The Department of Boneheadedness.

[SoulReaver]

The Chinese Doctor... who first encountered the virus and probably worked his immune system to death...

is that how it works? +_-

besides once he was diagnosed he'd have been isolated so no more exposure to the virus - how come he didn't recover from thereon?

[Falcon Horus]

besides once he was diagnosed he'd have been isolated so no more exposure to the virus - how come he didn't recover from thereon?

Because the moment this virus reaches your lungs, you're gonna need all the luck and best care in the world to survive.

It's basically a cough and fever thing, but once you develop a lung infection the state of your imune system defines whether you're gonna survive or not. Hence why the elderly are the ones dying.

China uses debatable treatments, plus they prevented him from exposing the news of the new virus. He wasn't going to get the best treatment to begin with.

The Tenerife hotel is quarantined for 2 weeks.

@Annoyed -- we already had pandemics which killed millions of people worldwide, see the Spanish Flu, which is not actually a flu... There's also the birdflu -- H1N1 was it, I believe. The Bubonic plague, Ebola is still ravaging through African countries. And whatever is hiding in the Antarctic ice.

[SoulReaver]

Because the moment this virus reaches your lungs, you're gonna need all the luck and best care in the world to survive.

it's airborne so doesn't it reach your lungs from the get go? all it takes is breathing +_-

China uses debatable treatments, plus they prevented him from exposing the news of the new virus. He wasn't going to get the best treatment to begin with.

if they wanted to downplay the seriousness of the situation then his death wasn't exactly the best way to go about it
on the contrary it'd have been in their best interest for him to recover & pass it off as no biggie

instead...

(and a rich country like China could easily give the best possible treatment if it wanted to)

[Annoyed]

Because the moment this virus reaches your lungs, you're gonna need all the luck and best care in the world to survive.

It's basically a cough and fever thing, but once you develop a lung infection the state of your imune system defines whether you're gonna survive or not. Hence why the elderly are the ones dying.

China uses debatable treatments, plus they prevented him from exposing the news of the new virus. He wasn't going to get the best treatment to begin with.

The Tenerife hotel is quarantined for 2 weeks.

@Annoyed -- we already had pandemics which killed millions of people worldwide, see the Spanish Flu, which is not actually a flu... There's also the birdflu -- H1N1 was it, I believe. The Bubonic plague, Ebola is still ravaging through African countries. And whatever is hiding in the Antarctic ice.

You mean besides the alien ship entombed in the ice? (Yes, I know, that was at the North pole, but who knows what's buried at the south pole?

Anyway, I was thinking of something more universally fatal. And yes, we've had many plagues. We (as a global entity) don't learn too well, do we? If we did, we would already have and use a nearly instant mechanism to stop travel.

[aretood2]

The thing about people thinking that you could get coronavirus by drinking corona beer. I think this would fit the bill pretty nicely.

[Annoyed]

The thing about people thinking that you could get coronavirus by drinking corona beer. I think this would fit the bill pretty nicely.

Wasn't that posted around here a few weeks back?

[Annoyed]

I wonder how many idiots will be stupid enough to fall for this? I'll bet it's a non-zero number.

Florida police department says it will test drugs for coronavirus

[Womble]

This is real-world, but I don't think it's political in nature, since the stupidity is prominently displayed by almost every governing body on Earth.

The corona virus, and the world's response to it.
We know how to stop the spread of diseases like this. and it's really, really simple.

We should have stopped all travel too and from the source nation, China in this case. Period. No exceptions, no BS, no excuses, nothing. Stop all physical contact with the source. Sure, it would suck to be someone who happened to be traveling in the source country at the time and couldn't return home without a lengthy quarantine to ensure non-contamination.

I don't think you understand how the modern world works.

"Stop all physical contact with the source" - as in with the second largest world economy and the largest world manufacturing center? How exactly?

The virus has two weeks incubation period, so by the time it was first detected, the spread was already larger than people knew, and Wuhan was a key transportation hub, the Chicago of China. The virus was out - including out of China - before the first whistle was blown. Most people infected outside of China did not catch the virus from a Chinese person.

