10 March 2020

Coronavirus

The news is all of coronavirus these days. It continues to sneak invisibly around the planet like a witch's death spell. It has leaked into Bhutan and Brunei, Gibraltar and The Vatican. It's like we have all been involuntarily entered into a worldwide lottery though the jackpot prize is not a shed load of banknotes, it is something else entirely. Prepare to Meet Thy Maker folks!

These are the current statistics from Britain - 321 cases, 5 dead, 18 recovered. It's going to get worse, much worse before it gets better. You only have to look at Italy - 9172 cases, 463 dead, 724 recovered. The country is now in a kind of lock down. British Airways have just cancelled all flights in and out of Italy.

Meantime, over in the USA, Trump's response to coronavirus has been absurd. He tries to make political capital out of the crisis. In a recent off-the-cuff interview he was bragging that he should have been a virologist or some other kind of scientist. Maybe if he wasn't being president he would have sorted out the problem. His inflated opinion of himself is as breathtaking as it is unjustifiable. What a clown! This is no way to lead a great nation during a health crisis.

Questions are being asked about the accuracy and validity of COVID-19 statistics emanating from the USA. How much testing is happening and how is it being organised? It plainly cannot be easy to organise a comprehensive and effective testing programme in a country of 327 million when public health systems are broken and access is based on wealth not health. Current declared US stats - 729 cases, 27 dead, 15 recovered.

In the background, I imagine that Trump's on the phone urging government agencies to suppress the true figures as he looks to secure a second term in The White House. It's bad enough that shares crashed in Wall Street yesterday. He didn't need that did he?

At a personal level, Shirley and I decided not to click the "pay" button when looking at an Eastertime holiday on the island of Madeira. One of our daughter's best friends is meant to be getting married in Seville, Spain over Easter. The arrangements are all in place but will it happen? COVID-19 may have other ideas. Current stats for Spain - 1235 cases, 31 dead, 32 recovered.

How is it for you?

38 comments:

  1. It is certainly difficult to know what to do, whether to travel or not to those countries that are still allowing visitors. With so much conflicting information we have decided to just go ahead with our plans. If we catch it then we hope that we are fit enough to emerge alive.

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    1. If the worst comes to the worst, it's been nice knowing you JayCee!

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    2. Thanks Mr P. If it does happen, I'll be keeping an eye on you from the other side.

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    3. You are planning to do some haunting? Please don't say "OOOOOOOO!" in a ghostie voice.

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  2. Walking and blogging are going to become very popular pastimes.

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    1. Don't forget one of your favourite things - "self-isolating"!

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    2. You liked that one didn't you.

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  3. My daughter is going to a friends wedding in Italy in May.She's already paid for the accommodation which is non refundable, is nervous to book flights and it is looking increasingly likely the wedding may have to be cancelled. Panic stations are prevalent over here and our local hypermarket looks so empty it is a like a third-world shop.

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    1. There will be so many stories like this. In such moments we learn that what we have built is as fragile as a sandcastle on a beach.

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  4. I am, quite frankly, probably more anxious about this than I should be. One of the things I'm most concerned about though, is how this virus is showing us just how poorly we would deal with an even more virulent agent of disease.
    Here's another thing- you cannot BELIEVE how many people here in the US think that Covid19 is part of some huge conspiracy brought about to make the president look bad. Or some other incredibly stupid thing. That it was created in a lab to quell the Chinese riots. That it can be cured with ridiculous concoctions of Vitamin C or colloid silver or elderberry.
    And panic buying is ridiculous.
    We are not very smart as a species.

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    1. COVID19 is certainly making your beloved president look bad but the fault is not in the virus itself.

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  5. The virus has arrived here already. I'm not worried about dying as I'm healthy but I am worried about my father in law who is elderly and has diabetes and I'm worried about my husband whose lungs are shot due to a lifetime of smoking. He was angry with me when I said that to him, in part because he knows it's true. He's not a stupid man but he is good at self delusion, as we all are.

    What does concern me is the disruptions in supply chains, quarantines and an already stressed health care system having to deal with a massive amount of sick people all at once. I guess we'll see what happens.

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    1. You are right Lily. We will see what happens. We have no choice. I also think about the people I know who may be vulnerable but what about the young Chinese doctor who first blew the whistle? Li Wenliang was his name. As far as I know he was a perfectly healthy individual and not in an "at risk" group.

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    2. Yeah, that part bothers me but still there is little I can do to protect myself other than wash my hands and stay healthy. If I quit blogging you'll know why:)

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  6. I've never had concerns before despite having three bouts of 'proper' influenza in my life. I am, on the face of it, a pretty fit person for my age. However my medical history and recent history of continuing sepsis has, for the first time, made me realise that I am an 'older person with underlying medical conditions'. My medical practice has now banned patients without a pre-agreed clinically-vetted appointment.

    However, in truth, I'm more concerned about my son, his wife and 2 year old son who have just been to a wedding in Australia and are not due back home until for another couple of weeks.

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    1. Who knows what future travel restrictions there might be Graham? I guess that there are worse places than Australia to be stuck in - Lancashire for example.

