Coronavirus Pandemic: Apocalypse Now! Or exaggerated scare story?

[Laura]

Here's another item that mentions overstretched medical systems, this time in Israel:

Israeli virologist urges world leaders to calm public, slams ‘unnecessary panic’

'People think this virus is going to attack them all, and then they're all going to die,' says Prof. Jihad Bishara. 'Not at all. In fact, most of those infected won't even know it'

www.timesofisrael.com

Bishara said some of the harsh steps taken in Israel — which has essentially closed its borders, limited gatherings to no more than 10 people, closed all educational facilities, and shut down malls, restaurants and places of entertainment and culture — were motivated by the leaders’ acknowledged awareness that the Israeli health system will buckle under any further strain.

Home quarantine has been ordered for “everyone who has passed by someone who may have been infected by someone else,” he protested, “because they know that our health system cannot withstand coming under any more strain, because we are perennially stretched to the limit.”

 

[Esprit]

I don't think it's a test, they are actually doing stuff.

I read about Macron's declaration earlier today, that when the gov bails out companies, they might have to "nationalize" them, i.e. take them over. That appears to me to be a glimmering of an objective.

It's a good point that big corpo/governement will seize the opportunity to pick up businesses but at the same time, in the last session the C's mentioned "You haven't seen nothing yet".

It makes me suspect that another order of a much worst virus is planned. Maybe also they were talking about something else.

 

[Adaryn]

Well, people in France complain about the medical system here now, too. Many of them say it used to be way better. When there is not a rush, when things are "normal" more or less, the care is excellent and the costs are very reasonable, even if you have to pay everything out of pocket. But admittedly, it has been getting a lot more "swamped" in recent years, thus the incident I cited above.

Yes. The emergency services in French hospitals are constantly overwhelmed. People usually have to wait for 3-4 hours (best case scenario) in the waiting room on any "normal" day before being taken care of. The ones who are in really bad shape are often put on a stretcher in the hall, sometimes without a blanket or anything. Last May, a 70 y.o man spent 5 days on a stretcher. That's just one extreme example among countless others (in 2018, 180 000 patients spent 1 day waiting on a stretcher). In 20 years, 100 000 hospital beds have been removed. According to a 2018 report, this "swamping" of services has caused a rise of 9% in the mortality rate of all patients, and of 30% among the most serious cases.
The whole hospital system is collapsing, prompting hundreds of hospital doctors to go on strike (quit their administrative duties) a couple of months ago.

"Public hospitals are collapsing," read a joint statement published in November in Le Monde newspaper by 70 public health chiefs from Paris hospitals who feared the crisis was reaching an "irreversible breaking point".

"For decades, the French public hospital system has acquired a reputation for excellence and international renown, ensuring the most modern care for children and adults, that is accessible to all, as well as research and training missions," said the statement.

"We alert you because this system is collapsing and we are no longer able to carry out our jobs in good conditions and to provide quality and safe care."

The problems they listed were many and varied, but also very familiar: Budget cuts, slashing the number of available beds, closures of operating rooms, staff positions that remain unfilled, overworked nurses and doctors and carers suffering from exhaustion.

The result, they say, is that access to care is reduced as is the quality of treatment patients receive.

"Access to diagnostic, medical and surgical care at public hospitals is now extremely difficult, and those in charge of treatment and care are demotivated," they said adding that waiting times for urgent treatment were lengthening.

 

[Laura]

It's a good point that big corpo/governement will seize the opportunity to pick up businesses but at the same time, in the last session the C's mentioned "You have'nt seen nothing yet".

It makes me suspect that another order of a much worst virus is planned. Maybe also they were talking about something else.

Perhaps the Cs just meant the insanity that is this total global shutdown? I dunno. Maybe they did mean a future, worse pandemic. It's hard to say. But, I don't think anything could be any crazier than what's going on now. (Famous last words?)

 

[s1mpleman]

Perhaps the Cs just meant the insanity that is this total global shutdown? I dunno. Maybe they did mean a future, worse pandemic. It's hard to say. But, I don't think anything could be any crazier than what's going on now. (Famous last words?)

An asteroid certainly seems like it would ramp up the crazy some, or maybe even an alien presence becoming known.

 

[Evan]

Just throwing this out there...

I feel like the gulf lies between “you are being conditioned” and “you have been conditioned”. One is what they’re attempting (Clockwork Orange), the other is what you’ve allowed them to accomplish (or not). I’m not suggesting that this is what anyone meant in using the phrase, it’s just what occurred to me whilst reading through it.

 

[mbww]

We're now still in the head-scratching phase, but the picture that emerges is that PTB's took the opportunity to use an epidemy turned into a pandemy for a global reset of the... financial system of course, to wipe-out massive leverages that banks and corporations had come to, and bail out. Stirring of the pond.

Trump was probably convinced to get on board and lock down America, because he's the one everybody else is looking up and he's going to be the one to get America out of recession as a savior, anyways. (Remains to be seen if he will play by the book all along)

The poor will still be poor and we're one step closer to universal basic income, the rich will be rich and a different league, but the middle class and SMB's will be decimated. We will become more reliant on internet, the big tech and grub hubs of pre-packaged septic food and services. Workplaces, airports and schools will institute temperature checks, health checks and what not...

