General / Off-Topic Interesting Times.

[Stigbob]

There is an article on the bbc asking how many of the forecast 250-500,000 were already likely to die. About 600,000 people die in the uk each year anyway and no one is mitigating any of the covid figures against this.
Forcing people to isolate only slows things down to allow the nhs to cope a little better, while probably causing tension and unrest among a lot of people due to the years of austerity to come. Look how some European countries reacted last time they were told there was no money and everyone has to cut back

They are prioritising lives above money and established comforts. Not a bad thing, but it could have been done sooner. Some people will react very badly from behind their toilet paper stashes though.

The current obsession with exam delays in the UK shows people are struggling to recognise the situation we are all in.

 

[Jezzah]

Peoples reactions to this are very strange.

I work in full time military and NHS. I've just seen a message in one of the many what's app groups associated with my Little lad.

One of the mums claimed the director of nursing at her hospital had told her that petrol pumps were being associated with passing the virus on. She then proceeded to advise that people ought to fill up cars and containers in bulk to minimize the exposure. With the laughable statement at the end "it could make a HUGE difference"

I just honestly dont have the proper language to describe these peoples utter and bewildering village idiot levels of stupidity.

Needless to say I roundly riposted her statement with the club of common sense.

Unbelievable.

 

[Stigbob]

Peoples reactions to this are very strange.

I work in full time military and NHS. I've just seen a message in one of the many what's app groups associated with my Little lad.

One of the mums claimed the director of nursing at her hospital had told her that petrol pumps were being associated with passing the virus on. She then proceeded to advise that people ought to fill up cars and containers in bulk to minimize the exposure. With the laughable statement at the end "it could make a HUGE difference"

I just honestly dont have the proper language to describe these peoples utter and bewildering village idiot levels of stupidity.

Needless to say I roundly riposted her statement with the club of common sense.

Unbelievable.

Look on the Brightside hopefully it'll scare the idiots away from panic buying fuel.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Coronavirus: Stop going out, it is going to kill people, warns ICU doctor, "Dr. Jack"

This intensive care doctor pleaded with people to take the government's social distancing advice seriously and stay at home because the NHS is already struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

www.lbc.co.uk

What strikes me was the comment about comparing wars- in the past people have lied to fight, and yet today people can fight by sitting on a sofa....and they can't even do that and go down the pub.

 

[Becks]

Coming out of quarantine in a couple of days, straight into the lockdown. My county has over 50 cases per 100.000 inhabitants and I'm getting slowly a lot more insecure about the whole situation.

The plant I work at shut down for the next two weeks, possibly longer. All employees have to use their paid vacation, thus my entire vacation in the summer was cancelled. Working from home went meh for a week, due to the stress on the company network.

Idk, this whole situation overwhelms me.

 

[Chris Simon]

 

[Stigbob]

View attachment 166361

There are plenty of zombies queuing up outside supermarkets to panic buy everything the moment they open.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Please don't worry about those of us from the USA.

I am unable to exclude chunks of folks from my general concern, but hope your country shall yet prevail despite the functional decapitation we are seeing over and over round the world.

In the end it comes down to the people, not their structural leadership.

My country's leadership plan is fairly good, but we are not following it. Until there is a mobilization at the ground level, the populations everywhere are at risk.

It is a hard thing to really grasp, for everybody.

 

[starman]

One way to look at Covid-19 is that it's a blessing in disguise.

I don't mean that people dying from a virus is good, and my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones recently. In the USA alone 3 million people pass away each year, leaving 3 million families behind to morn them.

But Covid-19 is showing the world how easy it is for a virus to spread worldwide, something that is a little scary given that it's the 21st century and all.

On the bright side, for the vast majority of the population if they contract Covid-19 it's no worse than getting the flu. Preliminary data shows that Covid-19 is mostly dangerous to the 60+ crowd (and those with weak immune systems,) and also does not seem to be a significant risk to those under 10.

That's good news because the segment of the population most at risk is the easiest to quarantine: The majority of the 60+ crowd is either retired, or have well over 14 days of sick/vacation time saved up.

This in turn means the "working class" can still work through the virus, and "children" can continue to go to school, just like in flu season.

