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Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:55 pm
by redskies
Nurseandy wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:36 pm This may cause offence and I certainly don't want to trivialise a lethal illness that has no cure and is spreading but I do feel things should be kept in perspective in that currently around 500 people have died from the new corona virus. This needs to be considered against the half a million people that die every year globally from the influenza virus but don't make the news.
Apologies if this seems callous just trying to keep things in perspective.

This mornings figures, which are the official ones from the Chinese government and, generally agreed by most experts, to be grossly understated.


43138 infected

1018 dead

4284 recovered

This virus has a mortality rate of roughly twice that of seasonal flu, it spreads faster and because it's a brand new, previously unseen in humans virus, if anyone has immunity, it's going to be a fraction of a percent of the global population.

The Chinese government are now welding/chaining people into their housing complexes, or dumping huge piles of dirt/rubble in front of the doors. Or forcibly dragging them out of their homes to put them into 'quarantine' in huge, open buildings with no privacy, very little in the way of sanitation, and no seperate cubicles. Not tested people, mind you, just people who *might* have the virus. If they don't when they arrive, they most certainly will shortly thereafter given the way this thing spreads.

Since they, like us, deal with seasonal flu every single year, and do not respond in this way, the logical conclusion, even without all of the other data, is that this virus is far worse.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:57 pm
by redskies
There is a prototype mask I've heard about that a microbiologist friend thinks would work very well. The filtering layer is salt. He says it works on pretty much everything, even the BSL4 stuff, because the salt will absorb then dessicate & kill viruses & bacteria efficiently.

Now, could we come up with a DIY version? I dunno, but I can have a think about it.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:05 pm
by Deeps
Nurseandy wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:36 pm This may cause offence and I certainly don't want to trivialise a lethal illness that has no cure and is spreading but I do feel things should be kept in perspective in that currently around 500 people have died from the new corona virus. This needs to be considered against the half a million people that die every year globally from the influenza virus but don't make the news.
Apologies if this seems callous just trying to keep things in perspective.
Kind of how I see it too Andy. People die of stuff every year but it doesn't get the same coverage as its not as 'sexy' as this new kid on the block. We'll see what happens I guess.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:41 pm
by jansman
Deeps wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:05 pm
Nurseandy wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:36 pm This may cause offence and I certainly don't want to trivialise a lethal illness that has no cure and is spreading but I do feel things should be kept in perspective in that currently around 500 people have died from the new corona virus. This needs to be considered against the half a million people that die every year globally from the influenza virus but don't make the news.
Apologies if this seems callous just trying to keep things in perspective.


Kind of how I see it too Andy. People die of stuff every year but it doesn't get the same coverage as its not as 'sexy' as this new kid on the block. We'll see what happens I guess.
Not just me then?

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:00 pm
by Plymtom
jansman wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:41 pm
Deeps wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:05 pm
Nurseandy wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:36 pm This may cause offence and I certainly don't want to trivialise a lethal illness that has no cure and is spreading but I do feel things should be kept in perspective in that currently around 500 people have died from the new corona virus. This needs to be considered against the half a million people that die every year globally from the influenza virus but don't make the news.
Apologies if this seems callous just trying to keep things in perspective.


Kind of how I see it too Andy. People die of stuff every year but it doesn't get the same coverage as its not as 'sexy' as this new kid on the block. We'll see what happens I guess.
Not just me then?
Someone told me that 300 people in the UK died due to road accidents in January alone this year, not that this virus isn't cause for concern, perhaps upping the ante on hygene, we just need to keep it in perspective for now.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:04 pm
by grenfell
I'm leaning towards agreement rather than anything else. A thousand dead in a country with a population of 1.4Bilion sounds a handful and a mortality rate of 1-2% doesn't make it sound too bad. I suppose the main difference is how contagious the virus is. If another virus has say a 10% mortality rate but is harder to catch then in total less people will end up dead. 2% of a million is still more than 10% of 10,000.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:48 pm
by jansman
Average of 3000 die in traffic related accidents each year.A statistic my wife's surgeon told her was that one in two people now contract cancer!

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 8:10 pm
by peejay
Although I also shared the view that, viewed in isolation, the numbers don't appear that scary, however we have to bear in mind that this infection rate is happening in cities that are effectively totally locked down, who knows what the infection numbers would look like if it were treated as "just another flu". Couple that with the fact that they have no vaccine/cure for it either & I think they're probably treating it with the respect it deserves.

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 8:25 pm
by jansman
Anyone ever wondered why SARS, Swine flu,and this one,oh yes,HN51,seem to all come out of China?

Re: UK running short of surgical and dust masks.

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 9:00 pm
by Plymtom
peejay wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 8:10 pm Although I also shared the view that, viewed in isolation, the numbers don't appear that scary, however we have to bear in mind that this infection rate is happening in cities that are effectively totally locked down, who knows what the infection numbers would look like if it were treated as "just another flu". Couple that with the fact that they have no vaccine/cure for it either & I think they're probably treating it with the respect it deserves.
:tinfoil Territory ; Once or twice whilst having alcohol fueled debates I had suggested that with population being an issue, it would not surprise me if some countries were working on flu like things as almost an ethnic cleansing thing, or thinning the population in general, like I said alcohol fueled..... for it to be a serious consideration the thing would have to be striking one area or group of people either only or harder, as we all must be aware China has a large population of humans and by association animals that they eat, often in conditions which can be said to play into the hands of a virus?