WHO declares Global Pandemic. How bad is it?

[20kevin20]

The Coronavirus subject took over most news channels around the world in the past few weeks. There have been serious and unprecedented measures taken by various countries hoping to combat the spread of the virus, the largest measure being the recent complete lockdown of Italy.

Some people have called it "just a flu". Some people have called it a very serious threat. I agree with the latter, but that doesn't matter. Now the WHO has officially declared the Coronavirus a Global Pandemic.

Economies have been in a real freefall in the past few weeks.. we may be witnessing one of the worst, if not the worst virus outbreak humans have seen in a century. My friends are going as we speak to the supermarkets hoping to find some supplies so they could pile up some food & water for the following possible weeks and/or months of economical, health and supply issues we might be confronting.

I'm ready for what might possibly come, but are you? What do you think? If you haven't taken it all seriously until now, is this the moment you finally agree this is a very serious threat?

[o_e_l_e_o]

The hospital I predominantly work in, and our local network, are currently prepping hard for what is to come in the few weeks. The reports coming out of Italy are tragic. Hospitals at 200% capacity. 10% rate of admission to intensive care units. All elective work cancelled. Patients being ventilated in operating rooms, in corridors, in store cupboards. Anywhere there is space to put a bed and a spare ventilator. Anyone over the age of 65, or with significant comorbidities (cancer, previous transplants, heart failure, severe diabetes) is not even being assessed by the critical care team. Read that again. It's not that patients over 65 are being turned down for admission to intensive care - they aren't even being considered, seen, assessed. They get an oxygen mask, and that's it. If they deteriorate, they are palliated. All the resources are going to the young and fit, and even then, hospitals can't cope.

Many countries are on identical trajectories to Italy, just delayed by a few weeks:



Even if you are still think this is "just the flu", it will completely flood your local healthcare systems for weeks to months. A lot of people are going to die from a lot of unrelated conditions because there is nowhere to care for them and no-one to look after them.

[20kevin20]

Thanks for the reply, o_e_l_e_o. Yes, it surely does all look like a very horrific situation everywhere as of now. Italy's daily deaths will most likely only increase every day from now on, according to what is going on over there (you have mentioned some of the reasons yourself). I wish we were more prepared for an upcoming pandemic. I wish we had learned from history. It looks more than bad right now and it's only going to get worse unfortunately.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through hard-to-digest moments. I wish I could've spent most of my time here on the forum like I used to, but apparently pandemic prepping has become my no. 1 priority. Let's hope things will somehow get better before it becomes the next 1918 winter spanish flu scenario..

[Artemis3]

The hospital I predominantly work in, and our local network, are currently prepping hard for what is to come in the few weeks. The reports coming out of Italy are tragic. Hospitals at 200% capacity. 10% rate of admission to intensive care units. All elective work cancelled. Patients being ventilated in operating rooms, in corridors, in store cupboards. Anywhere there is space to put a bed and a spare ventilator. Anyone over the age of 65, or with significant comorbidities (cancer, previous transplants, heart failure, severe diabetes) is not even being assessed by the critical care team. Read that again. It's not that patients over 65 are being turned down for admission to intensive care - they aren't even being considered, seen, assessed. They get an oxygen mask, and that's it. If they deteriorate, they are palliated. All the resources are going to the young and fit, and even then, hospitals can't cope.

Many countries are on identical trajectories to Italy, just delayed by a few weeks:

Even if you are still think this is "just the flu", it will completely flood your local healthcare systems for weeks to months. A lot of people are going to die from a lot of unrelated conditions because there is nowhere to care for them and no-one to look after them.

Just wait until reports start coming from countries with poor healthcare systems (like mine); You think Italy is bad? At least they had something to work with...

It was probably the same thing in China and Iran, it was simply that information from those countries are hard to come by. Now we see the very same thing happening in the United States and Spain and many others. But at least all those "first world" countries do have some functional healthcare system.

The world was unprepared for this, worldwide protocols to contain and mitigate a new virus simply do not work good enough. Many of us are on our own, literally: no medic, no medicine, no oxygen mask, no nothing. Maybe a prayer, maybe.

I'm sure some Machiavellian minds are already considering the benefits of reduction in world population, especially the elderly. But that's what you do when your resources are limited: Prioritize.

Be thankful, at least you still have some resources to allocate, and try not to become a patient too...

[20kevin20]

The measures countries have taken were taken way too late. Some of them, like the USA and especially UK, are very far behind other countries in containing the virus and I'm afraid there's nothing left to do but to try using all resources for the good of humanity and to save lives. Other than that, this is probably a fight we've already lost.

I'm not pessimistic but realistic. My country, Romania, has had a total of +1,000,000 people coming back in the country in the past 15 days. I don't even want to know how many of those are infected. If they start having symptoms, even if we had ICU units for them, we don't have personnel. If the virus situation gets worse in Romania, we are going to have a lot of deaths.

Hopefully somehow the ICU issues will be solved soon and we'll be able to at least suppress the damage later, it's better than never. But until then, we'll have to try fighting on our own and try out best to stay clean from COVID-19.

