Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

South Africa has a surplus of lobster as they are struggling to get buyers from china, their biggest market. Apparently lobster is selling for half what it did as they have way too much supply and no demand.

So, in my clinic, the thing is a real fear for several reasons, biggest being parents will still send their kids into the clinic for services if they are sick, we have gotten kids come in with like, snot running down their nose and garbage like that. Its insane, to the poit where we are all saying that if a kid comes in sick we are going to recommend they get picked up.

Its very unlikely those kids have corona virus. Of 44000 cases only 400 had been under 10s (not even 1%), of which not one of them died.

Kids with runny noses is an unfortunate fact of life, not really related to Corona virus. What Corona virus does do, though, is highlight how complacent we are about hygiene and sickness generally.

8 cases confirmed in Slovenia so far, all of them people going YOLO and knowingly travelling to/through hotspots, 3 of them doctors. One of them came from Italy and went straight to work, came into contact with 40 patients, his entire hospital is shut down now. We have nothing to fear but the sheer stupidity of humans

Three in the county in Maryland where I live. They took a trip overseas and brought back an unwanted souvenir. Ah, and apparently spread it around in a few places, including a retirement community.

Yeah you can't blame kids for being a bit snotty. My daughter gets colds constantly. Usually it's nothing but last year one of the times came with tonsillitis. What am I going to do, just not take her to the docs?

This is partly our own fault for being too hygienic. People can't deal with germs and diseases anymore because they over sanitise everything.

Well it's starting to pop up in Kentucky and Tennessee. Sucks for me because my work has a pandemic action plan and with cases this close it means all trainings and meetings off site have essentially been cancelled.

Not seen much panic yet, but I have a feeling next time I go into town to buy groceries I'm gonna go ahead and grab a couole packages of TP and another couple weeks of food. I've already got about a 3 weeks supply of each that I keep for any time the dreaded word of "snow" crosses the news headlines and the stores get slammed, but I have a feeling this will start a panic buy soon as well.

Granted if this becomes a true pandemic I'm laughably underprepared even with something like 2 months of supplies, but that's what I get for playing 40k and not investing in an underground bunker I guess

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Yeah you can't blame kids for being a bit snotty. My daughter gets colds constantly. Usually it's nothing but last year one of the times came with tonsillitis. What am I going to do, just not take her to the docs?

This is partly our own fault for being too hygienic. People can't deal with germs and diseases anymore because they over sanitise everything.

That’s true. Back in the age of cholera, consumption, the grip, Polio and the plague, people lived so much longer due to the lack of sanitation.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Yeah you can't blame kids for being a bit snotty. My daughter gets colds constantly. Usually it's nothing but last year one of the times came with tonsillitis. What am I going to do, just not take her to the docs?

This is partly our own fault for being too hygienic. People can't deal with germs and diseases anymore because they over sanitise everything.

I'm not talking about kids being snotty, I mean parents bringing their kids in full on sick, like a nose like a faucet or caughing up lungs

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Yeah you can't blame kids for being a bit snotty. My daughter gets colds constantly. Usually it's nothing but last year one of the times came with tonsillitis. What am I going to do, just not take her to the docs?

This is partly our own fault for being too hygienic. People can't deal with germs and diseases anymore because they over sanitise everything.

I'm not talking about kids being snotty, I mean parents bringing their kids in full on sick, like a nose like a faucet or caughing up lungs

Dual income families with employment obligations that encourage the sick to spread their diseases in the work place (how on earth do employers view this as desirable?) or dissuade parents from keeping their sick kids out of class/care.

Its a societal problem as much as individual.

While i do understand that it is none the less frustrating when a parent decides to drop their kid off(Or let us come to their house) when they are clearly sick, not only making it miserable for us, but them aswell, and risk putting it into other kids, some with weakened immune systems. and then causing us to call in sick cause we cought it from them.

