Games off in Italy due to Coronavirus

[upthemaggies]

Inter Milan's game among those called off due to the Coronavirus. Bit worrying, this could cause a serious fixture pile up for us if it spreads over here......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51599748

[jackal2]

Another massively overblown public health panic. By all means take sensible precautions like you would to avoid any infection, but also realise that this is primarily a media 'event'.

As one doctor on the radio put it the other day: if you're sitting there worrying about the Coronavirus, you should be more worried if you haven't had a flu jab. A GP friend of mine also told me the other day that for most people the effect of Coronavirus would be akin to a very mild dose of flu. The only reason for the fuss is that we haven't got a recognised antidote to Covid-19 so our only defence is our own immune system, which is the vast majority of cases is enough.

There have been just under 2450 deaths from Coronavirus in China and two in Italy. The population of China is more than 1,400,000,000 and Italy's is just over 60,000,000.

[upthemaggies]

Another massively overblown public health panic. By all means take sensible precautions like you would to avoid any infection, but also realise that this is primarily a media 'event'.

As one doctor on the radio put it the other day: if you're sitting there worrying about the Coronavirus, you should be more worried if you haven't had a flu jab. A GP friend of mine also told me the other day that for most people the effect of Coronavirus would be akin to a very mild dose of flu. The only reason for the fuss is that we haven't got a recognised antidote to Covid-19 so our only defence is our own immune system, which is the vast majority of cases is enough.

There have been just under 2450 deaths from Coronavirus in China and two in Italy. The population of China is more than 1,400,000,000 and Italy's is just over 60,000,000.

Very true, unfortunately - in terms of football - the Italian gesture will set a precedent. If the virus does take hold here, the Premier League and FL will be under pressure to cancel fixtures.

[drillerpie]

There is an element of panic to this (where I am there's been a rush on hand sanitiser, staple foods etc and some supermarket shelves were bare this morning) but I think cancelling the games is the prudent thing to do (not that they had any choice, the regional president has ordered them to do it). It's easy to say it's only media hype but when your job is to protect the public you'd be negligent to just say "it'll be alright on the night".

The schools and universities have been closed for the next week and a lot of carnival celebrations have been cancelled. Some towns are under Wuhan style lockdown and Corona-mania is generally taking hold.

It's not totally unjustified though. It apparently has got a mortality rate of about 2% which sounds quite low but is higher than flu and if it spreads to the whole population, 2% of 60 million is about a million deaths if I'm not mistaken. There is no vaccine and next to nothing is known about the virus.

The 'patient zero' in Lombardy is a 38 year old whose main hobby is running, in other words a healthy adult, and he's seriously ill in intensive care, so it's dangerous for everyone.

They're trying to trace anyone who has been in contact with this person as he's already infected his running partners. You can you imagine that's quite a hard job and if you send potentially infected people to the San Siro with 80,000 others it obviously becomes impossible.

[drillerpie]

Also from a purely statistical point of view the deaths to population ratio is a red herring as the virus has literally just arrived in Italy so only a minute fraction of those 60 million people have been exposed to it. You obviously need to look at deaths to cases of Coronavirus to see how dangerous it is.

[BigFatPie]

Correct Driller.

This thread is a nice little insight into how and why reactionaries think what they do and how and why progressives think what they do.

I’ve seen warnings about the consequences of Brexit being likened to the Y2K virus. That didn’t turn out too badly because of the time and money spent on expertise making sure that it didn’t turn out too badly.

I hope as much expertise and money is similarly spent on trying to limit the casualties of this virus. Why do right wing people always try to downplay the risks of everything?

[jackal2]

Correct Driller.

This thread is a nice little insight into how and why reactionaries think what they do and how and why progressives think what they do.

I’ve seen warnings about the consequences of Brexit being likened to the Y2K virus. That didn’t turn out too badly because of the time and money spent on expertise making sure that it didn’t turn out too badly.

I hope as much expertise and money is similarly spent on trying to limit the casualties of this virus. Why do right wing people always try to downplay the risks of everything?

Ironically enough because they can see through the tactics used by a bunch of capitalists to create a mass panic and make a lot of money.

