CoronaVirus ==> Empty Shelves

[riverbuilder]

Is there a condensed version of this thread somewhere? Just the major important points would be fine.

[Tccp123]

Does anyone actually know anyone with the Corona Virus?

Anyone?

[BobL]

Does anyone actually know anyone with the Corona Virus?

My sister's, niece's, father-in-law was the first COVID19 death in WA.
But I don't know him personally.

[Tccp123]

My sister's, niece's, father-in-law was the first COVID19 death in WA.
But I don't know him personally.

And how old was he Bob?

[Tccp123]

And how old was he Bob?

Approximately will do...

[Beardy]

My wife’s cousin has it but she now lives in England.
My mate was admitted two days ago for further testing, he got the results back this morning with a negative outcome so is lucky to only have pneumonia

[Tccp123]

My question was confronting and got the reply I was expecting. But think about this, on a normal day in Australia approximately 434 people die of non-Covid19 related illnesses. That's every single day. Or if you want to use Italy as an example its 1753.

This is not the Spanish Flu. Nothing like it. If you don't believe me do a little research.

Don't be sucked into the hysteria. This is a herd stampede at its worst and it's taking us all with it... if we let it!

[doug3030]

My sister is convinced she has had it. She had flu-like symptoms and went to the doctor. She did not even meet the conditions to qualify for a test and was not even told to self-isolate. She self-isolated anyway and is finished her 14 days tomorrow. After that she believes that she has had Covid-19 and is now immune. Every family has one.

[Fekit]

Is there a condensed version of this thread somewhere? Just the major important points would be fine.

Yep, see below.

Looking at where you're from, if you have any pre-existing medical issues, particularly lung related, keep a low profile for at least the next six months. When things start to warm up again keep a low profile for the following six months, repeat ad nauseam.

Just don't forget that this thing is a virus.........they don't go away............sadly we will have this thing forever now. I know people are hoping and praying that it mutates into something less harmful......just saying...... I hope and pray I win the lottery every week....

[BobL]

And how old was he Bob?

77?
he had a pre existing condition

[Cgcc]

It might be true that 1743 people die each day in Italy, but that is why hospitals and the medical system is already catering for. Throw 600-900 extra all needing intensive care and you need all that extra hospital capacity to treat them. The fact that many people hit the end of their natural lives each day doesn't mean that substantially more dying well before their time, and adding to that number, is not serious.

Also the 900-odd day figures we've seen in Italy and low numbers here are *with* the strict measures in place. It's not representative of what Covid-19 would be doing if everyone just let it rip.

Pointing to relatively low numbers is like standing under an umbrella while it's raining and saying, "See, it's not so bad. I don't know why everyone's saying umbrellas are so important. I'm only getting a few drops. Let's not get hysterical about holding onto this umbrella."

[BobL]

My question was confronting and got the reply I was expecting. But think about this, on a normal day in Australia approximately 434 people die of non-Covid19 related illnesses. That's every single day. Or if you want to use Italy as an example its 1753.

This is not the Spanish Flu. Nothing like it. If you don't believe me do a little research. !

While I agree its not the SF, It's very difficult to make a comparison based on reported numbers alone.

In 1919 viruses were not know about and testing was based on symptoms which was often too late to limit infections. Communication was much slower, There were was nowhere near the level of health care, no antibiotics to deal with secondary bacterial infections that caused pneumonia (not unlike COVID19), ICU was a pale shadow of we have today, no respirators, limited understanding of epidemics so limited, late or no quarantining etc. Happening just at the end of WWI almost the entire worlds population were nutritionally challenged (there were also major famines in China and Russia at the same time) and generally in a poor health condition.
On the counter side, people today live longer with more, and more severe, health conditions and more people rapidly move around.

The Spanish flu was also not just one flu. The first wave was mild and had a low death rate (also not unlike COVID19), it was the second wave that knocked us for 6 and the same could happen with COVID19.

