Coronavirus : Country readiness

[BruceVC]

Hi All

How confident do  you feel about how prepared your country is to deal with outbreaks and when the Coronovirus comes to your country?

South Africa is demonstrably unprepared, as usual,  when it comes to these global events. For example 

1. Initially our Public healthcare comments were similar to " China seems to be on top of things, we are happy with there progress" 
2. We have still not established a quarantine centre for people who come back from China and other effected countries
3. We keep blaming the media for raising attention to our obvious shortfalls   by patronizing comments like " the media mustn't create panic " 
4. We just dont seem to have a general cohesive strategy to address this virus within our borders and so far we have 3 confirmed cases but many more are coming

 

How is your country doing  and do you feel confident your government is doing all it can to address this epidemic ?

 

 

 

[Guard Dog]

I'll let Deekin speak for the folks in the USA. Take it away Deekin!

Meanwhile my new boss is something of a germaphobe. So we have been copying him on all Coronavirus news e-mails in the hopes he'll tell us to work from home

Edit: As for confidence in my government to anything... other than break stuff.... I think you already know the answer.

Edit to the Edit: BTW I have not lost a second of sleep over this. We'll be fine.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Guard Dog

[Skarpen]

11 cases so far in Poland. Government claimed they are prepared and ready with procedures. And next thing they did was create a special legislation which proves they weren't ready. Slight panic is observable in malls. People are buying food and medical supplies. All in all I don't believe there will be an high level of pandemic but if it comes we will be out of luck.

[xzar_monty]

<ignore>

Edited March 9, 2020 by xzar_monty

[Gorth]

I don't think the Scott Morrison government will handle the virus crisis as well as they handled the bush fire crisis. He'll most likely be turned away by US immigration when he turns tail and runs off, trying to hide on Hawaii again. The little piss ant could use some of the stuff he doesn't mind the rest of Australia getting exposed to. The opposition might not be able to pull his sorry ass out of the fire again this time, offering some much needed leadership for the services involved.

 

Edit: short version, the current liberal government completely hopeless in dealing with any kind of situation and has no tolerance for criticism. I'm sure Gromnir could express it better when press offices being raided by police because they published news about the war crimes that the government tried to sweep under the carpet.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Corona virus is a personal matter between you and your God, so better start praying.

 

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, Skarpen said:

11 cases so far in Poland. Government claimed they are prepared and ready with procedures. And next thing they did was create a special legislation which proves they weren't ready. Slight panic is observable in malls. People are buying food and medical supplies. All in all I don't believe there will be an high level of pandemic but if it comes we will be out of luck.

This sounds like the SA approach except our approach has been worse because we only now have inconceivably realized that how China addresses the virus spread is meaningless to SA because we cannot quarantine whole cities as we are a Democracy, have human rights responsibilities and quite simply lack the resources and strategy to isolate whole cities 

[Gfted1]

 

Now that I think of it, I havent had a single inoculation since I got out of the Navy (~1995/96). 

 

 

[Malcador]

Little bit of panic here in Canada, apparently people are loading up on toilet paper more than anything else.  My company is gearing up to have everyone work from home, and I think others are going to do the same.  We're at 66 cases country wide and here in Ontario we have 29.  Hopefully we learned something from SARS.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Malcador

[Gromnir]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Hi All

How confident do  you feel about how prepared your country is to deal with outbreaks and when the Coronovirus comes to your country?

How is your country doing  and do you feel confident your government is doing all it can to address this epidemic ?

no reasonable sane person should believe what the current US administration is saying regarding an emergency.

we got the sharpiegate President who, previous to coronavirus outbreak in china, had already shut down the nsc pandemic response officer and support staff while keeping cdc appointments understaffed by more than 700.  the President lies 'bout everything from windmills to the ukraine and anything in-between. had senior cabinet members telling the nation the US, insofar as being protected from the current novel corona outbreak containment were, "pretty close to airtight."  were temporal proximate to washington outbreak. even with senior health officials reacting to news in china by trying to get work on a vaccine started months ago (good news,) the administration were reluctant to take advice and obvious steps needed to increase testing capacity, which is kinda essential to controlling any kinda outbreak. the diamond princess repatriation were bungled. etc.

good news is while trump blathers on and misleads, we still got guys such as anthony fauci working on the issue. 

wall street shut down for 15-minutes today as the markets cratered dramatic. 

caution:

am not suggesting people should panic. given the extreme measures to which china has gone to try and contain their outbreak, it is difficult to dismiss this as much ado about nothing. 

China May Be Beating the Coronavirus, at a Painful Cost

even so, there isn't much benefit in losing collective bladder control. sure, buy a few supplies in case you gotta self-quarantine, but otherwise, go 'bout ordinary business 'cause there is not much you can do other than obvious stuff to avoid getting sick or inadvertent spreading.

oh, and Americans is poor suited to deal with this kinda sickness in any event, particular after the recent recession. more workers than at anytime in recent decades is day gig-- literal cannot afford to self-quarantine.  low-income folks who have full-time jobs is notoriously underprotected by their sick-day policies. also, Americans has always been stoopid 'bout working while sick. have had this debate previous 'bout how irresponsible it is to come to work if you genuine believe you got the flu, but most 'o us, at one time or another, has done so. 

