panic buying?
 

At Gloria + sylvester hardware in Portimao last week, I noticed all the paper dust masks were sold out.
None in portilaca paints either.

Maybe I'll go to town tomorrow and get some serious shopping in.
No need to panic they keep saying.

Re: panic buying?
 

Maybe people just have big DIY jobs planned for when they're 'working from home' or self-isolating?

Re: panic buying?
 

There have been two cases of Coronavirus reported in Portimao in the last 12 hours. A mother and daughter who had been on holiday in Italy during carnival The mother is a teacher at the daughters school. Two schools have now been closed as a result and all public activities in Portimao suspended.These are first two cases in the South

I have taken the advice to up my intake of Vit C and drink hot liquids often to keep my body temperature up. Otherwise exercise and eat well. Keep alcohol to minimum ( avoid anything that lowers your resistance) The virus cannot survive temps above 27deg..Sit in the sun.;)it doesn't survive longer than 10 minutes on your hands, wash them regularly Don't touch mouth or nose with unwashed hands. To protect other people . sneeze into your elbow not your hands .avoid shaking hands or kissing cheeks.. Simple things that could help avoid contamination.

Re: panic buying?
 

best to stop all flights from italy, before its too late.
Portugal is similar to UK, UK is an island and Portugal only has one border or connection to another country.
That situation should be taken in advantage of now

Re: panic buying?
 

Too late! It's here.
I did some panic buying so I don't have to go shopping again for a week.
Then I'll do some more panic buying I guess.

I noticed that the supermarket staff handles fresh fruit and veg bare handed.

They say not to worry, it mostly kills old people. Like us.

Be careful, everyone.

Re: panic buying?
 

no its not too late yet.....but it will be in 4 weeks time. Live and learn from others.
other countries have stopped all flights from Italy.
My concern is turning up at a UK airport when 5 mns before a flight from Milan came in....all in the arrivals hall mixed together...for how long........brilliant.
I was told by Stansted that they are working under WHO advice.....therfore nothing special being done.
But of course WHO is controlled by both govs and big business.
As you say maybe not a big deal to those in perfect health and under 50, but a lot of over 50s, even more over 60s and even more still aged 70+ do have other health issues, and so are more susceptible....thats why again I feel that the reporting should include children, as a probable major factor in spreading the virus.....they prob dont even know they have it
Just my thoughts.
But I now make sure I keep away from all children...

Re: panic buying?
 

Governments around the world must be rubbing their collective hands, if it kills off a load of us "oldies" they could save a fortune on pension payments!

Re: panic buying?
 

except the governments are all oldies too.

I had a dream, someone was saying to me "Did you hear? Trump has the virus!"
Imagine my disappointment when I checked the news...

Re: panic buying?
 

Thought this was relevant, everyone take a breath... you don’t need more toilet paper! That won’t help with the Coronavirus BUT HERES SOME INFORMATION THAT WILL! 👇

✔ 82,000 People are sick with Coronavirus at the moment, of which 77,000 are in China.
This means that if you are not in or haven't recently visited China, this should eliminate 94% of your concern.

🧪 If you do contract Coronavirus, this still is not a cause for panic because:
81% of the Cases are MILD
14% of the Cases are MODERATE
Only 5% of the Cases are CRITICAL

😉 Which means that even if you do get the virus, you are most likely to recover from it.

🙄 Some have said, “but this is worse than SARS!”. SARS had a fatality rate of 10% while COVID-19 has a fatality rate of 3.4%

👍 Moreover, looking at the ages of those who are dying of this virus, the death rate for the people UNDER 50 years of age is only 0.2%

💰 This means that if you are under 50 years of age and don't live in China - you are more likely to win the lottery (which has a 1 in 45,000,000 chance)

📚 Let’s take one of the worst days so far, the 10th of February, when 108 people in CHINA died of Coronavirus.

🗺 On the same day:
👉 26,283 people died of Cancer
👉 24,641 people died of Heart Disease
👉 4,300 people died of Diabetes
👉 Suicide took 28 times more lives than the virus did.
None were reported on.

🦟 Mosquitoes kill 2,740 people every day,
👨 HUMANS kill 1,300 fellow humans every day,
🐍 Snakes kill 137 people every day,
🦈 Sharks kill 2 people a year.

Re: panic buying?
 

A sensible outlook!

Re: panic buying?
 

Too true ... but you can't catch these from other people nor can you pass it on.

