NO MAN IS AN ISLAND-CORONA VIRUS EPIDEMIC

Today an interviewer on the BBC asked whether or not the media was in danger of "over egging" the danger ,to UK citizens ,of the coronavirus outbreak in China. On the same programme an expert maintained that it was not inevitable that the coronavirus would be detected within the UK.

While one can understand that responsible broadcasters and government spokesmen do not wish to cause a national panic it must be clear, to all reading updates in the Guardian and elsewhere, that this is not the time for a "Peace in our time moment".It is utterly irresponsible, IMHO, for anyone to attempt to downplay the present global emergency.To encourage any thinking that government ministers, CEOs and other national institutions have the time available to hesitate before taking immediate action to adopt/promote life saving protocols ,order vital supplies etc is folly of the highest order.

Today we have been told that the number of people infected worldwide has jumped by nearly a thousand. Today, on Radio 4, it was reported that UK experts are in no doubt that human to human transmission of the coronavirus is taking place and that they estimate that every infected individual is passing on the virus to at least two or three people.

Today we already know that the virus has been detected in patients across the globe. While China and other wealthy countries may be able to afford to send vast numbers of medical staff, protective suits, masks etc into particular zones many less developed nations simply lack the resources that might have enabled them to prevent the virus from spreading rapidly into towns and particularly megacities. Even if China, France and other well resourced nations succeed in containing national outbreaks eventually planes, ships and stowaways will increasingly bring the virus back into their territories.

We must hope that the virus mutates into a less fatal form over time but the very opposite to this might occur.

For those of you who believe this thread is "over egging" the situation, please take the time to read the following extract.

EXTRACT

Leading US health experts predicted a coronavirus could kill tens of millions of people in a chilling warning three months before the deadly outbreak in China.

Scientists at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security modeled a hypothetical pandemic on a computer as part of research last October.

The simulation predicted 65 million people from every corner of the world would be wiped out in just 18 months.

So far the highly contagious disease currently ravaging China has killed 26 people and infected more than 900 - but experts predict the true number to be thousands.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7925475/US-health-experts-predicted-coronavirus-kill-65million-people-year-THREE-months-ago.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

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At first sight it is possible to look at the reported totals of people infected with the coronavirus, death rates and those now critically ill and believe that perhaps 20% of a population might die during an epidemic. This figure is far higher than that being proposed by experts in the field.However we are not being told 1) how many critically ill patients are recovering, 2) whether certain racial groups are more badly affected and 3) what is likely to happen when the virus reaches areas in which weakened immune systems caused by the Aids virus and/or malnutrition are impacted.

The purpose of this thread is to ask question and inform.

Earlier posts positioned within another thread will be revisited.

RJMA