Coronavirus: one version of our near future

A few thoughts:

At this point, we are probably past containment. It would be like giving someone 3 minutes to clean up a gallon of spilled milk with two paper towels. There are going to be a lot of people infected. Not everyone that becomes infected will get better. Most will, but that one that doesn't could be your 80 yr old father or mother. It could be your spouse that is fighting cancer or has asthma. So, as irrational or extreme as one persons fear may seem to someone else, we don't always know the circumstances behind it. 

That being said...why are people hoarding SO MUCH toilet paper??????

Keeping kids away from college campus. Will it help? Doubtful that kids this age are going to self quarantine. They are going to be literally everywhere. Some are going to travel for spring break and they are not going to self report that. Have you seen what it costs to fly? Like anywhere? They may not be returning to campus right away, but they will be mingling among the general population. Seems like it could be the spilled milk situation again.

Are public /private grade schools next??? And spring sports being canceled? To most ,the idea will seem logical, as it does not directly affect them. It's just another thing that can be done to theoretically prevent more spread. But to the baseball kids that have been preparing since the last inning of their last fall game....utterly tragic. 

Looking at other viral outbreaks that happened during spring, some viruses came back harder in a second wave in fall. Are we preventing ourselves from being exposed to a milder form of the virus and building some immunity? If they do develop a vaccine quickly, will it even be effective against a possibly mutated virus in the fall? Again... an unknown. 

It is true that there are not enough beds, hospitals or health care workers for all the people that could become severely ill from this virus in the US. This will lead to a lot of deaths. IMO the government, whether it be federal or local, is going to do what it can, even if viewed as extreme.  They want to bide time until they have a vaccine if possible. No doubt though, their actions and warnings are causing alarm, frustration and anger. The stress is real....the toilet paper is sold out.

Here in the south, a weather forecast calling for any accumulation of snow causes shoppers to hoard milk, bread and toilet paper.  Since the former two generally won’t keep for weeks of potential quarantine, I guess folks are tripling down on TP?

Public health officials are in a difficult spot. The public wants to see them taking some visible action. If there is a serious outbreak, they will be blamed for not doing enough (even if things would have been much worse but for their actions). If there is not a serious outbreak, many will complain that officials overreacted. But in that case, we likely will never know whether the “overreaction” was the reason things weren’t more serious.  There is almost no scenario in which public health authorities will get to claim an unambiguous victory. 

I don't see it as being in a panic.  I see it as trusting the guy next to you.  The flu is still going around here.  I had talked to my doctor and she said that her office is full of nothing but the flu.  I had one of my sons coaches come up to talk to his wife who had the sniffles - I was in front of her and my dad - 84 years old was right behind him.  I told him what my doctor had said.  He informed me that what was going around was the wannabe flu and that the real flu was just about over.  He is also a high school teacher.  Well his kid was in the dugout with the sniffles.  A day later my son tells me that the whole family has the flu.  Not only did he risk the other players heath by letting his son in the dugout with other sick players but he put my father at risk.  I do not appreciate that.  It is this mentality from people we have no control over that makes people uneasy.     

My wife was in a wreck Monday and they took her to the ER.  She asked if there was a hurt area and sick area.  While she was waiting, she told me to go to the car rather than sit in waiting room.  

PitchingFan posted:

My wife was in a wreck Monday and they took her to the ER.  She asked if there was a hurt area and sick area.  While she was waiting, she told me to go to the car rather than sit in waiting room.  

I feel your pain/angst.  The floor plan in one hospital that I worked for allowed us to section off an area that we would use as a "flu clinic". Unfortunately, not every hospital is equipped with the square footage or staff to do so

Alanj posted:

I don't see it as being in a panic.  I see it as trusting the guy next to you.  The flu is still going around here.  I had talked to my doctor and she said that her office is full of nothing but the flu.  I had one of my sons coaches come up to talk to his wife who had the sniffles - I was in front of her and my dad - 84 years old was right behind him.  I told him what my doctor had said.  He informed me that what was going around was the wannabe flu and that the real flu was just about over.  He is also a high school teacher.  Well his kid was in the dugout with the sniffles.  A day later my son tells me that the whole family has the flu.  Not only did he risk the other players heath by letting his son in the dugout with other sick players but he put my father at risk.  I do not appreciate that.  It is this mentality from people we have no control over that makes people uneasy.     

Idiot

How about some green shoots?   My wife says to me why did the WHO announce this as a pandemic when China is recovering and South Korea is seeing relatively no new cases.   I tell her China lies (I suspect they do).  she presses me on South Korea and I say I have no idea.  So I look it up and sure enough, this site (accurate?) shows that South Korea has gone full bell curve in 4-5 weeks with a death rate of .8%.   Just thought I would share but I can't vouch for the data.   I am a glass 3/4's, 7/8ths full kind of guy.

https://www.worldometers.info/...country/south-korea/