Coronavirus

Quoted from 123614

Thanks for that advice, I did some NBC training in the Army, but not 22 years worth

I think once you've done a few times it's the same old same old. Just like when you are deployed, washing hands before meals to stop D&V (Diarrhoea and vomiting) which can be common on ops especially if you have locals using the mess or toilets. The training we did for NBC goes above and beyond anything we need to be doing right now or the foreseeable future.

I also used to work on the shelters for NBC filtration so you could work in an NBC clear zone. The only real difference being the filter size in microns was a lot smaller than normal air conditioning filters. So when I said use kitchen roll if you placed a couple of sheets over each other that would decrease any exposure but don't forget the more sheets you add the more difficult breathing will become.

I don't see any need just yet to get out the NBC suit, I think I have a couple still in packets, maybe time to ebay them, although I'd have to make a respirator as I signed that back in when I left,  

Quoted from Ipswin

I've collected red Xs for this for some reason. Unless folk have devised another way of opening the exit door from a public toilet (using their teeth perhaps) then it's unavoidable that you need to use your newly washed hand to grasp a handle previously held by some twit who has had a excrement or urine and bypassed the washing facitlity on his way out.

Perhaps no one reads what you put as it is usually bilge. They just red cross you. Who cares though?

Quoted from gobby

Not bad going Dave, 22 years in a hotel is pretty impressive!😂😂😎
UTMM

I wish you was our det commander as I was on different field units for the last 6 years of the 22 on Tact Comms and another classified unit we spent most of the time digging in not checking in  

Quoted from Perkins

Unfortunately at the moment some people and especially the media seem more concerned about the economy, business, and the fall in the stock market.

Yes the single biggest fall in markets since the financial crisis which led to a global recession from which we haven’t yet recovered, possibly newsworthy.

Quoted from Marinerz93

Your right this virus isn't MERS or SARS and it is estimated that it won't cause as many deaths as those two.

Erm, Covid-19 has already killed more than twice as many as MERS and SARS combined and it is only just getting started in many countries around the world. The figures from Italy early this week will be interesting to see considering so many died there over the weekend.

I certainly hope it isn't as severe as could be the case but there are no grounds to just wave it away as being overblown. Even disregarding the small number of otherwise healthy people who have a severe immune response, there are many others at risk.

I have mild asthma so will be more at risk than many and my wife is recuperating from surgery so what would happen to our young children if we were to get it badly? There are another few close family members (including my parents) with risk factors as well so they would be at risk if they had to look after them.

Just waving it away as a scare story when we're heading for tens of thousands of deaths around the world at the very least is a bit blasé in my opinion.

I see that they aren't changing the UK status just yet following a Cobra meeting. This may well change if the news from Italy is bad.

Very interesting stats on the radio today. Two weeks ago Italy had less confirmed cases than we have in the UK now. The Italian government are now putting swathes of the country in quarantine to try to stop the spread.

Someone also commented that if our government makes an early intervention and takes similar quarantine actions, the damage will be measured in £’s. If they take late action the damage will be measured in lives.

While it's true that the media haven't exactly covered this responsibly - stemming from our 24/7 constant need to consume breaking news - the threat of the worst case scenario transpiring is very real.

The main reason that this is worse than flu is that it's a new pathogen not seen in humans before, so we have little to no herd immunity to it.  A vaccine is at least a year away.  If we were to just let it spread freely then it would happily infect pretty much everyone it came into contact with, meaning that the 70/80% predicted infection rate would be pretty accurate.  Assuming a conservative 1% fatality rate, at least 500,000 would die this year in the UK, compared to 17,000 from the common flu virus.  

We are all going to succumb to something eventually, but just letting this disease take a significant amount of people in a short space of time when we could do something about it shouldn't sit well with anyone with functioning moral compass.  That's before you take into account the fact that this will put significant strain on our healthcare system, meaning some people needing care for other illnesses might not get treated as quickly as they should.

It's really up to the government to take action that will protect us from it, so if they do decide to cancel sporting events over the spring, maybe people should be a bit more understanding rather than moaning about media hysteria.  At least the media has made us all aware of it.

COVID-19  is the illness caused by the virus  SARS-2.

Quoted from Ipswin

The problem with public toilets is that after washing your hands you have to get hold of the door handle on the outer door to get out!

Always wondered why most you can get into by just pushing on the door, but to get out you have to physically touch the handle.  From a hygiene pov it would make sense to do it the other way round?

Quoted from mariner83

Always wondered why most you can get into by just pushing on the door, but to get out you have to physically touch the handle.  From a hygiene pov it would make sense to do it the other way round?

Or wait for someone to come in 😉