But the real reason that even a half decent comparison cannot be made is there were few systematic statistics kept about the Spanish flu especially in 3rd world countries and anyone that claims they know the numbers are fooling themselves. A lot of the deaths were estimates based on a few samples but the death rates varied widely from place to place, even within the same region. It is thought that as many people died of the flow on effects of the SF such as decimated medical workforce, reduced food production etc as died of the SF. Some of the SF casualty estimates are based on total deaths in the period as it was too difficult to disentangle the causes of death. Over time a number of research papers about spanish flu numbers published in prestigious scientific journals were found repeatedly to be wrong, and numbers have been revised back and forth for year.

I don't think this is the time to be making these comparisons. We have an immediate threat to public health amongst us now and anyone over 60 with one on more health conditions cannot afford to catch it at the same time as a bunch of other people. Also we need to be very careful about watching out for round 2.

[BobL]

Just don't forget that this thing is a virus.........they don't go away............sadly we will have this thing forever now. I know people are hoping and praying that it mutates into something less harmful......just saying...... I hope and pray I win the lottery every week....

Not only do they not go away they can easily mutate and become deadlier. This is what happened during the Spanish Flu. The first wave was mild and had low death rates (not unlike COVD19) compared to the following wave which the medical fraternity was just going to be a repeat of the first wave. What we have to be is better prepared for the possible Tsunami that follows. If the Govts had any sense they should start planning and investing NOW.

Maybe take out shares in PPE, sanitiser chemicals, Respirators, Rapid Response Biotech to make test kits, Coffins etc?

[NeilS]

The question:

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture
He has access to an expert who is DNA linked to him (which means no bullsh).

The question was what does "He has access to an expert who is DNA linked to him" exactly mean?

Not quite sure, but he is possibly referring to either my siblings or my children with expertise in virology and medicine or perhaps he is referring to my friend who is an epidemiologist, but he is not DNA related.

Anyway, the expertise is theirs, not mine. But, I do listen to their advice and I couldn't repeat here what they say about those who are propagating the view that the current measures are an overreaction.

[FenceFurniture]

Neil, yes, you mentioned your son a few days ago, and IIRC you said he was an Immunologist or very similar.

Don't be sucked into the hysteria. This is a herd stampede at its worst and it's taking us all with it... if we let it!

Maybe there's hysteria on Facebook and the like but I wouldn't know. Maybe there's a bit of hysteria in Sydney - I don't know, but I don't think so. Out on the street (here anyway) people are just going about their business. I think I may even be seeing a little more friendliness around - more people saying hello to strangers as we walk past each other, but I wouldn't necessarily expect that in Sydney.

Herd stampede? Well not yet, but recent weeks have certainly given us a glimpse of how quickly society would be able to break down in a full blown catastrophe, and that really is scary. Especially fights over bumroll (I'll bet there was more than just that one at Chullora). At this stage I'm not sure if some social media like FB and Twitter are doing more harm than good, because they are certainly magnificent in spreading junk stories to whip people into frenzies.

But what will happen to FB when the advertising dries up? It must have already gone down significantly. Will this whole procedure be a cleansing of our society as we knew it, or will it go the other way? Certainly it will never be the same again, one way or another.



Went for a walk to Woolworths this arvo and panic buying seems to have settled down - plenty of raw chicken (all cuts), plenty of bread, red meat, and so on. Toilet roll still comes and goes apparently. I was even able to get my favourite lamb steak for once. This is probably partly due to the restrictions they have put on purchase numbers, and partly due to freezer space having run out.

I do think it's important to try and have some fun with people when out and about in these trying times. When I went into Woolies they had some new green discs on the floor, about 400mm dia, with "Stand Here" on them.

So I did.

After a little while I looked across to the store greeter about 10m away, gestured to the floor, and asked "How long for?".
He called back "As long as you like, but we close at 8!"
Good answer! We both had a small giggle.


Having said all that, we must take this very, very seriously indeed - it's as infectious as hell. Trust the medical professionals. We have to hope there is no mutated second wave.