Coronavirus

[duncs500]

Yeah, let’s keep their filthy disgusting food markets separate from the corona issue.

I agree!

Zedleg, There’s nothing racist about sub-standard food markets, or calling them out for that matter. Saying it started in a wet market is the best and most plausible theory thus far, again, not racist.

Is it more plausible than it getting out of a lab in the area that the outbreak started that actually studies this type of virus. I'm not really sure it is.

[GG.]

There’s no confirmation that it started at a wet market though. People have been using that imagery to suggest that it started in China because they’re dirty and that’s racist

Have you ever been to China?

I vividly remember eating Noodles in a backstreet shop in Dali when a guy at one of the other tables cleared his nose onto the floor. I also contracted food borne hepatitis whilst living in Hong Kong...

If you like we can say that general standards of hygiene in the PRC and customs relating to hygiene practices are commonly significantly below that of Western countries. That of course does not mean that all Chinese people are 'dirty' but it does mean they tolerate significant infectious disease risks, of which wet markets are a prime example and it is a legitimate source of international condemnation, along with eating protected species such as Pangolin.

[ZedLeg]

I can’t disagree with that.

You only have to see how the likes of Trump and Fox News talk about China in relation to this to see that there isn’t that level of thought or nuance though.

[Jobbo]

If the Chinese had been as hygiene-conscious as the west, it wouldn't have spread so easily. As you can tell by the way it died out when it reached Europe. Oh...

[Swervin_Mervin]

Wet market isn't even the correct term FFS. The term is used specifically as a means of identifying China, and the implication is that only China has wet markets and they're dirty bastards. This isn't true - wet markets are everywhere across the globe and something we often watch our favourite TV chefs wandering around, wishing ours were as good as those in Spain, Italy, France etc.

Hence why it's use in this context is in itself highly questionable. Live market would be more accurate, but still not wholly specific enough.

[Mito Man]

There is a well know Chinese proverb - “anything that walks, swims, crawls or flies is edible”

[Carlos]

Ouch. I wonder if there’s some level of offsetting the government are planning so they can clear the debt more quickly than other countries so we get off to a better start sooner.

Well there won't be quite so many pensions to be paying out...

Good point. I wonder if we will have a short sharp rise in taxes and a delay or drop in some investments and budgets to pay for it quicker.

Big VAT increase is my bet, it will be worth it though if we avoid massive unemployment.

[nuttinnew]

Unleaded under a £1 at Morrison's, not that it makes any difference if you aren't using any.

[mr_jon]

Unleaded under a £1 at Morrison's.

= Fucked pension funds the world around.

I gotta say props to the guy, he is only saying what the world is thinking (isn't he?).

[Orange Cola]

Yeah, let’s keep their filthy disgusting food markets separate from the corona issue.

I agree!

Zedleg, There’s nothing racist about sub-standard food markets, or calling them out for that matter. Saying it started in a wet market is the best and most plausible theory thus far, again, not racist.

Is it more plausible than it getting out of a lab in the area that the outbreak started that actually studies this type of virus. I'm not really sure it is.

It’s 51/49 at the moment for me. I’m being positive and hoping this hasn’t been a right royal fuck up by a China laboratory as well as not seeing any evidence to swing one way more than the other.

The world will turn on its head of it was proven it came out of a Chinese lab.

[Orange Cola]

Well there won't be quite so many pensions to be paying out...

Good point. I wonder if we will have a short sharp rise in taxes and a delay or drop in some investments and budgets to pay for it quicker.

Big VAT increase is my bet, it will be worth it though if we avoid massive unemployment.

I expect there will be lots of debate about tax rises being the right thing to do when trying to stimulate the economy and encourage people to spend again, but as this isn’t the typical economic crisis I would hope the gov could put a timescale on the payback plan to give people a clear exit point.

[Beany]

I agree!

Zedleg, There’s nothing racist about sub-standard food markets, or calling them out for that matter. Saying it started in a wet market is the best and most plausible theory thus far, again, not racist.

Is it more plausible than it getting out of a lab in the area that the outbreak started that actually studies this type of virus. I'm not really sure it is.

It’s 51/49 at the moment for me. I’m being positive and hoping this hasn’t been a right royal fuck up by a China laboratory as well as not seeing any evidence to swing one way more than the other.

The world will turn on its head of it was proven it came out of a Chinese lab.

Pfft. Happens more often than you think. In the UK we oopsied out fucking smallpox once, and other labs have done just as bad.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.co ... x-bird-flu

[integrale_evo]

Everything I've read has said there's next to zero chance it could be man made so I doubt its been manufactured.

Whether it was discovered and made to multiply in a lab before being released into the wild accidently or otherwise is a different matter.

I'm not quite sure innit into the conspiracy theory's either. Why would china want to ruin the economies and kill off potentially millions of the people who buy the things they make or destroy the companies which pay them to make their stuff to sell to the people they're trying to kill?

Anyway, where do we think is going to be hit hard next?

Brazil looks to be losing control, deaths rising rapidly. Russia still leaves old a bit fishy, their confirmed case numbers are high, closing in on the USA but their death rate is still tiny despite being films of queues of ambulances miles long with supposed corona patients doing the rounds weeks ago.

Belarus are still denying it exists and held large public parades to celebrate the end of ww2 while Russia cancelled theirs due to corona.

Interestingly, the netherlands' deaths/million figure is now virtually the same as Swedens.

India is the obvious ticking time bomb, but again, how many of the actual deaths will ever get tested and recorded accurately?

[Simon]

Brazil looks to be losing control, deaths rising rapidly.

The thing about Brazil is that it's hugely regional. Big cities and the Favelas are suffering obviously, but my Father-in-law has houses in two cities that he moves between and one of those cities has no recorded cases.

However, their (public) healthcare system isn't coping at all, but if you're middle class and have private cover (a lot more common than Europe) then you're more likely to be ok.

[ZedLeg]

Can’t be helping that their leader is a lunatic that’s still not taking it seriously.

[Simon]

He's literally worse than trump, if that were possible.

[JonMad]

Was supposed to be at that Bryan Adams concert tonight (my wife is a fan). It's been rescheduled to 21 April next year. Funnily enough that was announced on 21 April this year.

[Foz]

Everything I've read has said there's next to zero chance it could be man made so I doubt its been manufactured.

Speaking to a friend who's daughter works in a lab in the UK I wouldn't be surprised if that message changes based on what I was told..

[Swervin_Mervin]

Everything I've read has said there's next to zero chance it could be man made so I doubt its been manufactured.

Speaking to a friend who's daughter works in a lab in the UK I wouldn't be surprised if that message changes based on what I was told..

Will be interesting to see. To me it seems like there are far to many unknowns with it still, too many surprises to the medical and scientific community in the way it's behaving, and it's those aspects to the virus that leads me to wonder whether it's man-made.

[dinny_g]