What did you get wrong about the virus?

18-03-2020 11:00AM #1

All the way back in the first big thread, I was fully sure nowhere else would have a big outbreak like Wuhan but then Italy happened. And I thought Europe would handle it better in general.

Ten of Swords · 18-03-2020 11:06AM

I thought that as the scale became more and more apparent the focus would switch from 'economy first' to 'people first'

Sultan of Bling · 18-03-2020 11:18AM

I was one of the sceptics.

Aussie flu
Swine flu
Bird flu
Sars

I thoughr every year for the last few years the media create hysterics that something was going to wipe us out

When I first heard of the coronavirus, I scoffed and said to myself, I wonder what's going to destroy us all next year.

biko · 18-03-2020 11:23AM

I did not think it would be able to get to Europe.

wirelessdude01 · 18-03-2020 11:24AM

I didn't think the UK would just go against what everyone else is doing just to be seen to be different. It's taking Brexit just that little bit too far.

Sultan of Bling · 18-03-2020 11:26AM

wirelessdude01 wrote:

I didn't think the UK would just go against what everyone else is doing just to be seen to be different. It's taking Brexit just that little bit too far.

That's one thing that hasn't suprised me.

dubstarr · 18-03-2020 11:29AM

That once it become obvious it was serious why everything wasnt locked down at once.
We seen what happened in China and Italy,and yet we waited.Everything should have been more organised.We knew it was coming.

Downlinz · 18-03-2020 11:34AM

I expected bad things since it hit Italy but I think the main thing that surprised me was how quickly most countries shut down their economies and prioritised the lives of people.

I always feared something like this in the west would see a capitalism first approach and big business would decline to disrupt their flow of income but I've been really pleasantly surprised to see priorities largely in the right place for the world with some unfortunate exceptions in the UK and USA.

amadangomor · 18-03-2020 11:37AM

Ten of Swords wrote: »

I thought that as the scale became more and more apparent the focus would switch from 'economy first' to 'people first'

Are you serious? Do you not realise that the health and welfare outcomes for people are directly linked to having a functioning economy?

GBX · 18-03-2020 11:38AM

I passed it off as a bit of flu - quickly realised it was not. While flu is bad in its own right, this is as bad.

wakka12 · 18-03-2020 11:38AM

I wasnt expecting an outbreak in Europe at all. I'm still surprised by how apparently smaller scale the epidemics in the developing world appear to be, so far at least

I was shocked by how it appeared to be confined to Hubei for such a long time, months, and then in the space of the week it seemed to be in every country in the world

I was also surprised by the places it cropped up. Like it never took off in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated and globalised urban areas on earth, same with other major cities like NYC and London took a long time to see cases, and one of the biggest epidemics so far took off in rural Italy, rural France and rural Germany and a provincial Iranian city

CtevenSrowder · 18-03-2020 11:40AM

Downlinz wrote: »

I expected bad things since it hit Italy but I think the main thing that surprised me was how quickly most countries shut down their economies and prioritised the lives of people.

I always feared something like this in the west would see a capitalism first approach and big business would decline to disrupt their flow of income but I've been really pleasantly surprised to see priorities largely in the right place for the world with some unfortunate exceptions in the UK and USA.

The UK followed the advice of the scientific experts there.

fryup · 18-03-2020 11:41AM

never thought it would come to this, i thought it was a problem over there it would never come over here...but lo & behold

riffmongous · 18-03-2020 11:46AM

CtevenSrowder wrote: »

The UK followed the advice of the scientific experts there.

More like 'of experts', because almost everywhere else and hell even in the UK experts were saying the opposite

The speed of the spread at a certain point and the necessity of the response caught me off guard at the beginning, how do you know if it's just a handful of isolated cases or going to spread exponentially?

Rikand · 18-03-2020 11:50AM

I expected this to stay in China, more or less the same way Ebola stayed in Africa

PaulieC · 18-03-2020 11:52AM

I thought the outbreak might encourage people not to be dicks. Not the case seemingly.

18-03-2020 11:58AM

The other big surprise for me is Vietnam getting hit properly because of Europe and not Korea / China. They were quick to lock stuff down there but too slow with Europe.

Xertz · 18-03-2020 12:01PM

I'd a sense it could come here but I didn't expect it to be this rapid and widespread. It's a real shock to the system to be quite honest and I'm finding the whole day today a bit stressful and becoming paranoid about a cold-type symptom I have which is probably not it, but it is still freaking me out.

I'm at home though, so at least it's not going to be passed around much.

CtevenSrowder · 18-03-2020 12:31PM

riffmongous wrote: »

More like 'of experts', because almost everywhere else and hell even in the UK experts were saying the opposite

The speed of the spread at a certain point and the necessity of the response caught me off guard at the beginning, how do you know if it's just a handful of isolated cases or going to spread exponentially?

One group of scientists who were advising them, in UCL I believe, are the reason they changed tac the other day. They followed the advice of their experts the same way Ireland did. That's all they can ultimately do, unless they don't follow expert advice and make their own decisions, and be criticised for that.

