Zoe Bell

it honestly isn't IMO, but as you can see from this thread, public perception is everything.
and sparkly hand sanitiser rocks

dave_j

I did wonder about this myself.
We suffer enormous wildfires because we prevent small ones and thereby accumulate fuel for the big one.
Are we doing the same here?
Perhaps we should simply stand back and let it run it's course, survivors would be immune and the population as a whole would be a little less vulnerable to the next similar outbreak.
Of course, because the virus doesn't discriminate and because it might affect the elderly more virulently, myself included, those older people who happen to be in charge might have a personal interest in trying to keep it in check.

Jerseygirl

One one hand I think maybe it’s scaremongering, on the other hand I wonder if there is something they know and we don’t.

Pulaski

Er, the World Health Organization says that "SARS-CoV-2, .... causes COVID-19". In other words, this is a type of SARS, and just because the Covis-19 outbreak isn't the same disease as the previously well known SARS outbreak, doesn't mean that COVID-19 isn't also a type of SARS.

scrubbedexpat091

Our neighbor has stocked up on a ton of supplies, almost looked like they were opening a store they had so much stuff in the hallway, they said they went to Costco to get 2 weeks of supplies in case there is a pandemic.

If there is one we know who in the building has the food...ha ha. We could probably get through 3-4 days with what we have food wise then it would start to get difficult.

Pulaski

If the virus take hold in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Dhaka, Karachi, and Lahore, and a number of other cities in South and SE Asia, there are going to be wildfires for sure!

scrubbedexpat091

Seems to be the big question.

US CDC director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases seems to be under the belief its now a not will it spread but a when will it spread scenario.

I don't see any benefit for officials to scaremonger and its always better to be over prepared rather than under prepared.

The lack of knowledge of this virus probably also has officials erring more on the side of caution.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/h...avirus-us.html

spouse of scouse

From necessity I'm paying attention to the official travel warnings/advice of my own and every country we'll be visiting on our holiday which starts in 7 weeks. Multiple reasons for this.

Travelling to an area against the Oz government's advice will invalidate our travel insurance, meaning no health cover, no accommodation or additional travel/flight cover, no repatriation cover, no cover for anything.

The UK will be our base for most of the holiday. We booked flights and accommodation for Sicily and Madrid some time ago. On the way home, Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur.

While in the UK we plan to stay with Scouse's older brother and sis-in-law in a small house. Both are over 70. One has a heart condition, the other diabetes. While looking at alternative (independent) accommodation last night I said to Scouse, what's the point? We're mainly going on this trip to spend some time with them. With all the other things to think about as well, plus the possibility of being quarantined/self-isolated, should we just cancel the whole trip?

Which brings me full circle to the travel insurance thing. This was going to be a big trip for Scouse and I, and quite possibly the last time we'll visit the UK. Accordingly, we've pushed the boat out a bit and have spent around $30,000 so far on flights and accommodation. It's not an insignificant amount of money for us. The two brothers are looking forward to their time together so much.

If only we (and everyone) just KNEW! Like others have also said, I jump from one scenario to the other until I'm bloody dizzy. From telling myself off for all this drama about a virus that seems to equate in terms of severity with influenza, to passing on to family or strangers something that might kill them, and all points in between. Buggered if I know.

So, I'll just revert to the first line of my post.

bats

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus not the disease.
They aren't the same disease.

BritInParis

It’s the same disease caused by different strains of the same virus - SARS-CoV in 2003 and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019/2020, hence the nomenclature.

Zoe Bell

Well I'm off to check into my hotel and organize the move in ( and be a part of the human races ultimate doom)
have fun folks

Jerseygirl

stay safe Zoe. Good luck.

Pulaski

As per BiP, one "disease" can have multiple different causes. For example, meningitis has both bacterial and viral causes, as does pneumonia, and there are several different strains of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, some of which cause symptomless infections - in other words you will have lung nodules visible in an X-ray and have a positive Mantout skin test but have never apparently suffered from tuberculosis,

Nand

Covid 19 is the name of the disease. Severe Acute Respitory Syndrome is what you get from it hence the name of the little buggers is SARS -Cov-2 because they cause the SARS. It is a respiratory disease not the flu.
This a new coronavirus, and is the second (hence the number 2 after its name) of the SARS coronavirus's.

This is nothing like a regular flu bug, or even a "bad flu".

NOtice that Italy had 3 cases last Friday, today it has around 350 cases and 11 people dead.
That is a lot of people dead quite quickly.

I am a little bit more jumpy these days than you all over in Canada because I live in France which is just too close to North Italy ATM.

BritInParis

The average number of deaths from winter flu in the UK alone is 800 per annum. The outbreak is great for 24 hour rolling news but doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.