I'll add, that, to the best of my knowledge, there is no proof that having been infected by the corona virus grants immunity.

If that's true, I don't see how it will be possible to avoid that 50-70% of world population to be infected, and so, if we are lucky with a 1% lethality, that means 40 millions deaths at least.

In this case, confinement for the next 2-6 months may delay those deaths and avoid saturation of the health system (which can lead to a lethality that could ends in the 2 digits - people will die of other diseases/accidents because it will not be possible to take care of them).

I hope I'm wrong and that those who still shout that it's just a flu that will kill "only" a few thousands of people are right.

I must say that in my close vicinity in a single week I know 5 people / 50 that are ill, and they are not ill like if it was a simple flu.
I really fear for the life of 2 of them.

So, to everybody, good luck, take care of your family and loved ones.

Yes, you are right. The reason why corononavirus is dangerous and is threated as something worse than the flu is, the lack of natural immuninity, vaccine, enough knowledge and speed of contagion whch causes potential collapse in the health systems. You can not have a freely rampant virus that if it is not stopped it can be be stational and recurrent and potentialy mutable.
So the importance of radical measures.

So It is worse than the flu? I think NOW It is, But in the near future It won´t.
It is worse than the flu in number of deaths? "It is not worse by the number of deaths", at least reading the numbers in China, and "if the correct measures are made" it wont be.

I hope I am explaining myself. This is not something clearly black or white, it depends on what are you measuring and focusing.

Greetings

Thanks for your reply, I mostly agree. However, one shouldn't forget that the epidemic was only brought under control in China by really extreme measures, and so far the response in Europe has been rather inefficient. So I think for the time being the potential of very high numbers of deaths due to Covid-19 shouldn't be underestimated.

Asymptomatic carriers for cold/flu viruses usually don't carry it for too long (that's normal healthy people, longer for children and those with weak immune system).

I haven't seen any definitive answers yet other than it depends. Varies in days. Those that do get sick can be infectious up to 2 days before and up to 10 days after symptoms.

As for covid19: I think it's too early to say...

Speaking of transmitting viruses; hospitals should abolish paper and stick to one pad (using NFC or equivalent to transmit data) each to minimize the risk.

How Long Are You Contagious With The Flu?
The surprising reason you feel awful when you're sick
The Immune System Explained

EDIT: We can partly thank viruses for the way we are today (for those of us that think evolution is a thing) - what doesn't kills you, literally makes you stronger.

The "funny" thing is MANY on the net(including the chans) kept suggesting ibuprofen, and stores near me got bought out of that before paracetamol/etc.....it'd suck for them if it didn't help them much.

That said: thankfully I was able to get some of the above as stores still have a good amount of it.

Sorry for the rant, feel free to not read it.

I'm also simplifying stuff (from a science standpoint this can be rather complicated, since there are lots of nuances between many virus types). So as with all viral infections, those who carry viruses do so only with a certain amount regardless of the virus type. There are exceptions but I don't think that SARS-CoV-1 or 2 are within those, since they're a coronavirus like any other. The actual problem is that this type of Coronavirus has unstable RNA, which means that it may mutate to change its type so it may (or may not) become really dangerous (or it doesn't). Again, there are indications which already show that it actually gets less lethal over time but things may change as well, you may think of the evolution of the virus as a sort of a sinuscurve, with ebbs and flows. As a rule of thumb, most viruses don't want their hosts to get killed as well, which is something you can always consider. So while there is reason to be alarmed, there is no need to panic as many first world country populations do right now, such as buying toiletpaper like its the antidote against the Coronavirus :D.

At any case, right now you probably have several dozens of illnesses impacting you in minimalistic ways that you don't know anything about, yet no test would indicate that you're infected with some sort of dangerous disease, even though you may have one. Its simply because your threshold hasn't been met and your body can fend off any of these common diseases. Those who already have any sort of illness naturally have a lower threshold (because their metabolism is occupied fending it off the already dominating type of virus) which means that the body in general becomes weaker to ALL kinds of viruses and doesn't have the chemical balance to create neutralizing antibodies (NAb in short), which depending on the chemical balance of the NAb, will then serve as a counter towards the virus.

However, even if you have a slight amount of a certain type of virus inside you, it can still get outside your body (through the usual means) and there are always chances to infect others. Even though the amount is insignificant to most people, those with a slightly irregular immune system could still be affected by the host of illnesses that you carry around with you (and so does anyone else). However, since SARS-CoV-2 is very new, the chances to get sick become very high to those with a irregular immune system. This is not a huge problem form a science standpoint because this is a common occurance and those people who're actually virologists understand this very well. I'm fairly sure that within half a year things will looks much better. I mostly worry about the aftermath of the virus though, the economy might take some time to recover.