[BigFatPie]

Ironically enough because they can see through the tactics used by a bunch of capitalists to create a mass panic and make a lot of money.

Really? That sounds like conspiracy theory to me.

As Driller said, we know next to nothing about this virus. We don’t know how much about how easily it’s transmitted, we don’t much about its fatality rate, we know little about its origin. But according to you, it’s all a ‘media event’. What do you base that on? Why would you not expect the relevant authorities to plan for a worst case scenario?

[jackal2]

Really? That sounds like conspiracy theory to me.


Well it would, wouldn't it?! XD

I'm not claiming for one moment that things like Coronavirus, global warming, the Y2K bug or any other 'emergency' you care to mention don't have some basis in fact. Of course they do.

But you would need to be naïve in the extreme not to see that these things are also exploited and often exaggerated by those who quickly spot an opportunity to make a lot of money from them in a whole variety of ways, be that private companies seeking to make a fast buck or public organisations seeking to justify an increased need for taxpayer funding to 'solve' the problem. Both have a vested interest in creating as much hype and fear as possible, as indeed do journalists in the modern day 24-hour news culture where there is a constant need to for big stories to keep them in jobs.

That's not so much a conspiracy. More a recognition of basic human nature, be that a good or bad thing.

[drillerpie]

Haha I think the tinned sardine and UHT milk lobby is behind all this!

Joking aside I can't imagine any competent public health official prioritising a potential fixture backlog over the spread of a disease with a 2% mortality rate for which there is no vaccine or cure. In fact I would put that down as one of those things you can only read on NCM!

[upthemaggies]

Haha I think the tinned sardine and UHT milk lobby is behind all this!

Joking aside I can't imagine any competent public health official prioritising a potential fixture backlog over the spread of a disease with a 2% mortality rate for which there is no vaccine or cure. In fact I would put that down as one of those things you can only read on NCM!

So there's the potential for matches being played behind closed doors.

Not sure if it's a good thing either that the Euros this year is being played all over Europe rather than one country. This virus has the potential to have a pretty huge effect on football.

[BigFatPie]

Well it would, wouldn't it?! XD

I'm not claiming for one moment that things like Coronavirus, global warming, the Y2K bug or any other 'emergency' you care to mention don't have some basis in fact. Of course they do.

But you would need to be naïve in the extreme not to see that these things are also exploited and often exaggerated by those who quickly spot an opportunity to make a lot of money from them in a whole variety of ways, be that private companies seeking to make a fast buck or public organisations seeking to justify an increased need for taxpayer funding to 'solve' the problem. Both have a vested interest in creating as much hype and fear as possible, as indeed do journalists in the modern day 24-hour news culture where there is a constant need to for big stories to keep them in jobs.

That's not so much a conspiracy. More a recognition of basic human nature, be that a good or bad thing.

Do some people make money on the back of these emergencies? Of course, mask makers must be doing ok at the moment.

Is that evidence that this latest virus is a ‘media event’. No. Should authorities take every step advised by public health experts to limit the spread of this virus? Absolutely.

Jackal you’re obviously an intelligent guy, and in a different league to some of the right wing cranks on here, but your world view that too much is being made of a potential emergency like this but you don’t mind politicians lying to you seriously needs some thinking about.

[i961pie]

Do some people make money on the back of these emergencies? Of course, mask makers must be doing ok at the moment.

Is that evidence that this latest virus is a ‘media event’. No. Should authorities take every step advised by public health experts to limit the spread of this virus? Absolutely.

Jackal you’re obviously an intelligent guy, and in a different league to some of the right wing cranks on here, but your world view that too much is being made of a potential emergency like this but you don’t mind politicians lying to you seriously needs some thinking about.

Don't forget the left wing cranks:P

[drillerpie]

So there's the potential for matches being played behind closed doors.

Not sure if it's a good thing either that the Euros this year is being played all over Europe rather than one country. This virus has the potential to have a pretty huge effect on football.

Yeah listening to the various interviews yesterday it looks like they'll go ahead with matches behind closed doors from next week if the virus keeps spreading.

