COVID-19 could affect more races this year.

[Capharol]

you know what the biggewt problem is.... most elderly ppl still needs groceries,they open doors that others have touched,then they go shopping taking a shopping car that other persons have touched aswell, they touch the ggroceries that others had in hand and put back because they didn't want to, then they pay mostly cash and getting cash back that other had in their hands aswell and maybe one of the other persons had/have corona without knowing it because they dont feel sick and one of those elderly person can be you parent or grandparents ...... as you can see this is a circle that is hard to break.

i know that has nothing to do with F1 but i just wanna make some ppl aware of the danger, because i have the feeling ppl still are taking this to easy

[Just_a_fan]

I never said it was "just another flu" because it is not an influenza strain. I'm actually getting very wound up by people calling it anything other than it is.

It's a SARS virus isn't it (SARS-CoV-2)? That could be a worry in itself because the previous SARS outbreak was up to 10% mortality albeit with a much lower transmission rate. If SARS-CoV-2 approached that mortality with its current transmission rate then we could be looking at a new "Spanish Flu" style pandemic. However, the mortality rate in normally healthy individuals is not nearly as bad - less than 1% for most groups. It's a killer for the old and otherwise unwell with a respiratory-related issue.

[NL_Fer]

Would Govts of the world be less worried about COVID-19 if the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-20 hadn't happened?

Would Govts of the world have reacted as they have if coronavirus had quietly slipped out of Wuhan province?

Is the similarity between COVID-19 and SARS the real worry for Govts? SARS had a high mortality rate - up around 10%. MERS, of course, was much higher at about 33%.

Governments are worried because already in Europe certain areas healthcare workers are at 100% capacity. Those hospitals cannot take anymore patients and ambulances are to busy to help everyone. People could die, not of COVID19, but by a stupid accident/illness and medical help which comes to late.

Capacity is shrinking, because of healthcare workers getting ill

[Raleigh]

I can't belive that we are in March, and after all what is happening in the world, someone still calls this as "another flu", or a "a bad flu".

Coronavirus is similar in nature to cold and flu viruses, spreads in much the same way and shares similar symptoms with flu although clearly at the more severe end of the scale (far from the scariest though, there's a strain of avian flu with a 60% mortality rate, thankfully it has a low transmission rate).

Infact another coronavirus strain falls under the many viruses (about 200 known from multiple different virus families) that cause the common cold, it's quite possible many people reading this thread have had a coronavirus without ever knowing the difference from any other cold.

So coronavirus (Covid 19 to be accurate) is "another flu", it's "a bad flu" and it's a new flu which when you put all those terms together is bad news because flu viruses spread easily, the symptoms are quite severe relative to the most common flu types and no one has much resistence because Covid 19 is a new strain.

The risk of a flu pandemic has been known for decades, this one just happens to be caused by a new coronavirus strain instead of a potentially just as dangerous new strain of influenza.

[Just_a_fan]

Coronavirus is not a 'flu at all. It's not even closely related to influenza viruses. It may share similar symptoms in most people but that's as far as it goes.

[santos]

I can't belive that we are in March, and after all what is happening in the world, someone still calls this as "another flu", or a "a bad flu".

Coronavirus is similar in nature to cold and flu viruses, spreads in much the same way and shares similar symptoms with flu although clearly at the more severe end of the scale (far from the scariest though, there's a strain of avian flu with a 60% mortality rate, thankfully it has a low transmission rate).

Infact another coronavirus strain falls under the many viruses (about 200 known from multiple different virus families) that cause the common cold, it's quite possible many people reading this thread have had a coronavirus without ever knowing the difference from any other cold.

So coronavirus (Covid 19 to be accurate) is "another flu", it's "a bad flu" and it's a new flu which when you put all those terms together is bad news because flu viruses spread easily, the symptoms are quite severe relative to the most common flu types and no one has much resistence because Covid 19 is a new strain.

The risk of a flu pandemic has been known for decades, this one just happens to be caused by a new coronavirus strain instead of a potentially just as dangerous new strain of influenza.

When i see someone saying that it's "another flu", it feels like it's being underestimated. Like, you don't have to worry about it. That's probably the worst thing you can think.

[Raleigh]

I can't belive that we are in March, and after all what is happening in the world, someone still calls this as "another flu", or a "a bad flu".

Coronavirus is similar in nature to cold and flu viruses, spreads in much the same way and shares similar symptoms with flu although clearly at the more severe end of the scale (far from the scariest though, there's a strain of avian flu with a 60% mortality rate, thankfully it has a low transmission rate).

