Europe the new Covid-19 epicentre

[Workingman]

It has just come up on the news.

The WHO made the classification today.

Now what?

[Kaz]

We are seriously short of ICU beds, so I hope we won't have to go down the Italian route of restricting ICU care to the under-65s only. That's inhuman, IMO

[Workingman]

For some of us it might now have to be the case of getting a stock of imperishable foods in. Not by panic buying, obviously, but by picking up an extra one or two of this, that and the other when we do shop.

With my cookathons and slow cooker experiments I usually have a two weeks supply in anyway, but another two weeks stock wouldn't go amiss.

[Kaz]

We now have enough dried and frozen for a fortnight, if needs be. No confirmed cases in Gloucester yet, but Cheltenham has it, and the town is stuffed full of drunken revellers tonight, apparently. Just what you need.

Boris is an idiot, all large gatherings should be banned, but apparently the London Marathon is also to go ahead! It's all about the money

[Workingman]

I also have my camping gear and that includes a gas stove and spare canisters, solar panel charger for phone and tablet, solar powered lantern.... Hmm, I might just head for the hills.

[TheOstrich]

I think it's breaking news that they've called the London Marathon off, Kaz - postponed it until the Autumn.

We have been quietly stockpiling for a couple of weeks now, a few items at a time, with an eye on two weeks' isolation.
With the advice now being touted that three months isolation might soon be recommended for the elderly, we'll be ramping that up from this weekend, so 160 teabags in stock will become 480, so on. And things like getting in a small sack of spuds and a net of onions, so a farm shop visit is on the cards in the near future. We don't have a lot of freezer capacity so we'll need to plan carefully. Mrs O has commandeered a sheet of graph paper and will be putting her mind to it …..

[cromwell]

The marathon has been postponed Kaz.
I reckon months and months of bad news is also going to cause a spike in mental health issues.

[Workingman]

All joking aside, it does look as though those of us over a certain age or with some underlying medical conditions should be preparing for an extended period of semi self-isolation. We might even have to do it more than once over time if some of the scarier modelling is right.

What effect that will have on our collective mental well being is, as Cromwell asks, anybody's guess.

[JoM]

The marathon has been postponed Kaz.
I reckon months and months of bad news is also going to cause a spike in mental health issues.

I was thinking that earlier Cromwell. I can't say that I've ever had mental health issues but at the moment I feel so anxious and often on the verge of tears so I hate to think how this is affecting someone who does suffer.

[Kaz]

The marathon has been postponed Kaz.
I reckon months and months of bad news is also going to cause a spike in mental health issues.

Yes, my mistake, it was the Bath half-marathon that's continuing, I misheard it on the local news.