Re: panic buying?
 

This virus is spreading exponentially; the spread of infection is unknown, as most people get few symptoms and testing is expensive.
There is a lag of a few weeks before sickness and more before death occurs.
Only the dead are counted accurately.
In a few weeks, we'll have a better idea of what the infection rate was today.
If you have any respiratory condition, or are immune compromised due to disease or medication, the risk may become serious.

It has happened with previous pandemics that the virus mutated into a less deadly form. A more deadly form would kill it's host sooner and fail to spread as rapidly, while a less deadly form does the opposite, spreading rapidly and effectively through non symptomatic hosts.
And vaccinating them.
Maybe the corona virus will also go this course, maybe not.

As with those other causes of death listed above, I will do my best to safeguard myself and family from it.
Maybe a couple of months from now, I'll be branded a fool for my unnecessary caution.
How embarrassing.
Or maybe the disease will go the other way, and a lot of people will die.

I hope to be called a hysterical fool when this is over.
The alternative is that caution is justified.

Re: panic buying?
 

It survives in the human body, and that's 37 degrees.

Re: panic buying?
 

Before we go "facebook clever", panic solves nothing - but doing nothing is NOT an option.

Leo Varadkar has said that, given a potential infection of 40-60% of the population and a mortality rate of 1-3.4% (both "standard" estimates), the worst-case scenarion for Ireland was 28,000 deaths. From a population half the size of Portugal.

Epidemiology gives us mathematical models to predict infection across a given population. The results are stark - an unchecked growth factor of 15 gives an infected population of over 100,000,000 in two months, whereas interrupting the transmission by relatively simple means reduces the factor to 5 - resulting in an infected population of 330,000. The former figure will be untreatable and cripple society, the latter will be a stretch, but is doable.

Interruption of growth is down to 2 things - reducing contact with the virus and reducing infection as a result of contact. Therefore, restrictions on public gatherings and simply washing hands can have a huge impact, although. in truth, the spread will be somewhere between the two figures. I am in the UK at present and will not return to Portugal until we see how the land lies in a few weeks - this is not just for me, because I am relatively fit and would probably not have major issues, but I could easily be a vector of transmission. It's also not because I am unsafe where I am, but because my risk of infection will go up exponentially if I pass through 2 international airports.

This last is another point - people under 50 may be unlikely to die due to COVID-19 - but COVID-19 does kill and they will be vectors! So, unless everyone thinks it's OK to kill off the less fit, the less able to withstand the virus, I'd suggest a modicum of altruism is in order. I certainly wouldn't want to think my neighbours in Portugal are in mortal danger through my actions (or inactions).

On this - I have just finished talking to my 86-year old neighbour here in the UK. She has a nasty cough and would normally be in hospital as she lives alone, but she is being treated at home - because the local hospital don't want to use their beds for any but the most urgent cases. So, she has a nurse coming out 3 times a day - potentially leaving her alone for 8 hours at a stretch... Remember, she's 86, sick and in bed. Even if the virus doesn't reach her, she's already being impacted.

Let's be careful out there!

Re: panic buying?
 

I am talking about outside of the body ..on hands , etc so hot water washing is essential :lol: Interesting point though. ..why can't it survive outside ...but it can inside ?

Re: panic buying?
 

Portugal now has 78 cases with almost 5,000 people under observation including the Prime Minister who has gone into voluntary quarantine after visiting a school where a pupil had the virus . Has Boris done the same yet ?. Shame on him if he hasn't . The new 'hub' is now going to be Portimao and potentially Lagos as rumour has it that 9 pupils at a school there have the virus caught from the teacher in Portimao who also taught in Lagos. ( this last isn't confirmed as yet ) OH was asked where he had come from when he went to pick up his test results from Sao Gonzales hospital this morning .(If it was Portimao you had to wash your hands with disinfectant gel and wear a mask) I had to visit a specialist in Faro on Monday and it was the same then . They are trying hard to contain the spread in the hospitals. I was shocked to read that 28 nursing staff at a Tilburg hospital in the Netherlands were infected. How could that be in a place where you are supposed to wash your hands every few minutes as a nurse.?
The Koreans and Chinese seem to have got a handle on it pretty quickly with their measures. Also surprised to read that whilst the Koreans are testing 10,000 people a day. The Americans have managed 4,000 in total and don't have any more testing kits. WTF? Trumps answer is to shut off all flights form Europe apart from Britain and Ireland ? what ?

