I don’t think it’s that simple though Susan because healthcare workers have to be skilled and healthy in order to look after someone on a ventilator. An NHS Worker was on the radio today making this point. It’s a bit like the film Titanic when Cal tries to pay the officer for a place on the lifeboat and is told “your money’s no good here”. We have limited room on the lifeboats. Money or no money if you have staff off sick with the virus there is a knock on effect which is why the current strategy is beyond me and beyond many others.
Experts have said that this virus shows a very very slow mutation behaviour so that’s not likely. But as I have said several times before there are no real experts on this particular virus. You are only an expert after watching it for its life cycle which could be two or three years. Being an experienced epidemiologist does not make you an expert in Covid 19. It’s being studied as we type.
it feels as though we are in a lucid dream.
thats how I feel too.
What I mean is like…they tell you there’s an 18 month wait to see a specialist, then you say you can pay and suddenly you have an appointment the following week pushing others who can’t afford to pay further down the list …
so in context with corona virus situation say there’s 1 ventilator left available when 2 patients come in needing one…one patient is rich and could buy the hospital a couple more if they get saved , the other patient can’t …who do you think is going to get that last ventilator? …will the hospital turn down the opportunity to get more free equipment if they might then for example have 8 ventilators instead of just 5?
If the virus is to return in a mutated form, it has nine months remaining to do so. As you say, we are at the first stages of studying this strain of coronavirus.
All the more reason to adhere to the advice the pm gave, making it possible to manage the presenting patients with the available resources.
Boris endangering the UK
So now we have CV19 spreading exponentially across the UK.
We are simply not prepared.
100s of thousands will die; many before their time.
We have seen this since January in China.
Why didn’t BoJo stop those flights from Italy coming into the UK?
If the ventilator is part of an NHS service then that would never be an option. It would be illegal. That’s not to say it would never happen but it would be fraud and corruption. Plus like I said the ventilators need expert staff to monitor them. As the lady on the radio said you need to take great care of the NHS staff and ensure they are protected from catching the virus. So much equipment needs skilled workers.
I think it will be like SARS and MERS. But we are all just guessing right now.
China has only had 8 new cases as at today. Lockdown clearly works.
100s of thousands will die in the UK? I think the worldwide total is between 5000 and 6000.
A newborn baby has tested positive with it after the mother was taken to hospital with pneumonia a few days ago. The mother has tested positive for it too
that’s so sad Susan. Hope they are both ok.
I’ve just read that in the Sun Susan, very sad isn’t it. 
In terms of outright numbers the flu may have, in the past, killed more people BUT this virus has not yet even begun to run its course. THE DEATH RATE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS IS AROUND 3.6 %, WHILE THE FLU KILLS ONLY A MERE .1%. This virus is 35 times more deadly.
Say the same thing 5 months from now. 
Frightening…
I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the coronavirus crisis. The news media in the US has not captured the severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country’s reality. The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their behavior today.
If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.
I can hear you now. “It’s just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”
There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it’s knees. First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they need weeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never show symptoms.
When Prime Minister Conte announced last night that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be clear, this national lock down, is a hail mary. What he means is that if the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy, will collapse.
Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity – more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways. If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a 1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?
On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.
There are a finite number of drs, nurses, medical staff and they are getting the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and days. What happens when the drs, nurses and medical staff are simply not able to care for the patients, when they are not there?
And finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.
You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can. If you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now. Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do these things now you can buy your medical system time.
And for those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone’s imagination a week ago.
Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.
Goods news is South Korea largest outside China for coronavirus infections, is now showing new cases of coronavirus is down from thousand a day to just a hand full.
With the more information and studies collected and shared, more is known about this virus each week/day. Like 80% of infections are mild where most didn’t feel ill, so no one is sure how many 100s, 1000s or tens of 1000s of cases have gone unreported.
Wonder how worried we’d be if we had no vaccine for Flu, which would be worse I wonder covid 19 or Flu.
Warmer weather, will it kill off this virus, no one is quite sure but all agree it’ll slow it up.
Yes the number of infections will rise in the UK, But the mortality rate I’m sure will be 10 times lower than that of the Flu.
I’m sure before we realise it, the UK will be on the mend, and we will all still be here thinking, why were we so worried
Do not watch film Contagion.
I think I already mentioned that the median age for Wuhan patients needing critical care was 47-49. So this is not just an elderly hard-hitter. It’s just that the elderly with existing conditions are less likely to survive. Younger people end up in ITU as well. I think we need a reality check.