Corona-virus - How worried are you?

Vegastare

A friend told me her sister in Aus said there is a shortage of toilet rolls down under....like an idiot I asked why.....
Well it's spreading over here....no toilet rolls in Homebargains today...someone explain why...please, maybe we can all buy newspapers like the good old days

peachyprice

pickledonionspaceraider said:

That is true.  I didn't realise Ibuprofen had been in short supply for a while.  I have tried to order them twice along with my shopping and they haven't come - thatll be why

It hasn't everywhere.  We've always had a plentiful supply in all our shops. 

Cloudane

Cautious (my parents are getting on for 70, so it helps make me more conscious IN GENERAL about not being a carrier for things that could be more harmful for them) but not worried.  This 3.4% death rate thing keeps getting bandied about along with the notion something like 60-80% of the population could end up infected and people keep extrapolating that to "omg 200 million will die, 4 times worse than the Spanish Flu!" - this is nonsense.  We don't know how big the "iceberg" of people who are infected but have no idea they're infected is. It's 3.4% of CONFIRMED CASES, that is, people who have been tested (either they know because their symptoms are bad enough to ask, or returned from a high risk zone). That's the worst case scenario if literally 100% of infections have been documented which is just insane. 

It could get worse e.g. with this second more aggressive version but I wouldn't assume so. 

The bigger worry is all the hysteria and what it's doing to the economy, what it's doing with racism, and relations with China.  That could kill more people if they end up in poverty, if there's less reliance on China for manufacturing sending people there also into poverty, etc. 

dArla

This season more people have died from flu than from corona virus. So not worried

pickledonionspaceraider

dArla said:

This season more people have died from flu than from corona virus. So not worried

So far  (that is the thought that worries me)

Ergates

MoneySeeker1 said:

No, I wouldnt accept a camp bed in a church hall as adequate accommodation "whilst I waited" either and would remain in the b & b and be figuring out how the cost of it was going to be met (but not by me)

If, under such circumstances, you chose to incur additional costs, then they very much *would* be met by you.  If the services being provided were not suitable (meaning, they'd cause you harm, rather than you just didn't like them) then you should be able to demonstrate this, and then suitable services would be provided.  You don't just get to stay in whatever hotel you like and day "you're paying for this".  Bearing in mind that such restrictions would only come about in extreme circumstances, rather than just "some ***** of a Government Minister tries to make it awkward " - why do you think they would do that if the situation didn't warrant it?  For fun?  Because they like wasting money?

MoneySeeker1 said:

The other point is the way the World Health Organisation seem to regard people of 65 plus as "elderly" and there is already "advice" coming out to stay in and comments coming out about ageism possibly happening when it comes to who gets treated for this if they get it and then they promptly tried to "shift the goalposts" and decreed it would be a good idea for the over-60's to stay in to protect themselves. The Government seems to have forgotten just how many people (eg women who've got a revised State Pension Age) are still having to work in their 60's and can't just stay home to protect themselves from other people and to be overlooking the fact that the Equality Act made a few years back includes specifying provisions against age discrimination.

The equality act protects you from discrimination, it doesn't make you immune to disease.  Viruses aren't subject to the law.  People who are over 65 are more at risk from this disease - meaning they are more likely to die if they get it.  The WHO and government pointing this out, and suggesting that maybe you might want to take some steps to reduce your risk of dying isn't age discrimination.  Specifically it would come under "a service provider is making age-related concessions and benefits." which is one of the legal exemptions.

Ergates

Cloudane said:

We don't know how big the "iceberg" of people who are infected but have no idea they're infected is. It's 3.4% of CONFIRMED CASES, that is, people who have been tested (either they know because their symptoms are bad enough to ask, or returned from a high risk zone). That's the worst case scenario if literally 100% of infections have been documented which is just insane. 

The counter to that is that if there is some huge pool of infected people we don't know about, it means the virus is *a lot* more infectious that we thought, and we already think it's pretty damn infectious.  Also, if people can get it and not even know, it means it will be effectively impossible to contain.
And... even if it turns out that the mortality rate is no worse than flu, that still means we would have *another* flu floating about.  Except, not flu, so there would be no cross immunity, meaning you could get both.  One flu is bad enough (kills 11,000 people in the UK in a bad year), we don't need another separate disease doing the same thing at the same time.  And then factor in that you could get both as the same, which probably wouldn't be good.
Panic buying toilet paper and hand sanitizer isn't a particularly useful response, but we should definitely be concerned about this.  A lot of people are going to die in the coming months.

pickledonionspaceraider

I agree with @Ergates

I think our money grabbing government have been extremely foolish.    
We should have shut the borders as soon as this started - but no, we must think of the money. Think of the house prices and the economy above health and life.  I know some people will not agree with that but to be so utterly money driven that they allowed this to enter our society. They have allowed this

A pandemic has been predicted for decades and apparently the UK (and rest of the world ) has been gearing up for it. 
Have they heckers like, in the UK there is not enough ventilators or ICU beds, or even protective clothing for the staff who are, in some cases, already having to buy their own. We have lost hundreds of thousands of hospital beds since the 80's , but the population of the country has gone up exponentially since then. People are going to need ventilators and not be able to get access to one. What they going to do when the hospitals are full?

It feels like we are in a petri dish and the government are watching from their sanitised bunkers whilst they tell us not to panic

But now it is too late. Thanks to them in charge.   It is being passed on by people who haven't even been abroad.  It is here and it is going to keep growing....we have left it too late

Yes a lot of people will die.  Some folk are coming large with the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude but people are forgetting that one day, we will all be old and maybe infirm or ill.  

pickledonionspaceraider

Panic buying really gets my goat.  What about people who cannot afford to do this? It is utterly utterly selfish.  

It is all about the haves, and have nots.  The haves only care about the 'self'

What about the ill and disabled on disability allowance who only get money weekly - what about pensioners who have worked all their lives and now get a pittance given weekly in the form of their pension ? These people only get money once a week and a small amount at that - so can only get what they need

It is that type of - already vulnerable -  person who will be most effected by the panic buying

Pollycat

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Panic buying really gets my goat.  What about people who cannot afford to do this? It is utterly utterly selfish.  

It is all about the haves, and have nots.  The haves only care about the 'self'

What about the ill and disabled on disability allowance who only get money weekly - what about pensioners who have worked all their lives and now get a pittance given weekly in the form of their pension ? These people only get money once a week and a small amount at that - so can only get what they need

It is that type of - already vulnerable -  person who will be most effected by the panic buying

Have a read of this thread if you haven't already.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6110805/have-people-gone-totally-bonkers/p1

The OP thinks people who are stockpiling are bonkers.

Not because it's wrong or unfair but because people should already have stocks in.

And 5 full freezers.