The virus is among us

As I've a "Nectar card" so Sainsbury's have my e-mail address, I've had a message from "Mike" the Chief Executive.

He said...more or less...

 

You have to laugh.

The Government intends to tell all over seventies to self-isolate for up to four months.

Good plan, a fair few would probably die and no longer be a "burden" on the state.

The bad news is that most fit and able over seventies will not take a blind bit of notice.

 

I've added this just because I think it's funny.

 

Meme's a side... things have clearly escalated, and I just wanna say:

we are all going to get sick... there is no way around that, it's only a matter of time, they are doing everything they can to slow down the spread so that hospitals can get a slow and steady flow of poeple, rather than all at once. But make no mistake we are all getting this thing, sooner or later. I mean unless you legit isolate your self for months.
it probably won't be so bad, like any other cold/flu it varies from person to person, smokers (like myself) might have a bad experience... but it is what it is...

i'm eating as healthy as i can, trying to smoke less, cleaning up the house etc. so that when I get sick, I can hopefully handle it without too much fuss.

 

These are very uncertain times for all of us. Bob and I were feeling pretty good and proud of the fact that we’ve weathered the winter without illness. Then, this happens.

We are being very cautious. We haven’t been anyplace except the grocery store which was a surreal experience!

I’ve completed my spring tidy and have redone a portion of my flower bed’s rock border.
We’re having a spell of cool wet weather, but when it does warm back up my spring fever calls me into my gardens!
The sight of shrub’s buds swelling, perennials emerging, bulbs shooting up does wonders for my heart ??

 

Here we are in lockdown with restrictive measures. I have just got a job this month. Luckily I can still go to work. I am working on a 125 ha estate with lots of deer. I started making reserves of essentials since late December when I first read about the Coronavirus. I had a bad feeling about this one. Toilet paper we have, but One can use water for the same function.

 

Odif, I'm so glad you started preparing early for the possibility of shortages and lacks. Not many people did so.
I went to our small local grocery today, and was astounded at the empty or almost empty shelves! I managed to get everything on my short list, but there was no flour, very little in paper goods, few frozen dinners, no luncheon meats and very little cheese, and no sausages of any type. There are no reported virus cases in our county, and only three in a neighboring county.
It seems that a pandemic is really pandemonium, and it is really easy to scare the American public silly!

 

What are people going to do with all that dry pasta they are buying?

Make glue?

 

eat it.

 

Hopefully people are social distancing and spread of the virus will lessen. Unfortunately we are just beginning to see the affects of how quickly it spreads here on the west coast. The exponential rate of increase is remarkable.

Here is a website from the people who study viruses without the hype http://cidrap.umn.edu/. Michael Osterholm is a self proclaimed virus detective that studies viruses worldwide and has written several books on the subject. Here’s an interview with him

Keep safe, be generous and live each day as the best representation of you.

 

kinda feels like we are watching s..t being thrown at the fan in slow-mo.

 

idk who exactly... but as far as I can tell, the S*** is flying towards the fan.

 

When I was young, Polio was the major epidemic. Polio would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year. We found a vaccine and survived.

Smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths during the 20th century. We found a vaccine and survived.

Measles was also childhood killer, and even the survivors had lifelong effects. Measles caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year. Guess what! We found a vaccine and survived.

In 1976, the Swine Flu sent everyone into a panic that turned out to be unfounded. The 1976 Swine Flu was related to the 1918 Spanish Flu (the 1918 flu killed between 50 and 100 million world wide) and sparked a panicked response. 25% of the US population was vaccinated with a hastily prepared vaccine. Many with serious complications. The program was abandoned when they found that the virus wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it was presumed to be and the risks didn’t outweigh the dangers. For the record, I received the vaccine in 1976, but had already been exposed and caught the flu.

Recent research on the 1918 flu has found that the protocol for aspirin administration killed as many people as the flu, possibly more.

The 2004 SARS scare, 2008 Avian Flu scare, 2010 resurgence of the Swine Flu, 2014 Ebola scare, and 2016 Zika scare seem to have been forgotten. They were touted as harbingers of the end of the world.

None of the other epidemics have cause the type of abject terror and panic that COVID-19 has caused. I don’t know if it’s the modern world of faster communication, or that people have forgotten the fears that their parents and grandparents felt, and dealt with in a mostly logical manner.

COVID-19 vaccines are being developed and tested, and cures are being found almost daily. Infection and death rates are falling. Sober consideration of the areas affected are showing that the virus isn’t the major killer it’s been touted to be. Here are a couple of articles you may find interesting.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/16/diamond-princess-mysteries/

This is translated from the original Italian.

https://translate.google.com/transl...i-finora-per-causa-del-covid-19-sono-solo-due