I Am A Swede

I agree so much with this, and it's what I tried (and seemingly failed) to express a few pages back. Thank you for putting it into words much better than I managed to do.

^^ I'm so glad I'm not on any social media.

I think we're gonna have to learn how to handle situations like this better in the future, because I don't think this is the last time something like this will happen. We humans may think that we're above nature, but we're not and nature is making that abundantly clear to us now. We've used and abused our planet for too long, and nature is now beginning to strike back.

Filming on Coronation Street has been halted for now, together with other ITV shows. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51998860

Filming on Emmerdale (among other shows) has stopped. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51998860

Does anyone even care?

This is so true!

I don't want to believe that could happen, but I don't think it can be ruled out. The very idea is repulsive, but then, so are a lot of people.....

What a jerk! Some people really should be banned from using social media of any kind. It just feels so unnecessary to tweet something like this now.

So, apparently Emmerdale will only cut one episode per week (too bad, I wish they would cut more), and work with a reduced cast and crew. No castmembers over 70 for instance.... Oh dear, how will they manage? I mean Eric, Diane, Rodney and Pearl are so prominent on the show.... This must cause some panic and heavy re-writing.....

The bigots just can't help themselves, can they?! Well, I can define him with ease: sick, evil bastard!

Anyone else get the feeling that Mother Nature is sending mankind a serious message? A pandemic and swarms of locusts!

^^ That might not be a bad thing. After all, the show was so much better back in the days when two episodes per week was the standard.

The malaria comparison might not have been the most relevant, but the point I was trying to make was that it feels like everyone's panicking over this. It's not the bubonic plague. Entire countries shutting down, closing borders, cancelling all sporting events, restaurants, theatres and cinemas closing etc.... In Norway, Denmark and Sweden together we've had somehere between 2,500 and 3000 confirmed cases so far, and 5 deaths combined. All of them elderly people with prior health issues. It's not a death sentence if you catch this virus, but people are acting like it is. For the vast majority it will probably be like a bad case of the flu, or even less than that. I'm not saying we should completely ignore it, of course not, but let's not get carried away.

I'm sorry if this sounds cold-hearted, but I do think this is getting out of hand. I don't mean to diminish the tragedy of those who have died, but let's get some perspective here: so far there's been around 155.000 cases worldwide, with roughly 5.900 deaths. In 2018 there were around 228 million (!) cases of malaria in the world, with 405.000 deaths! Yet, borders were not closed, traveling was not forbidden, people weren't stock-piling toilet papers in their basements..... But I guess since this virus is afflicting the more "developed" parts of the world (Europe, North America etc) compared to malaria which mostly hits third world countries, this corona outbreak is so much worse....