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Coronavirus
Hi
I am in the UK and people here are not being tested for the Coronavirus
Is it safe to continue selling parts on here or should I close until this is behind us
Just wondered what people are thinking
Cheers
Laura
I am in the UK and people here are not being tested for the Coronavirus
Is it safe to continue selling parts on here or should I close until this is behind us
Just wondered what people are thinking
Cheers
Laura
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I pray that you and your families will all do well.
As for Lego, well it’s
Regards, Scotty
So far, there have been close to 6000 deaths attributed to the virus globally, and there will be more.
To give some perspective, the “normal” yearly flu kills between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people every year.
The death rate of 7% is based on the number of people who felt so ill they sought medical attention, not the number of infected individuals (which by now could be in the millions, or more), those will have no more symptoms than a common cold.
The estimated length of time the virus remains viable, varies wildly from a few hours to 10 days, depending on the source of information.
I attach the latest data, looking at the first map gives the impression of “end of the world as we know it” , then click on one of the “Orange” countries...
The insanity here started with hand sanitizer then bottled water, toilet and kitchen paper, then ramen noodles!?!? Can’t even guess what’s next. Fortunately I have a stock on hand of everything we need
As someone quite well known once said “keep calm and carry on”
As far as LEGO is concerned we always use hand sanitizer before picking orders, simply to be sure we don’t leave paw prints on shiny new parts.
I sincerely hope that I am very wrong.
That analysis isn't going to age well. 😂
It is full of solid numbers and facts. There is no hyperbole in it. He isn't blaming one political party or another. He is stating the numbers and correlating the facts. He is linking cause and effect by connecting the dots that all of those numbers give us.
Your quote of 500k to 1 million is fortunately off base by a factor of 2. In 2017 several different studies were released of the previous 10 yrs data showing deaths from secondary infections were between 294k-518k. This is a mortality rate of 0.1%. Current covid-19 mortality is between 3-6.7%.
There is currently no immunity to covid in the general population which means that eventually we will all get it.
7.8 billion people x 1% transmission rate (very, very conservative)= 78 million infected
78 million infected x 3% mortality rate = 2,340,000 people dead
If we all get it at the same time the mortality rate could be triple or quadruple because our medical systems cannot handle that many sick at once. In the US we only have 907,000 hospital beds and 97,736 ICU beds. That isn't the media, those are the facts.
We are all entitled to our own opinions, but no one is entitled to their own version of facts.
Influenza deaths : https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/14-12-2017-up-to-650-000-people-die-of-respiratory-diseases-linked-to-seasonal-flu-each-year
Hospital beds per country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hospital_beds
We've always sanitized purchased used parts... and we've always, always washed our hands well before sorting parts and especially before pulling and packing orders just to ensure no puppy, food, cigarette, or other undesirable smells/stuph gets on our nice clean parts customers have bought. :-)
In that context, we have no intention of closing. We have started to see a slowdown in sales though - part of it is the time of year, part of it was the crazy increase in January/February (fueled maybe by LEGO Masters and LEGO's acquisition of that other site that isn't as awesome as this site <s>) that is settling back down into normal patterns, and part of it I think some folks are pulling back on non-essential buys in case their work shuts down due to the virus and they fall into a no-pay or delayed-pay situation (or they themselves fall ill for a few days/weeks).
You asked what others are doing, I hope that helps you a bit! :-)
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Re COVID-10 in general, the science thus far shows it IS more easily transmitted than the flu (which has been a particularly deadly season this year, sigh) - recall though, COVID-19 itself does not kill. It's the **secondary infections** it leaves our vulnerable population open to that kills. :-(
Scientific consensus thus far (I can't imagine what our viroligists are going thru worldwide right now trying to test, research, etc., yet find time to sleep! They continue to be heroes, as they always have been!) seems to be that if a normal reasonably healthy person gets it (a big majority of the world's population), either:
- You'll never even know you've had it - zero symptoms (though a study just published I think by the Danes is showing these people appear to be shedding more virus than those showing high fevers, which is scientifically kind of interesting - I'll be interested to read the peer review on that one)
- You'll feel like you have a cold for a few days to several weeks
- You'll feel like you have anywhere from a light to an oh-my-gosh-miserable flu for anywhere from a few days to several weeks
The social distancing and other protections out there - in my respectful personal opinion, to be clear - are NOT in-place to protect the general, healthy population - the typical person. They are in place to:
1. Limit the medical system of our countries being slammed with too many of our vulnerable population all at once by slowing the infection spread, ala the true human tragedy Northern Italy is suffering right now - there are only so many hospital beds, intubation units/ventilators, personnel to care for people, etc. The severe infections have got to be spaced out in order to save the most lives possible.
2. Limit healthy people from unknowingly being infected and unwittingly transferring it to someone in the vulnerable population, which will save lives.
3. Buy time toward vaccine development to protect our vulnerable population long-term (yes, this is 12-18 months down the road per WHO and for the Americans, our CDC).
Our vulnerable population equals our precious elders with existing medical issues and folks like me (with no immune system to fight a virus, or others with serious underlying medical problems such as diabetes, emphysema, heart disease, etc.).
And to be clear, that doesn't mean everyone in the vulnerable population will get horrifically ill, end up in ICU, or worse. But a percentage of us do. The most common secondary infection appears to be pneumonia (which I've had twice, both hospital-acquired - NOT FUN), followed by bronchitis.
I sincerely applaud the actions and difficult decisions made by many in this difficult time to slow the spread and buy time to protect these vulnerable populations in our nations. I sincerely want to smack upside the head idiots that are in fact tested as positive and then go out to a party (there's been at least one in our country).
I think the reality is that everyone reading this will be just fine. The shutdowns, social distancing, etc., are out there to help OTHERS primarily, and you second. And you are all heroes for supporting and implementing it!
Just don't let fear rule your life right now - I'm not, and I could be one of the worst hit. Just practice common sense in handwashing, limiting your interactions with vulnerable folks, having some backup supplies in case of self-quarantine, and this too SHALL pass. :-)
Stay safe, all, and a special warm hug to our peers around the world living in hotspots at this time. If you got this far reading this, thanks! It was cathartic to write, actually. :-)
I know that my Lego will keep me busy and help to take my mind off all the things that may happen
About coronavirus, it's a bit worrying how it seems to be going, but life has to go on while taking sensible precautions. People have bills to pay and companies need cashflow. The more we all curl up into balls and hide away, the faster companies shrink and the fewer jobs they're able to support.
We normally have 3 of us buzzing around and bouncing from room to room. Add 4 kids who are supposed to be doing school lessons and 2 husband's who are still commuting to work, 1 in hospital admin, and you have an increase in risk that I just am not willing to take with my mom's life.
So instead we will work on the back end. Our employee is going to spend the time color sorting and washing as much of the 800 lbs of used brick the we have as she can get through, my business partner is going to list some of the huge backlog that is sorted and waiting for us to have time, and I am going to list the additional 300 lbs on new inventory that our consignors sent to us. All in all I think we will manage to break 700,000 items when we reopen in early, hopefully, April.
I'm actually looking forward to some down time from order processing. We have been so busy doing that one thing that all the other parts that make our business run have been getting shuffled to the side.
Happy building, y'all.
God bless all those affected by Covid19! And good luck to those who are helping with the outbreak.