It has the potential to have a pretty huge impact on everything to be honest!

[jackal2]

Do some people make money on the back of these emergencies? Of course, mask makers must be doing ok at the moment.

Is that evidence that this latest virus is a ‘media event’. No. Should authorities take every step advised by public health experts to limit the spread of this virus? Absolutely.

Jackal you’re obviously an intelligent guy, and in a different league to some of the right wing cranks on here, but your world view that too much is being made of a potential emergency like this but you don’t mind politicians lying to you seriously needs some thinking about.

To be fair you've reflected my view correctly, that I think too much is being made out of the COVID-19 threat. I've got no problem with it being reported in a calm way, and with people taking sensible precautions as advised, but I'm cynical about the level of hype, if not panic, that the media are creating, as they do around many stories in this 24-hour news culture.

Put it this way, I'll bet that neither of us dies of Coronavirus. If we do, then I owe you a tenner! >;)

I take it the 'politicians lying to us' reference dates back to the Brexit debate. I wouldn't say I don't mind them lying, but there were a fair few porky pies told on both sides of the Remain/Leave argument and in a democracy it's up to the public to decide which arguments they most believe. People often complain about politicians lying, or at least being selective with the truth, but when politicians are brave enough to tell the public unpopular home truths, they often get kicked in the ballots for it rather than grateful thanks, so it's a chicken and egg situation.

[upthemaggies]

According to The Sun in the last few hours.....

"FA chiefs will fly out to Amsterdam today for emergency talks over the impact of the coronavirus.
After Health Secretary Matt Hancock hinted the Government could ban all major public gatherings, forcing matches to be played behind closed doors, England’s Wembley friendlies with Italy and Denmark this month seem increasingly unlikely to go ahead."

[LaxtonLad]

Correct Driller.

I’ve seen warnings about the consequences of Brexit being likened to the Y2K virus. That didn’t turn out too badly because of the time and money spent on expertise making sure that it didn’t turn out too badly.

This hardly compares, BFP, no-ones life was being threatened by Brexit and we did have plenty of time to prepare for it.

For what it's worth I think this virus is only as dangerous as a new strain of flu, we get one of these every year and they will kill some but they are self-limiting. Viruses mutate, which is why we get we get new ones and why we need a new jab each year, last year's
has mutated into this year's and the old vaccine won't work. Too bad it's too late to innoculate now it's in the population.

Throwing money at the problem? Where do you throw it? The only action to take is to try and isolate outbreaks- easy, innit?

This from RationalWiki, it's about the survival problem of a virus on Noah's ark!

"Viruses pose a special problem. Most viruses are very host specific and cannot survive long without a host. Because their hosts develop immunity to a virus after infection, viruses require a large population of hosts to infect. To see what I mean, imagine a world with only eight people in it. One carries smallpox. He gets the disease. It spreads to the other seven people. They all have smallpox. But now that everyone has had it and survived (or not), there is no one else to infect. Unable to live without a host, the smallpox virus goes extinct. Nearly all viruses have this problem. They can only survive if the population is producing new hosts fast enough to keep the virus from extinction."

[gozzie321]

Seeing that on average 6 people are killed on our roads every day, perhaps we should ban driving.

[navypie]

Do some people make money on the back of these emergencies? Of course, mask makers must be doing ok at the moment.

Is that evidence that this latest virus is a ‘media event’. No. Should authorities take every step advised by public health experts to limit the spread of this virus? Absolutely.

Jackal you’re obviously an intelligent guy, and in a different league to some of the right wing cranks on here, but your world view that too much is being made of a potential emergency like this but you don’t mind politicians lying to you seriously needs some thinking about.


Don't forget the left wing cranks:P
Just cranks will do.

[drillerpie]

Seeing that on average 6 people are killed on our roads every day, perhaps we should ban driving.

Genius.

[BigFatPie]

This hardly compares, BFP, no-ones life was being threatened by Brexit and we did have plenty of time to prepare for it.