 

[Laura]

Yes. The emergency services in French hospitals are constantly overwhelmed. People usually have to wait for 3-4 hours (best case scenario) in the waiting room on any "normal" day before being taken care of. The ones who are in really bad shape are often put on a stretcher in the hall, sometimes without a blanket or anything. Last May, a 70 y.o man spent 5 days on a stretcher. That's just one extreme example among countless others (in 2018, 180 000 patients spent 1 day waiting on a stretcher). In 20 years, 100 000 hospital beds have been removed. According to a 2018 report, this "swamping" of services has caused a rise of 9% in the mortality rate of all patients, and of 30% among the most serious cases.
The whole hospital system is collapsing, prompting hundreds of hospital doctors to go on strike (quit their administrative duties) a couple of months ago.

And considering that Italy is poorer, has shakier medical system, and more elderly, and there's the answer for why they have no beds. Not a big mystery to any of us over here, but I guess it would be puzzling for an American who may have never had to deal with a collapsing medical system.

 

[Laura]

We're now still in the head-scratching phase, but the picture that emerges is that PTB's took the opportunity to use an epidemy turned into a pandemy for a global reset of the... financial system of course, to wipe-out massive leverages that banks and corporations had come to, and bail out. Stirring of the pond.

Trump was probably convinced to get on board and lock down America, because he's the one everybody else is looking up and he's going to be the one to get America out of recession as a savior, anyways. (Remains to be seen if he will play by the book all along)

The poor will still be poor and we're one step closer to universal basic income, the rich will be rich and a different league, but the middle class and SMB's will be decimated. We will become more reliant on internet, the big tech and grub hubs of pre-packaged septic food and services. Workplaces, airports and schools will institute temperature checks, health checks and what not...

Sounds close to right as far as I can see.

 

[SOTTREADER]

Omg! Why are people buying so much stuff especially toilet roll?!?!?!

So a lady at the supermarket said that they are struggling to restock because get this - most of the workers at the warehouses have decided to quarantine themselves like the rest of the population!!

 

[s1mpleman]

Omg! Why are people buying so much stuff especially toilet roll?!?!?!

So a lady at the supermarket said that they are struggling to restock because get this - most of the workers at the warehouses have decided to quarantine themselves like the rest of the population!!

Our local sainsbury's warehouse has just sent most of its staff home for two weeks my neighbour told me today. I don't understand the toilet roll either, but currently our home community page is crying out for nappies for babie's too... There's only brown pasta left, and most tinned goods have been taken as of my visit yesterday. My wife said the Coop had re-stocked quite a lot today but no toilet roll or baby stuff.

 

[Joe]

Omg! Why are people buying so much stuff especially toilet roll?!?!?!

So a lady at the supermarket said that they are struggling to restock because get this - most of the workers at the warehouses have decided to quarantine themselves like the rest of the population!!

What I find strange is that anyone witnessing the collective insanity that has gripped large parts of the world would think that any information from the media is in any way objective. I think we need to really impress upon our own awareness the fact that there is a collective hysteria at work and if we are not careful our own thinking will be seriously skewed by it.

 

[Joe]

This development is interesting given that just a couple of weeks ago Turkey was attempting to send large numbers of migrants to the EU supposedly as a form of asymmetrical warfare. I'm not saying it's directly connected, but its an interesting coincidence.

EU leaders agree to close external borders to limit spread of coronavirus – EU commission president

European Council President Charles Michel has announced that the EU’s external borders will be closed for 30 days to combat the spread of the coronavirus. It is up to member states to implement the ban.

www.rt.com

 

[luc]

Perhaps the Cs just meant the insanity that is this total global shutdown? I dunno. Maybe they did mean a future, worse pandemic. It's hard to say. But, I don't think anything could be any crazier than what's going on now. (Famous last words?)

I think causing a total melt- and crackdown based on a hoax, something that doesn't exist, has to be ranked very high in the crazy charts. And taking all that alien invasion business allegorically, what could be more of an "alien invasion" than such a spectacular turning of brains to mush, to the point that people think there is a pandemic when they can see all around them that there isn't? If they can pull something like this off, they can do anything - total takeover.

 

[Evan]

Omg! Why are people buying so much stuff especially toilet roll?!?!?!

So a lady at the supermarket said that they are struggling to restock because get this - most of the workers at the warehouses have decided to quarantine themselves like the rest of the population!!

It’s about the most insane thing I’ve seen around my area. Mind you, I live in earthquake country so I’ve had preparedness drilled into me since grade school, so I’ve always kept a minimum of a week’s needs on hand in case emergency services become unavailable, and if you live here and don’t you’re asking for help before you know you need it. But let’s get real: nobody uses 30 rolls of tp in a month, much less a week. And let’s get more real: there’s generally this thing next to the toilet that’s called, I don’t know, a SINK?? And we live at the BEACH! When all else fails, take a damn bucket and carry back a flush. Your ass may get briny but it ain’t cholera we’re dealing with here. I don’t know. Just ignore me. Rant over.