Total quarantine means decimation of whole industries. The Israeli government right now is attempting to completely block entry of non-nationals from pretty much every country with the virus, and recommended Israelis to not travel abroad. Like at all. You know what it's doing? Decimating the tourism industry overnight, for one. All my coworkers and my boss got fired, I'm the only one left in our agency cleaning up the colossal mess. Incoming tourism is dead, Israeli airlines are firing 5% to 15% of workforce, 6% of our GDP is about to be wiped out. There are container ships with meat and other essential foods not being allowed to dock because a single sailor has visited South Korea or Thailand or China in the last 14 days, so major supply disruptions are expected. 10% of raw materials for Israeli medicine production comes from China and supply is disrupted. Ponder that.





You want a story of true, unlimited, unimaginable boneheadedness though? I've got one for you, it's about people not keeping the ******* quarantine. One Israeli guy came back from Italy and was ordered into 14 day home quarantine like everyone coming back from Italy. But screw that, he had a business to run, and he can't very well be absent from it for two weeks, right? Might lose some money. So he kept going to his shop until he was busted. His business was a toy store, selling stuff including costumes, right before the Purim holiday where costumes are the thing. He infected his wife, two of his workers and possibly unknown number of parents and children who were there as customers, until he was busted and arrested. One of his workers, a huge soccer fan, also broke quarantine and went to a soccer game. The health ministry ordered 5000 people into quarantine because of that, but it caused a colossal nationwide panic and they backed down, limiting the quarantine to people who satin the radius of 3 rows from the infected moron during the game.

Another idiot came back from Thailand and was sent into quarantine. While in home isolation, he fiddled with his phone and discovered that his wife opened an Instagram account, so naturally he went over to his in-laws where his wife and infant son were staying, and threatened to murder his wife. The police were called but released the guy back home as soon as they heard that he was in Thailand recently because they were afraid they'd catch the virus.

Want more boneheadedness? Our (hopefully out-going) Prime Minister just declared that since children and teenagers are less susceptible to the coronavirus, he plans to recruit schoolchildren for nationwide disinfection of all public institutions. Oy vey.

[Annoyed]

I don't think you understand how the modern world works.

"Stop all physical contact with the source" - as in with the second largest world economy and the largest world manufacturing center? How exactly?

The virus has two weeks incubation period, so by the time it was first detected, the spread was already larger than people knew, and Wuhan was a key transportation hub, the Chicago of China. The virus was out - including out of China - before the first whistle was blown. Most people infected outside of China did not catch the virus from a Chinese person.

Total quarantine means decimation of whole industries. The Israeli government right now is attempting to completely block entry of non-nationals from pretty much every country with the virus, and recommended Israelis to not travel abroad. Like at all. You know what it's doing? Decimating the tourism industry overnight, for one. All my coworkers and my boss got fired, I'm the only one left in our agency cleaning up the colossal mess. Incoming tourism is dead, Israeli airlines are firing 5% to 15% of workforce, 6% of our GDP is about to be wiped out. There are container ships with meat and other essential foods not being allowed to dock because a single sailor has visited South Korea or Thailand or China in the last 14 days, so major supply disruptions are expected. 10% of raw materials for Israeli medicine production comes from China and supply is disrupted. Ponder that.

Absolutely, isolation is sure to be inconvenient, to say the least. But it beats widespread death & disease We don't yet know how severe this virus will end up being. But one thing is certain. Eventually, some disease is going to appear that will be far more universally fatal. Corona is what, 3-5% fatal for a healthy population? What if something that is 75% or more fatal? What kind of effect might that have?

We need to have and use a mechanism for instantly isolating populations.

You want a story of true, unlimited, unimaginable boneheadedness though? I've got one for you, it's about people not keeping the ******* quarantine. One Israeli guy came back from Italy and was ordered into 14 day home quarantine like everyone coming back from Italy. But screw that, he had a business to run, and he can't very well be absent from it for two weeks, right? Might lose some money. So he kept going to his shop until he was busted. His business was a toy store, selling stuff including costumes, right before the Purim holiday where costumes are the thing. He infected his wife, two of his workers and possibly unknown number of parents and children who were there as customers, until he was busted and arrested. One of his workers, a huge soccer fan, also broke quarantine and went to a soccer game. The health ministry ordered 5000 people into quarantine because of that, but it caused a colossal nationwide panic and they backed down, limiting the quarantine to people who satin the radius of 3 rows from the infected moron during the game.