For instance, from what I understood, SARS-CoV-2 REALLY doesn't really like NAb's so theres a good sign that a antivirus that can be scaled to even counter a pandemia quite quickly and cheaply. I'm no expert though and I don't know all the details, like the metagenomics and stuff like that.

EDIT: Or just look at sanscripts post. He wrote the same stuff as I did but its shorter. Not a fan of Youtube posts though as I feel its better to explain things in a discussion it rather than just link to videos (through its a good way to occupy yourself with and from skipping threw the videos they also aren't wrong, so feel free to entertain yourself with some education). I should've refreshed next time before typing up a post, but then I would've not occupied myself with posting. What a dilemma :D!

Eh, I had fun reading it, at any rate. :)

I may sound cruel, but unfortunatly these are human errors that are easy too predict since whenever there is a panic. its cynical but Humans are their worst enemy.

Or in other terms, people in a panic become easy to read in their irrationalities, including the grim parts. Hopefully those who're able to will support their families and those affected. I know that I do.

Besides that, and I wrote it in my previous post, I also worry about the aftermath very much, way more so than the virus itself. I do think that the economy might take a while to recover properly with many unnamed heroes left in the wake by it. And with people in a panic, you should always expect unforseen events as well. IMHO the best approach to a situation like this is to expect the worst but always hope for the best.

Sadly, you are right.

And don't worry about coming off as such to me....I know your heart in the right place/know what you mean.

This/agreed.

One thing I hope for is that govts given emergency powers by this will relax them after a decent period of time(not too short, but not too long either), and that the lockdowns/other measures won't become a way of life for too long.

According to our Government, Italy is following WHO guidelines about who should be tested for COVID-19 or not. Basically people who show (strong) symptomatology are tested, while if someone shows less (or weaker) symptoms is not tested at all. Moreover there is a certain number of people who are totally asymptomatic.
In other words we know the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, but we don't know the total number of the infected.

That said, the mortality rate is in any case far more higher than the one of seasonal influenza. The number of people in need of medical assistance, if not in need of intensive care treatments, is dreadfully high and is near to make the health system collapse, making impossible to cure everyone properly.
Nothing similar has never happened in the past years here in Italy and we have to track back to one century ago to find a similar situation with the infamous "spanish flu".

Western countries have pretty much given up on trying to contain the virus, the big corporations are telling them not to shut anything down to preserve profits.

well i never thought that this whole crisis would come out like this. but hopefully this shortage is just a side effect of many people panicking and after a week there will be toilet paper and other stuff in stores again. i'm currently thinking about alternatives to toilet paper, in case its not going to get better.
btw, if you look here, it says that almost as much people died in itany as in china. its kinda strange and i wonder if the numbers for china could be faked?

It could be, but it depends on how the doctors determine the cause of the death (you will most likely die from SARS due to multiple illnesses). It varies significantly from country to country due to different health standards. Some declare you as healed once you feel better, other countries have different measurements. The way to determine somebody as cured is definitely not homogenous.

I'd say that China is most likely not faking anything, they just use a different method of declaring who is healthy and who isn't. But its difficult for me to say this considering I've never talked to a chinese health specialist. Of course you can have a little bit of healthy skepticism towards this matter. After all, China also cares about its own image so they can sell that the vision that the country itself is as strong and stable as possible, so the population doesn't become displeased with their own government. Thats because the way on how the population finds the state trustworthy is embedded within their culture.

I worried something(some sort of world wide problem) might happen, so I stocked up a bit on some things before all this(in case of ANY emergency).....some of my family laughed at me a bit for doing so, but now they're happy to have some things from my supplies(and I am happy to share, of course).

As for alternates.....I also have paper towels(good ones and cheap ones) if need be. If you can find any and can't get any TP i'd recommend that(Just DON'T flush it).

Dunno if the rumors are true, but some said the CO(CO2?) emissions and other data showed/hinted at the chinese burning large amounts of bodies of those that died.....but who knows if that is true or not. :\
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Also to the few low rating me even here/now: Don't you have loved ones to tend to and take care of during all this and more important things to worry about that keeping this dumb low rating up even during a world wide crisis such as this?

Priorities, people....priorities.