Coronavirus Part V - 34 cases in ROI, 16 in NI (as of 10 March) *Read warnings in OP*

cnocbui

cnocbui wrote: »

Covid-19 test kits being sent to the Diamond Princess.

I don't understand why you linked that photo. It doesn't appear to be testing equipment (from my brief foray into biochemistry as a pre reg.

branie2

How about Australia?

wadacrack

Bigus wrote: »

OK it’s Sunday 8th March and at this time Northern Italy has just gone into lockdown.
As of now in Ireland it’s business and travel is as normal, and all (bar 1 in cork )St.Patricks day events are going ahead.

It’s uncommon knowledge that Lack of PANIC causes a lot of deaths in certain life threatening situations, this is the reverse of what we are led to believe in films ,soap operas and general folklore.

Panic is a very useful inherent instinct in humans and is in Us for very good reason, it saves lives in certain circumstances, and often the worst outcome of panicking is embarrassment and perhaps feelings of stupidity afterwards if the panicking was unnecessary.

Worldwide all the experts are agreed that because of the unknowns with this new Virus , that the longer any country can delay its outbreak the better for all. This is the only known,known , with certainty . So let’s have a little bit of organized panic and slow this thing down in Ireland while WE can.

We now need a Ballsy Taoiseach to announce immediate cancellation of St.patricks day events in Ireland , a complete shutdown of all schools universities and non essential publics offices from tomorrow Monday the 9 th March . This will stop schools being super spreaders. (As successfully done in Taiwan)As many as possible public services should be continued online or at distance with new strict measures rolled out in public offices. Large gatherings should be discouraged aswell as air travel (not banned).These shutdowns could be for a week , 2 weeks , 3 weeks or months depending on outcomes elsewhere and expert advice here .

The resultant turmoil will get people to start taking this thing seriously and some of the resultant panic may save a lot of lives and future economic loss.

A quote about spread from below,

“Remember that we don’t have to drive the infection rate down to zero to make a big difference. The point is succinctly made in a tweet from Merryn Somerset Webb, Editor-in-Chief of MoneyWeek:

“36 cases. 30% growth a day. 1m cases in 40 days. Cut that to 15% and its only 8,385. Worth doing a lot of hand washing.”

If fear is what it takes, then so be it.”

https://unherd.com/thepost/panicking-about-coronavirus-will-save-lives/

Panic is due to a lack of planning. Its been obvious that Non Pharmaceutical measures work to a certain degree with this disease in China/Singapore. If we ban large social events and restrict people social movements with appropriate behavior (hand washing) we still might avoid a national disaster. Some regions in China did not get hit that badly. This looks highly unlikely however at the minute. Western society seems to think it cant have pandemic situation.

What Italy appears to demonstrate is that the policy of trying to keep an economy running smoothly and trying to stop this thing at the same time is in some difficulty. Still think at the end of the day its individual personal responsibility thats the only way to combat this. Everybody must be on board in terms of behaviour modification and good personal hygiene

Graham

cnocbui wrote: »

Nice, but here's the source I got it from: https://dailyworld.in/covid-19-test-kits-airlifted-to-cruise-ship-off-california-coast/

Yup, now read the other 13 sources using the same photo.

The dailyworld doesn't suggest the photo is of testing kits either.

Cody montana

Burty330 wrote: »

Stop flights going there too.

I can’t see that ever happening.

cnocbui

cnocbui wrote: »

Nice, but here's the source I got it from: https://dailyworld.in/covid-19-test-kits-airlifted-to-cruise-ship-off-california-coast/

You know newspapers use stock imagery. Don't you?

CinemaGuy45

Deleted User wrote: »

You know newspapers use stock imagery. Don't you?

Stock images and copy and paste for their stories not just the newspapers but TV also.

Bigus

wadacrack wrote: »

Panic is due to a lack of planning. Its been obvious that Non Pharmaceutical measures work to a certain degree with this disease in China/Singapore. If we ban large social events and restrict people social movements with appropriate behavior (hand washing) we still might avoid a national disaster. Some regions in China did not get hit that badly. This looks highly unlikely however at the minute. Western society seems to think it cant have pandemic situation.

How do you plan a disaster?

Or how do you plan for an unknown?

Arrival

ArchXStanton wrote: »

That will be another thing that stands out after this crisis, just how squeezed people are in the face of an emergency

Absolutely. Everyone should have an emergency fund of at least 3 months saved up but that's pretty much impossible for most in this country now as it's so financially hostile

cnocbui

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't understand why you linked that photo. It doesn't appear to be testing equipment (from my brief foray into biochemistry as a pre reg.