[Saltius]

The hospital I predominantly work in, and our local network, are currently prepping hard for what is to come in the few weeks. The reports coming out of Italy are tragic. Hospitals at 200% capacity. 10% rate of admission to intensive care units. All elective work cancelled. Patients being ventilated in operating rooms, in corridors, in store cupboards. Anywhere there is space to put a bed and a spare ventilator. Anyone over the age of 65, or with significant comorbidities (cancer, previous transplants, heart failure, severe diabetes) is not even being assessed by the critical care team. Read that again. It's not that patients over 65 are being turned down for admission to intensive care - they aren't even being considered, seen, assessed. They get an oxygen mask, and that's it. If they deteriorate, they are palliated. All the resources are going to the young and fit, and even then, hospitals can't cope.

Many countries are on identical trajectories to Italy, just delayed by a few weeks:



Even if you are still think this is "just the flu", it will completely flood your local healthcare systems for weeks to months. A lot of people are going to die from a lot of unrelated conditions because there is nowhere to care for them and no-one to look after them.

It is too obivious that Japan is faking the data according to the figure you post.

[o_e_l_e_o]

It was probably the same thing in China and Iran, it was simply that information from those countries are hard to come by.

Definitely. The Chinese government were actively suppressing information, and there are some doctors over there who are being prosecuted for leaking information about what they were dealing with to the international medical community.

The measures countries have taken were taken way too late. Some of them, like the USA and especially UK, are very far behind other countries in containing the virus and I'm afraid there's nothing left to do but to try using all resources for the good of humanity and to save lives.

Agree with this too. Health services are working tooth and nail to deal with this, and governments the world over are still saying that it's "contained" or "not a big deal". It's utterly moronic.

It is too obivious that Japan is faking the data according to the figure you post.

Japan were pretty quick off the mark with their social isolation measures, closing schools and similar weeks ago, which might help to explain their less rapid rise. However, they are also performing a very low number of tests, so the likelihood is that the real number of cases in Japan is significantly higher than reported.

[20kevin20]

Optimism isn't bad at all. But right now we need to take a look straight towards reality: if even the countries with top-notch healthcare systems are not ready, then there is no way the rest of the world is.

The fact that all governments are taking this less seriously than they should is very suspicious to me. It's like nobody wants to save lives or like they want it to become a more aggressive situation than it is right now.

We'll see what happens next.. we are approaching 10k new cases per day, which is an insane number already. At this point, we're probably going to have a million cases within a month or two. Hopefully there is going to be a solution for all the issues we're confronting today.

[sujon5]

I try not to panic and hope the spread of the virus will get under control after it was declared as a pandemic. But is it the end? Will Coronavirus disappear? Or will it become another common virus, and come and go with the seasons?

[BADecker]

Must be difficult for WHO. Trying to spread the most mayhem, without being accused of exaggeration.

[fortunecrypto]

The Coronavirus subject took over most news channels around the world in the past few weeks. There have been serious and unprecedented measures taken by various countries hoping to combat the spread of the virus, the largest measure being the recent complete lockdown of Italy.

Some people have called it "just a flu". Some people have called it a very serious threat. I agree with the latter, but that doesn't matter. Now the WHO has officially declared the Coronavirus a Global Pandemic.

Economies have been in a real freefall in the past few weeks.. we may be witnessing one of the worst, if not the worst virus outbreak humans have seen in a century. My friends are going as we speak to the supermarkets hoping to find some supplies so they could pile up some food & water for the following possible weeks and/or months of economical, health and supply issues we might be confronting.

I'm ready for what might possibly come, but are you? What do you think? If you haven't taken it all seriously until now, is this the moment you finally agree this is a very serious threat?

Watching everything unfolds in media and social media we can conclude that this is serious, because the number of infected  is growing and so are the death toll, and even your town is in danger of having it, people who watch so much about end day scenario movies will definitely panic and will try to hoard everything, or they might even try to evacuate in the mountain or in an isolated forest.

[af_newbie]

Must be difficult for WHO. Trying to spread the most mayhem, without being accused of exaggeration.

How come you don't credit your God with Covid-19?

Either he made this world and everything in it or he did not.

[aioc]

Rich people can hoard what they want but how about poor people who can only meet their daily needs, people now are hoarding because of the announcement, we have in a community quarantine and the government imposes semi lockdown to our city, it will hamper the economy of every nation now, I don't we are prepare for this, it will become a country to the country basis on how they are going to survive.

[reginalkri]

Just have to how on a few more weeks and the spreading will slowdown just like the flu. It is something to take very serious. Calling it a pandemic might be a little of an over reaction, but at the same time doing so saves lives by having even more people taking it seriously and practicing good hygiene.

[SoryuMaiden]

The Coronavirus subject took over most news channels around the world in the past few weeks. There have been serious and unprecedented measures taken by various countries hoping to combat the spread of the virus, the largest measure being the recent complete lockdown of Italy.

