Covid-19 Virus

The world population is way too large anyway. Survival of the fittest etc.

 

Survival of the richest?

 

Survival of the fittest financially?
I was obviously just being deliberately provocative though.....

 

I think that would be significant but not catastrophic.

If you consider around 60 million people die each year world wide, an increase of 25% is not something to be dismissed but it is relatively small (especially when the net increase in the world's population is nearly 100 million every year).

I wouldn't want to down play the risks and I hope that the spread of the virus is contained. We all have friends and relatives that are at risk.

But I do think that the panic, especially the stockpiling of food etc, is overblown.

One day we may face a catastrophic pandemic that will be both be highly infectious and deadly but this is not it imho.

I respect that others may feel differently though.

 

A couple of points to throw in ...

I see that 6 states in the mighty USA currently have no facilities for testing for coronavirus ...

It would be interesting if, in future, we had daily death rates for various other illnesses, viruses and conditions ... although, there would clearly need to be extra production of bog roll if this was introduced.

 

I don't agree that would be "relatively small". A 25% increase in death rate from a single source is an enormous single factor increase. Consider how many varied causes of death are wrapped up into that 60 million figure...

Hopefully we get nowhere near there.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...ho-officially-declare-a-coronavirus-pandemic/

Worth a read.

 

That shouldn't be a surprise. There's no public health care system here.

Around 30 million people here have no medical insurance at all. Another 45 million are underinsured. Most people here simply don't go to the doctor unless they're already really sick.

Healthcare in the US is absolutely backwards. If you need it and you can't afford it, you shouldn't have made the decision to be poor.

 

Yes, and there are two points there: one is that the WHO came off very badly from the 2009 experience. But the other is that we aren’t yet certain that containment measures will not suffice. And if they do, your figures would be much too high.

 

Seems like a very good time for me to have taken voluntary redundancy and be spending a lot more time at time at home... I'll just have to do very little for a few months...

 

I don't disagree. It's just a choice of wording.

Every single death is catastrophic for those directly impacted.

But would 15 million deaths be catastrophic for the world? You are right about the multiple reasons for the 60 million deaths. But equally some of those that will die of the covid-19 will be elderly and have underlying health issues that would have meant they had a high risk of dying this year anyway.

I don't want to down play the impact of covid-19 or dismiss the deaths it causes as insignificant. But I also don't think it will be a world changing "catastrophic" event.

If you wanted to be totally cold and indifferent to the actual suffering of those affected, you could argue that the world's population is the biggest cause of environmental issues and an "adjustment" would actually be beneficial.

 

Has WFC finally got rid of you as a cheerleader, then?

 

There is a confirmed case in Bracknell. I live in a neighbouring village. If I don’t post for a few days then fear the worst. #prayforKnightGT

 

Sh1t

 

Can you sit in the home end tomorrow please?

 

Wiv da angles now hun xx

 

My Tesco in Watford Waterfields ran out of Vinegar today. Shelves empty. Supervisor told me people using it to make home made detergent.

This is starting to get a bit silly. He said all prices going up on all new incoming stock & no more 2 for 1's that you often find on household cleaning & loo roll products. It needs to be rationed etc.

 

People have lost their minds. Ridiculous.

 

Local Waitrose shelves empty of pasta, toilet roll and flour. I'm wondering what people think they can bake to survive on through an apocalypse using flour and pasta?

I guess that's what the toilet roll is for.

Spoke to a shelf stacker who said it's getting silly. They have plenty of stock but as soon as they put it out the locusts descend and grab it all. Their manager had said stop putting it out.

 

And ...


People with existing health issues will succumb to this virus. Not the relatively fit and healthy.
It’s not TB or cholera or bubonic plague.
It’s a virus and like flu, you take precautions if u r susceptible.

The world is going mad, aided by the doomsayers and doom and gloom newspapers and media... (who just want to rack it up to sell more)..

 

Too late. That was yesterday’s panic buy. I have a feeling today will be BBQ flavour pop chips. The big bags. I’d get down there 10 mins before shops open.

 

All the panic buying is ridiculous and selfish and maybe our perception of the threat is OTT.

But whether we panic or not is up to us. We still need the information, because without hard work the virus could spread quite widely. No one wants to take it to their elderly parents unwittingly, or spread it around a hospital.

If the virus took hold and even 5% had it at one point, then the necessary restrictions on work and movement would be hard to manage. There are long miles to go to prevent that or to ensure this happens over a long enough timescale.

 

My wife has gone off for the weekly shop, no doubt she will complain that there's none of x, y & z.

I hope that due to some people's selfishness we don't end up having to have a barbeque next week using the stuff from the bottom of my freezer left over from last summer.

 

Something I forgot to add to my 'market report' although the pasta and pre-packed antibacterial wipes shelves were picked clean the produces section (fresh fruit and veg) was full. Citrus and apples have shelf-lives that can be measured in weeks...

Speaking as, possibly, the only person on these boards who took a year-long course in "Colloid, Catalysis, Surfactant* and Surface Science" I'd be extremely interested to know how a dilute aqueous solution of ethanoic acid contaminated with trace amounts of various terpenoids would make a 'detergent'.

*A detergent is a type of surfactant.

 

A lemon or lime sliced in half and the half's juice squeezed on to your hands would make a more than adequate emergency hand wash.

There is one advantage of people using vinegar as a hand wash, due its distinctive smell, if you smell it on a person near you, you will automatically know that they are a *******.

 

Really - another Nobel prize could be on it's way - an approximate 2% sugar solution has anti-viral properties?

 

There's rumour that small lemons (but not limes) inserted anally as suppositories might have an effect on COVID-19.

 

I also heard this, but 'More research is needed' and they are looking for paid volunteers.
Nice little income earner for you Bwood

 

This morning I'm panicking because I'm going to the shops and I'm not clear on what I should be panic buying..
Is it soap or tinned food or cornflakes or toilet rolls??
Any guidance from itk forum members appreciated.

Luckily I did my panic buying of wine last week and seriously stocked up for a siege because we know alcohol kills viruses.
I'll drink this little £ucker to death..

 

No thank you. I'm a 'daddy' not a 'mummy'.

 

At my work I found the staff had put hand wipes everywhere for customers when we have hot water and soap readily available for public. I can't imagine the despair of being an *expert* in the field but i want to slap some people.

The response was "nobody knows what it is or how it spreads, so it might be beneficial". Just like we can't proove the earth is round.

 

Funnily enough I was thinking exactly the same thing as I woke up this morning. Spooky!

 

Obvious, in fact you could say ‘a lemon entry dear Watson’.