Covid-19

Getting Started
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Just wanting to wish people out there the best during this pandemic. alot of older members on this forum who need to extra special precautions So -be safe, stay healthy

and if you are younger and still feel immortal think about other people ( like your parents or grand parents perhaps )… plus 50% of the people in the hospitals suffering from this are younger people and it is a 6 week recovery that can result in permanent damage to your body and/or death ( 0.5 - 1%) - Remember this is a new virus that we do not have any built in Immunity too… So the probability of you catching it is extremely high unless you try to mitigate and contain it’s spread -
if it not contained mean up to 80% of us will catch at some point . as that is when herd immunization levels are reached – if it has a fatality rate of ~3.4% that means more people will die from this in a year, then what normally die in a year from all other causes combines. — ( Italy on track to have double that)
just something to think about

if you are wondering on procedure in my country as it might be helpful for those in other countries and/or districts

Currently - Canada_ Manitoba
Our borders are closed to all international travel (non essential – ie food imports )

all public spaces are closed and practicing social distancing

I live in a region of with high diabetic, high obesity rates and underline health issues ( 2x - 4X time the national average) so they put up road blocks and barriers every where to restrict flow of traffic in an effort to get people to stay home and not move around to contain any community spread ( which currently is zero)

General population complacency is a major problem

Hoarding not an issue and food supplies are okay but demand is a bit higher then normal as people build up stores encase they get quarantined. The government asked/recommended people to try to maintain a 30 day store for such an event ( also there is possibility food imports could collapse )-- but some people went bonkers especially in the cities where there are rolling shortages.

Depending on which government sources you use – be prepared for about 6 months of social distancing and multiple wave that could last for up to 2 years or until herd immunization levels are reached or a vaccine is produced …

that the information I garner in my region as each region will be different as some candy coat more then others

if you have different protocol in your country I would be interested to hear and maybe learn from it and suggest to our local government as a course of action to help reduce the spread Corvid-19

Okay good luck and stay safe

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The UK response has been mixed. Last week the government were talking about herd immunity with the thought that enough people might catch it. That and a double dose of happy birthday, wash hands message. This week the tact has changed to social distancing, finally closing schools (except for children of essential workers ie NHS, 999 services, food distribution & care workers).

Self isolation of vulnerable people is now recomended & if symptomatic either self quarrantine for 7 days if living alone or 14 days if living with others.

Pubs, bars, eateries, gyms and clubs are finally closed by government order but takeaway establishments allowed to open. There are no road blocks or government forced travel restrictions around the country. Many are not taking it as seriously as it needs to be taken.

Supermarket shelves are bare of toilet rolls (dunno why, it’s a flu & respiratory illness, not the squits!) Tinned goods, bread, eggs, milk & paracetamol out of stock in most places. Alcohol seems to be the next panic buy for brits. Government rationing is not in place but most places are finally limiting the quantities people can purchase. Heard on the news that £1billion above usual levels were spent in the last week on food.

Economically, the government will now pay 80% of your wages (with a cap) for the next 3 months if you are laid off from work due to the virus. Self employed however are pretty much left to defend for themselves (so far). I’m lucky - my job is mostly an information based one and have been working from home this past week.

One good thing to come out of this pandemic, will be an opening of eyes amongst many businesses and a realisation that most office workers do not need to drive to the office 5 days a week to do their jobs! I have a daily chat with my boss and colleagues on Teams and I find I’m far more productive too - fewer distractions!

It might also highlight that people are travelling too much. We should not be flying everywhere for meetings and holidays at the expense of the environment & our health. It might also make China etc think about cleaning up their sanitary standards for wet markets. Just because it moves, doesn’t mean it should be eaten, or crushed up to make some unproven medicines. Maybe there is something to be said for being veggie or vegan? Yes, it might not politically correct to say that - but it needs to be said!

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just pointing out 2008 H1N1 pandemic came out of north American pig barns - it killed up to 500,000 people in 2 years world wide. can not just point fingers at china when it come to pandemics

wow hoping for herd immunization with out some type of mitigation to solve the problem that about the worse solution there is…

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Yes, all farming and food handling standards across the world need to be higher to prevent future species jumping of novel viruses. The point remains - China still needs to clean up it’s act.

Yes, the advice from UK Gov about a week ago was pretty poor. I think Boris realised if he didn’t start pulling his finger out, he might get linched in a few months time. If you want a flavour of what’s going on here, Watch Sky News live - YouTube Sky News might stream outside the UK.

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According to the CDC:

2009 H1N1 was first detected in the United States in April 2009. This virus was a unique combination of influenza virus genes never previously identified in either animals or people. The virus genes were a combination of genes most closely related to North American swine-lineage H1N1 and Eurasian lineage swine-origin H1N1 influenza viruses. Because of this, initial reports referred to the virus as a swine origin influenza virus. However, investigations of initial human cases did not identify exposures to pigs and quickly it became apparent that this new virus was circulating among humans and not among U.S. pig herds.

Ref: CDC Novel H1N1 Flu | The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: Summary Highlights, April 2009-April 2010

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I’d have to agree with you on that one, MJ.

Video clip “food for thought”

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yeah – because it origin came from a North American pig barn in Mexico own by a US parent company… Also you do realize once it jumps it does not necessarily mean it will move through the pig herds .That is semantic on the part of CDC reporting. Just like US reporting on BSE . Which pretty much was if you do not test for it, it does not exist. Which up to lately was also the same response to Covid-19.

By example: Canada up to recently tested more people in a day then the US had tested - Which coincidentally and currently is still true for BSE — US - 25000 test per year for +94 million animals (0.0002%) CAN - 30000 tests per year for <4 million animals ( 0.0075%) ~30 times higher surveillance - the US testing method is and was statistically design not find evidence of BSE in it herds )