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    2. Even I would agree with you on that statement provided that I wasn't in an area with fires or floods.

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  7. Well, YP, rejoice. The other day you were lamented unhindered growth of world population. Don't say God doesn't help out when push comes to shove; and, unlike Noah, you won't to be asked to build an ark.

    How is it for me? Vaguely bewildering to depressing. Just come back from town (late Tuesday afternoon). Leaving the muzzled few shoppers aside and that no one is about and that shelves are as empty as, I imagine, the USSR's ca., I don't know, at their most depleted, rationing not withstanding, it's shite. I now wish I'd laid in tinned tomatoes when I still had the chance. I bought a bunch of daffodils instead.

    The Angel has just been pondering on the five day incubation period. He thinks it's one of nature's jokes to possibly harbour the virus and merrily, unknowingly, spreading it about. Well, dear boy, patience, patience. Other than that he worries, which is very sweet of him, that whilst, highly unlikely he'll succumb, he may unwittingly infect his mother. Better start tidying my legacy and do the spring clean before it's too late.

    U

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    1. You have five days to prepare The Angel for the worst. Have you considered which songs will be sung? How about "The Final Countdown" by Europe?

      P.S. We will need a much, much bigger epidemic than this to make a meaningful impact upon the planet's total population.

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  8. I'm waiting to see if Trump will be put in quarantine. Five members of congress are in self-quarantine due to contact with the virus.

    We stay home a lot anyway but we might be staying home more if this keeps up. We both enjoy eating out but that will be the first thing to go I think.

    We just heard that the New York Governor has deployed the National Guard to New Rochelle, NY where there is a coronavirus hot spot. I get a little nervous when we start having military enforced quarantines.



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    1. Trump should have been put into quarantine long before the coronavirus came along. Sounds like you might save some dollars by not eating out Bonnie!

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  9. That's a comprehensive report and it's info that I don't want to hear. Some sources are saying that from 35 to 70% of people may come down with the virus.

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    1. Good job you are still a young guy Red!

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  10. I'm fine for now! The shops are short on staples and my car is in the mechanics so I can't really be going hither and thither looking for supplies but we have a very reliable home delivery service for fruit and veg so we can go on a whole foods diet and cut up the boxes for toilet paper. All will be well. If I'm forced to self isolate I'll set up a go fund me, I'm sure people will rush to my assistance

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    1. I will "Go Fund" you a couple of dollars Kylie. Stay safe!

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  11. Absolutely cray here in Brisbane. Everyone is buying up TOILET PAPER !!!! Why I don't know. It's not as if all our toilet paper comes from China and all deliveries have been stopped. Riots and fighting women in the supermarket aisles !!!
    Now the share market is crashing and my trip to see the Northern Light next January seems to be slipping away ! Poo !

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    1. We don't need toilet paper. We can use strips of waste cloth that can then be thrown in the washing machine and hung on the washing line before ironing. You can give this delightful job to Tony.

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  12. re you recent 'pictures' posting. We used to live very close to a church in Sompting, Sussex (St Mary's, I think) that has the same type of roof as St Margarets. Worth a quick look on Google Images.

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    1. I have already done that Monsieur Cro. You are right to make the connection. In fact it is believed that the roof on the tower at Wormhill was modelled on the church at Sompting.

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    2. Ah... how interesting. I always loved that church, and drew it often.

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  13. Here in Sydney people are panicking about the wrong things. Buying toilet paper and flour, for reasons best known to themselves. The government hasn't got the message through that we need to start taking social distancing steps immediately. They're still going ahead with mass gatherings such as the Formula 1 and footie matches. This is a serious disease predominantly for elderly people - those over 70. Unless urgent isolation measures are taken, it is going to devastate aged care homes, as we're already seeing in Seattle and Italy. Australia had really well organised plans for the recent bushfires, but when it comes to coronavirus there are mixed messages from many so-called 'experts' including politicians who think they know better than the doctors. Here in Sydney we now have to consider everyone a coronavirus carrier and avoid close contact. I've started working from home and washing hands obsessively (on the advice of an anesthetist friend). Some clients of our office are already in quarantine because they were in contact with someone with coronavirus. It's going to be a very long three months.

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    1. I think your anxiety is well-founded Mutikonka. From what I saw of Mr Scott Morrison during the bushfires crisis, I think you may have a leadership vacuum.

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  14. Trump is such a pillock, claiming he would have made a first rate scientist.
    It was business as usual in our local hospital yesterday, but the shelves in Tesco were empty of toilet rolls, handwash and paracetamol. Lord knows what people think they are going to do with them - sell them on the black market to desperate people for a huge profit? Human nature revealing its worst features again - exploiting the vulnerable.

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    1. Who really needs toilet rolls anyway? There are other methods one might use that I shall not outline here for reasons of propriety.

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  15. Decades ago, long before Trump became president, his vast ego was a joke among insiders in New York. He was known as a swaggering buffoon even then. No one could have imagined he would wind up where he is now -- all because of the power of "reality television." He, of course, sees this as his vengeance on all those educated elites who gave him such grief for years.

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    1. You get the impression that his ego is teflon-coated.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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