath on one of them any time soon.

I realise that this may mostly sound like doom and gloom, the numbers involved potentially staggering and the situation unprecedented in modern day times, but. like the OP says, Panic will solve nothing. All we can do is look out for one another especially people who you know are at risk, keep yourself as clean and healthy as you can and when you do start to feel unwell, dont take any chances, dont worry about what your manager is going to say because the second they feel unwell they will isolate themselves with no fear of repercussion and neither should any of us.

I know for the most part there is always a fear of whats going to happen, or what is going to be said if you phone in sick, we have all been there before just remember the risk is not just the people you work with, but the people they live with, your customers and the people that all of these people can spread the sickness to and more importantly the people who this could have a real effect on.

Make sure your management follows the guidelines the government has outlined and dont put yourself at futher risk, we are already at risk, we do not work in an office, we work in public places where anyone can interact with us, we have to hand over items to people who may not know theyre sick, we may have to handle items already handled by people who are sick, make sure your management are providing you a sanitary work environment and take advantage of every opportunity to wash your hands between anything you have to share, wipe down PDAs, the steering wheel of your van, take common sense precautions and do what you can to mitigate the risks.

Other than that good luck, be safe and dont take risks you think your manager wouldn't (because knowing who we work for, they will try and blame you if you get sick anyway so dont give them the satisfaction)

[Newbie001]

It's the whole 1% bollocks that's scaring people. The real fact is its 1% of those ill enough to get tested mainly older people.
In reality there is probably 100s of thousands out there that got it and put it down to a cold.
Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

[aiden01]

It's the whole 1% bollocks that's scaring people. The real fact is its 1% of those ill enough to get tested mainly older people.
In reality there is probably 100s of thousands out there that got it and put it down to a cold.
Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

So let's all of us pretend its all a wind up an all those scientists hav'nt a clue ffs.

[Murdoch]

It's the whole 1% bollocks that's scaring people. The real fact is its 1% of those ill enough to get tested mainly older people.
In reality there is probably 100s of thousands out there that got it and put it down to a cold.
Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

Who's spouting millions of deaths?

Take the time to read this article, this is why the government is now ramping up its response. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus- ... s-11958680" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's the reality of the situation, the government's initial response didn't really come to grips with early enough, downplaying the situation, only brings inaction. We are in absolutely no position to just carry on as normal. People need to appreciate the gravity of the situation, this attitude of somehow you know better, isn't very helpful.

[ssdd]

It's the whole 1% bollocks that's scaring people. The real fact is its 1% of those ill enough to get tested mainly older people.
In reality there is probably 100s of thousands out there that got it and put it down to a cold.
Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

Who's spouting millions of deaths?

Take the time to read this article, this is why the government is now ramping up it's response. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus- ... s-11958680" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's the reality of the situation, the government's initial response didn't really come to grips with early enough, downplaying the situation, only brings inaction. We are in absolutely no position to just carry on as normal. People need to appreciate the gravity of the situation, this attitude of somehow you know better, isn't very helpful.

Better to prepare for the worst, than hope for the best. I look at it as a sort of practice run. Imagine if this was a virus that killed everyone who contracted it...

[Murdoch]

Better to prepare for the worst, than hope for the best. I look at it as a sort of practice run. Imagine if this was a virus that killed everyone who contracted it...

I mean if this is the practice run, you'd have to say that the testing capability, contact tracing, quarantine, and checks on people returning from outbreak hotspots, have all been woeful in the UK's response. I also think the UK government didn't take it seriously quickly enough, and didn't appreciate just how overcapacity the NHS would be. They have been very slow to implement the social distancing measures required to limit the spread.

Imagine something like the Ebola outbreak wasn't contained... it had a mortality rate between 30-40%, the only saving grace was it wasn't as easy spread, partly because it killed people so quickly they didn't have the chance to go around infecting everybody...

[Newbie001]

It's the whole 1% bollocks that's scaring people. The real fact is its 1% of those ill enough to get tested mainly older people.
In reality there is probably 100s of thousands out there that got it and put it down to a cold.
Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

So let's all of us pretend its all a wind up an all those scientists hav'nt a clue ffs.

They cant even tell us if once you catch it you'd be immune or not. So yeah on this they're pretty clueless. No ones saying it's a wind up, but some of the reporting on BBC and Sky has been reckless to say the least.