Look back a couple of posts for my link - I was caught out by a site that used that photo as an adjunct to an article about the kits. Unfortunately I made the erroneous assumption the two were related. My apologies.

Rob A. Bank

The penny does not seem to have dropped (in vox pops and in the government) that any remedial action taken now, will only have an effect in one or two weeks time.

"Ahh shure... if the numbers go up I might do a bit more".

Some hard hitting ads are needed, emphasizing that what you do today may kill your elderly or fragile loved ones in a few weeks time.

Reactive actions means you are already one to two weeks behind the curve, simply because of the length of the incubation period.

We need seriously proactive actions NOW

ChikiChiki

Thursday 19th March is the next time the Dáil will meet.

Ah here for **** sake.

Pull yourselves together and come to a cross party consensus to deal with it immediately ffs.

Scuid Mhór

sullivlo wrote: »

I am worried about covid19.

I have a background in scientific research and I worked in vaccine development, so I have a fairly decent understanding of the immune system. I am basing my opinion on reading the scientific evidence about the virus (via published papers on pubmed etc).

I am not overly concerned about my health were I to catch it. I have asthma, and a long term tummy issue, but both are well controlled. I’m also relatively fit and otherwise physically healthy.

So who am I afraid for?

I am a teacher in a secondary school. Within the students that I teach, several are severely immunocompromised. I worry for them. I come in contact with anything up to 200 kids in my classroom alone, and that’s not including any additional interactions - after school study, homework club, lunchtime supervision, extra curricular activities... If I were to have it and not know, or if one of them were to have it and not know... the transmission could be huge.

I live with family for their health reasons. I have two elderly relatives who require support. One is more or less blind, and has heart issues. The other has dementia, kidney failure and diabetes. I also have another family member who is recovering from a heart attack a few months ago.

I am restricting my own activities because I am afraid of transmitting the virus to my family. I practice hand hygiene and cough into my elbow and do everything else I am supposed to, but I am afraid that is not enough. I am meant to be doing a charity cycle in April, however I am scared to do it because of the close contact with other cyclists and poor hygiene facilities (nowhere to catch it bin it kill it when cycling in a group of 100 cyclists at 25kph). I will not attend any mass gatherings as we are not equipped to deal with what is needed for sanitation. It’s not just the 1000’s of people at the parade - where will they pee? Where will provide adequate sanitation for them to use warm soapy water for 20 seconds to wash their hands, after using the toilet? If people do sneeze into a tissue, will the bins be empty enough to be used by people? Or will they overflow like at normal big events?

It might seem like I am being overly dramatic in my actions. But I cannot afford for my family to get sick, so I want to be proactive in trying to reduce my risk of catching it.

This is not dramatic at all, and with your qualifications and experience it sounds like you have a far wider scope for knowing what constitutes a proportionate reaction in this case. I think you are being entirely pragmatic and, frankly, responsible, as one should be.

So you think people with asthma should be okay? I am reasonably fit and in my mid-twenties and used to have asthma but I think I grew out of it in my early twenties, it certainly hasn't been an issue for me in recent memory. I'm struggling to determine if I belong in an "at-risk" category or not.

cnocbui

Graham wrote: »

Yup, now read the other 13 sources using the same photo.

The dailyworld doesn't suggest the photo is of testing kits either.

They use the photo as an adjunct to the article twice, so the are making the suggestion by association.

wadacrack

Bigus wrote: »

How do you plan a disaster?

Or how do you plan for an unknown?

Its not unknown we have seen what has happened in China and now Italy. Epidemiologists have data to predict what happens. The government need to listen to the medical experts in that field. Their choosing to ignore the World Health Organization's recommendations

dhaughton99

Any Airbnb providers on here getting cancellations?

Bigus

Bigus wrote: »

How do you plan a disaster?

Or how do you plan for an unknown?

Its not an ‘unknown’. Previous pandemics and the behaviour of viruses are pointers as to what can be done.

MidlanderMan

ChikiChiki wrote: »

Thursday 19th March is the next time the Dáil will meet.

Ah here for **** sake.

The government doesn't stop working when the dail isn't in session. The individual departments and the cabinet still work daily.

Miike

I sincerely hope theres a change to our strategy this coming week. I'd rather over zealous action today vs reactionary measures as this stresses our health service.

un5byh7sqpd2x0

Bob24 wrote: »

Won’t go into detailed Italian geography, but to summarise it simply (I am sure they have data to define it better): you draw a line from Venice to Milan and include anything within 25km of that line. This basically seems to be where the cluster started.

