Swine 'flu - What economic impact?

Heyman_2

bluey890 wrote: »

Apologies, the misinterpretation was not wilfull. The written word, without benefit of tone of voice and physical expression can easily lead to misunderstanding.
TBH I think I didn't like the imagery (without appreciating it was sarcasm) and bit. A little too easy to do on forums.

No probs at all bluey, I see where you were coming from now.

Mexas

bluey890 wrote: »

Exactly how bad is very bad?

Should I be putting operation 'secure the estate' into action?

This basically involves friends and family mounting sentry points with BFGs.

haha im not the only person who has thought about this then.

Oh the things we think about when trying to get to sleep.

amcluesent

"The NHS is preparing to vaccinate the entire population against swine flu after the disease claimed the life of its first healthy British patient.

A new vaccine is expected to arrive in Britain in the next few weeks and could be fast-tracked through regulatory approval in five days."

michaels

Thank you for editing (Oi - a bit too close to Dervish territory)

Rather like MMR I would quite like everyone else to have the vaccine and for me to benefit as a free rider on the herd immunity rather than risk an untested vaccine.

amcluesent wrote: »

"The NHS is preparing to vaccinate the entire population against swine flu after the disease claimed the life of its first healthy British patient.

A new vaccine is expected to arrive in Britain in the next few weeks and could be fast-tracked through regulatory approval in five days."

QUOTE]

amcluesent

"Swine flu could bring UK to a halt, Whitehall told

Vital sections of society could be paralysed if swine flu reaches epidemic proportions as expected, the government has been warned.

Schools would close and transport and other vital services, such as GP surgeries, would be put under severe strain.

BT could not give "definitive" assurances that Britain's broadband network would work fully because of the vast numbers of people logging on from home.

Inflatable mortuaries and 'express' funerals planned for flu pandemic

Department of Health projections put the total UK death toll from a pandemic as high as 750,000. Inflatable mortuaries, 24-hour cremations and "express" funerals could all be used to dispose of thousands of bodies in a flu pandemic, Whitehall papers show.

Not looking too clever, it it? :whistle:

Masomnia

The second article comes from 1st May, when we had less information than we do now. The government was preparing for the worst, that's fair enough; doesn't mean it will happen though, as time as gone on it's looked less and less liek the disaster that many were predicting.

I agree that a pandemic could cause disruption to a lot of services though.

misskool

amcluesent wrote: »

[

Department of Health projections put the total UK death toll from a pandemic as high as 750,000. Inflatable mortuaries, 24-hour cremations and "express" funerals could all be used to dispose of thousands of bodies in a flu pandemic, Whitehall papers show.

Not looking too clever, it it? :whistle:

I happen to know some people who are modelling the pandemic and the consequences, worst case scenarios etc.

I have to say that they are making up numbers as they go along and multiply it by a factor of ten. A pandemic is expected but if the virus does not mutate (which is unlikely, seasonal flu mutates which is why there is a new flu vaccine yearly but the mutation may not be more lethal), then the death rates are expected to stay low.

Widespread panic is not helping especially when people are not hygiene aware. That's the most worrying thing, I have to sit in public transport daily and people have no qualms of sneezing or coughing to my face.

Woby_Tide

It looks like the secondary effects are the ones that will have the biggest effect on the economy i.e. where people are taken away from employment to care for others (elderly/children say). I think the worst case scenario we've been given at work so far was something like a 30-40% absentee rate over 6 months.

Basically sell shares in restaurantscinemas and buy them in chemists and lucozade

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

Widespread panic is not helping especially when people are not hygiene aware. That's the most worrying thing, I have to sit in public transport daily and people have no qualms of sneezing or coughing to my face.

Isn't it shocking though, how few people are hygeine aware? I know that a large company in London is circuating information on how to correctly wash your hands, and when to wash your hands!

inspector_monkfish

THE number of cases of swine flu could catch up with the number of cases of hiccups and diarrhoea, given 10-12 years, doctors have claimed.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association said: "There are currently about three million cases of hiccups, some of them very nasty indeed.


http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/health/swine-flu-slowly-catching-up-with-diarrhoea-and-hiccups-200907101896/