Infact another coronavirus strain falls under the many viruses (about 200 known from multiple different virus families) that cause the common cold, it's quite possible many people reading this thread have had a coronavirus without ever knowing the difference from any other cold.

So coronavirus (Covid 19 to be accurate) is "another flu", it's "a bad flu" and it's a new flu which when you put all those terms together is bad news because flu viruses spread easily, the symptoms are quite severe relative to the most common flu types and no one has much resistence because Covid 19 is a new strain.

The risk of a flu pandemic has been known for decades, this one just happens to be caused by a new coronavirus strain instead of a potentially just as dangerous new strain of influenza.

When i see someone saying that it's "another flu", it feels like it's being underestimated. Like, you don't have to worry about it. That's probably the worst thing you can think.

Anyone who thinks "another flu" isn't scary doesn't realize the scale of death a new and serious strain of flu could cause. Health experts has been warning for decades about the risks of a flu pandemic, this is what they were talking about.

[Big Tea]

My sister works in the admin side of a lab that does tests, and she says that many people presenting too soon is a big problem. The test needs a level of development to show up with these lower level tests used for quick turn around and in some cases (she did not say what %) someone comes back negative today, but had it been done 3 days later it would be a 'hit'.
(VERY FEW but ) some people walking around as normal are actually still 'loaded'. No way to avoid it and it is a small number traded off against efficiency.

[enri_the_red]

daily update from Italy (change from yesterday):
infected: 17660 (+2527)
recovered: 1439 (+181)
ICU patients: 1328 (+175)
dead: 1266 (+250)

[Pyrone89]

It's not a fun disease to have, albeit it's deadliness is overblown as far as I'm concerned. I have 9% body fat and train like an athlete, I am 38 years old. YMMV.

You think everyone has only 9% fat and trains like an athlete? Plus you could be carrier for elderly and less health people. In fact the fact that such a healthy person like you already says how --- is makes it even more worrying.

[Raleigh]

Coronavirus is not a 'flu at all. It's not even closely related to influenza viruses. It may share similar symptoms in most people but that's as far as it goes.

Technically accurate, but influenza is 3 different families of virus with dozens of strains in each that produce symptoms ranging from the common cold to the seasonal flu variants from Influenza A and B along with more dangerous strains like H1N1 and the highly lethal H5N1 from the Influenza A family.

Coronavirus can be considered a parrallel family of viruses to Influenza, running the same range from common strains that cause colds to Covid 19 and the high motality rate of SARS.

There are strong parallels between the initial outbreak of A/H1N1 and Covid 19, likewise between SARS and A/H5N1. The former pair are more dangerous than common flu and easily transmitted which can lead to global pandemic, the latter pair are highly lethal but have a much lower transmission rate.

Unfortunately if history is any guide variants of Covid 19 will probably return several times, the only consolation being that like A/H1N1 the subsequent outbreaks of slightly different strains will cause significantly less deaths.

[Pyrone89]

daily update from Italy (change from yesterday):
infected: 17660 (+2527)
recovered: 1439 (+181)
ICU patients: 1328 (+175)
dead: 1266 (+250)

That is a mortality rate of ~ 7%

[timbo]

That is a mortality rate of ~ 7%

They probably only test severe cases, so the number is inflated. But no doubt, the situation is not good. Especially the number of ICU patients.

[marmer]

i was listing to the radio the other day and it was interviewing a guy who was english but had lived in italy for about 20 years. he was suggeting one of the reasons for the wild spreading over there is in the early stages that people didn't take it seriously enough and didn't stop greeting by kissing the cheak and hugging. which is an interesting differance between other nations that don't greet in this way. also more older people are getting the virus as they often live or at least spend more time with their familyes which might well only be having mild symptoms of the virus so at first didn't think it was thie covid19.

[saviour stivala]

Looks like FERRARI, Mercedes and Renault will not attend the next race and will not supply engines.

I’ve seen the engine comment twice now, is that official news? I’m behind the curve

"FERRARI, Renault and Mercedes will not attend the Bahrain GP next week and will not supply engines" Note that this was during the Australian GP cancelation time.
Although it sounds like official, I cannot say it is. If you want source directions I will try and post it. another Note: I personally believe that a supply of engines includes the supply of manufacturers personal attendance at races, meaning engine customer cannot race the engine without manufacturers personal in attendance.