...

and Americans is just plain stoopid and obtuse at times. US is not china, so is hardly practical to be locking down whole cities and states if it is deemed necessary at some point. got more than a few folks who is gonna see any such government efforts as conspiracy ladden fodder and the inevitable precursor to a full scale attack on their personal liberties-- next thing you know, they will be coming for your guns. *insert eye-roll here* oh, and more than a few self-quarantined genius Americans were managing by ordering takeout, 'cause person-to-person contact with the delivery guy who is gonna make a dozen or so additional stops before the end o' his shift doesn't count?

so not prepared, but that doesn't mean there will be an actual problem. is no way to know, but perhaps the coronavirus does behave as does the flu and we get a few months respite starting april.  sure, would likely be back in october/november, but extra time would be a boon. am hopeful projected lethality decreases as testsing increases. Gromnir personal has advantage o' being retired, so self-quarantine is not a big deal for us to swing. 

*shrug*

regardless, not prepared is a good assumption, particular with a sharpiegate President who lies 'bout... everything.

HA! Good Fun!

Edited March 9, 2020 by Gromnir

[Gfted1]

[Skazz]

Honest and perhaps stupid question, because I feel like I'm missing some major piece in the corona puzzle:

Why is it specifically toilet paper? Am I missing some important strategic value here?

[kirottu]

I have to ask: what is up with the hoarding of toilet paper?

Edit: great minds think alike.

Edited March 9, 2020 by kirottu

[Gfted1]

I dont have the answer to that question. I mean, if it comes down to it just wipe your butt with a washcloth and then wash it.  But luckily I had no problem procuring a 12 MEGA PACK (which equals 48 regular rolls) from Walmart grocery pickup this weekend. I can wipe without fear for a few weeks now.

[BruceVC]

51 minutes ago, Skazz said:

Honest and perhaps stupid question, because I feel like I'm missing some major piece in the corona puzzle:

Why is it specifically toilet paper? Am I missing some important strategic value here?

 

51 minutes ago, kirottu said:

I have to ask: what is up with the hoarding of toilet paper?

Edit: great minds think alike.

Its  a valid question, its related to panic hoarding where people assume there will be mass shortages of goods and consumables so they stock up on what they assume will be difficult to get in the future

But its unnecessary and unrelated to Coronavirus to stock up on toilet paper 

Edited March 9, 2020 by BruceVC

[HoonDing]

This entire hoax will be over in two weeks. Just a hunch.

[Gfted1]

But just wait till you see the pants crapping over next year's pandemic! I want to get ahead of this and Im going straight to mankind's demise as soon as global warming melts the permafrost and unleashes upon humanity bacteria and virus that havent been in the wild in millennia.

[ShadySands]

20 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

But just wait till you see the pants crapping over next year's pandemic!

So that's what all the toilet paper is for

[Skazz]

Beavis and Butthead was a warning.

 

[Gorgon]

The 'are you panicked yet' jokes are still funny at work, we'll see how far that lasts. 

[injurai]

[Skarpen]

@Gromnir don't worry friend. Dems and their leftist friends are on top of thing. They labeled calling the virus "Wuhan virus" as racist. This is important step in welcoming the virus to the population and removing the stigma from the poor thing. Next step they will welcome the infected from around the world and claim if you don't have it you are a bigot and racist. Better get your virus today or stay fascist.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-chris-hayes-david-gura-coronoavirus-wuhan-virus-racist.amp

 

[Mannock]

I don't get what the fuss is about. Sure, if you have multiple diseases and/or is very old (80+) you ought to be worried, but for everyone else, it's no big deal.

[Skarpen]

42 minutes ago, Mannock said:

I don't get what the fuss is about. Sure, if you have multiple diseases and/or is very old (80+) you ought to be worried, but for everyone else, it's no big deal.

That's a little shortsighted. First of all people should worry that even if thet will not die they can infect someone who could die. Friends, family etc. A common cold is not very lethal and I still avoid spreading it if I catch one even if it's not "big deal".

Second of all if allowed to spread freely because not a big deal if you are not old then you eventually will be old at some point in time. And since you can catch it more than once, as being sick once doesn't give you immunity like in some other viruses, that's a concern.

[Mannock]

1 hour ago, Skarpen said:

That's a little shortsighted. First of all people should worry that even if thet will not die they can infect someone who could die. Friends, family etc. A common cold is not very lethal and I still avoid spreading it if I catch one even if it's not "big deal".

Second of all if allowed to spread freely because not a big deal if you are not old then you eventually will be old at some point in time. And since you can catch it more than once, as being sick once doesn't give you immunity like in some other viruses, that's a concern.

Well, there are hundreds and thousands every year dying from the flu (again, people with multiple diseases and the elderly) and so far that hasn't lead us to buyng toilet paper in panic. I get it that it's important to keep diseases in check, that is all fine, but the panic is just utterly stupid. If you are in panic now, you should have been in panic all days and years prior to this date, and you should keep being in a state of panic for the rest of your life. But it won't do you any good.

[213374U]

6 hours ago, Skarpen said:

And since you can catch it more than once, as being sick once doesn't give you immunity like in some other viruses, that's a concern.

While it's possible that reinfection is a thing with SARS-CoV-2, it's more likely that people testing positive again after being discharged is owing to misdiagnosis, human error, inadequate or faulty testing or virus deposits being left in an otherwise virus-free organism, than it somehow bypassing even the short-term immunity that is ordinarily gained after fighting off an infection.

Observing basic hygiene practices is a good idea even in the absence of things like this. Closing down schools, cancelling flights, etc.? I think the figures don't warrant that, but I'm no specialist.

Edited March 10, 2020 by 213374U