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Post by ellie on Mar 11, 2020 11:53:21 GMT
Just wondering how this is impacting all your countries. Here in Ireland we have 34 cases and the shops have sold out of hand sanitizer and people are stockpiling toilet rolls and kitchen paper! The Government is today debating imposing “more stringent restrictions.” Presumably that means the closure of places like schools and some level of travel ban. It’s all getting very serious.
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Post by mllemass on Mar 11, 2020 12:08:13 GMT
Life continues as usual here. My parents are concerned about our relatives in Italy, and are really embarrassed that Italy has become the centre of attention in all of this.
My mother asked us to get her some of this hand sanitizer she’s been hearing about, but the stores were sold out. We had no problem ordering it online, though.
I was at a family event on Sunday, catching up with a couple of cousins. One cousin is a doctor who was planning a holiday in Egypt next month with a friend, but decided to pay the $1000 penalty and cancel it. She told us that the virus is much more dangerous than the media are saying, and that if we (at our age) catch it, we will surely die. She’s ten years older than me, so I’m not quite sure which “age” she was referring to. That wasn’t the most pleasant conversation for Sunday afternoon bridal shower!
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Post by queenzod on Mar 11, 2020 12:29:45 GMT
Considering that we have the stupid orange Cheeto in charge, things are not so good here in the US. We’re 6 weeks behind with testing, it’s spreading, people are panic shopping & insisting on still going to large group activities, etc. My country is full of morons who actually think they can treat themselves by drinking bleach, or that the entire epidemic is a hoax created by the Democrats to give Trump a hard time in the upcoming election. It’s...depressing.
There’s 20 cases in my state, which isn’t much, and our governor is pretty good, tho. I rarely leave the house anyway, so I’m not particularly worried for myself. But if we don’t start testing seriously and get some game plans on, we’re going to be screwed. We have senators who have been exposed and are refusing to self quarantine!
I don’t know what’s happened to my country. There was a time when the US would have been on the frontlines of this outbreak, sending doctors and scientists out across the world to help contain the spread, develop treatments and test kits, and the people wouldn’t be so incredibly stupid about conforming to recommendations. 😭
Sorry, I’m just bumming recently. Trump is wearing me down.
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Post by ellie on Mar 11, 2020 12:35:03 GMT
I think your cousin was being rather alarmist Mllemass. The death rate is 3.5 per cent and the vast majority of that is people over 70 with underlying health conditions. Most people recover. Still I would rather not catch it. I’m due to go to Norway on holiday in mid April so I’ve no idea whether or not that will be possible. I think Italy has been badly hit because of the trade contacts of the fashion industry in the North with China. Then the Government was a bit slow to implement containment measures. You can’t really blame them because Italy was hit early on when nobody really knew what to do for the best in the situation.
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Post by ellie on Mar 11, 2020 12:41:54 GMT
Considering that we have the stupid orange Cheeto in charge, things are not so good here in the US. We’re 6 weeks behind with testing, it’s spreading, people are panic shopping & insisting on still going to large group activities, etc. My country is full of morons who actually think they can treat themselves by drinking bleach, or that the entire epidemic is a hoax created by the Democrats to give Trump a hard time in the upcoming election. It’s...depressing. There’s 20 cases in my state, which isn’t much, and our governor is pretty good, tho. I rarely leave the house anyway, so I’m not particularly worried for myself. But if we don’t start testing seriously and get some game plans on, we’re going to be screwed. We have senators who have been exposed and are refusing to self quarantine! I don’t know what’s happened to my country. There was a time when the US would have been on the frontlines of this outbreak, sending doctors and scientists out across the world to help contain the spread, develop treatments and test kits, and the people wouldn’t be so incredibly stupid about conforming to recommendations. 😭 Sorry, I’m just bumming recently. Trump is wearing me down. Drinking Bleach? Good grief. Did they survive? The best way to contain the virus is to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, don’t touch your face and obey the self isolation rules if you’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive. And avoid being in large crowds if possible. If everyone did that the thing would be tackled much more quickly & effectively. But alas way too many people are selfish and stupid or both! And don’t get me started about the two blonde buffoons - Trump and Boris - or I might just spontaneously combust.
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Post by queenzod on Mar 11, 2020 13:47:01 GMT
People panic over things like this, and unfortunately with poor leadership that is more concerned with their “optics” than actually dealing with the problem, people aren’t reassured.
Btw, Ellie, I saw a cute video of your president’s beautiful dog the other day. So cute! 😍
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 11, 2020 13:56:01 GMT
I guess that if you drink bleach and die you don't catch the Covid19 so in certain way, it works! 😉
Here is very calm. Maybe too much calm! I just read one tweet by one journalist claiming the government is probably under reporting numbers considering that American media reported huge numbers of contagions at a convention in Boston in which there were a good number of Mexicans that already returned to the country. One of them is identified but he isn't included in the official list! There is also some people moaning that there is not health personnel in airports. If all these is true then who knows what could happen next? For now, there are just 8 confirmed cases.
TBH the actual government has shown that it is pretty incompetent even with the supposedly good left wing intentions (the worst: trying to completely and radically change the old and slow health system provoked a shortage of medication for cancer patients, including kids. There are already a few deaths). There are a LOT of things to be critical about past administrations but the reaction to the H1N1 ten years ago was the total opposite. It even seemed a little over the top TBH but it worked. The epicenter was here (even when it began in the USA!) but we didn't have the extremes we are seeing in China and Europe. It was quickly controlled.
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Post by mllemass on Mar 11, 2020 15:01:30 GMT
Yes, she was definitely being alarmist! She said that the actual age is much lower but they’re not telling us the truth to avoid a panic.
She also blames the situation in Italy on the attitude of “How DARE you tell us not to greet each other with hugs and kisses! We’re Italian - that’s what we do!” She said that they had ignored the warnings and cautions.
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Post by MagdaFR on Mar 11, 2020 15:13:28 GMT
I think Uruguay is the only country in South America where there are no cases. Who knows what happens in Venezuela?
The number of cases in South America are not that big. I'm going to start panicking when Argentina and Brazil's numbers (our neighbours) start to grow. The first people who got the H1N1 virus in 2009 had returned here form a trip to Argentina.
I didn't look for any extra supplies, last time I went to the market there was no shortage of toilet paper. In public offices and shops, restaurants and other places there are generally sanitizers since 2009 because of the H1N1 previous epidemic. I prefer to wash my hands.
Anyway, I'm checking this site.
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Post by onebluestocking on Mar 11, 2020 16:53:37 GMT
Toilet paper shelves at my local WalMart are completely empty today, here in the middle US. Everyone has their torches and pitchforks out for a local family who returned from Italy with the virus, then broke quarantine to go to a school dance. They closed the school the next day (which doesn't really seem helpful, because surely anyone who contracted the illness would be contagious for more than one day.)
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