Which is worse. Covid-19 or the Panic?

[Guest]

 

Even if living under a rock, it is highly unlikely you haven't heard of it. 

 

Covid-19 is making waves globally. 

 

The human toll looks to surpass that of even normal and routine influenza strains (based on predictions).

 

There is also another toll, which for the most part is media generated. 

 

The panic. The stress. The anxiety caused by either dire outlooks being broadcast on TV, to rumor mills being flipped around with misinformation on social media.

 

Rumors misinterpreting credible voices and due to the viral nature of social media, often drowning out news and information.

 

The irony, is these viral bits of information are doing damage just like the viral illness they are talking about. 

 

Is the news to blame for this? Social media?

 

My city as an example has taken insanely drastic measures to contain the spread.

 

Some banks here are taking one client at a time only. Clinics are doing similar, in having a gatekeeping staff fully garbed at the front interviewing patients to determine if they are allowed in or not. 

 

Many of my clients have laid off mass staff due to the unwavering fears being stoked everytime someone turns on a TV. 

 

Is the fear justified?

 

Which is worse? Covid-19, or the panic?

[endika]

I think there has been a huge overreaction about it. I understand it is bad and is (literally) taking the world by storm. In my opinion it is very similar to the flu and that isn't all over the news. But, I am glad we don't have to go to school for a few weeks. 

 

(this is just my opinion I don't know much about the severity of it or done a lot of research. I have just come to a conclusion based on what other people have told me)

[AmberUK]

I think that to some people the risk is real and very dire. Some people are dying and dying in a horrible way. The vast majority of us are probably ok. 

If they were going to control it I just think that when it was in China there should have been a lock down on movement all over. Quarantine of people from that area who traveled and rationing on stuff in supermarkets.

It got to Italy and then just seemed to spread through not much being done. The shops sold out of stuff because the supermarkets who know exactly how many cans of beans they have cos its all bar codes now a days let people buy like crazy and now supermarkets have queues and bugger all on the shelves. So now when you see loo roll (haven't for weeks now) you buy what you can cos who wants to goto 4 supermarkets to hunt for loo roll. 

We all need a passport to travel. That is all scanned too, plus plane tickets are scanned too. Why could they not stop the spread from country to country. The UK is an island. Ppl don't just appear here through a portal. They need to sale or fly here. How are islands not virus free? 

The other effects which seem to basically be about money just shows how fragile and unfair the systems we have are. The zero hour contracts, the people on low pay and the people struggling week to week are the people who will suffer again. The people who struggled through the 2008 melt down and probs have not recovered from that. These people will once again be stuck and struggling. I dunno, I don't get money, I don't get the economic system at all it all seems good for the rich and bugger off if you are not. 

[weird elf]

  

14 minutes ago, Perspektiv said:

Which is worse? Covid-19, or the panic?

The panic, 100%.

If managed well (as most countries are doing by now), this bug need not be more deadly than the flu. If people keep carrying on like brainless monkeys, it might. Incompetent government response won't help much, obviously, but if every person individually takes safety precautions, they can make it a lot better.

(edited to clarify: Meaning common sense stuff like washing your freaking hands, not going out any more than necessary, keeping safe distance, no travelling unless it can't be avoided.)

 

 

Get your numbers from a reliable source (like the freakin' WHO, it's literally their job to keep an eye on and inform about this type of situation) and do your own math. Don't rely on clickbait media (or, heaven forbid, the utter nonsense circulating in social networks).

 

Also, remember this is not about prevention, it's about delay. Buying time for science to come up with specific antivirals and / or vaccines, giving hospitals a head start stocking up their IC capabilities, and making sure the health systems don't get overrun by too many critical cases at once.

[Howard]

Though the panic affects me more, like some items not available at the grocery store, I'm say the virus is worse since it killed more people.

[Guest]

For those in the high risk group, the virus is worse. So minimizing the spread? Preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed? Good. But panic and fear can make people stupid and that can be dangerous.

[Lord Jade Cross]

The virus is deadly, no question on that. However, as with any type of scenario of this nature, panic is the bigger threat simply because people go absolutely mental and stupid (well stupider than usual).

 

It's no different than when you have a natural disaster, any out of the ordinary situation and such. People are called to remain calm and think rationally and that's the last thing they do.

 

[Leo Kaden]

I think the panic is worse, we have a walmart, heb, and kroger all right next to each other 5 mins. from my house and they're all out of tp. I feel like if people weren't panicking we would be functoining as normal right now.

[Guest]

The panic, bar none. With OCD at least I know something's wrong with my mental health; those who don't realize they've gone completely off their rails can be dangerous. I'd rather spend time around people who have had a sip too much of the ol' wood alky for unrelated reasons.

[Gloomy]

The panic, hands down. Plenty of diseases kill more people than this stupid virus and the world doesn’t shut down over any of those.

[Dreamer23]

Well, for now the panic.