For what it's worth I think this virus is only as dangerous as a new strain of flu, we get one of these every year and they will kill some but they are self-limiting. Viruses mutate, which is why we get we get new ones and why we need a new jab each year, last year's
has mutated into this year's and the old vaccine won't work. Too bad it's too late to innoculate now it's in the population.

Throwing money at the problem? Where do you throw it? The only action to take is to try and isolate outbreaks- easy, innit?

This from RationalWiki, it's about the survival problem of a virus on Noah's ark!

"Viruses pose a special problem. Most viruses are very host specific and cannot survive long without a host. Because their hosts develop immunity to a virus after infection, viruses require a large population of hosts to infect. To see what I mean, imagine a world with only eight people in it. One carries smallpox. He gets the disease. It spreads to the other seven people. They all have smallpox. But now that everyone has had it and survived (or not), there is no one else to infect. Unable to live without a host, the smallpox virus goes extinct. Nearly all viruses have this problem. They can only survive if the population is producing new hosts fast enough to keep the virus from extinction."

The director of the WHO (not Roger Daltry) said today that this virus is nothing like the flu. It’s early days, but transmission appears to be much easier and it kills a far bigger proportion(though still small) of the people it infects.

Of course viruses don’t want to kill 100% of the people they infect, but even if it stays at 1-2%, that’s still a massive public health crisis if it gets out of control.

[LaxtonLad]

The director of the WHO (not Roger Daltry) said today that this virus is nothing like the flu. It’s early days, but transmission appears to be much easier and it kills a far bigger proportion(though still small) of the people it infects.

Of course viruses don’t want to kill 100% of the people they infect, but even if it stays at 1-2%, that’s still a massive public health crisis if it gets out of control.

No, BFP, it isn’t the flu, I just compared it to flu as both diseases are caused by a virus. I didn’t intend to trivialise the illness as it could become pandemic. Whether it will mutate into something even worse - who knows?

[drillerpie]

I'm sure most of you have seen the latest news from Italy: the 'red zone' has been enlarged to cover most of northern Italy, meaning there will soon be soldiers at entry/exit points as well as other measures which affect most aspects of daily life.

Juve v Inter will probably be the last Serie A game for a while. The Italian FA wants to carry on but the Italian PFA and the sport minister want to out it on hold indefinitely. They're already talking about finishing the season in June as they think it's unlikely Euro 2020 will go ahead.

If it all looks rushed and clumsy that's because it is. The reason behind it is that yesterday the hospitals warned the government they had to act immediately or the health service was not going to be able to take the strain. This has been going on for about 3 weeks now and just yesterday there were 200 hospital admissions for Coronavirus and 50 to intensive care. There simply aren't enough beds nd respiratory equipment and they're already having to prioritise who gets access to treatment and who dies.

I've noticed a change of mood among normal people too. Hardly anybody now is joking about it, and going out and socialising despite the warnings is becoming less of a cool thing to do and more of a social faux pas for putting elderly and immunodeficient people at risk.

Hopefully it doesn't happen in the UK but it might, so don't be afraid to start making changes to your lifestyle now!

[Elite_Pie]

I'm sure most of you have seen the latest news from Italy: the 'red zone' has been enlarged to cover most of northern Italy, meaning there will soon be soldiers at entry/exit points as well as other measures which affect most aspects of daily life.

Juve v Inter will probably be the last Serie A game for a while. The Italian FA wants to carry on but the Italian PFA and the sport minister want to out it on hold indefinitely. They're already talking about finishing the season in June as they think it's unlikely Euro 2020 will go ahead.

If it all looks rushed and clumsy that's because it is. The reason behind it is that yesterday the hospitals warned the government they had to act immediately or the health service was not going to be able to take the strain. This has been going on for about 3 weeks now and just yesterday there were 200 hospital admissions for Coronavirus and 50 to intensive care. There simply aren't enough beds nd respiratory equipment and they're already having to prioritise who gets access to treatment and who dies.

I've noticed a change of mood among normal people too. Hardly anybody now is joking about it, and going out and socialising despite the warnings is becoming less of a cool thing to do and more of a social faux pas for putting elderly and immunodeficient people at risk.

Hopefully it doesn't happen in the UK but it might, so don't be afraid to start making changes to your lifestyle now!

