covid 19 closing beaches, any more to report?

[dice]

The number might very well be correct, but how many millions would die from COVID-19 if we treated it just like the flu?

A lot less, because with the flu we have vaccins that keep a lot of old people from dying.
People really underestimate the flu. And COVID-19 is a lot more infectuous.

I have read that any kind of water sports is prohibited in Belgium from March 12, also at open sea ..

Indeed, they didn't give a reason though.
I assume it has something to do with the rescue services not being at full capacity or maybe to avoid hospitalizing people because they broke a leg or something.

[UKSurf]

Jumped species? Daily Mail alert!

Covid 19 is a zoonotic virus (they think it jumped from an animal to a human at the Wuhan market). It did not mutate from an existing virus infecting humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis

[Slappysan]

This info came from my uncle, a doctor.
Plus several scientists on media.

Toby, please have a look at the situation in Italy before posting stuff like this, it's clear to see this is not the flu.

Just look at he hospitalization rate for the seasonal flu:

the CDC estimates so far this season there have been at least 34 million flu illnesses and 350,000 hospitalizations - Mar 09, 2020

That's a 1.03% hospitalization rate.

Now nCov-19 has around a 13% hospitalization rate.

How do you expect our hospitals to handle the burden of 13 times as many patients Toby?

[Toby]

I just stated a fact. Like you.
It’s up to everyone to make out of this what you think.

[knotwindy]

Please, this moves and changes so fast and the testing is poor and behind that all of these numbers are barely better than guesses. Even after this over the numbers will be difficult to get right. So, yes it will be better to be careful but stop the bs.

[UKSurf]

This info came from my uncle, a doctor.
Plus several scientists on media.

the CDC estimates so far this season there have been at least 34 million flu illnesses and 350,000 hospitalizations - Mar 09, 2020

That's a 1.03% hospitalization rate.

Now nCov-19 has around a 13% hospitalization rate.

How do you expect our hospitals to handle the burden of 13 times as many patients Toby?

There will also be many many more cases than seasonal flu. Merkle has said that it is possible that 80% of their population might end up getting this so 64 million cases in Germany alone. UK government has made a similar statement. If that plays out world wide, especially in densely populated developing countries it could be beyond catastrophic...

[grigorib]

So some very positive news keep coming out of China which:
1. claim massive reduction of new cases rate
2. display success of containing the virus in 11M city and in 1.4B nation
3. improve outlooks for global economy
4. might not be true (alike Tiananmen events are less than widely advertised by government)

[Trent hink]

Beaches here in SW Florida are still packed with people. Even on a Monday.

I wonder if we will become a hot-spot in the US? Lots of elderly people live here. I heard on the news the other day that local hotels were doing fine, people who canceled their cruises decided to take their vacation at the beach.

[K-Roy]

Who ever is still comparing Covid-19 to seasonal flu, is still living in a 4 weeks ago Europe...

[gmb13]

Not too sure of the reason in Fuerte, I assume they follow Spain's guidance. I've seen official recommendations from various sports governing bodies in France (FFVL for kiting) asking to avoid any unnecessary activity that could result in an injury. The idea being that the hospital beds are, or are about to be in short supply, and the hospital staff being stretched out would rather not have to deal with accidents that could have been avoided through abstinence. In case of accident it could mean you're not treated correctly because of the overload, or you're treated, but someone else isn't.
That's a debatable reason, but my experience over the last 20 years of kiting has shown that you might really think that you'll take it easy, play it safe, and enjoy kiting with all those good intentions, but the most serious accidents still happen in the most stupid cases, and not really in extreme challenging conditions where you'd expect them. Shit happens, that's a fact.

great point made and understood.
however when a blanket ban happens and it makes no sense at that place and time, ie remote island locations without anyone in hospital at that time needing a bed or treatment then the ban may well be ignored and then we have a bigger problem and local confusion, and trust wavers in the decisions made for that region, many regions do need the strict rules and the population then see its a valid reason to take decisions that restrict movement.

Bragnouff is right. That is exactly what is happening. They want to make sure that all Hospital Beds are free in case they are needed for Covid19 patients. Another thing is that insurance for any sports are suspended in "state of emergency" so you are not insured if something happens to you. Also your car insurance company will not pay out in this time of you have a accident and cannot prove that you where supposed to be on the road. All people working need a special form filled out from your employer if you want to be driving your private car at the moment. So a trip to the beach can also land you a hefty fine. The police are really cracking down hard on anyone breaking the rules at the moment. Yesterday an Italian guys tried to be funny and film a video of riding a bike down the high street and trying to run from the police (Jackass style) . The chased him down and arrested him on the spot.

On Sunday they pulled everyone off the water, took their pictures and handed out warnings that if they were caught on the water again they would be fined or jailed.

I know it it really hard for most of us locals here, mainly because now we have some amazing wind, but everyone needs to calm down and follow the rules. To be honest getting on the water is the least of my concerns, me and the rest of the locals are more worried about how our businesses will survive this crisis. The Government is predicting at least a 3 month "Zero Tourism" period this year. Most hotels have started laying off their staff and are closing down. The virus itself may not do much damage here, but the financial fallout might kill most businesses on the island.

On the other hand, there may be a good side to the whole thing. The local government might be so desperate for any type of tourism, that they might overlook the damaging behaviour from visiting Kiters in the last years. This might make them think twice about banning kiting outright which has been on the cards again recently.


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Gunnar