The rise of auto-immune diseases is at least contributed to by over sanitation. The body's immune system is like an angry militia; if it doesn't have something to fight, it will find something to fight.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Yeah you can't blame kids for being a bit snotty. My daughter gets colds constantly. Usually it's nothing but last year one of the times came with tonsillitis. What am I going to do, just not take her to the docs?

This is partly our own fault for being too hygienic. People can't deal with germs and diseases anymore because they over sanitise everything.

That’s true. Back in the age of cholera, consumption, the grip, Polio and the plague, people lived so much longer due to the lack of sanitation.

The world doesn't work in black and white. You're better than making arguments like it does.

Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

Does it really make them stronger, or is it just the unfortunates that weren’t sufficiently ‘strong’ instead just tended to sadly die?

I mean, there is something to be said about not fearing germs too much and that kids do need their immune system tested as kids...
But not throwing them to the wolves of very bad diseases is kinda......expected TBH

Well.

My local Supermarket was fully stocked with Toilet Paper when I went in today, but Value and bulk Rice is sold out and I saw a few shoppers doing multiple buys of paracetamol.....

People have been queing early to make sure they are first in line when hand sanitiser is restocked too.

I'm really not sure how they will behave if we get to an epidemic level of Coronvirus.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

This highlights the reality that WHICH diseases children (and people) are protected from matters quite a lot. People who feel that any amount of exposure is appropriate are falling victim to black and white thinking as well. US culture is particularly bad about encouraging that, especially these days.

You can tell ahead of time which specific bacteria and viruses you are being exposed to?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
You can tell ahead of time which specific bacteria and viruses you are being exposed to?

Its obviously a unique super power!

nareik wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

Does it really make them stronger, or is it just the unfortunates that weren’t sufficiently ‘strong’ instead just tended to sadly die?

Yeah, most people fight off the flu at least once a year and have multiple colds every year. We immunize (i.e. expose ourselves to weakened diseases) people for everything we can. Our immune systems get plenty of action, and there's plenty of stuff we don't even notice that our systems deal with routinely. Living in healthy conditions with good nutrition is a far better means of fighting off infection than living in squalid conditions to 'exercise' your immune system. Having to fight off serious conditions leads to real bodily damage and impairs your ability to fight the next infection.

Happy to report our supermarket had plenty of TP. We got 3 big packs cuz they had a buy 3 sale. So now we got enough for a few months. The hand wipes and sanitzer section was completely bare though.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
8 cases confirmed in Slovenia so far, all of them people going YOLO and knowingly travelling to/through hotspots, 3 of them doctors. One of them came from Italy and went straight to work, came into contact with 40 patients, his entire hospital is shut down now. We have nothing to fear but the sheer stupidity of humans

The thread cant have it both ways. We have had ten pages of accusations of 'alarmists' and 'scaremongering' so it is to be expected for people to YOLO. Most of Dakka knew no better, just watch people pretend they didnt have their prior positions in the next few days as the truth sinks in.
Does everyone get it yet. COVID-19 is a problem, and no, that is not scaremongering.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I was amused to read a comment from a Mumsnet post which said something like "I'm a prepper so I bought loads of TP."

No you're not. If you really were a prepper you wouldn't need to buy anything because the apocalypse you were supposedly preparing for has now arrived and you're ready.

Fortunately there is still gin.

Yes and no. There are different levels of prepper. Very very few people can prep for anything (we can count out zombies etc, just the masin threats in 'everything'). It takes a lot of resources and locational requirements to begin this. Then those who can be relatively well prepped cant buy in everything. However those preppers will have few needs to rush buy. I dont consider myself a traditional prepper, more like a limited prepper so I got 'caught out' with hand sanitiser, but I had toilet roll, and also I was clued up enough to recognise the trends as they occured so I got extra toilet roll and some hand sanitiser.
Let us take a look at COVID-19 prepping in the UK so far: hand sanitiser, toilet roll and baked beans. I would have called only one of those three. However I have some good general prepping.