But we're also very much at the beginning of this - I'll likely change that vote once our hospitals get overwhelmed and some of my older relatives start getting it 😕 

[Skycaptain]

The panic, big-time. 

[Zagadka]

So far, the panic. The deaths and illnesses are bad, but the way markets are crashing and people are losing jobs is astounding. We can recover from the sickness, but the economy is hammered.

[weird elf]

The measures are necessary to slow the spread of the virus - unless people f*** it up by panicking and doing stupid sh*t, in which case the economy will have taken a hit for nothing.

The panic is actively making the situation worse, thus causing more people to die. (e.g. hardly anyone really needs hand sanitizer, let alone the amounts of it people are buying, except for the chronically ill. Who can't get it now, but is at a higher risk if they do catch the virus? Do the math. People are even stealing sanitizer from places where it's really needed, like nursing homes and freaking hospitals. And overuse of sanitizer equals actively breeding resistant bacteria, which *sarcasm* is exactly what we need right now.)

[everywhere and nowhere]

I think the panic is worse. Which doesn't mean that there should be no quarantine - I support the safety measures, but really, for most people coronavirus really isn't significantly more dangerous than ordinary flu. And yes, it's possible to die from flu.

In fact, I may be having a mild coronavirus infection... in fact I hope that's it, because it means I will be immune. I have been coughing a lot and having a terribly sore throat, but the untypical thing is that I don't have fever at all. But then again, I generally very rarely have fever, I've once been told that for some reason people who suffer from allergy don't get fever so easily. The highest fever I have ever had was 39,2, and now my body temperature fluctuates betwen 100% normal level and some 0,4 degrees more (36,6-37). So far I'm on quarantine to avoid infecting anyone, but I didn't want to go through all the process of officially confirming it... I wouln't even be allowed to go and throw the garbage out (not that I do, the last time my neighbour took my garbage), I theoretically could have food delivered, but I suspect it might be some standard list and I'm a vegetarian, meat is not allowed into my refrigerator... And I won't change it for any reason, the idea of eating meat feels absolutely repulsive to me.

One of the worst aspects is the spread of misinformation, fake news, conspiracy theories... For example I have read an article which says that the coronavirus genome has been studied and the results confirm that it's a natural pathogen, not a manmade one. And still certain people don't believe it. For example some are asking "How is the virus intelligent enough to know what is needed to infect a human?" - with the implication "The virus can't know it, but some Evil Forces might!" - and really, this is just ABC of evolution to realise that no virus "knows" anything, simply the one which has advantageous mutations will be able to survive and pass its genes over...

[Guest]

I think this is something that shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

The fact of the matter, is the bulk of the death toll, are those with weakened immune systems. Many of which, being the elderly.

 

This makes it into many nursing homes, and the consequences would be devastating. Italy has an advanced age within its borders, and the globe has seen how devastating of an effect that this can have.

 

This alone in my opinion, should garner your attention. You can't protect your grandmother, to name an example--by taking a vaccine. You have a loved one suffering from cancer, well some of the treatments would make this person a sitting duck for a brutal death due to how depleted you would be.

 

I think this is something that is lacking in the media, which is why it is so dangerous. Perspective.

 

I remember hearing in an interview, a gentleman hitting the nail on the head:

 

"This is not a deadly disease. People die, but is the flu deadly? So how is this any different? -- Highways kill thousands of Canadians annually, are they now deadly?"

 

Essentially, in that driving has its inherent dangers, but to call something deadly is to imply a significant likelihood it will kill you.  Something that is highly unlikely to kill you, is dangerous at best. Risky is probably the better operative word. Awareness. Now we're talking perspective.

 

My last point is where the panic becomes dangerous.

 

Put a population in a level of fear where they think their death is imminent, and what they will be capable of in itself, will be very dangerous.

 

The level of selfishness of someone in fight or flight mode, is through the roof. Its survival of the fittest.

 

We are seeing these consequences as we speak.

[DuskFire]

Just listen to Agent K at 00:12

 

This sums up panic perfectly

[Homer]

The panic is worse, definitely.

[DuranDuranfan]

Both. Even though the number of cases in my country is roughly .00002% of the population, my government is going nuts. I get the idea of wanting to slow it down, but I’m extremely scared of things like a complete shutdown and how I will manage. I’ve had anxiety issues my whole life and THIS SHIT IS NOT HELPING!

[abandoned-account]

17 hours ago, weird elf said:

People are even stealing sanitizer from places where it's really needed, like nursing homes and freaking hospitals.

I knew the desperation for some things like tp has been ridiculous, but... wow....

[weird elf]

That's what happens when misinformation meets egotism ...

[Captain Jay]

I'd say that the panic is worse. Be that as it may, it seems that most of it comes from the fact that the disease is new and still somewhat unknown.

 

There are a lot of specific things that seem to be inciting panic... intentionally or otherwise. For example, broadcasting updates on the TV every few hours, or glancing over how most of the victims (from what I can see) are people who are elderly or have some kind of serious illness... usually both.

