Been concerned about this, the “third world” could be hit very badly by this. But my thinking goes to many terrible futures and I’m trying not to think about it too much.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Been concerned about this, the “third world” could be hit very badly by this. But my thinking goes to many terrible futures and I’m trying not to think about it too much.
Rank 10 - Admin
The flipside of this for many (not all) of these poorer countries is that they have quite a bottom heavy population pyramid. IE lots of young people.Originally Posted by griffin
Italy & Spain have relatively top-heavy population pyramids & so while they have a lot of medical infrastructure, they also have a LOT of elderly - 23% of Italy's population is over 65. Conversely, Yemen's estimate of over 65s (2010) is 2.6%. So while the vulnerable in Yemen are definitely in the firing line, there's relatively few elderly.
(I know, Yemen isn't the BEST example, as it is also facing a lot of health issues thanks to the ongoing civil war, but I was able to pull the number easily)
The one that worries me is Indonesia. The population is over 230 million (4th in the world) and the over 65s are around 7%. So that's roughly 18 MILLION over 65... in a country with one of the highest smoking rates in the world; some really high population densities (Java has 145 million people and it's smaller than Victoria); a lot of poverty and a relatively undeveloped health infrastructure. It's going to get very ugly in our neighbours to the northwest.
Eagerly waiting for Masterpiece Meister
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Smoking apparently increases your vulnerability to COVID-19 up to 300%.
Just another out of the many other super good reasons to quit smoking.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
^This.
They're not known to invest in good infection surveillance nor do they have a health system that is equitable to all.
They would go through a hastened epidemic once local numbers rise - will be a scary situation when that eventuates and will very likely be under reported as well.
Looking at some reports, the population can be quite resistant to preventative measures due to a knowledge deficit.
Then comes the concern of illegal boats that'll carry the disease across to our shores if numbers peak and the country is overwhelmed... but that's for another day.
Rank 10 - Admin
The situation with Indonesia is worrying, as they haven't had the best political system in place to control the population, and if their social systems collapses under the strain of a full outbreak of the virus, a lot more people will hop on boats to make the short journey to "safety" in Australia, and our border force boats can only intercept a small number at a time. Not to mention all of those people who are transiting through Indonesia from other countries, they might become more desperate to make the final journey to Australia, and the Indonesian authorities might be too busy dealing with their own problems to stop them.
A positive side effect from the virus in this country (according to some stats on the ABC today), is that since the peak of the virus numbers about 3 weeks ago, total patient numbers in Emergency Departments have fallen by 40%, from a usual 90-110% rate, down to about 60% this week... probably because less people are out in public getting hurt, from things like work or leisure related injuries, alcohol fueled violence, and car accidents, as well as a big drop in annual flu virus infections that would normally see hundreds being hospitalised during the winter months.
If we suddenly had another spike of cases, at least we have more capacity in our hospitals at the moment to handle it.
Rank 10 - Admin
I would expect this to have a lot to do with reduction in idiotic alcohol-fuelled violence, but I suspect the rate of serious car accidents probably helps. We'll be recording the lowest Easter road toll in decades, I reckon.
Eagerly waiting for Masterpiece Meister
Banned
Hey griffin. Did you come up with this doomsday scenario while having tea with Pauline Hanson? Expect a call from Cory Bernardi to appear on his show on Sky News.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
This moron broke out of his hotel where he was being quarantined to visit his family... and now he's looking at either paying a $50k fine or spend a year in gaol.
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/healt...rules-c-977452
<slow.clap>
Rank 9 - Board Staff
New Zealand is due to end its lockdown in a weeks time; with a decision due on Monday. I am really hoping it is not ended (as much as I want certain things) as I don't feel that we have the testing side of things sorted yet - there are too many "well how did that happen" cases in the last few days.
Rank 9 - Board Staff
Japan has finally called a state of emergency for the whole country. What does that mean? They will ask people to stay inside and ask businesses to close. Apparently legally that's the best they can do.
Of course some haven't, like the pachinko parlours that stayed open and were packed with people. Now some of them have closed. I really fear what is going to happen, because the graphs look extremely similar to America's...
Hopefully SOE for the whole country will make people wake up here. So far people have been using it almost as a day off. Lots of kids gathering in parks and playing, mum's clubs etc etc. Crazy.
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