Come on driller, Donald Trump has "a hunch" that this is fake news, so what's the problem?

I never got worried about other scares like bird flu, but I have a nasty suspicion that coronavirus will turn out to be the real deal.

[upthemaggies]

The only time a season has been abandoned in England was 1939/40 after just 2 games played. We're too far into this one to scrap it, it just wouldn't be fair on all of the teams who occupy promotion spots. Even if it means playing the remaining games n August/September and immediately starting a new season in October, I think they have to finish this season now.

[BigFatPie]

The only time a season has been abandoned in England was 1939/40 after just 2 games played. We're too far into this one to scrap it, it just wouldn't be fair on all of the teams who occupy promotion spots. Even if it means playing the remaining games n August/September and immediately starting a new season in October, I think they have to finish this season now.

Typical Notts if we go to Wembley twice but they’re played behind closed doors...

But yeah, think we’ve got a lot of disruption just round the corner.

[upthemaggies]

Typical Notts if we go to Wembley twice but they’re played behind closed doors...

But yeah, think we’ve got a lot of disruption just round the corner.

I can see the cups being abandoned, especially the FA Cup.
If the Euros is doubtful then I guess the Champions League and Europa might go to.
FA Trophy & FA Vase could be left to the clubs involved to decide what to do, seeing that there's only 4 left and is less of a big deal, maybe we'll have the option to scrap the 2nd leg and play 1 match, then a neutral venue if Wembley becomes impractical.

Wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing a lot of empty seats as people become weary about crowded areas, before we get to closed doors.

[countygump]

Just shows you what can happen and inoculation against viral infection had been in use for 100 years when this happened.

https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

[Mapperleypie]

The more I read about this virus the more concerned I become.

No medical system in the world has the ability to fully cope with so many people infected with a new virus within a short time-frame.

[durhampie]

This is a virus created by the Chinese as part of there germ warfare programme...

[irishpete]

This is a virus created by the Chinese as part of there germ warfare programme...

Heard that one, find it hard to believe, the same as the Bat sheiting on a Snake. You couldn't trust the Chinese. When they confirmed Cotonavirus, they said it wasn't bad & they had it under control. Only when the West started to report on it, the numbers started to rise drastically.
The Dr that tried to report it died from it(or did he) was told to shut his mouth by the Police.
There is a book out, will get its title (Dark days or something) it mentions this Covid 19,Wuhan & 2020. Written in 1981. Don't know if its fake or not.

[irishpete]

The book is called The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Kultz

[ncfcog]

The book is called The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Kultz

It's Dean Koontz, read many of his books years ago, they were quite enjoyable. He mentions Wuhan-400 as a virus in that book.

[ncfcog]

The book is called The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Kultz

Just found this on the Gaurdian (sorry) website which explains a bit more https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/05/theres-something-out-there-spread-of-disease

[irishpete]

It's Dean Koontz, read many of his books years ago, they were quite enjoyable. He mentions Wuhan-400 as a virus in that book.

Don't know why I spelt the surname wrong. I know nothing about him apart from what I posted. Strange that the media have said nothing about it, as far as I'm aware.

[ncfcog]

Don't know why I spelt the surname wrong. I know nothing about him apart from what I posted. Strange that the media have said nothing about it, as far as I'm aware.

I think it's just a little too contentious and coincidental for anyone to take it that seriously.

[upthemaggies]

From the beeb today...

"Sporting events in Britain are unlikely to be affected by coronavirus in the immediate future, says Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
Governing bodies and broadcasters will meet with government officials later on Monday to discuss the staging of events behind closed doors if the outbreak worsens and mass gatherings are banned.
Dowden told BBC Radio 5 Live: "At this stage we're not in the territory of cancelling or postponing events."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/51777154

[Bartlett's Dust]

From the beeb today...

"Sporting events in Britain are unlikely to be affected by coronavirus in the immediate future, says Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
Governing bodies and broadcasters will meet with government officials later on Monday to discuss the staging of events behind closed doors if the outbreak worsens and mass gatherings are banned.
Dowden told BBC Radio 5 Live: "At this stage we're not in the territory of cancelling or postponing events."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/51777154

What would that mean for season ticket holders? Lower league clubs will already be hit hard if paying fans don't turn up without needing to reimburse season ticket holders as well.

