I keep asking this. To me it seems just like another strain of 'flu. Infectious and unpleasant but only life threatening in a tiny percentage of cases (sadly some including me; the elderly and diabetic). But I simply cannot understand the panic. Just as I couldn't understand the sex panic which, thankfully, only really kicked in after the JimmySavile false allegations, by which time I'd been through the early stages and learned in 2001 how to cope with the epidemic.

They will; sure as eggs is eggs, find a vaccine (hopefully combined with the next October jab I'll be having). In the meantime events will be cancelled (Eurovision 2020 - please not). But why? They were never cancelled because of equally terminal 'flu outbreaks.

I blame the media who love a good story. And the public who are getting increasingly gullible & prepared to go along with any new panic.

Am I wrong? Should I be thinking this is another Ebola (which sounds really awful)?

World Health Organisation figures:-


97,000 infected

3,300 dead

90 countries

2 months



Vaccine is eighteen months away - but as the virus has mutated, more than one may be needed.

Would love to be able to share your complacency.

But am grateful that governments, health organisations and the world at large - are acting decisively and urgently.

The US has just pledged $8+ billion - joining numerous other donors, including the UN and IMF.


I earnestly hope you are correct when you say confidently that it's 'only life threatening in a tiny percentage of cases'...

The press are being incredibly irresponsible in their coverage - every day another front page panic alert, usually written by twentysomething hacks with zero medical qualifications. And as it's a commercial operation, as soon as they discover that the scare stories are putting readers off buying their rags they'll suddenly switch to 'don't panic' angles on the inside page.

Isn't the media just reporting the facts - as ascertained and published by the World Health Organisation?

We can all see the WHO's reports and analyses - and even our own health authorities regurgitate and republished them.

Rick, do you have any specific examples of erroneous or exaggerated media coverage - or what sort of inaccuracies should we be looking for?

Barney wrote:
Isn't the media just reporting the facts - as ascertained and published by the World Health Organisation?

We can all see the WHO's reports and analyses - and even our own health authorities regurgitate and republished them.

Rick, do you have any specific examples of erroneous or exaggerated media coverage - or what sort of inaccuracies should we be looking for?





I would consider more intelligent reporting based on the questions asked and answered. Like a breakdown of those who have died in terms of who is more likely to be affected the most. More on who recovers. (Seeing a little bit now). How the spread compares to other viruses spreading. And so on.... I did find answers to many questions but not in the general reporting.

Absolutely with Trump on this - I reckon millions have had mild coronavirus and recovered (never even tested; think it was 'flu). I reckon in say Italy, a huge percentage of the deaths would have died anyway of old age, 'flu, bad cold, all the causes that old age brings.

www.aol.co.uk/news/2020/03/05/trump-clai...rus-is-false-contra/

So there's not really a coranavirus at all

Or maybe just a mild one...

Humanity is overdue a plague...

But this 'aint it...

The mortality rate is not worth worrying about on an individual basis as figures stand; let alone the numberless more who will have had mild symptoms and survived.

Also 78, 000 people die a year in UK alone from smoking...1 so far from this biblical plague..

Why aren't smoking death stats appearing on my phone every hour? Far worse. Why is smoking legal?

Answer: media lust for story, moral hypocrisy, Government towing the line to the The Mail as ever..

Yes; what really troubles me is - why aren't the media saying how many died from 'flu this week? Bet it's much more than 1. Why aren't they printing the weekly suicide figures? Bet there are more than 1. Do the media think we are all stupid? Yes - it's a good story. Bet tomorrow the CoronaVirus death rate has doubled.

Media organisations are simply reporting the findings of the World Health Organisation

Who say 'this is not a drill' and recommend 'aggressive preparedness'

Consequently international bodies and countries are contributing billions to the fight

The majority of us, I suspect, would deem this prudent

Particularly as we don't know what causes the virus(es) - and don't have vaccines


We know all about suicide rates, annual 'flu deaths and smoking - which causes cancer

Barney please stop answering with stupid comments; our point is that media, totally inspired by wanting another good story, has inflated a trivial new virus, just another version of 'flu or cold or arthritis or cough, and built it into a global panic which fools like you fall for and inflate because you love a good story too. The repercussions are ridiculous. Nobody would cancel the Olympics or conventions because people might catch 'flu. This is a media inflated scare; simply in order to fill newsprint and broadcast minutes.

There are overall far more coronavirus recoveries than deaths shown on the live tracker.

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/scienc...oll-update-uk-world/

OK - perhaps some of the media are exaggerating certain aspects; but most are simply publishing the World Health Organisation's findings.

The WHO has no axe to grind - and is a specialist agency of the United Nations, who recommend aggressive preparedness.

About permanent 40 experts - medical, clinical, analytical etc. - permanently man this established, experienced, international and dedicated agency.

No matter what the media says, anywhere, I prefer to keep an eye on what the WHO experts say. Just like our experts, the NHS do - factoring their data into strategies.

Yes just like 'flu or catching a cold, we should be sensible.
But this lunatic, stupid hysteria? Panic buying?
Punters are becoming so superficial and so stupid.
Leading lives like tabloid headlines.

On panic buying!

I'm not long back from my weekly supermarket visit this morning, in Surrey.

Sanitisers, toilet paper and tissues - all out of stock. With many food item stocks depleted; tins, particularly, seemed to be flying off the shelves.

By much larger than normal customer numbers - with large stacked trolleys; sometimes two per shopper.

The in-store chemist's also had a queue a mile long!


Not panic yet - but on the way, it seems.

JK2006 wrote:
Yes just like 'flu or catching a cold, we should be sensible.
But this lunatic, stupid hysteria? Panic buying?
Punters are becoming so superficial and so stupid.
Leading lives like tabloid headlines.

The problem is that once loonies panic-buy it forces the rest of us to do the same.
People will have to traipse around different shops to find essentials, potentially spreading and contracting the illness as they go.

And it's totally media created lunacy. Just like the Paedo scare was. If told to do so by the tabloids, humanity goes apeshit.

Barney wrote:
On panic buying!

I'm not long back from my weekly supermarket visit this morning, in Surrey.

Sanitisers, toilet paper and tissues - all out of stock.

As a fellow Surrey resident Barney I am alarmed about a shortage of toilet paper...Much more than catching the virus.
Could be an uncomfortable weekend..