Coronavirus Part II - Its arrived - We're Doomed!!! See OP for Mod warnings

megabomberman wrote: »

I reckon a big hurdle in people comprehending the impact of this illness is a lack of basic math skills;
- Not understanding basic percentages 'it's only 2% death rate', X20 the flu,
- ignoring that 5% of cases are critical/need respirators, and
- not being able to grasp that a disease twice as infectious as flu will spread exponentially quicker.

One other stat HSE spare capacity prior to the outbreak, less than zero.

Stay safe and don't be foolish enough to think you can disregard this and weather it like a bad cough.

There are so many things I have considered posting here but for numerous reasons I’ve posted less and less the more “people need to stop panicking” posts have been popping up. Whether it’s denial and/or ignorance, it’s unhelpful and these are the kind of people who won’t be ready, will cause problems with panic and who will make mistakes that lead to others getting infected.

This “sure the flu kills...” is Donald Trump level idiocy. Anybody who has been doing more then watching the headlines and listening to sound bites knows this, so anybody spouting that crap doesn’t know what they are talking about.

The fact is it’s spreading everywhere. The fact is that we don’t appear to be able to test it in a completely reliable manner. The fact is that it seems to be very easy to transmit. The fact is that there appears to be people able to spread it for weeks before showing symptoms. The fact is most If not all countries are taking this very very seriously. The fact is that our own health services have bought hundreds of thousands of masks and taken serious measures to PREPARE for what’s coming. None of the ignorant people can refute any of this paragraph because this is what’s happening, regardless of what they want to believe.

If you haven’t done any sort of preparation , you have been irresponsible at best. I don’t know how things are going to play out , only an idiot would presume that their crystal ball suggests everything is going to be just like normal. There is no logical reason to presume this given all the effects it’s had on other countries.

I was talking about this with our local pharmacist yesterday. If one person in a family gets the virus it could very well mean that all the family needs to isolates. This makes sense as if one person in a family has it , it means they have had it for a prolonged period of time and have most likely been in close proximity to their Loved ones for god knows how long without knowing. He was worried about all the healthy health workers dieing but I felt it’s more that they are worn out in crazy conditions, don’t get enough rest and when they inevitably get infected their bodies are just not rested enough to fight off the virus. Vitamin C and zinc supplements is what I’ve started to take to build up my immune system. Oh and trying to get some good rest.

So if my local pharmacist has to self isolate, he has to close down his pharmacy for at least a month. Now think of the knock on effects with doctors, healthcare workers, super markets, petrol stations, general office blocks, teachers etc. You prob only need one person in a school to get it and the whole school will prob be shut down. Again if one person has it, they have had it for an unknown period of time , probably infected others, before they have been isolated.

The good news is that most people will be fine. Some very severe and a percentage will die. The measures of lockdown are not necessarily to stop the spread ( as that does not look actually possible), it’s actually to slow down the spread. If everybody gets infected at the same time It’s a disaster and even worse so they want people to get infected in smaller numbers over a longer period of time.

Maybe things won’t be as bad in Ireland for some reason. Maybe the virus doesn’t affect us as much for some reason, this is possible. Or maybe things change a lot for a few months and a lot of things we don’t anticipate happen. To not do any sort of preparation is irresponsible and inconsiderate because those who are burying their heads will be the very people causing panic and taking less precautions that will affect others.

I’ve been so busy in work the last few days I haven’t been able to keep up the last 48 hours. But I have been around since relatively early on this virus so I feel I have decent general knowledge on the topic. When I wasn’t reading this thread and constantly reading up on the virus, I did start to think “maybe it won’t be so bad” and it was only when I started to look back at different news sources did it remind me that we are in the calm before the storm in Ireland so we still literally do not know how this will play out.

All the messages from any credible authority’s is not to panic but to PREPARE. What if you or your family have to self isolate for a month? What if certain services (pharmacy, doctor, local shop etc) are not available for a prolonged period of time? What if your child’s school closes? What if you go on holidays and can’t get back home for a prolonged period?

There are so many other questions to ask that involves imagining self isolation and wondering what you had wished you had done in advance. Preparing yourself mentally was a suggestion Dr Bruce Aylward said in https://youtu.be/XF6AZv8P3i4 . I did this by asking myself all the hard questions I could think of, but I feel if things get worse or one of my family gets the virus I will at least of given it some thought. This could potentially be a big shock to many of us so I feel I’ve gotten some of that potential shock out of my system (it’s actually an old Stoic philosophy - negative visualization). It’s not about getting depressed or down, it’s about trying to anticipate something bad that will or may happen. You can’t be fully prepared for what’s coming , but being somewhat emotionally ready can help.

I was due to meet a client During the week . They were in Italy (not north) with their partner up until just over a week ago. When they came home they phoned to meet up to review their protection (I’m a financial broker). I purposely made the appointment as far ahead as I could (8 days after returning) just as a precaution. The day we were due to meet they called and cancelled as they both were unwell and were concerned they might have the virus.

I have been contacting friends and family to warn them to act as if they might need to self isolate for a month. This is Important, particularly for elderly people and people with babies (Baby supplies). Get your medications stocked up for a couple of months. Check with your doctor that your meds will not have an adverse reaction with the virus (ie - that certain meds don’t potentially make getting the virus worse). I’ve made sure my mum is stocked up, enough fuel until summer and gotten a list of all her meds in case we need to get her medical help.

Educate yourself and don’t just look up information you want to believe. If you find something that backs up what you want to believe “this is all over blown”, try and find credible sources that counter your opinion and try to be objective. Shame on anybody who is taking a “well I’m gonna be fine, I’m not old” approach to this. You might be alright but you might infect somebody else who will die simply because you didn’t care/worry enough to be more careful and that includes preparing in advance.

Whatever happens it appears that most people will be fine. After a period of time there will be a new normal and life will carry on. But now is the time to PREPARE like all the authority’s and companies around the world are doing. You prepare in advance of a threat, if there is smoke get out if the house, you don’t know how bad the fire is and most of us are not in a position to assess a house on fire. Treat this the same way. Regardless of what you think, none of us know how bad the virus is going to affect us so take precautions and get ready in case it effects you worse then you think.