Re: panic buying?
 

I live in Austria. Our gov. took drastic measures which impacts daily life considerably. Amongst many other venues all unis, schools are closed and e-learning done because kids can infect the elderly. Acc. to our chancellor "young people have to make sacrifices to protect our vulnerable elderly". Nice to have a government which has some consideration for us oldies.
App. kids show no symptoms when infected.

Re: panic buying?
 

Latest purchase limits placed on shops in UK, in light of the Coronavirus due to panic buying;

ASDA: 2 hand sanitisers and a 4 pack of toilet rolls.

TESCO: 1 hand sanitiser, 500g of rice and 4 pack of toilet rolls.

WAITROSE: 1 lobster, 6 quails eggs and 100g of Foie Gras.

ALDI: a MIG welder, a pink sports bra, 2 trumpets and a wetsuit.

Re: panic buying?
 

Aldi has mig welders in?
Got any specs on them?

I missed the plasma cutter at Lidl... sniff.

Re: panic buying?
 

Macliam - a sensible, measured post from you.

Many posts make irrelevant comparisons with other sources of morbidity and mortality. This issue has to be addressed with competence and gravity...it ain’t the flu!

Back to topic, it is surely sensible to ensure you have reserves of food and other household consumables since supply chains could become erratic and unreliable - though they will re-establish. I think that to call such stockpiling panic buying really downgrades the motivations of individuals who are actually taking sensible steps (though maybe not always in sensible quantities)

Re: panic buying?
 

The big problem is those people who have the disease and don't know it, or have had the disease without knowing it. It's thought that there are many thousands of people who have had a mild case of coronovirus without knowing it. These do not appear on the statistics, but can certainly spread the disease.

Re: panic buying?
 

Let’s not let this whole thing make us forget exactly who we are - human. I’d rather die being that then ignoring my fellow human being, young or old.
We are in this together and as long as we are sensible and careful we can only do our best for each other.
This will make us not break us.

Re: panic buying?
 

Monday I'm going to buy enough supplies for 2 or 3 weeks.
Big quantities of everything.
No toilet roll though!
I'll leave it for other people.
I'm so very altruistic.

Re: panic buying?
 

This just in;
Yesterday [Saturday] my neighbor went to our nearby Aldi to do some panic buying, only to find he was too late.
The shop was packed with people but half the shelves were empty. Most of what he wanted to buy was no longer available.

The good people who stayed calm, behaved well, and didn't panic now have a good chance to lose some weight.
I'm a bit too heavy myself.

Re: panic buying?
 

Quote - "Only the dead are counted accurately"

Not true in China. You are only counted if you croak in a hospital. If you go at home you are not even a statistic...

Re: panic buying?
 

Do you think the death rate in China is higher than reported?
Even in China, surely there are procedures, funerals have to be organized and that will be regulated. A death certificate will have a cause of death listed?

Re: panic buying?
 

OK, that might explain:
China 70,125 Cases which had an outcome: 66,926 (95%) Recovered / Discharged and 3,199 (5%) Deaths
https://www.worldometers.info/corona...country/china/

set against:
Italy 3,407 Cases which had an outcome:1,966 (58%) Recovered / Discharged and 1,441 (42%) Deaths
Spain 713 Cases which had an outcome: 517 (73%) Recovered / Discharged and 196 (27%) Deaths
Germany 55 Cases which had an outcome: 46 (84%) Recovered / Discharged and 9 (16%) Deaths
France 103 Cases which had an outcome: 12 (12%) Recovered / Discharged and 91 (88%) Deaths
USA 116 Cases which had an outcome: 56 (48%) Recovered / Discharged and 60 (52%) Deaths
UK 39 Cases which had an outcome: 18 (46%) Recovered / Discharged and 21 (54%) Deaths
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Re: panic buying?
 

I don't think comparing recovery rates to mortality rates so early in this situation is particularly informative as, relatively speaking, so many still have the illness whether they know it or not. Recoveries will always be counted more slowly than deaths. Eventually there will be many more unrecorded recoveries than unrecorded deaths.

Re: panic buying?
 

I disagree - We can only work from recorded cases - and such cases will have an outcome.
Unregistered cases are an unknown and, as yet, predicting any outcome is dangerous as little is known about this virus.

Re: panic buying?
 

