Yeah, I've just seen that on the morning news as well and if I'm honest it came as a bit of a shocker. I expected us to exceed Italy because we are a couple of weeks behind and the rate of growth looked to me to be climbing faster for a similar time period. And of course we were later into lockdown and did some things which were pretty stupid even without the benefit of hindsight, so perhaps this was inevitable.
Like yourselves over there (and you've had even more deaths) we've had a big cultural & economic shock. Personally I reckon a vaccine will be here before next winter whether it's needed or not, so long term there's a way out for all of us.
If there was a defined method of treating this thing and avoiding the longer term lung damage I'd be more relaxed, I could put up with a couple of weeks feeling rough and I expect most others can/would do. But as of yet, there doesn't seem to be anything definite on the horizon, or at least not reported widely in the media and some of the lasting effects are scary.
After almost 6 weeks of this our mindset has changed and frankly now I don't want to go to the pub, supermarket or anywhere with strangers or crowds. One of my pastimes is archery, something I'm not very good at but love with a passion. This outbreak cancelled the remainder of our indoor season, my first planned competition and I expect it'll do the same for the one in June because it's a social sport and we have folks from all over competing. Not as significant as football, etc, but the risk is still there.
2020 is going to go down as one of the most damaging years in recent world history for all sorts of reasons - social, economic and emotional.
Brian