Some people have called it "just a flu". Some people have called it a very serious threat. I agree with the latter, but that doesn't matter. Now the WHO has officially declared the Coronavirus a Global Pandemic.

Economies have been in a real freefall in the past few weeks.. we may be witnessing one of the worst, if not the worst virus outbreak humans have seen in a century. My friends are going as we speak to the supermarkets hoping to find some supplies so they could pile up some food & water for the following possible weeks and/or months of economical, health and supply issues we might be confronting.

I'm ready for what might possibly come, but are you? What do you think? If you haven't taken it all seriously until now, is this the moment you finally agree this is a very serious threat?

It's all about records. Who knows, the coronavirus 2019 has been already roaming around even before the researchers discovered it. And for me, the media is just exaggerating the situation by reporting those negative side of the pandemic (i.e. deaths, transfer of virus, etc).

Another thing, the experts said that all deaths are due to organ failure or pre-existing illnesses. If you are a healthy person, there's a high probability (as in, HIGH) that you'll recover from this COVID-19.

I also disagree with the statement that this will be the worst virus outbreak of the century. With all the advance medical equipment and technology we have today, and smarter experts, researchers, and other people in the medical field, this problem should end very soon.

[MysteryMiner]

The Coronavirus subject took over most news channels around the world in the past few weeks. There have been serious and unprecedented measures taken by various countries hoping to combat the spread of the virus, the largest measure being the recent complete lockdown of Italy.

Some people have called it "just a flu". Some people have called it a very serious threat. I agree with the latter, but that doesn't matter. Now the WHO has officially declared the Coronavirus a Global Pandemic.

Economies have been in a real freefall in the past few weeks.. we may be witnessing one of the worst, if not the worst virus outbreak humans have seen in a century. My friends are going as we speak to the supermarkets hoping to find some supplies so they could pile up some food & water for the following possible weeks and/or months of economical, health and supply issues we might be confronting.

I'm ready for what might possibly come, but are you? What do you think? If you haven't taken it all seriously until now, is this the moment you finally agree this is a very serious threat?

It's all about records. Who knows, the coronavirus 2019 has been already roaming around even before the researchers discovered it. And for me, the media is just exaggerating the situation by reporting those negative side of the pandemic (i.e. deaths, transfer of virus, etc).

Another thing, the experts said that all deaths are due to organ failure or pre-existing illnesses. If you are a healthy person, there's a high probability (as in, HIGH) that you'll recover from this COVID-19.

I also disagree with the statement that this will be the worst virus outbreak of the century. With all the advance medical equipment and technology we have today, and smarter experts, researchers, and other people in the medical field, this problem should end very soon.

It is obvious You get information about crownvirus from cartoons. Do not ignore already established facts!

[franky1]

The hospital I predominantly work in, and our local network, are currently prepping hard for what is to come in the few weeks. The reports coming out of Italy are tragic. Hospitals at 200% capacity. 10% rate of admission to intensive care units.

not sure what country you are in

but has your country implemented the scheme where one hospital/clinic has been made the dedicated corona case hospital and other hospitals for other health issues. or is your countries hospitals just allowing everyone to mix around and incubate the corona amungst non corona patients

i feel china done the right thing of making and dedicating separate hospitals for just corona cases. thus reducing the spread amungst those with other health issues/weak immune systems

[o_e_l_e_o]

but has your country implemented the scheme where one hospital/clinic has been made the dedicated corona case hospital and other hospitals for other health issues.

We have, but it's futile. The "COVID" center is already at bursting point, and it is now becoming so widespread that people attending the other hospitals for unrelated issues are now testing positive for COVID as well. With cases doubling every 3 days pretty much everywhere, by the end of this week every hospital will be a "COVID" hospital.

[20kevin20]

It's all about records. Who knows, the coronavirus 2019 has been already roaming around even before the researchers discovered it. And for me, the media is just exaggerating the situation by reporting those negative side of the pandemic (i.e. deaths, transfer of virus, etc).

Another thing, the experts said that all deaths are due to organ failure or pre-existing illnesses. If you are a healthy person, there's a high probability (as in, HIGH) that you'll recover from this COVID-19.

I also disagree with the statement that this will be the worst virus outbreak of the century. With all the advance medical equipment and technology we have today, and smarter experts, researchers, and other people in the medical field, this problem should end very soon.

I bet you're one of these guys who are going outside at any time, in groups & clubs, giving 0 fucks about the pandemic. And then you go back home and wonder why the hell is everyone sick.

Even if the virus isn't "that bad", the health crisis is a reality. And the health crisis and the surge in hospitalizations would not exist if the virus was "just a flu". I really keep wondering what the heck do you guys need to be told in order to finally realize this is a legit threat to all of us.. Today we have WHO finally officially calling it a pandemic and many countries going into quarantine. And yet you believe this is not bad?

The problem will not end. It will get worse. Even if 5% of all infections need hospitalization, it still means a need of 50k hospital beds every 1 million cases. If you think that is achievable..

You and all these other fluboys need a very strong wake up call.