dave_j

"The Force can have a strong influence on the weak minded"

Danny B

I wonder how the toilet paper supplies are doing in Italy right now? The ENTIRE country is on lock down!

Jerseygirl

Costco car park was full today, as bad if not worse than Christmas. Although the store was busy there were only about 3 people at each register, almost all registers were open. We saw massive stocks of water, toilet rolls and kitchen towels. Most people had several of each in their carts, some couples had a cart each. The supermarkets seem to be fully stocked too, apart from disinfecting sprays and wipes.

Paul_Shepherd

Apparently Trudeau said its Italy's darkest hour........ maybe someone should remind him of world war II. No wonder people are people are going bog roll crazy comments like that.....he doesn't live in the real world!

BristolUK

Italy has 366 dead out of 4000 cases. Not far off one in ten. That compares to 240 deaths from regular flu out of 4,800,00 cases. That's a hell of a difference.

I think that's pretty dark and now the entire country is on lockdown.

scrubbedexpat091

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is recommending cruise season be delayed, but it will ultimately be up to the federal government.

This would certainly hurt the local economy, and airport, without cruise ship season many of the flights added in the summer are not necessary.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6653317/b...U_AlKV7ZEfTddo

Paul_Shepherd

No doubt its serious, but do we really need that kind of language? Maybe he meant the darkest hour so far.....but THE darkest hour?? its a bit dramatic....PMs should be carefully choosing their language in order to not stoke up already panicky people..... the media are doing a good enough job on that. Last night for example the opening lines were "First fatality in Canada from the Corona virus....is it time for Canada to cancel public events and lock down the public" talk about stoking public fear! the media are terrible for stuff like this.

How many cases have we heard where people have caught the virus and have full recovered? none. and lets not forget China's cases are now on the decline....this is hopefully a trend that will soon follow in Italy and Iran.

BristolUK

I think your anti-Trudeau bias is showing, that's all. Those figures relating to Italy and comparing them to regular flu in Italy or this virus compared to other countries are staggering.

You initially suggested darkest hour was an exaggeration compared to WW2. It's hardly a fair comparison; something in peacetime with something in war time.

Paul_Shepherd

Fair comment, cant really compare war time and peace time events, and yes your right I'm not a Trudeau fan.

Its just the media are really stoking this, they're worse than ever, and I don't think society copes with a crisis now as well like it once did, but times have changed I guess.....the media and the easy access of information is the biggest change.

scrubbedexpat134

Expect to see a big increase in Canadian cases of Corona virus during the next 6 to 12 weeks as the snow birds return from their winter vacations.

dave_j

Times have changed.
People are still able to cope with adversity but in general their lives are so comparatively comfortable that they find themselves vulnerable to many more issues and what would once have been considered luxury is now commonplace and we like it that way.
This example of, what is really a virulent but generally safe for most, virus has provided a shock to society that demonstrates how quickly the herd reacts to percieved shortages of a luxury good.
It's actually society that's creating the problem for itself. I'd argue that the cure is more disruptive than the disease.

CanadaJimmy

Worth keeping in mind the reported number infected is likely not everyone who is actually infected. A lot of people just get a high fever and carry on as normal, blissfully unaware they caught the virus. So the mortality % rate is likely a lot lower than what the numbers are telling us. Still terrible for the hundreds who have died and those who have lost loved ones to the illness of course.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...accine/607000/

dbd33

I don't think this idea, advanced I believe by President Trump, holds. The mortality rate would not be a useful comparand if some Coronavirus sufferers failed to report it but all sufferers of swine flu or regular flu did report their condition. I think that unlikely. It seems to me that people are just as likely to go about their business with a touch of the ebola as they are with a touch of the coronavirus. That being the case, while the rate is not true in absolute terms it's fine for the purpose of comparison.

dbd33

Do you have examples of unreasonable reporting from serious publications? I listen to the BBC "Italy in lockdown" they say, then they say that that is shorthand and describe the exact situation (for which "lockdown" seems a reasonable shorthand). I expect there's bollocks in the Sun and the Mail and the Enquirer but bollocks is what they're about.

scot47

Anyone who has travelled in The Mid and Far East knows that life with toilet paper is possible. How did we survive before this abomination was invented ?