I suppose you're right and I didn't fully think about the options, but if left alone people might experience a serious haircut this year.
First UK recorded death yesterday about 5 miles from me. Panic buying has set in. Costco has been cleaned out of loo roll and tinned food. Whilst I agree with Jan that, on one measure we are Meh to flu deaths and twitchy about this, the numbers don't look positive. In a really bad year we might get 28000 deaths from flu in UK. I've not dug into the stats but assume that's a year when they get the mix of the flu jab badly wrong (and I'd hate to be the panel that signs off on the vaccine each year). Some of the first pass forecasts for coronavirus are not good reading and I do hope they are wrong.
My wife, bless her heart, was an early adopter we have a basement stuffed with months of supplies. She hit Costco and Wegmans on two consecutive days filling the car to the hilt.
I thought this was a SARS virus.
Never put all the eggs in one basket. Unfortunately, even the most conservative of plans are suffering at this point.
For our unfortunate friends south of our border, inability to pay for incredibly expensive medical services can be a terrible reality - I recall reading that crippling medical bills were the leading cause of personal bankruptcies in the USA prior to the 2008 economic collapse, after which mortgage foreclosures took over for a while.
(This issue got pretty personal, as a close family member had to file for bankruptcy in the mid 1990s, after her husband became mentally ill, and they couldn't afford the resulting medical bills.)
So, while I cannot condone it, I can understand why a person, having to choose between becoming homeless and bankrupt, or keeping her sniffly nose and sore throat to herself and hoping for the best, might choose to do the latter. The odds are good, after all, if only 2% or 3% of those ill actually develop serious symptoms.
How big, I wonder, is the medical bill for an uninsured (or minimally insured) American who has to undergo testing, or, heaven forbid, full-blown treatment or quarantine for Covid-hoozy-whatsitsface? Enough to force bankruptcy for all but the wealthiest, I'll wager.
Medical bills aside, there is the question of lost income while quarantined. In Canada, our elected officials are at least thinking about this: Support coming for Canadians quarantined due to coronavirus, finance minister says | CBC News
-Gnobuddy
So, to confuse everyone, SARS by itself refers to the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV (2003 version). COVID-19 is the current disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The new virus seems to trade some virulence for better transmissibility.
If one were to anthropomorphize viruses or bacteria, I’d imagine they’d be less concerned about how many of their hosts they kill, just how many they can find in which to reproduce. And of course being both single minded about that, and relatively single organisms, they can mutate/evolve fast enough that human immune systems can’t quite keep up.
So, even if a vaccine for this particular strain is developed, it may well be ineffective in the long run?
Just for a fun piece of trivia, an often quoted estimate is that approximately half of all human beings who’ve ever lived were killed by malaria.
So, even if a vaccine for this particular strain is developed, it may well be ineffective in the long run?
Just for a fun piece of trivia, an often quoted estimate is that approximately half of all human beings who’ve ever lived were killed by malaria.
Where do you get this stuff? A friend from Vancouver who we all know and love got colon cancer and immediately packed up his bags and went to Dallas Texas for treatment.
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I'm not sure he's wrong - medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US - but that's talking about the uninsured or under-insured for the most part. US health care is stratified and those with good plans and good jobs have little problem, while people living paycheck to paycheck with super high deductible plans probably can't afford their out of pocket maximums. Even still, it's often a fight to get things covered, and hopefully you don't accidentally go to an out of network hospital and need emergency surgery. I'm sure you know all this... but that fact was surprisingly true when I looked it up.
The standard of care is top notch of course.
Panic, or they only drink bottled water but don't want to have to go shopping in public for a long time.
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Why do Canadians come to the Cleveland Clinic for hip replacements and chemotherapy?
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Because of the waiting time. No one said the Canadian system was optimal. I think Gnobuddy is right that our system does a far better job of discouraging people from getting routine / preventative treatment and testing.
That might not be not the worst thing with this virus though. Self isolating unless you need hospitalization could be the way to go unless the antivirals like Remdesivir are successful in Phase III.
Yes, you can wait a while for a hip or knee replacement, but there must be another reason for wanting to travel south for chemotherapy. You typically don't wait long here for cancer treatment, so it must be a specific type of treatment that may not be available in Canada.
jeff
Also health care varies quite a bit across Canada because it is a provincial jurisdiction. Health care my parents' received in large Mtl hospitals could not be more different than what I and my family get in Cgy. Frankly things won't improve in Mtl until there's a popular will to start putting people in jail.
I'm feeling like I'm getting a cold. I wouldn't normally go to the doctor if I got a cold because they can't do anything about it anyway. However now I'm thinking but what if it is corona virus. I have a duty to others not to spread it.
But I don't know if I go to the doctor if he can test me (I don't have a fever which is apparently the first symptom) I also don't know if going to the doctor is a risk because there may be people who do have corona virus there. If I don't have it, but already have some other sort of infection, then catch corona virus, I'm putting myself at risk.
There is no economic consideration here. But If I've just got a cold then I shouldn't be burdening the system and risking exposing myself (and also my family) to potential source of corona virus.
So without a fever I assume I should just regard it as a normal cold. If I do get a fever I should go get it checked. either way I should try and avoid contact with anyone else.
Tony.
But I don't know if I go to the doctor if he can test me (I don't have a fever which is apparently the first symptom) I also don't know if going to the doctor is a risk because there may be people who do have corona virus there. If I don't have it, but already have some other sort of infection, then catch corona virus, I'm putting myself at risk.
There is no economic consideration here. But If I've just got a cold then I shouldn't be burdening the system and risking exposing myself (and also my family) to potential source of corona virus.
So without a fever I assume I should just regard it as a normal cold. If I do get a fever I should go get it checked. either way I should try and avoid contact with anyone else.
Tony.
I'm not a doctor, so you technically shouldn't listen to me... but I can tell you that the first sign is very often a dry cough according to the journal articles published so far.
Very unlikely you have it at the moment given the number of reported cases in Australia. Maybe if you work at the airport or something.
Very unlikely you have it at the moment given the number of reported cases in Australia. Maybe if you work at the airport or something.
He probably isn't allowed or able to have you tested. In public health care there is a strict protocol to be followed.
I just spent the last couple of days in hospital. My 4 year old was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia, but as it was a respiratory problem they were following CV 19 procedure the whole time. Isolation, masks, sometimes gowns. They never tested for CV 19 because she didn't meet the full guideline including travel, but her symptoms matched the CV 19 symptoms reported in the news bang on.
I just spent the last couple of days in hospital. My 4 year old was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia, but as it was a respiratory problem they were following CV 19 procedure the whole time. Isolation, masks, sometimes gowns. They never tested for CV 19 because she didn't meet the full guideline including travel, but her symptoms matched the CV 19 symptoms reported in the news bang on.
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