Coronavirus

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

I did think more or less the same thing when I was in McDs on Saturday but then I thought maybe it's a "privacy" issue?

If the door opened out then it could maybe cause some embarrassment to some? Maybe not but if you could push the door open from the inside it would certainly help avoid germs left by those who aren't so clever with their personal hygiene

Quoted from pen penfras

Apparently you know more than the WHO and PHE. Probably just keep your superior knowledge to yourself rather than trying to ram it down people's throat that it's all just scaremongering.

The death rate is 3.4%, 70% higher than you claim. This is according to the WHO, not a number just plucked by whatever news outlet is reporting it. Factamundo.

It is far more contagious than SARS or MERS. 3.4% of a large amount of people is much worse than 10% of a small number of people.

The death rate of Spanish flu is believed to be in the region of 2-3%, lower than CV19. The number of deaths was so large because the spread wasn't contained and so many people were infected around the world.

This isn't about a mega high death rate that has happened so far. It's about containing a disease that could potentially kill millions of people and stopping it before our health care systems are overloaded. Yes, the panic buying is ridiculous, but to nonchalantly dismiss people's fears over something that has the potential to wipe out many of us, our friends and family just puts you in the same category of ridiculousness. And as for using rum to sanitise things and drinking it as a preventative measure, probably keep things like that to yourself. I'd hate for somebody to think that that's a realistic way of protecting themselves.

Quoted from pen penfras

I always assumed it was because if you open a door into a corridor, there's a good chance that somebody could be walking down there and get pummeled by a door. The only people inside the toilet that are walking near the door are the ones trying to open it.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

The danger to the economy also threatens health. Stock markets are down, partly because of real world issues with supply chains being impacted. Profits are affected - affects not just the rich but everyone with a work pension. Some of it is speculation, but that’s the nature of capitalism - we’re stuck with it.  People not being able to go to work and make things means lower real incomes all round. Airlines, hotels, restaurants,  holiday companies already affected. People will lose their jobs. More unemployment means more ill health (mental and physical).

All of that lost income means less tax to spend on health and other essential services.

Quoted from Perkins

I suppose it depends on your own personal priorities then. Unemployed or dead.

Quoted from ska face

One often leads to the other, under this government...

Quoted from ska face

One often leads to the other, under this government...

Quoted from Marinerz93

The BMJ don't pluck figures out of thin air.

From the WHO website.

Is COVID-19 the same as SARS?
No. The virus that causes COVID-19 and the one that caused the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 are related to each other genetically, but the diseases they cause are quite different.

SARS was more deadly but much less infectious than COVID-19. There have been no outbreaks of SARS anywhere in the world since 2003.

Should I worry about COVID-19?
Illness due to COVID-19 infection is generally mild, especially for children and young adults. However, it can cause serious illness: about 1 in every 5 people who catch it need hospital care. It is therefore quite normal for people to worry about how the COVID-19 outbreak will affect them and their loved ones.

Choo choo

Quoted from Maringer

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say with this post. It seems you are undermining your previous arguments?

If it becomes pandemic in the UK and between 30 and 70% of the population catch it, that's going to be anywhere between 4 and 9 million people requiring hospital treatment. Just how do you think that is going to work out? I'd imagine a good proportion of those will scrape through with more basic medical care, but we're still talking about an impossible task for the NHS. They would have to jerry build treatment centres of some sort in warehouses to have any sort of a hope of treating even a fraction of the number of people infected. Let's not forget, many hospital visits by those who require treatment for other illnesses aren't going to disappear, either.

The one plus side is that the experts running PHE seem to have a good grasp on the situation so I hope people will take them seriously if/when they call for a draconian quarantining of areas or a shutdown of schools and so forth.