COVID-19

[tiny_tove]

won't start panicking now, but the shit hits the fan here in Italy.

I live in Lombardy, but work in Switzerland. My own employees Sunday night communicated me I cannot go to work until April. I can't see my better half who is currently in another region at her parents'. My family doctor got it and is serious.

We cancelled all events we have planned for 3 months, loosing lots of money.
Towns are emptied, you cannot move from town to town unless you show a certification.
Supermarkets were ransacked of the most bizarre goods (toilet paper lol), and now there are requests for stronger laws that prevents us many other things and wants to close all shops etc until the virus goes away.

Information is crazy, in the first weeks they stirred panic and on the other side some bragged tranquillity by organizing pub crawls (and now they are positive to the virus).
There were riots in jail when it was requested to stop family meetings. A few people died during that, some of overdose.

We live interesting times.

[deutscheasphalt]

*infection rates are about 0,001% (about 50-100 cases in 1 million population depending on region)
*recovery rate of the closed cases of prior infection is 94%
*6% died on average
*age group 20-49 mortality rate is below 1% (of the infected)
*mortality rate rises "significantly" after age 70+ (8%) and 80+ (15%)
*these numbers just say that old people who died were also infected with COVID-19, death however could be related to underlying health conditions

Don't panic, don't blindly believe any media outlets - look at the stats they're referencing and check if those are legit (e.g. official government health organizations reports)

[CannibalRitual]

IMO the problem is not the virus but the regulations by the governments, and the media for hyping up mass hysteria.

[tiny_tove]

Don't panic, don't blindly believe any media outlets - look at the stats they're referencing and check if those are legit (e.g. official government health organizations reports)

Sorry to contradict you, but it is my job to work with these data and I am in constant communication with WEO representatives.

I'm in the middle of it. And it is as serious as they say.

Lombardy's hospital system is completely collapsing by the quantity of people they are hospitalizing for effective symptoms. They are moving other kind of ill people in hospitals down south which never happened before.

[tiny_tove]

IMO the problem is not the virus but the regulations by the governments, and the media for hyping up mass hysteria.

THIS FOR SURE, but it is escalating and the rest is secondary.
The management of the situation at media level was crazy, and some notable members of the government were inviting people to go out and party (and now they are postive ah ah)

problem is that it is spreading too aggressively for the Italian health system and they are already saying they will choose who to save and who to let go (confirmed two hours ago with a local doctor who works in pneumologie).

[Eigen Bast]

This virus causes acute respiratory symptoms in the elderly and immunocompromised, which can lead to death at worst, but also the need for mechanical ventilation.  This, combined with its virulence, means it is more severe than the flu in that you cannot just stay home and recover. Many (as seen in Italy) require hospitalization. What happens when hospitals fill all their beds? People will die.

Sure, if you are a hale and hearty mid 30s misanthrope this whole thing seems a bit much, but it is a severe world health crisis and shrugging it off as no worse than the flu is a very solipsistic, and inaccurate viewpoint.

PS
What is Bacillus up to these days?

[DSOL]

I live in NY State and right now we have the 2nd most confirmed cases (no deaths) in the US - none in my area as of right now

I work in an office where a lot of people do not wash their hands after the use the restroom/etc, so I've already been in a habit of washing my hands and using sanitizer, hopeful this instills more of that in people

[CannibalRitual]

The management of the situation at media level was crazy, and some notable members of the government were inviting people to go out and party (and now they are postive ah ah)

Today the politicians in Germany discussed whether they demand lower prices for Pay TV because people would miss out on soccer games.

[deutscheasphalt]

Don't panic, don't blindly believe any media outlets - look at the stats they're referencing and check if those are legit (e.g. official government health organizations reports)

Sorry to contradict you, but it is my job to work with these data and I am in constant communication with WEO representatives.

Where's the contradiction here? All I said was to refer to data - are you saying the complete opposite?

I'm in the middle of it. And it is as serious as they say.

"They say" meaning the media? Or the government?

it is a severe world health crisis and shrugging it off as no worse than the flu is a very solipsistic, and inaccurate viewpoint.

It's not solipsistic it's just factually incorrect. Covid as you described is clearly "worse" than flu in terms of mortality rate as seen in the data.

[holy ghost]

As a frontline healthcare worker I only hope this trend of people actually washing their hands continues.

[tiny_tove]

This virus causes acute respiratory symptoms in the elderly and immunocompromised, which can lead to death at worst, but also the need for mechanical ventilation.  This, combined with its virulence, means it is more severe than the flu in that you cannot just stay home and recover. Many (as seen in Italy) require hospitalization. What happens when hospitals fill all their beds? People will die.

Sure, if you are a hale and hearty mid 30s misanthrope this whole thing seems a bit much, but it is a severe world health crisis and shrugging it off as no worse than the flu is a very solipsistic, and inaccurate viewpoint.

PS
What is Bacillus up to these days?

this is what I was trying to say in my limited English, and this is what is what is currently happening.

Saying it is factually incorrect means you are living on the moon and out of reality.

"THEY" are the representatives of the world health organization, the Italian correspondents of the NHS, my family doctor (who is currently risking his life) and government representatives of both the Swiss and Italin state I've been in direct line since last Friday instead of finishing the artwork of the next Caligula box or do my normal job :)

It is the second time in my life I find myself right in the middle of massive health scare, but this is way more dangerous than the previous.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd

we are currently second in the charts of the WHO, which, considering the fact we have a strong density over a small country makes the thing even more difficult, since hospitals are not enough for something so aggressive.

[Balor/SS1535]

In the US, it seems that the fear is really starting to catch on.  I went to a few grocery stores over the weekend, and entire aisles of cleaning supplies were entirely empty.  I never thought much of it until then.

[tiny_tove]

panic is as bad as a superficial approach

a few days ago two places here were completely off of water and toilet paper lol

[deutscheasphalt]

Saying it is factually incorrect means you are living on the moon and out of reality.

You probably misread but I said that "covid being no worse than the flu" is factually incorrect.

"THEY" are the representatives of the world health organization, the Italian correspondents of the NHS (...) and government representatives of both the Swiss and Italin state

Cool, that's exactly the people I advised to listen to in my first post.
Seems like we don't disagree on anything then.

Italy needs to up its game when it comes to hospitals and urgent treatment. You guys got a lot of old people down there so the death count will likely be higher than China (per capita of course)

[tiny_tove]

Ok sorry for the misread mate :)

Problem is it is not hitting several below- 60s and healthy people as well. Apparently our virus is different than the Chinese one and there are risk of ongoing mutation.

Fun cat, there have been a few cases of Italian Covid in China now ah ah returning the favor