I had a chest cold all week…I am recovering. If I had CV, then this really is a massive over reaction. and I want my 007 date reinstated damn it 
Glad to hear you are recovering. Do keep safe anyway.
Good to hear you’re starting to feel better, Tarl. This is just my current personal feeling/opinion, so don’t anyone take this as medical advice - please keep that to the real experts.
The past week I’ve been feeling more optimistic about this saga. Partly because I’ve been in a positive headspace and rebelling against the constant coverage. But also because I genuinely think everything is going to be okay when I assess the landscape.
I think the death rate estimations are grossly overestimated. The longer this goes on people will realise that, and panic buying will slow. We’re always told it’s going to be really bad in two weeks, but this situation has been going longer than two weeks and does it ever get that bad? We don’t want any deaths, and I’m not dismissing any of them, but a lot of the cases are the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions.
Being diagnosed is not a death sentence at all. Most people have the virus and don’t even know it, or they’re like Tom Hanks and just need to self isolate and they’re fine. I think the fear of the unknown is driving a lot of this. It’s a new type of virus and political leaders don’t want to take any chances, and nor should they.
I’m not saying to let your guard down. Don’t do that, as hygiene should always be a priority. If a vaccine or treatment is distributed I think things will really take a turn for the best. I just have faith it’s going to be alright and not a planet killer. In the meantime let’s carry on as a civilised human race. I understand people panic but the aggressive going’s on at supermarkets have been absurd.
We’ll get through this.
Good advice and humorous as well. 
Who would have thought at the time that Tim Burton’s Batman would give us some advice on how to have dinner with company in this new time:
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I thought that was Stromberg at first.
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Oh, I so needed that! 
Thank you, Stromberg!
“APPROVE transfer of $20 million!”
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As a general reply in this discussion, the death rate by definition of its formula is going to be an overestimation when you try to calculate it in the midst of a pandemic. The deaths one day were the result of the number of people infected a week or so ago. That’s how 3.4% could drop to 0.59%. A recent study suggested 1.4%, but most people assume an average of 2%. But that’s of known reported cases. The actual numbers could be two, five, or even ten times higher. But the twist is that those cases are growing exponentially. So if there really are a hundred infected for each ten reported, there will be hundred reported in a week or two. For example, as I write this the UK has 5000 reported cases, but ten days ago it was just 500. There may have been 5000 actual cases then. In countries across the world, the cases and deaths double every two to four days, and by an order of magnitude in eight to eleven days. It’s currently spreading faster than people can recover from it.
Left unchecked, it could eventually surpass other mortality rates, whether flu, car fatalities, even cancer and heart disease. Those dates could all arrive in April and May. I won’t go into details, but I did do the math. The immediate concern now are the healthcare systems across the world as this could threaten their carrying capacities. That happened in Italy, is about to happen in New York and Seattle, and everywhere else a week later, even if it stopped its exponential rise today (it hasn’t.) A vaccine is at least six months away, probably a year. We have ways of stopping the flu, limiting car accidents, and treating cancer and preventing heart disease. We have no such defense against a novel virus.
It will eventually dissipate, and most people will survive, even those severe cases that get hospitalized. Just keep in mind that small percentages of exponentially expanded numbers still yield large numbers. Hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands, if not 100,000s soon, are still big numbers when describing the sick or the dead. No one wants those numbers to escalate into millions and the world’s total cases are already a third of the way there with no sign of slowing down. At least not yet. Look for it to slow down next month in the various countries it’s ravaging. China experienced it, South Korea is experiencing this, Iran is struggling to contain it, while Italy is sadly setting new records every day. Everywhere else is on an exponential upswing or soon will be.
But yes, the people need to quit panic buying toilet paper. It does technically grow on trees!
Don’t panic, but do prepare.
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One thing people seem to have had no clear idea about are the health systems themselves. For years they have been flailed as being too overblown, too fat and generally too expensive. And health systems indeed are expensive, the multi-million drugs, the multi-billion high-tech medicine, the hospitals across the country. Often the answer by politicians was to let the market take care of it, instead of the ‘nanny state’.
The market did care of it and cut the number of beds and ICUs down to the number necessary in ordinary times - i.e. to maybe one or two more than absolutely necessary in every average hospital. That’s fine as long as nothing unexpected happens, like a plane crash or a major industry accident; then hospitals from the region have to work together to deal with the emergency. That’s already a severe test to the system, but usually limited to a specific region and a short time.
The situation now is fundamentally different in that it’s a global emergency that’s neither limited to a single region or country, nor will it be over as fast as a usual disaster would. Each hospital, even those in exceptionally exemplary health systems, can only expect limited help from their colleagues left and right. They are all expecting their own disaster, like a huge global earthquake.
In this situation the loathsome ‘nanny state’ has suddenly become much more attractive. But even all the billions pumped into the system can’t magically blow up the health systems to adequate size for this in time. Car builders and other industries may be able to build ‘ventilators’ - but these efforts will not meet the highly specialised needs of respiratory high tech equipment as needed in an ICU at first try - and I wouldn’t want to be the one testing them. Nor can car builders deliver the expert personnel needed to operate these machines.
It’s not simply a matter of printing money and deliver cavalier speeches to prevent people from killing each other in supermarkets; that’s needed too but it does not change the situation at the frontline of the hospital. There the very real consequence is that a doctor may have five patients in similar condition - but only one bed to adequately treat them. What does that doctor do?
That’s why there are so many victims in Italy and Spain and why doctors around the globe are currently scared of what’s to come to their own hospitals. Because the mortality rate of this could possibly be much lower - if only they had the equipment and the manpower. The massive number of cases means many may not get the necessary treatment in time.
The only way to prevent this from happening is to cut all social interactions to a minimum and slow down the progress of the virus. Every infection avoided, even every infection delayed by a month, may save precious lives.
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Just announced cinemas are closing in Australia.
Finally. Right now it is the best thing to do.
There are very helpful visual models about the spread of the virus with and without social distancing.
If anybody still doubts this, look at these:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
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Makes sense, Australia just had a 17% increase in new cases. Go full measures now and lock it down. Half measures only delay it and make it worse.
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Only essential equipment is shipping right now - a good decision!
I have a friend that works in logistics shipping and he says only 5% of the usual planes are available.
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Bad news on the job front. Both my wife and I lost our jobs last week - purely as a result of the coronavirus.
We are staying positive, with the use of humour, and wine. Take care everyone.
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@DaveBond21 I’m so sorry to hear that, This pandemic is proving disastrous for livelihoods all over the world. Where are you settled ?
thanks, mate.
I live in Sydney. Yes, we’re not the only ones. Lots of people in events, tourism, venues, cafes, bars, restaurants and hospitality lost their job in the last 7 days.
I had a feeling you’d be from Australia hence I asked. A friend of mine who’s settled there called me the other day to tell me that his wife and him have lost their jobs. These are difficult times.
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Yes, I am originally from the UK but moved here 16 years ago.