[Guest]

On 3/19/2020 at 4:36 PM, Zagadka said:

The deaths and illnesses are bad

The deaths and the illnesses, are I hate to say it, falling in line with a stereotypical case of influenza. Many who are at high risk, are the ones who are developing the most severe symptoms, and even dying.

 

I think panic, is hard to cope with as it puts people in a constant state of fight or flight mode. I don't think most of us at the best of times, can make any levels of sound judgment in such a state. Its when you're at your most selfish, and it is about your survival at all costs.

 

Inflate this by the masses, and you have a serious issue.

[Guest]

The only positive on panic, is if you control their minds, you control their bodies. Much easier to get a mass to comply, when they are terrified.

 

The down side, is you'll always get the crazies that take things too far.

 

I know some people who are talking strapping up arms, and driving off to the middle of nowhere, to await for "them to get us".

 

The type of thinking, where they think this is the beginning of the ending of our species. Our world. Buying firearms, and ammunition for the pending Armageddon.

 

This is where things get dicey.

 

Right now, many still have jobs.

 

I've been to Hong Kong, where some have not for months. Desperation levels get quite high in such settings, and you'll start seeing a far more dramatic turn of events.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Captain Jay said:

it seems that most of it comes from the fact that the disease is new and still somewhat unknown.

The news deliberately use panic inducing key words, such as deadly. Dramatic spike in death, and several other words sure to pique your interest.

 

I've had to reassure even my bosses, as am seeing so many workplaces ramp up insane security measures.

 

The unintended consequence? Mass layoffs, and a crippling of an economy.

[Ldlelee]

The panic, without a doubt. I understand the virus is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with effectively, and I also understand if it were dealt with properly ahead of time, this wouldn't have happened (*glares at Trump*), but the panic is what made me panic. It's what caused so much hysteria and ultimately, the food and supply shortage. A lot of people are having a hard time finding what they need now because so many people went and bought it all--things like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, soap, and cleaning supplies. This means that a lot of people will have a harder time staying healthy because they can't maintain hygiene, and hospitals are being affected by it, too (tagging @Timeless). Things like social distancing, restaurants closing, events being cancelled, and universities moving completely online make me sad, but selfish little shitheads stockpiling toilet paper absolutely pisses me off.

[SithAzathoth WinterDragon]

The panic, this virus may be bad. However it seems to affect the people more with compromised immune systems more.

If you have traveled to areas affected, just stay home isolated and call you physician if you get any of the symptoms. 

 

[daveb]

This article from NatGeo seems relevant to these sorts of discussions: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/reference/modern-history/why-we-evolved-to-feel-panic-anxiety/

[AmberUK]

ATM its the panic. But it could be the disease at any point. The government in the UK and the supermarkets have really screwed this up tbh. I hope that social isolation will make the panic the worst bit of this and not the disease in a months time.

[Guest]

People should take a page out of Taiwan's book.

Mind you, they had a major head start, as had planned for years for a pandemic after SARS.

Almost immediately, limits were put by the government on essential goods. Production was ramped up on items such as face masks to ensure a surplus was available, vs a shortage.

This is where my country has failed, miserably.

You look at any supermarket store shelves, and you see empty spaces where the toilet paper is supposed to be. Where the hand sanitizers, disinfectants. Canned goods, water and perishables. The essential items people will flock to, during an epidemic.

Limiting items after a first week of having shelves ransacked, would've been responsible, allowing stores to keep their stock levels up to date. Many were insanely slow to adjust. Some still haven't.

Literally, this isn't a life or death situation. Period. One bottle of sanitizer per family. Period.

The lack of this, and you'll start to see what I experienced in Hong Kong. People growing desperate, and greedy.

I.E Desperation, such as stockpiling. Lining up for hours, to get their hands on the renewed inventory. Fights over the last "scraps" left in store.

Greed in a human crisis. Stockpiling wholesale inventory, and reselling it a twice the price on Kijiji, or in other avenues.

In HK, you'd have vendors on the streets, taking advantage of the sense of panic, and selling face masks at twice and even 5 times the price point.

People see empty shelves, they panic.

The stocks were there, but they were greedily being snatched up faster than stores could restock, creating that image.

Same is happening here. Major retailers, have massive stock surplus in holding warehouses. However, due to restrictions on deliveries, can only do so many per day.

If every jackass is grabbing 20 bottles of Lysol, when they only need one for a month or more -- you sort of see this is an issue only the retailers can't fix by restricting quantities.

You limit their ability to stockpile, and you end that lemming mentality that is starting to set in.

It makes things way easier for me as an employer, to calm staff down in getting them to see sensible adjustments (I.E Restricting who can come in, having sanitizing stations, allowing staff to work from home for up to two weeks, etc) are far wiser than closing up shop for a month, making half your salary and risking to go out of business.