The Covid-19 Thread

[Achtung Englander]

WH Smith issued a profit warning after the outbreak hit sales in its travel division, which includes store at airports and train stations
Cineworld shares fell by more than 40%. It said that in a worst-case scenario, there was a risk it might not be able to repay its debts
Estate agent Savills said the outbreak had caused a big drop in transactions in China and across Asia
Train and bus firm Go-Ahead Group said the outbreak had affected the number of travellers on some of its services

A recession is all but inevitable

How secure are your jobs ? - this is going to be bad

[Sly Boots]

So Ireland just closed all its schools for the rest of March, my guess is we won't be too far behind.

[Mantis]

Someone pointed out to me that people were calling 999 when KFC ran out of chicken a year or so ago. So yeah, the hysteria among the public when we have to take actual measures to try and stop further infections is going to be interesting.

I think my whole department is considering plans for long term remote working from home. I can't wait.

[DjchunKfunK]

If the reason for these pandemics were just poor hygiene or strange medical practices then there would be virus' coming out of India and Africa, China in no way has a monopoly on these. Blaming the Chinese has a hint of racism about it as does the idea that they just need to buck their ideas up in order to stop these viruses from appearing. It is the most populous nation in the world, is a huge country that covers various different biological and geographical areas, and has strong links to the rest of the world, it isn't a surprise that pathogens are coming out of the country and spreading so easily. No other country with such diverse ecology and links to the rest of the world exists.

[Animalmother]

So Ireland just closed all its schools for the rest of March, my guess is we won't be too far behind.

Yeah, there's a growing air of "oh fuck!" over here. Shops are running out of stuff due to panic buying. Trains and buses want to reduce capacity to reduce chance of infection and restaurants and the like aren't opening. Plus we had our first death from it yesterday.

[Sly Boots]

Italy's medical chief has died from coronavirus...

[Alan]

I’m not seeing any of this supermarkets being low on stock thing anywhere I’ve been in Scotland other than a sign up in Morrisons saying only 2 packs of loo roll per person - though the shelves were full. Is this just an English thing?


Edit: I take that back, just went for some OJ and they only had smooth!

[Wrathbone]

My aunt and uncle up in Orkney said Tesco had almost run out of toilet roll and tinned food, but then Tesco and Lidl are the only two supermarkets on the entirety of the island group.

[Achtung Englander]

I’m not seeing any of this supermarkets being low on stock thing anywhere I’ve been in Scotland other than a sign up in Morrisons saying only 2 packs of loo roll per person - though the shelves were full. Is this just an English thing?


Edit: I take that back, just went for some OJ and they only had smooth!

Oh shit - its the bits that make OJ worth it

[Achtung Englander]

If the reason for these pandemics were just poor hygiene or strange medical practices then there would be virus' coming out of India and Africa, China in no way has a monopoly on these. Blaming the Chinese has a hint of racism about it as does the idea that they just need to buck their ideas up in order to stop these viruses from appearing. It is the most populous nation in the world, is a huge country that covers various different biological and geographical areas, and has strong links to the rest of the world, it isn't a surprise that pathogens are coming out of the country and spreading so easily. No other country with such diverse ecology and links to the rest of the world exists.

Bullshit !

They need to get their fucking act together and stop mixing every animal under the sun in such close proximity. The US has huge cities and regions. India has huge cities and regions - why is it then all these viruses are coming from the Far East and China. Stop with the "oh you are criticizing China, your racist" load of bollocks. That is the same argument Israel makes when you criticize the Israeli govt you are automatically deemed anti-semetic.

[eny]

It has pretty much been accepted up to 80% of the population might contract it, at most, but much less hopefully with delay measures in place. Most of us will get it.

[Mantis]

Quite a strong statement from the government on it today.

"It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time."

At least Boris is stepping up his game and being straight with people. You know it's going to be serious when they aren't just trying to spin it for PR purposes.

[Achtung Englander]

I give BJ a lot of credit. He knows its going to be bad and he is not ducking the fact some of us may die from it. In Italy the mean age is 65 but more cases of under 40 are now going to hospital.

I have one silver lining lads - hopefully Eurovision will be shelved

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/03/how-t ... from-home/

[DjchunKfunK]

If the reason for these pandemics were just poor hygiene or strange medical practices then there would be virus' coming out of India and Africa, China in no way has a monopoly on these. Blaming the Chinese has a hint of racism about it as does the idea that they just need to buck their ideas up in order to stop these viruses from appearing. It is the most populous nation in the world, is a huge country that covers various different biological and geographical areas, and has strong links to the rest of the world, it isn't a surprise that pathogens are coming out of the country and spreading so easily. No other country with such diverse ecology and links to the rest of the world exists.

Bullshit !

They need to get their fucking act together and stop mixing every animal under the sun in such close proximity. The US has huge cities and regions. India has huge cities and regions - why is it then all these viruses are coming from the Far East and China. Stop with the "oh you are criticizing China, your racist" load of bollocks. That is the same argument Israel makes when you criticize the Israeli govt you are automatically deemed anti-semetic.

Firstly I didn't single you out, secondly I never said anyone was racist just that to automatically blame a country based off prejudice has a hint of racism. Nobody is sure how the cornorvirus outbreak started, like SARS it may have come from a bat. It is illegal for people to eat wildlife in China and has been for a while, but if people are still going to do it there is not a lot more the government can do, a bit like people using their phone whilst driving, it's generally a low level crime that is hard to police, even for a state like China.

EDIT: It's fair to criticise the Chinese governments response to such outbreaks and there are arguments that it is this that turns the outbreak into a global issue rather than anything about Chinese culture.

[Achtung Englander]

fair enough