Yes the woman in Mumsnet is a prepper, as 1) she managed to actually get the toilet paper 2) she is aware of the issue. Some people aren't even aware enough to become panic buyers, and most panic buyers failed to aquire stocks.

I have been a prepper now for about 18 months, and I do not feel vindicated. As I mentioned on the UK prepper topic The conscientious prepper desires to be proven wrong. Sadly I was not.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

No one is proposing exposing people to diseases. That's what vaccinations are for. But when everything you touch from the moment you're born is completely sterile, and stays that way, when you do come into contact with bacteria and viruses, the body doesn't know what to do, as mentioned above.

And I don't think anyone is proposing living in squalor either, just use common sense. You don't need to bleach your kitchen tops every day, or your bath tubs. I don't think hand sanitizers are even necessary save for places like communal or public kitchens etc. Just practice good cleanliness, hand washing etc.

That's why I believe the common cold is important in a way. I believe it keeps your immune system on point, although there are people who dispute this.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

There's a lot of grey area between Middle Age (lack of) hygiëne and the current trend of overprotection and oversanitation.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

Fair enough.

I’ll just say that two of my dad’s brothers died of disease as children and my MiL has been in a wheelchair most of her life because she got polio as a child. I am wary of the idea that protecting kids from contagion is a harmful practice, and exposing them makes them stronger.

No one is proposing exposing people to diseases. That's what vaccinations are for. But when everything you touch from the moment you're born is completely sterile, and stays that way, when you do come into contact with bacteria and viruses, the body doesn't know what to do, as mentioned above.

And I don't think anyone is proposing living in squalor either, just use common sense. You don't need to bleach your kitchen tops every day, or your bath tubs. I don't think hand sanitizers are even necessary save for places like communal or public kitchens etc. Just practice good cleanliness, hand washing etc.

That's why I believe the common cold is important in a way. I believe it keeps your immune system on point, although there are people who dispute this.

Don't forget public toilets. No way I'm leaving those without washing my hands with soap first.

,,well it is called a bag for life eh ?



.. Legend.

More men are washing their hands in public toilets, i noticed. It's amazing how fear of pestilence can make even the most hardline "hygiene is for the effeminate" Manly Junkhandler change his ways.

Were the sinks broken? I mean...people pee in those things.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
You can tell ahead of time which specific bacteria and viruses you are being exposed to?

Hm, nevermind. I'm not successfully communicating what I'm trying to.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Were the sinks broken? I mean...people pee in those things.

Urine IS sterile (for the record, pretty sure he means "public toilet" as in "public toilet facilities" and hands being washed in sinks, but I suspect you are aware)

 reds8n wrote:

Spoiler:

,,well it is called a bag for life eh ?

Spoiler:

.. Legend.

Love it, that they actually think that will help is better, masks are pointless, they would be better with a bar of soap, that plastic box on head is likea incubator. Also concerned she may suffocate.

Waitrose was out of TP on Thursday and again on Friday. They had it on Saturday, but low stocks. Aldi was out on Saturday.

No-one anywhere had sanitiser, though it didn't matter as I always have a few small bottles of that in my first aid kits. However, as others have said, good hygiene with ordinary soap and hot water is the best defence. I bought four packs of paracetamol and ibuprofen. We've now got enough for both of us to self-isolate and take analgesics for a fortnight if it was necessary.

Fresh groceries were in good supply everywhere, and fresh meat and fish. Tinned stuff was noticeably thinned out, but still easily available. We bought some extra tins of soup and various veg. We also bought a few more frozen items than usual.

Eggs were nearly out of stock, but got a box of 15 which will last us nearly two weeks. My wife eats an egg everyday. I only eat them at the weekend.

All the above shows there is no problem in the supply chain. The problem is panic buying in the shops. Waitrose and Tesco have announced rationing on various linies.

I don't consider myself a prepper. I think it's fairly normal to have a couple of weeks' worth of non-perishable items (including flour, lentils, rice, and pasta) and semi-perishable (onions, potatoes, swedes) in the cellar, also household stuff like soap, bleach and the like.