In the end, I don't expect Covid-19 to even take 1% of the lives that the Flu takes every single year, and as a result we should be very thankful that this pandemic won't have more than a momentary impact on us.

That said, I do hope our world heath organizations learn what they need to from this situation so they will be better prepared to stop a more lethal virus in the future.

o7

Thats a large part of the ED community!

 

[EUS]

Peoples reactions to this are very strange.

I work in full time military and NHS. I've just seen a message in one of the many what's app groups associated with my Little lad.

One of the mums claimed the director of nursing at her hospital had told her that petrol pumps were being associated with passing the virus on. She then proceeded to advise that people ought to fill up cars and containers in bulk to minimize the exposure. With the laughable statement at the end "it could make a HUGE difference"

I just honestly dont have the proper language to describe these peoples utter and bewildering village idiot levels of stupidity.

Needless to say I roundly riposted her statement with the club of common sense.

Unbelievable.

Amazing, isn't it? And they get to vote.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I'm doing OK here in STL. The city/metro is running on a not-quite skeleton crew for many services.

The time debts will be ones with hideous interest. Yes, that was a very bad pun.

 

[Xenith]

They are prioritising lives above money and established comforts. Not a bad thing, but it could have been done sooner. Some people will react very badly from behind their toilet paper stashes though.

The current obsession with exam delays in the UK shows people are struggling to recognise the situation we are all in.

It should have been done more than a month ago, when the virus first appeared in Europe. We prioritised travel over the welfare of the nation, and we are now reaping the reward. The lesson here is that borders need to be more tightly controlled, and lives placed above holidays.

People are definitely not taking this pandemic seriously enough, and so eventually laws will be passed, to force people to do what they should have been doing voluntarily in the first place. I've even heard people saying that we should let the elderly die from it, which is not something I ever imagined someone from this country coming out with!

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

It should have been done more than a month ago, when the virus first appeared in Europe. We prioritised travel over the welfare of the nation, and we are now reaping the reward. The lesson here is that borders need to be more tightly controlled...

Absolutely true, during a pandemic.
Unless there is a complete lockdown of international travel, no place is safe.

But under normal conditions, different standards apply to favor commerce etc.

 

[Xenith]

Absolutely true, during a pandemic.
Unless there is a complete lockdown of international travel, no place is safe.

But under normal conditions, different standards apply to favor commerce etc.

We knew it was a pandemic, but money came first. Money is all well and good, if you're alive to spend it.

 

[Manticore]

Absolutely true, during a pandemic.
Unless there is a complete lockdown of international travel, no place is safe.

But under normal conditions, different standards apply to favor commerce etc.

To extend your comment their is always the propensity to continue with, or re-establish, the status quo.

In this case it appears that we can forget the status quo for quite some time.... personally what if feel is that Mother Nature, in many different ways and in recent times, is reminding the human race that we are not in control of the planet; she is.

Yes; things are extremely tentative and threatening at the moment.

Stay safe.

 

[Noobilite]

What is the technical definition of a pandemic?

 

[Trotsky2112]

What is the technical definition of a pandemic?

An outbreak of a single disease over most (or all) of the earth.

 

[metatheurgist]

Yeah, it's weird that the economy keeps being a greater weight on the scales than human lives...wait, what am I talking about. It's always been that way.

 

[jasonbarron]

Yeah, it's weird that the economy keeps being a greater weight on the scales than human lives...wait, what am I talking about. It's always been that way.

Do you like the heat that comes out of your vents in the winter? The food on the shelves in the store? How about critical infrastructure such as highways, bridges, electricity and hospitals? Maybe a strong military? How about money to pay for goods and services that you rely on to survive? Doctors, nurses, bio-engineers? Do you know what they all have in common? If you guessed "the economy" you will have nailed it.

So....yeah. Pretty important.

 

[Stigbob]

Do you like the heat that comes out of your vents in the winter? The food on the shelves in the store? How about critical infrastructure such as highways, bridges, electricity and hospitals? Maybe a strong military? How about money to pay for goods and services that you rely on to survive? Doctors, nurses, bio-engineers? Do you know what they all have in common? If you guessed "the economy" you will have nailed it.

So....yeah. Pretty important.

True, but the economy needs people to be relevant so they are both important. Over prioritize one at the expense of the other and you've got major problems.