[SwalePie]

The games could be shown online. Free for season ticket holders and matchday prices for the rest to support the clubs through difficult time. Surely?

[ncfcog]

Sports events are in the open air. You could sit in a crowd of 70k and they only risk of catching anything will be from the person sat next to you. Go and watch that event in an enclosed pub and all of a sudden your risk of catching something increases dramatically. I’m not convinced cancelling large outdoor sporting events or similar will make that much difference.

[BigFatPie]

Sports events are in the open air. You could sit in a crowd of 70k and they only risk of catching anything will be from the person sat next to you. Go and watch that event in an enclosed pub and all of a sudden your risk of catching something increases dramatically. I’m not convinced cancelling large outdoor sporting events or similar will make that much difference.

I’m (obviously) no expert, but as well as potential crowding together in the stadium itself, there’s the crowding in the surroundings, entrance points, food and drink outlets, and on public transport. Not sure whether any of that is relevant in the National League though!

[nw6pie]

Sports events are in the open air. You could sit in a crowd of 70k and they only risk of catching anything will be from the person sat next to you.

Not quite true. You could also get it, for example, from touching a railing that has the virus on it. Or from someone working in the catering unit who unwittingly has the coronavirus and is touching/coughing on your food.

Most healthy people seem to be able to fight it off unless their exposure is very high (ie a cabdriver driving a group of infected tourists around in a minibus or people working on the medical frontline). But you just need to look at Notts’ fan base as an example of how it could spread among at-risk groups in a crowd.

My dad is 88 and a season ticket holder in the Pavis Stand (so yes, one of the younger ones). There’s no way I’d encourage him to go to the game tomorrow night or at the weekend; just not worth the risk when the mortality rate for those over 80 is, I believe, 15 percent.

I read somewhere they were planning to potentially cancel public events where 5,000 or more were expected. That would be particularly weird for us, where our attendance is often around the 5,000 mark, especially at weekends.

[maddogslater]

Looks like we'll have to go to slagsfield for a footy fix then.

[legs77]

The only way to stop it is to force people to stay in for 2 weeks which will not happen.

Most people will still have to go to work on public transport which will carry the virus funny that I am not hearing anything about cancelling work !

I realise it is serious for the older generation but can people see them listening to the advice given ?

Non league games will be ok I think as the gates are pretty low anyway.

[Bartlett's Dust]

The only way to stop it is to force people to stay in for 2 weeks which will not happen.

Most people will still have to go to work on public transport which will carry the virus funny that I am not hearing anything about cancelling work !


My company emailed this morning and asked everyone to start working from home as of tomorrow.

Happy days

[drillerpie]

Tonight there's going to be another decree in Italy which extends the red zone to the whole peninsula. 60 million people only allowed to leave their houses to go to work (with written proof of workplace), to get healthcare, and in cases of urgent necessity (supermarket etc).

Add to that riots in 22 prisons against the ban measures which ban them from receiving visitors, and it's a strange atmosphere to say the least.

[drillerpie]

All football suspended until 3rd April.

[frenchmagpie]

France just imposed a ban on gatherings over 1,000 so I can see it coming over there.

[JoePass]

Tonight there's going to be another decree in Italy which extends the red zone to the whole peninsula. 60 million people only allowed to leave their houses to go to work (with written proof of workplace), to get healthcare, and in cases of urgent necessity (supermarket etc).

Add to that riots in 22 prisons against the ban measures which ban them from receiving visitors, and it's a strange atmosphere to say the least.


My son who lives in Canary Wharf and works for Apple has had all his overseas trips cancelled and been told to work from home until the foreseeable future. It ain’t looking good.

[BigFatPie]

Tonight there's going to be another decree in Italy which extends the red zone to the whole peninsula. 60 million people only allowed to leave their houses to go to work (with written proof of workplace), to get healthcare, and in cases of urgent necessity (supermarket etc).

