Covid-19 / Coronavirus Contingency Thread

The entire situation only tells me one thing.

Capitalism as a system has failed.

I don't know a lot about it. But I have just read a book by Dean Koontz published 40 years ago on which he predicts a disease in 2020 called wuhan 400.it affects the lungs and no known cure. But vanishes just as quickly as it came. So wierd

… and now we've got a barmpot Saudi prince who allegedly ordered the murder of that Khashoggi guy has now caused a world-wide crash in the financial markets.

Coronavirus is a virus, antibiotics do not work of viruses. They never have.

Wasn't it the case that the SARS and Ebola virus' became an epidemic because of human's eating bats and snakes and the like? You'd have thought that would have been enough of a warning from history. 

This outbreak is genuinely alarming and it looks like we are just at the beginning of it here in Europe. The combination of infectiousness and mortality is particularly scary. It seems the UK is pretty much in the position that Italy was in 2 weeks ago. We really ought to be looking at copying the responses made by the Chinese and South Korean governments - although it's early days, they have both successfully managed to consistently reduce the number of new cases over the last few weeks.

But it requires huge investment not just into healthcare but also into mitigating the economic impact that preventative measures such as quarantining and closing public transport/schools etc will have on the economy and businesses. Both China and South Korea quickly ramped up their testing capacity, educated the public about self-isolation, shut down large gatherings, restricted travel and increased hospital capacity. The South Koreans have set aside £19 billion to deal with the outbreak and from more than 6,000 cases, they've only reported around 40 deaths so far - the lowest mortality rate yet. Their investment and preparedness has allowed them to identify those who test positive very quickly, isolate mild cases and those at low risk, whilst rapidly caring for those who are at high risk.

Unfortunately it seems our government just isn't willing to make this sort of commitment. Instead they are appear to be favouring an unused tactic of allowing the virus to spread in a vaguely semi-controlled fashion. That estimates that 40-80% of the population will contract the virus. With a mortality rate of 1-2% that could mean up to 4 million deaths in the UK alone. When you take into account that hospital beds are currently running at 94% capacity before an outbreak, this seems like a really odd path to take. It really is the "take it on the chin" tactic that Boris Johnson spoke about. It isn't really "taking it on the chin" if you are one of the people who is going to die from it. 

I find it absolutely astonishing that at this stage the public advice still doesn't go as far as saying that if you have 'mild respiratory symptoms' you should stay off work and avoid contact with others. The suggestion is that such advice is 7-10 days away! I'm personally not overly worried about contracting it myself, it's unlikely to kill me as I'm young and don't have any underlying health conditions. But we all have a responsibility to ensure that we don't spread the virus to those who are most vulnerable and who could die from it. 

Lobster makes a really good point about where these viruses come from and whilst many in the West have used this as an opportunity to arrogantly attack the Chinese for their eating habits, it should be leading all of us to ask some serious questions about our eating habits and animal agriculture in general. 

I’d be interested to hear what the league and clubs plans are if the government were to put in bans on public gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus.

If the club had to play matches behind closed doors or postpone matches, which could well be a reality in the coming weeks, then I fear that this would have a serious impact on our clubs finances.

If that becomes a reality then leagues should be suspended until any ban is lifted so clubs can recoup some revenue and clubs given financial assistance from the FA/EFL to help them survive

If matches do become subject to lengthy suspension, then at the non league level where players contracts are not generally of 52 weeks, then all sorts of logistical and unplanned financial issues may arise. No easy answer but health issues must take priority.

Complacency and incompetence of our government is staggering. Fights to and from Italy by BA and Easyjet only stopping today for instance. Ryanair are still flying !

Had to go to Manchester airport yesterday to pick up my sister. No hand sanitiser anywhere to be seen. However my dentists in Chester had one in the way in and one in the waiting room.

Flight due in from Bergamo half an hour after my sisters. Apparently it is the worst hit place in Italy !!  

We can’t play on half a pitch.

Health of the people comes first I know but a club like chester could fold if games are suspended but hearing the TV you would think the premier league is only important

We have a vaccine for flu for those at risk. We don't for this virus. I wonder if you would be so dismissive if you were in that demographic? I suspect many of our fans are. How many can we afford to put at risk or is that just a price worth paying so that football can continue un-interrupted?

I’d be surprised if non-league football is forced to play behind closed doors. Most teams even at the level above have fewer than about 2000 in on match days right? Hardly a large gathering.