Another idiot came back from Thailand and was sent into quarantine. While in home isolation, he fiddled with his phone and discovered that his wife opened an Instagram account, so naturally he went over to his in-laws where his wife and infant son were staying, and threatened to murder his wife. The police were called but released the guy back home as soon as they heard that he was in Thailand recently because they were afraid they'd catch the virus.

Want more boneheadedness? Our (hopefully out-going) Prime Minister just declared that since children and teenagers are less susceptible to the coronavirus, he plans to recruit schoolchildren for nationwide disinfection of all public institutions. Oy vey.

And that is the best argument I can make for quick, effective isolation. It can be taken as a given that people and governments will not respond intelligently if given the chance to do something stupid.

[Annoyed]

Speaking of people responding intelligently...

Police department urges residents who have run out of toilet paper to stop calling 911

[Platschu]

My work in the pharmacy also feels like the outer steps of hell. So many annyoing, angry, selfish, threatining and disappointed panic buying customers. They have bought every painkillers (paracetemol tablets, suspension, co-codamols), so all the pain killer addicts will really suffer in the next few days and weeks- "Madness you say? This is humanity!"

If you remember the Joker interrogation scene from The Dark Knight :

JOKER: Their morals, their code; it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see- I'll show you. When the chips are down these, uh, civilized people? They'll eat each other. See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve.

And when I have seen how they have bought the toilet rolls, these civilized people are really eating each other....

[Falcon Horus]

Panic buying is all about psychology and needing to feel in control in a world where control was wrenched away from you.

Read a very interesting article about it cause I didn't understand the sudden fascination with TP.

[Annoyed]

Panic buying is all about psychology and needing to feel in control in a world where control was wrenched away from you.

Read a very interesting article about it cause I didn't understand the sudden fascination with TP.

I honestly think a large part of the hysteria and panic buying are driven by the media, at least in this country.

They clearly have their own agendas here, one of which is their own ratings. It's a variation on what they do with large weather events such as snowstorms & such. Any time there's a possibility of harsh weather, all of the news outlets hype the heck out if it so that people tune in during the next newscast to get the "latest" on the incoming storm. The real storm, when it arrives, very rarely lives up to the "storm of the century" the media has portrayed it as.

No proposed restrictions I've heard of restrict people's access to groceries and other essentials. But the media coverage has convinced many that they won't be able to buy essentials and therefore has created the panic and shortages we are seeing today.

[Platschu]

The local 24h Tesco had to change their opening times to 6-22, but then dozens of people were waiting before opening. They have attacked the staff who have tried to fill up the shelves. Really. People have turned into animals. This situation has turned into a Hunger Games. When I have gone to shop after my ship I have never seen the Tesco so empty in the last 5 years, not even at Christmas: no milk, no chicken meat, no minced meat, hardly any fish, no basic vegetables (like onion, carrot, potatoes, cauliflower), no bread or bread rolls, no rice, no pasta at all. Nothing. Completly empty shelves! They have bought all the sanitary stuffs for ladies, all the baby food, milk replacing products. Only 3 canned foods can be bought by person. What a nightmare and a disgrace from humanity.

[Gatefan1976]

The local 24h Tesco had to change their opening times to 6-22, but then dozens of people were waiting before opening. They have attacked the staff who have tried to fill up the shelves. Really. People have turned into animals. This situation has turned into a Hunger Games. When I have gone to shop after my ship I have never seen the Tesco so empty in the last 5 years, not even at Christmas: no milk, no chicken meat, no minced meat, hardly any fish, no basic vegetables (like onion, carrot, potatoes, cauliflower), no bread or bread rolls, no rice, no pasta at all. Nothing. Completly empty shelves! They have bought all the sanitary stuffs for ladies, all the baby food, milk replacing products. Only 3 canned foods can be bought by person. What a nightmare and a disgrace from humanity.

True fact, I'm one of those people trying to fill shelves.
I see that the Tesco's you are talking about chose some pretty crap hours to close. Yes, let's make a workforce that has been essentially under siege have between 10pm and 6am to do their jobs.