Add to that riots in 22 prisons against the ban measures which ban them from receiving visitors, and it's a strange atmosphere to say the least.

A whole country, one of the biggest economies in the world, basically shut down. Might be necessary but the unforeseen consequences could be dire as well.

[The_Don_ORiordan]

Worrying thing is that Italy had the same number of cases and fatalities as us two weeks ago.......thats how quickly it can unravel.

[irishpete]

Someone said to me the other week in the local Hospital i was working in reckons, Close the country down for 2 weeks, that means Airports, Ports etc. You get 5 days to leave the Country prior to it closing, The only trouble is, EVERY Country needs to do it

[ncfcog]

Not quite true. You could also get it, for example, from touching a railing that has the virus on it. Or from someone working in the catering unit who unwittingly has the coronavirus and is touching/coughing on your food.

Most healthy people seem to be able to fight it off unless their exposure is very high (ie a cabdriver driving a group of infected tourists around in a minibus or people working on the medical frontline). But you just need to look at Notts’ fan base as an example of how it could spread among at-risk groups in a crowd.

My dad is 88 and a season ticket holder in the Pavis Stand (so yes, one of the younger ones). There’s no way I’d encourage him to go to the game tomorrow night or at the weekend; just not worth the risk when the mortality rate for those over 80 is, I believe, 15 percent.

I read somewhere they were planning to potentially cancel public events where 5,000 or more were expected. That would be particularly weird for us, where our attendance is often around the 5,000 mark, especially at weekends.

Good points and fully understand everyone’s concerns. I think I was just trying to say if you’re going to cancel events with large gatherings it’s pointless if people are still going to public places in general.

[ncfcog]

I’m (obviously) no expert, but as well as potential crowding together in the stadium itself, there’s the crowding in the surroundings, entrance points, food and drink outlets, and on public transport. Not sure whether any of that is relevant in the National League though!

Fair comment.

[drillerpie]

Worrying thing is that Italy had the same number of cases and fatalities as us two weeks ago.......thats how quickly it can unravel.

Yes and it has a 14 day incubation period, so you will probably have Italian levels of cases walking around the UK now who just haven't got symptoms yet.

Meanwhile the number of cases in Italy is rising absurdly quickly. 1000 new cases from Saturday to Sunday, 1500 from Sunday to Monday, goodness knows what it'll be like in 2 weeks.

[drillerpie]

A whole country, one of the biggest economies in the world, basically shut down. Might be necessary but the unforeseen consequences could be dire as well.

I think the rationale is that whatever happens is better than the health service going into meltdown. They've already got military aircraft flying OAPs around in respiratory tubes trying to find beds, and in some areas medicine graduates are being called up to man hospitals regardless of whether they've trained as doctors. It really is all hands on deck!

[SwalePie]

They've already got military aircraft flying OAPs around in respiratory tubes trying to find beds,

Blimey that sounds a bit bonkers! Link?

[drillerpie]

Blimey that sounds a bit bonkers! Link?

I saw it on RAI News last night, I'll see if I can find a link

[upthemaggies]

Man Utd's Europa away game in Austria on Thursday now behind closed doors.
If any Fword player comes down with it then surely that will be their next game off altogether.

[drillerpie]

Blimey that sounds a bit bonkers! Link?

http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/com...to%20HH101.mp4

Here's the report I saw last night. The old lady in the tube is a 62 year old from Cremona but there weren't any beds left there so they had to whisk her away on a military helicopter and find her a bed somewhere else. It says the Italian air force has made a fleet of latest generation helicopters available for this kind of task so it doesn't sound like a one-off.

[drillerpie]

http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/comunicazione/notizie/img_2020_1sem/Rainews24%20intervento%20HH101.mp4

[drillerpie]

Hope the newsreader got tested after this too.

[Jeekay56]

The BBC are reporting that Marinakis has the Covid-19 virus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51814887

[slack_pie]

Here in the Czech Republic they've cancelled / banned all events with 100 people or more. So all concerts, sports events, conferences. Even cinemas are closing. Plus all schools are closed country wide. What crazy times we live in!