Now I know you're talking out your hole, because you'd have missed all the original "red zone" villages in the provinces of Cremona and Veneto

Wibbs

Graces7 wrote: »

I hear you but do not agree with your last sentence or your earlier views . It could be seen as an insult to our intelligence although I am sure that is not your intention . We are all and each intelligent enough to discriminate between junk, hype and reality and not panic. It all rolls off us like water off a duck's back. Like you I am in the vulnerable class and old but I know what is real and what is fake as do most of us here.

So please, rest your mind on that? Thank you

Judging by some, hell, quite a few posts on these threads since this kicked off I'd not be nearly so self confident in the intelligence level on offer.

fly_agaric

Nijmegen wrote: »

When people hear “lockdown” they think Wuhan / China. Realistically if in Italy or France or even Ireland if we tried to enforce that on a mass scale, we wouldn’t have the infrastructure or frankly the political ability. In China every apartment block has party reps who keep an eye on things and of course a much more robust security service. You don’t have that local infrastructure in European democracies. And then what are you going to do, seal every road and shoot people trying to flee across fields?

I'm sure the private sector or the "morket" will step in and handle this situation in due course. They are very efficient and effective I've heard!
Ah...that was low of me I suppose. Should take a break from the thread.

Scuid Mhór

Scuid Mhór wrote: »

This is not dramatic at all, and with your qualifications and experience it sounds like you have a far wider scope for knowing what constitutes a proportionate reaction in this case. I think you are being entirely pragmatic and, frankly, responsible, as one should be.

So you think people with asthma should be okay? I am reasonably fit and in my mid-twenties and used to have asthma but I think I grew out of it in my early twenties, it certainly hasn't been an issue for me in recent memory. I'm struggling to determine if I belong in an "at-risk" category or not.

You'd be at a higher risk of ARDS if you had asthma as you would tend to release more cytokines. If your asthma was well controlled. I don't see why it would be a problem. It would be important to make sure you have your inhaler technique down especially if you are prone to asthma attacks. If you were using your blue inhaler more than 4 times a week. You might need a step in therapy.

cnocbui

Deleted User wrote: »

You know newspapers use stock imagery. Don't you?

Yes, but usually they bear some relationship to the article. So in an article about an A380 engine fire, I wouldn't normally expect a photo of two kittens asleep.

alwayswright

An Irish citizen is confirmed to be one of eight new cases in Vietnam.

Arrival

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The population of Lombardy is twice that of Ireland. Comparing like to like of beds doesn't make sense.

I would normally agree it wouldn't but since this involves exponential growth I think it's definitely fair to compare in order to consider the strain we may face, and that's what I'm doing

Scuid Mhór

Deleted User wrote: »

You'd be at a higher risk of ARDS if you had asthma as you would tend to release more cytokines. If your asthma was well controlled. I don't see why it would be a problem. It would be important to make sure you have your inhaler technique down especially if you are prone to asthma attacks. If you were using your blue inhaler more than 4 times a week. You might need a step in therapy.

Thanks for this. I haven't needed to use inhalers for over half a decade and I haven't had an asthma attack in a very, very long time (like maybe over a decade) so it sounds like I am probably in the clear. That is a bit of a relief!

Sir Oxman

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I have to agree, and I'm someone who is 'higher risk'. It's starting to seem like the widespread panic is doing more damage than the virus itself. Some of the media reporting on this has been downright hysterical and irresponsible.

I've seen reports of people stocking up on toilet paper, so now everyone who watches that is going to think 'oh, I need to make sure I have enough toilet paper in case it all gets stockpiled!' and that's how you create a problem where there wasn't one.

It's a virus, like any virus. Good hygiene and handwashing is important, avoiding crowds is wise, and avoiding travel is wise. Everything else is pure media hysteria, completely pointless, and creating enormous panic and anxiety, making people even more susceptible to getting ill.

I have seen zero traits of 'panic' in anyone I've met/spoken to etc
granted, that's just in my social movements. Indeed, without a second thought myself and an interviewer the other day nodded in greeting rather than auto-handshaking.

I haven't seen any reports of bog roll off the shelves either or any panicky empty shelves to be honest.
Where are people getting the idea that Irish people are panicked?
I've read a few posts from a very few posters here riddled with anxiety to begin with to which I'd advise self-isolate yourself from these threads (even though 95% of the posts are non-alarmist)

Miike

Miike wrote: »

I sincerely hope theres a change to our strategy this coming week. I'd rather over zealous action today vs reactionary measures as this stresses our health service.

There have been changes/plans put in place. For example, All AL for health-care staff in my hospital may be cancelled if there was a significant outbreak amongst workers.