Covid-XIX Part VI - 90 cases ROI (1 death) 29 in NI (as of 13 March) *Read OP*

It comes down to the fact that Trump's a jingoistic xenophobe and that has played through all of his rhetoric in his presidency.

He went on TV to blame foreigners for the outbreak. It was a simple as that. He even referred to it as a "foreign virus" then went on a rant about the European Union for some reason.

Not only that but he made a hash of the statement by implying that it also applied to goods and did not mention the Schengen free travel area, rather just want on a rampage about the European Union and 'seeding' and all sorts of weird stuff.

He's managed to politicise the COVID19 mess in domestically in the US, provide little or no leadership, just fear of others and blaming the Democrats anytime he can.

To him this is all about the November election and settling scores.

He is quite literally the last person you would want to have in charge during a crisis like this. Anyone would be better! Even all of the previous GOP presidents would be leagues ahead of this guy.

It's been spin and 'make America great' claptrap without any serious help like making testing and hospital treatment available to people who need it.

I was talking to a friend of mine in the US who isn't all that well off and has dubious insurance cover and he basically reckons he's not going to survive this and is hiding in his house afraid to go outside on the basis that if he catches this he is pretty sure he will have no help at all. He was saying he can't afford to get tested, and even if he did get tested, he'd be potentially left with a huge bill for hospital anyway, so he's not going to even expose himself to that. Instead, like I would suspect many others, he's just going to hide.

Even if he developed symptoms, it's quite likely he wouldn't go near healthcare as there's a very large risk of an enormous bill.

So not only is the US not testing, but they will probably have a whole load of people who won't come forward even if they have it and there are even more who will turn up for work regardless of who sick they are, and they already do this with flu and other illnesses.

There's also huge variation from state to state depending on who's been in charge over the years. Some of the more developed / progressive states have a lot more systems in place than some of the more conservative ones that have either never had or have slashed and burned public programmes.

All Trump wants to do is create some fantasy nonsense about how the US is different, special, exceptional. When it comes to a virus of this type going pandemic, if it overwhelmed very developed healthcare systems in Europe, it has every ability to do precisely the same in the US, just generating enormous bills along the way.

The chan chan man wrote: »

Absolutely! This is not the apocalypse. If you get it you’ve a 98% chance of recovery ffs!

The 80% mild to moderate includes people with pneumonia. That's classified as mild when breaking down this disease. I don't class that as mild.

Of the severe. They require mechanical ventilation. What is that actually? How does it work. A lot of people who go this route subsequently die from additional infection such as fungal and bacterial. Again I've no idea why.

The very worst get blood pumped out oxygen put in blood then back in.

Mental.

Pacing Mule wrote: »

You're my official unofficial head wreck too.
Please stop with the self important highlighting.

I read in a medical journal that the use of bold font slows the virus by a factor of 50. (not the suncream)

Hubs was slated to go on a stag on the continent this weekend. He was thinking of cancelling today anyway because of my potentially immunocompromised status. We were going to ask my doctor for advice. Just as he was about to whatapps the group, the stag messaged and cancelled. I think the stag left it so late out of guilt for the money people will lose but sure it’s not his fault. I’m relieved.