For those that think COVID-19 is ‘just the flu’

Again; there’s nothing in the OP to suggest anyone should freak out.
There’s some very alarming information that should stop people being complacent.
I worry about people who think the only 2 options are ‘do nothing’ or ‘freak out’.

 

"People are ******* idiots. We should be ‘freaked out’ - that’s the only way we will be prepared for this!"

Ahem

 

So games are going played behind closed doors but fans are congregating on the streets in large numbers. Sounds like it's working! Games need to get postponed not played behind closed games.

 

Ok no it's a subsequent post by the same person saying we should freak out not the OP. Sorry

 

Agree with Guardiola on this. Football is for the fans. If the fans can't go don't have the games.

 

I agree something needs to be done, but working from home is not feasible for the majority of people.
Ideally, some of the steps we should see is starting the education at Schools as in get the Schools to enforce children cleanliness and hygiene processes, encouraging all businesses to have items/processes in place.
The problem with both these ideas though is there is not enough sanitisers etc out there to supply, but if they started with soap dispensers it would be a start

 

Not in the OP.
I checked.

but seriously ‘freaking out’ won’t help, but I’m not sure what we can do individually, my employer isn’t going to tell me to work from home without a govt directive, we’re sleepwalking into this.

 

This. I find it astonishing that we're doing absolutely fvck all at this stage even though we just have to look at Italy to see where we'll be in 2 weeks. We're on the same trajectory and there's no reason to suggest why it would be any different here.

When we finally start doing summat it will be too late to save a lot of vulnerable people from receiving the care they need.

 

But also is it even possible?

A vaccine won't be available for at least 18 months and that's if they get lucky and it works first time. Can we keep people in lockdown for a year and half?

Now logically we all know that if you lock everyone up in isolation for say 4 weeks then anyone with it will have passed the phase in which they can pass it on. Lovely. Except we already know you only need one person to enter the country with it and it will spread silently so how do you stop it starting exactly the same in 4 weeks time? You can't.

We really do only have two options. 1. Lock up the country for 18 months or 2. Make people use better hygiene and carry on

 

I just can't see how it can be effectively contained. If the entire world went on lockdown and everyone complied, yes. The minute lockdowns stop in other countries and travel restrictions are lifted we will be back at square one again. Citizens from other countries will reinfect the ones that have been in lockdown.

 

Or 3. Take some proactive preventative measures to try and slow the spread so that the serious cases are stretched over a longer period and people don't die due to the overloading of the NHS and unavailability of resources. Italy is being overloaded and it has twice as many critical care beds per capita as we do.

 

This

 

I just don't think you really can slow the spread. I think you can delay the spread by a few weeks but lockdowns lasting any longer than that are unreasonable imo.

 

We don’t need to lock up the country for 18 months, just a fortnight.

 

And then afterwards as soon as a infected person shows up do it again for another two weeks?

 

This is the government's insidious dilemma and it annoys me when people politicise this. Any government of any colour will face the same dilemma. The governments of France and Germany for example have not locked down yet even though they are, in terms of cases, around a week ahead of us with around 4 times the cases we have.

Lock us down too early and we are damaging our economy and businesses, people livelihoods, with perhaps no guarantee that it will be in any way effective if the virus is still going around the world and we pick up and carry on with our infection rate as soon as we are allowed out again. They therefore face the risk of having to do it again, and the risk of people becoming weary and intolerant of the measures, making them less effective when they need to be.

The government is being led directly by medical advice and that's all they can do in my opinion. I do think there are some measures that should have been taken, like curtailing inbound flights from affected areas or even testing them when they come in. But if the medics say it is too early to lock down, that's good enough for me, for now.

 

Re post 14.....

I think we have a major contradiction between the apathy many show towards the virus impact and measures to limit the spread and the hysteria and panic regarding bulk buying.

I still argue (I know some on here disagree) that whilst the situation IS serious, some sections of the media published sensationalist 'click-bait' headlines, even if the content was more factual, albeit sometimes contradictory, was more about about shortages in shops that whipped up the frenzy (ironically bringing more people out on the streets and into close proximity in overcrowded supermarkets before the 1m rule was introduced).
It was rather like 'Cry Wolf' except, in this instance the Wolf is close by, licking its lips. The situation in UK isn't yet that serious and by the time it is it will be too late!

The OP confirms that the densely populated North - Lombardia Milan regino in particular medical services are stretched to breaking point. As he said though, medical care in Italy is outstanding but he is at the centre of the sh*t storm.

Much of Central Italy, besides not having the level of confirmed cases also is far less densely populated and (possibly) advantageously disproportionate regarding patient to doctor ratios. I say this because in many places there is no need to book appointments, you turn up wait and usually with 5-10 minutes (sometimes no wait at all) you are sitting in front of your GP. There is no time limit on consultations either. e.g. I turned up on a Tuesday with a rash on my leg. Within 4 days! I had been scanned, diagnosed by a specialist (DVT) and was by Friday the same week self administering the prescribed treatment.

So far, many regions are operating as normal and one or two underused facilities here are now designated as Covid 19 centres.

As everyone knows Italy is now under lock down. Penalties for breaking the rules are severe (including prison sentences) We cannot leave our commune, which covers ( approx) a mere 2km radius! Fortunately we have everything we need which is good as we have no justifiable reason being retired, to travel beyond the boundary. To do so, required a document which states reason for travel (which must be essential e.g. work) Police and Carabinieri are everywhere doing spot checks and are present at motorway toll booths, stations and airports checking documentation. Protezione Civile are also on high alert.

Early days, but these drastic measures should work but only time will tell. The Italian Govt have accepted that the Economic fallout will be huge but puts citizens safety before financial considerations. My major concern for the UK is that the Government are more focussed on limiting the damage to the economy if they adopt similar measures than the welfare of the public. Having lived in Italy for several years we have come to believe that, for all its faults, the way many public services and infrastructure run seems to be for the benefit of the people. Whilst Italy is, undoubtedly a 'basket case' financially, there seems to be less emphasis generally on turning a profit with everything whilst UK seems obsessed with money and possessions rather than Quality of Life.

 

The 1918 Spanish flu outbreak is thought to have been traced to a farm in Kansas in 1917, which then spread through the army camps as a 24-hour virus before mutating over the winter of 1918 into the killer disease it became. Very few people in China died as a result of it.

 

Hopefully the impact of the disease will subside with the warm weather, although I don't think the epidemiologists know yet whether that will happen with this particular strain.