QuestionSpark · 18-03-2020 12:41PM

Didn't think it would become so widespread. Thought it would stay 'over there'. Questioning my cold or whether it's something worse and anxiety levels on the rise.

circadian · 18-03-2020 12:49PM

I spent the best part of 2 months waiting for it to hit Ireland. So far I'm surprised by our response. It's been laid out what needs to be done and it's clear what is being asked of the nation. What doesn't surprise me is the amount of assholes who completely disregard the severity of this.

It's sunk in recently that I'll probably catch it, most of us will. That's the plan. Just, catching it while controlling numbers. It's all very surreal.

FishOnABike · 18-03-2020 01:20PM

CtevenSrowder wrote: »

The UK followed the advice of the scientific experts there.

'Experts' who used the wrong model to project the likely effect and thus vastly underestimated the effect of that advice. This error will cost lives.

Achasanai · 18-03-2020 01:25PM

Xertz wrote: »

I'd a sense it could come here but I didn't expect it to be this rapid and widespread. It's a real shock to the system to be quite honest and I'm finding the whole day today a bit stressful and becoming paranoid about a cold-type symptom I have which is probably not it, but it is still freaking me out.

I'm at home though, so at least it's not going to be passed around much.

I'm the same, any slight cough and I'm trying to figure whether it's a dry one or not.

CtevenSrowder · 18-03-2020 01:38PM

FishOnABike wrote: »

'Experts' who used the wrong model to project the likely effect and thus vastly underestimated the effect of that advice. This error will cost lives.

That's not the government's fault. They followed the advice given to them. As you'd expect of a government in such situations.

Scotty # · 18-03-2020 01:40PM

Ten of Swords wrote: »

I thought that as the scale became more and more apparent the focus would switch from 'economy first' to 'people first'

dubstarr wrote: »

That once it become obvious it was serious why everything wasnt locked down at once.

People have and are being put before the economy.

I wish people would stop calling for a full lockdown. It's not possible. The country needs food and medicine supply to continue. For those to stay running farmers, producers, processors, and distributors must stay running. For those to stay running, banks, petrol stations, public transport must stay running. For those to stay running.... well, you get the idea.

Even in China and Italy things are still running. I'm in the stainless steel business. The vast majority of our suppliers are based in China and Italy. I have shipments coming in from both countries this week and all of our suppliers have been on to tell us it's business as usual.

I can see retail and hospitality being shut down alright but a full lockdown is not possible.

On a brighter note... could this help solve our housing crises? I expect thousands of rental properties hitting the market in the next week or so as the AirBnB industry implodes.

ZX7R · 18-03-2020 01:46PM

I really thought the EU would have had more of a bilateral agreement about health.
That came as a shock at first.
I can see that changing in the near future

Just to add I didn't think Donald Trump could make things worse but he is.

dubstarr · 18-03-2020 02:12PM

Scotty # wrote: »

People have and are being put before the economy.

I wish people would stop calling for a full lockdown. It's not possible. The country needs food and medicine supply to continue. For those to stay running farmers, producers, processors, and distributors must stay running. For those to stay running, banks, petrol stations, public transport must stay running. For those to stay running.... well, you get the idea.

Even in China and Italy things are still running. I'm in the stainless steel business. The vast majority of our suppliers are based in China and Italy. I have shipments coming in from both countries this week and all of our suppliers have been on to tell us it's business as usual.

I can see retail and hospitality being shut down alright but a full lockdown is not possible.

On a brighter note... could this help solve our housing crises? I expect thousands of rental properties hitting the market in the next week or so as the AirBnB industry implodes.

I know full lockdown is not possible.I mean travel should have been the first thing on the Govt minds.Not allowing people in or out.
Its not like it popped up last week,its being going around for a while.And we have seen other countries buckle.Why wait till we needed to clamp down.Should have been done sooner is all im saying.

grindle · 18-03-2020 02:15PM

Scotty # wrote: »

On a brighter note... could this help solve our housing crises? I expect thousands of rental properties hitting the market in the next week or so as the AirBnB industry implodes.

Fingers crossed some of the more depraved landlords will be getting a swift kick up the hole!

eviltimeban · 18-03-2020 02:25PM

circadian wrote: »

I spent the best part of 2 months waiting for it to hit Ireland. So far I'm surprised by our response. It's been laid out what needs to be done and it's clear what is being asked of the nation. What doesn't surprise me is the amount of assholes who completely disregard the severity of this.

It's sunk in recently that I'll probably catch it, most of us will. That's the plan. Just, catching it while controlling numbers. It's all very surreal.

Currently 0.003% of the world have caught it.

(based on 200k people out of 6.6 billion worldwide. Locally, in Ireland it is 0.005%).

Scotty # · 18-03-2020 02:39PM

eviltimeban wrote: »

Currently 0.003% of the world have caught it tested positive.

(based on 200k people out of 6.6 billion worldwide. Locally, in Ireland it is 0.005%).

We simply don't know how many have caught it, but it's a darn sight more than 200k!! I would guess, at this stage, several million.

(of which the vast majority will show only mild flu like symptoms).

What did you get wrong about the virus?

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