[Murdoch]

They cant even tell us if once you catch it you'd be immune or not. So yeah on this they're pretty clueless. No ones saying it's a wind up, but some of the reporting on BBC and Sky has been reckless to say the least.

Can you give an example of "reckless" reporting?

Your first post brought up the mortality rate as alarmist. Yet, you're jumping to whether there is immunity in people that already have it, and calling them clueless because science cannot possibly give certainty on that issue yet, because it's a completely new virus (in humans).

Well, the government is working on the assumption, with how most viruses work, and the research that's been done so far, that there will be at least a short term immune response. If they are wrong on that, then the mortality rate would be even higher...

So what point are you actually trying to make here? Science doesn't have all the answers yet, so we should just take your word for it?

[Woody Guthrie]

Not saying we shouldn't isolate, especially older people, but we should stop spouting nonsense of millions of deaths.

When I said the death toll will run into millions I was of course talking globally.

I apologise for not taking such a parochial view as you have but dead people are still dead even if they're not English.

[norris9]

All I do is take 1 x 1000mg tablet of vitamin C for a good immune system balance and make sure I am getting my daily intake of potassium.

Research has shown a lot of people getting badly affected by this are/were low in potassium.


I'd seriously be thinking of advancing my retirement as quick as possible if I was in the vulnerable demographic. Being a Postman is not ideal at all with what we touch and who we come across on a daily basis.

This has been said to potentially be a Keep calm and carry on situation until a vaccine arrives. This could be at least 12 months. Just hope you don't suffer badly from it until then. Things are only going to get worse.

[HTPostman]

Keep calm and carry on indeed. I’m amazed at how people don’t seem to be taking this seriously, sharing funny Facebook toilet roll posts etc. I tried talking to someone about what’s going on, they listened to me then started talking about love island and Eastenders.

I’d strongly advise people to look at the situation in non secretive states (so Italy, not China). The internet there is slowing down because so many people are now using it from home. Anyone else struggling to load a few web pages lately? Cos I have.

I think we’ll soon see a situation where there will be fuel shortages and everyone isolating/staying at home and pulling on the national grid leading to regular power cuts. Also on a related note, watching the usual TV programmes (One Show for example) is it just me or are the presenters looking very worried.

There’s something we are not being told.

Right now we need leadership and a cojoined approach from all the leaders - I don’t care who I voted for, I’d be happy to see Corbyn and Johnson working together.

[needadvice]

The government figures are useless. They only test severe cases. The stat to focus on is the death rate. Everyone who dies is tested for the virus, the same for other countries. That is the only fair comparison we can make from country to country

[97gaz]

The government figures are useless. They only test severe cases. The stat to focus on is the death rate. Everyone who dies is tested for the virus, the same for other countries. That is the only fair comparison we can make from country to country

That reminds me of the old whiskers advert. "8 out of ten people who expressed a preference for Whiskers said their cat preferred it"

My county of 320,000 people has not had one confirmed case. What they mean is they have not had one case that's serious enough to hospitalise. Because that's the only cases they are testing.

I've been off since Thursday. Had the cough since last Monday. This is by far the worst cough I have ever had in my life and I'm in my sixties. You wouldn't believe the noise coming from my chest/lungs. My wife and eldest son are in the same position. None of us are improving so far. Do I have Coronavirus? I don't know and will never know because there is no testing option unless it seems you are a politician or well known celebrity.

Don't believe all the crap about the symptoms because the water has been so muddied that it's just not clear. What is clear in all cases is the cough. It is there in all cases. The older couple who caught it on a cruise recorded a maximum temperature of 37.8C so hardly a fever. There are reports that sneezing and having a runny nose does not rule out you have CV19 contrary to the 111 site saying they are rare with CV19.

So I get better and go back to work at some point and one of my co-workers shows signs of it. Then I should be self isolating again when I may have an immunity to it. It's crazy. They should be testing everyone who has the main symptoms of this or the whole Country is going to implode.

There is some evidence that once you have recovered from this then you will have an immunity to this in the short term. It's possible that like other virus' of this type that your body will retain the antibodies for up to 2-3 years. People who have had this and got over it are going to be needed to keep the country going. If only we knew who they were.

Interesting times.