To take the UK as an example:

There are 1140 cases, 18 recoveries, 21 deaths, 20 serious/critical but 1101 with unknown outcome. The recoveries, deaths and serious/critical cases need to be compared to the number of cases in total, not to each other.

Taking Ireland as an example there have been 2 deaths and 1 recovery. That doesn't mean you're twice as likely to die as to recover because we don't yet know the outcome of the other 126 cases.

Re: panic buying?
 

I haven't seen any recoveries reported for Ireland as yet. But you can't provide accuracy by including in a sample those who haven't been tested or for whom there is, as yet, no outcome, unless you just want to falsely water down the results. I only quoted outcomes and there are only two possibilities - you survive or you don't. As I said elsewhere (https://britishexpats.com/forum/take...930605/page98/), the question is how the mortality rate varies over time and an increased number of outcomes. The other unknown is the eventual percentage of a population who will test positive.

To take the number of deaths as a percentage of the overall population, or even of all those who test positive would be like claiming a fault rate of only 1% in BMWs, calculated on the number with faults set against the total number of all cars - and ignoring the fact that 28% of BMW owners report faults! (these are not true numbers, just per exemplum). Misuse of statistics doesn't help anyone in the longterm.

Re: panic buying?
 

The last thing one should do is go into a shop packed with people.

Re: panic buying?
 

LOl....I have been stocking up on essentials like beer and butter and english cheese, some meat and milk over the past 3 weeks since this all started to kick off......today I thought I would go to my local ALdi at 2pm to do a bit of restocking myself, thinking most would be at home or at lunch........yes maybe they were cause it was pretty empty........just like the shelves !!
No eggs, no veg at all , no ice cream worth buying, fridges empty of meat, milk only little left, no english cheese. So had to make do with replenishing beer and butter stock.
Looks like early morning shopping is best plan, but then of course now gets busier.......gotta get stocked before Easter

Re: panic buying?
 

I must have misread the headline, I stocked up on 200 cocktail sausages and three dozen scotch eggs.

I thought it said picnic buying.

Re: panic buying?
 

I'd come over to your gaff if it wasn't so very far away.
I'd kill for a decent scotch egg and sausage.
BEVS
New Zealand.

Re: panic buying?
 

On my way to the dentist this morning, I passed some of the Olhão supermarkets. People were queuing up to get in. It seems likely that the staff were restricting the numbers in the shop at any one time - a good idea but I hope they were controlling the panic-buying at the same time. Got off my motorbike at Continente because I need a new thermometer having chewed the end off the last one - mercury doesn't seem to have a taste anymore, a bit like the peanuts on the bar since people started washing their hands constantly! When I saw the length of the queue, I decided not to join it and will try to measure my temperature with the jam-making thermometer in the kitchen drawer. My mouth's pretty big before anyone else makes that comment!
Interestingly, the dentist was very quiet; no customers to be seen and I got treated straight away. I had to tell a little porky though. Apparently the authorities have said you have to be in pain to get dental treatment, otherwise it's on your bike.

Re: panic buying?
 

Just back from normal weekly shopping;
Aljezur intermarche is well stocked with almost everything. Big extra pallets of pasta, rice, and TP near the veg area.
A shortage of greek yogurt was observed. frozen veg was looking thin but not empty.
Customer numbers in the shop are being limited, causing dense queuing outside.
No one [except me] was wearing a mask, but the staff has started wearing gloves.
They don't open until 9:30 [instead of 8:30], presumably to encourage crowding.


Aldi in vista dos pineros [Odimira] was badly depleted, no rice, no pasta, no oats, but plenty of fresh veg and bread.
Crowded, short queue at times.

Wearing a mask is good practice, everyone jumps back so the 'social distance' is maintained.

No queue at fuel stations. haha.

Re: panic buying?
 

One has to wonder why the toilet paper is now classed as a vegetable. Is it because it is bio-degradable? Come on everyone, keep the humour going. It's pretty boring otherwise for those who are self-isolating. I thought I was self-isolating on my motorbike this morning until a car pulled out in front of me.

Re: panic buying?
 

Hope you have a sticky front tire and a quick right hand there, Bill.

I gave up bike riding after 40 years in the saddle. Had a few close calls and a couple of boo boos.

Unfortunately TP is not quickly biodegradable.
Proof is all over.

Re: panic buying?
 

anyone know who might have stock of accurate human thermometers in Portugal?
tried all local pharmacys...nothing and no idea when stock coming in, as usual