[SwalePie]

http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/com...to%20HH101.mp4

Here's the report I saw last night. The old lady in the tube is a 62 year old from Cremona but there weren't any beds left there so they had to whisk her away on a military helicopter and find her a bed somewhere else. It says the Italian air force has made a fleet of latest generation helicopters available for this kind of task so it doesn't sound like a one-off.

Crikey. Cheers for info. I've got all of my people in all parts of Italy working from home now, very tricky situation indeed.

[drillerpie]

Crikey. Cheers for info. I've got all of my people in all parts of Italy working from home now, very tricky situation indeed.

Yes it is a tricky situation. I should probably point out that Cremona is a very wealthy part of Italy where normally everything works perfectly. If they're having problems like that there, it means that if something similar happens in the south of Italy it will be an unmitigated disaster.

I'm in the north east and everyone I know has been working from home for a couple of weeks now. It's a lovely sunny day here and I want to go for a run by the river but I can't as if a policeman asks me where I'm going I'd be risking 3 months in prison!

By the way Joe Rogan spoke to an expert on viruses on his podcast yesterday, it was quite interesting and he busted a few myths

https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw

[upthemaggies]

'ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere go.....

Man City v Arsenal is off because Arsenal played Olympiakos last week.

[drillerpie]

I'm hearing rumours of 'total lockdown' being decreed in Italy, which even more stringent than the lockdown we've got now, in that you won't even be able to go to work.

All commercial activity to be stopped apart from supermarkets and pharmacies (only one person per family allowed to leave the house).

All public officials to be sent home apart from law and order and hospitals.

I'm sorry if I seem to be repeating myself about this, but the spread of this virus really is quite remarkable, and I can't help but think the UK is not being as proactive as it could be.

In any case, whatever the government says, take it from me that you need to try to take steps to limit your exposure to other people. Even if you're confident of not getting seriously ill, an old person (you actually don't have to be that old to be at risk) or cancer patient may very well have reason to thank you.

[ncfcog]

Saw this last night. Makes interesting reading. UK on same trajectory as Italy, US now banning all travel from mainland Europe for 30 days. Also interesting to see Singapore and Hong Kong have done a very good job of minimising the spread.
15192

[irishpete]

Saw this last night. Makes interesting reading. UK on same trajectory as Italy, US now banning all travel from mainland Europe for 30 days. Also interesting to see Singapore and Hong Kong have done a very good job of minimising the spread.
15192

What has Singapore/Hong Kong done any differently to the rest?
Total shut down is coming. people now getting used to the idea whereas if brought in straight away, all hell would have broken out.
AS per usual Ireland is dilly dallying. was working in a hospital that mainly looks after the elderly. Sunday Monday morning,closed to visitors,opened up Monday dinner time, only to close Tuesday evening & it wasn't a decision made in house. If it gets bad over here,this Country will go into meltdown,health service is sheite.

[ncfcog]

What has Singapore/Hong Kong done any differently to the rest?
Total shut down is coming. people now getting used to the idea whereas if brought in straight away, all hell would have broken out.
AS per usual Ireland is dilly dallying. was working in a hospital that mainly looks after the elderly. Sunday Monday morning,closed to visitors,opened up Monday dinner time, only to close Tuesday evening & it wasn't a decision made in house. If it gets bad over here,this Country will go into meltdown,health service is sheite.

Singapore introduced very strict quarantine rules as well as undertaking vigorous contact tracing procedures in order to isolate as many incidents as possible. Hong Kong were very quick to close schools and they have had a strong community response but then you might expect that considering they are a Chinese territory.

[upthemaggies]

Listening to talkSport this morning, sounds like the Premier League/government are very close to banning fans from grounds.

[upthemaggies]

Listening to talkSport this morning, sounds like the Premier League/government are very close to banning fans from grounds.

"Plans set to be unveiled by the government today"

[upthemaggies]

Real Madrid now in quarantine.
Spanish League suspended for two match days

Man City v Real Madrid now in serious doubt.

[upthemaggies]

UEFA meeting on Tuesday (by video conference), "all domestic leagues, the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 will be up for discussion."