ORIGINAL: Lobster
Even before it hits? China is the 'worlds factory'. There are shortages of materials because the world practically put all of it's eggs in one basket. Many of those eggs are pharmaceuticals. If you use the common pain reliever acetaminophen then you will be impacted. Further, if you have high blood pressure that is one of the OTC pain relievers that is used. It has hit in China. No even before.
I don't doubt that (I don't have real data). However I still maintain that the reaction to the Coronavirus is, starting from the single individuals to the World economy, more like a panicked one than a rational one.
Over and over we are told that masks only help if worn by the sick, not by the healthy - yet you see scores of people going around with masks. Masks are the new Linus' blanket.
Over and over we are told about both the simple procedures that will lower significantly the possibility to catch the virus *and* how it can be really dangerous for a specific strata of the population - yet people behave like if the virus is deadly all around, and it is "out there", right out of your door, ready to get you.
News about new cases usually use this form: "Guy is sick with the Coronavirus, 120 colleagues in the same office are being tested". After a while "are being tested" loses its meaning. Maybe another one got it, but it is the "120" number that remains in the public consciousness.
Just to add happiness to happiness, we have the merry people who produce fake news just to have fun. Every then and now Twitter "targets" a place and explains how there are "uncontrolled cases" running around. Only a few people wonder how those who created this news can know about "uncontrolled" cases. This is only an example.
And politicians, in the only truly worldwide coordinated action, bicker between themselves, blaming the rival party for both the inefficient measures and the "unneeded scare". Of course this political bickering always starts with the declaration that "this emergency is not a political thing and it should not be"; before the finger pointing starts.
Meanwhile, in the Real World, I just returned from a meeting with the other Pub/Bar/Restaurant/Hotel owners in my area. The situation is grim in all Southern Italy, with drops in tourism (including cancellations) reaching 50%-60%. Sicily is hit the hardest, because they have an all year around tourism season, but also here in Calabria we are suffering from half-empty places.
There is no reason for this. We do not have the Coronavirus in Southern Italy (OK, yet). Travel between North and South right now is minimal. Some proposed a reason for this crisis: foreign tourists do not fear the virus by itself: what they do fear is being unable to return home "from Italy". Make of it what you want.
And now it seems that the export sector will get an hit, too, because "of fears that the virus can survive on the goods". Already orders for wines, foods and other edibles are being cut. OTOH, others say that buying online will only increase, as a measure to get what you want while remaining at home.
Maybe. Meanwhile the Corona brand of beer is being left on the supermarket shelves. I thought it was a joke. It isn't. Corona lost 285 million dollars in the first two months of 2020. My mother guessed that "there is a second virus going around - a virus that hits the brain the way computer viruses hit computers."
What a mess. And, just to underline once again, I firmly believe that it is the mess that is causing panic and economic collapse, not the virus by itself
BTW, Bob was talking about deaths and said so.
I know. It is the reason is why I underlined that you can't really compare the two percentages.
; Julia Child
