Jezz

Wishing Boris all the best in his recovery. My Prime Minister tweeted his well wishes to him.

Gone, but never forgotten.

They've learnt nothing! Time to boycott China! https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/03/30/disturbing-coronavirus-news-chinese-wet-markets-in-wuhan-were-it-all-started-come-back-to-life-selling-bats-and-other-animals/

Boris Johnson tests positive. Speedy recovery to him.

Starting to feel surreal now. I've never seen anything like this before and the uncertainty of the future is beginning to consume me. I'm always optimistic that the virus will burn itself out and this will end sooner rather than later, but I'm prepared for the possibility that this could last for 12 to 18 months. In the mean time, I hope the medical and scientific community are working in overdrive to find treatments and a vaccine. My city (Melbourne, Australia) is beginning to shut down over the next 48 hours, with only "essential" services remaining open. All schools will be closing from Tuesday. This comes after selfish idiots were hanging around Bondi Beach in New South Wales (another state from where I live) in big numbers despite being instructed to implement social distancing measures. Now some of these idiots have now tested "positive" to the virus and likely spread it further to the community. The picture below was taken two days ago.

Australia qualifying for the 2006 World Cup after a 32 year wait. We won the penalty shootout against Uruguay.

Don't blame Mikel for feeling this way. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2880889-john-obi-mikel-on-coronavirus-i-dont-feel-comfortable-playing-football

I'm not offended at all mate. My family were migrants from war-torn Greece after WWII and the subsequent Civil War, and we've always been grateful that Australia welcomed us in with open arms. I mentioned my political leanings because I noticed the previous few pages of this thread started turning into fight between left vs right, when this health crisis goes beyond politics. Anyway, this will be resolved in two ways. 1. Herd immunity - It will come at a big price as people will die, but without a vaccine being in sight for another 12 to 18 months this will be the only way to stop the spread of the disease. Containment is failing (or has failed) depending on what the health experts are saying. 2. Vaccine - I have no doubt the big pharmaceutical companies are working in overdrive to develop a vaccine, but having to go through necessary clinical trials will be a barrier to fast tracking this process. In order for a vaccine to be used, it needs to show efficacy in being safe and effective in avoiding to contract the virus.

This is terrifying 😟 Warning: This is a sobering read. https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/fhxap2/from_an_italian_to_the_rest_of_the_world_you_have/?utm_content=body&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_name=d8c9508245f44c828fbb00088d20083a&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=fhxap2

I'm right wing and socially conservative, but politics is irrelevant when it comes to this pandemic and should be set aside at this time. All of us need to be taking this pandemic seriously. Countries don't such shutdown cities over a common cold or flu. It's important that countries prepare in such a way that we can avoid another Italian-like catastrophe. 7% of all confirmed cases have died from this disease in Italy. Yes, high population density and high median age have contributed to this but the pressure on the health sector has been enormous and likely cost people their lives because they did not receive the adequate care to overcome this virus.

The aim is to flatten the curve.

The right decision. If this helps slow the spread the disease, then it can only be a good thing.

This isn't the common cold or flu, and hearing someone say "it's just the flu" or the "common flu kills more people" shows they're misinformed. If you're in the 80% to 85% that only gets mild symptoms, then count yourself lucky. You will recover and shrug it off in a week or two. The big worry is the 15 to 20% of sufferers who require hospitalization. The mortality rate of the common flu is 0.1%. The mortality rate for the coronavirus (COVID-19) is approximately 3.5% but here's hoping the number is overstated because many cases have been under-reported or undetected because some will only exhibit mild symptoms or be asymptomatic. I worry for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. We need to do everything in our power to slow down the spread of this disease as it's too hard to contain now.

The world hasn't come to a halt like this since WW2. We're living in unprecedented times. Wish Callum all the best in his recovery. Feels inevitable that the majority of the world's population is going to contract this virus.