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As I write, the major soccer leagues in Europe, excluding Turkey and Russia, have been temporarily abandoned. Probably this is the first time since the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 that we are again witnessing this horrible situation.
The reason why the leagues and other economic activities were halted, as the reader may have cleverly guessed, is to suppress the spread of COVID-19 - the viral disease that took off from Wuhan in the start of 2020.
Prior to the announcement of the temporal suspension of the major soccer leagues across Europe, the situation of COVID-19 in Italy, especially, had become a major concern to the Italian government and, of course, the European Union. With over 15,000 cases reported and an accompanying death toll of nearly 1,000, the Italian government had declared a state of emergency, ordering a nationwide quarantine of people. Of course, that tantamount to a complete shutdown of the Italian economy.
The truth is that the panic and pain resulting from the outbreak of the Coronavirus is taking the whole of Europe by storm, hence the suspension of the major league matches and other economic activities. In short, a few hours ago, Spain went the way of Italy, locking down the economy to allow for the quarantine of people.
So, the question is not whether Europe is doing everything possible to combat the spread of the Coronavirus, it becomes whether it is actually overreacting by shutting down major economic activities because of a viral disease that
reportedly has a mortality rate of just 3%.
In fact, many have argued, and rightly so, that the Coronavirus is less deadly when compared to Ebola (90% mortality rate) or Pneumonia (5-10℅ mortality rate). Also, diseases like Malaria and Typhoid kill over 800,000 people each year in Africa and the countries involved are carrying on business as usual. Therefore, can one say without prejudice that Europe is merely overreacting?
The answer I think is NO. Europe is not overrating to the novel Coronavirus. Although it is true that the mortality rate for the hitherto healthy victims of the virus is very low and gives no cause for alarm, the rate at which the illness spreads is very fast and calls for serious concern. And that justifies why Europe is leaving no stone unturned in the fight against the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Have your ever imagined what will happen to the health facilities of a country if 80% of the citizens become sick at the same time? Who will attend to the patients and even the doctors who may fall victim? What will happen to the economy of such country? Everything Europe is doing now is to avert the disastrous scenarios that could play out. The Coronavirus may not be a dangerous killer but the manner at which it spreads is nothing short of dangerous!
Here in Italy there are too much people death in few days. And hosplitals are quite full. It's not like a normal flu... I don't think we are overreacting...
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Stay safe and as you said, reaction is required. Testing everyone who are travelling and ensuring isolation is highly required to contain the spread.
Be safe @green77
Blessing from Poland
Criticize will not bring back the death that increases in fast space! I believe is better to do everything to stop the spread.
I quite agree with this too, as already stressed in the concluding part of this article. I hope that you are not affected. Regards.
No because of the number of deaths.
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Thanks for stopping by @discernente, exactly what I was stressing in the post. I hope the virus is kicked out of Europe as soon as possible.
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We cannot stop it, we can only slow it down. US will follow soon and other countries in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. If we can slow it down enough we can save lives overall. It is not nice now and getting worse every day. I don't believe it is over reaction.
The negative economic implications of the COVID-19 virus continue to upward thrust warranting further economic stimulus.
Considering the fact that the outbreak of the virus, international trade, journey, and industry and patron spending had been curtailed drastically. Increasingly, governments internationally have imposed a kind of restraints on men and women action within and throughout national borders in order to mitigate the virus transmission.
Economic market pricing has replied to these movements with declining international fairness costs and extended interest fee spreads on ordinarily riskier asset lessons.
WHO says Europe new epicentre of outbreak.
Greetings friend @gandhibaba.
You have chosen to tackle a very sensitive topic.
We must be very careful to express pragmatic opinions in these moments of tragedy that humanity is facing.
I read the exchange of comments between you and Piotr and I couldn't help but be amazed by those harsh statements.
Are we cataloging people and giving value to their lives, depending on the contribution they make to the economy of their countries?
Wow, I'm in shock!
Neither Europe nor any other country in the world is overreacting.
In fact, I consider that there are governments that are not doing the minimum that is expected of them.
We are talking about human beings. I think that in this sense there are not some that are worth more than others.
We cannot expect it to have killed 1 million people and then start considering it dangerous.
Your friend, Juan.
Good to read your response my dear @Juanmolina.
Thanks for the observation. That was the point I was trying to pass across to my dear @Crypto.piotr when he made those astonishing comments about the peoples of Africa. I can understand that he was a bit emotional and probably misunderstood me. By the way, my article did not in anyway advocate the views that Europe is overreacting to Covid-19. I think I did mention that the response is necessary because of the rate at which it spreads. I really do hope Europe will overcome the disease as a few African countries have done already.
Absolutely! Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughts. Cheers!
God bless you.
Amen. And you too.
I think there are doing the what needs to be done. The virus can spread really fast through football, considering that there's usually so much contacts.
More so, some players have been tested positive. Abandoning football games is a highly preventive measures.
Hello @gandhibaba, the answer is NO and it is really correct, you cannot give an iota of advantage to a virus that spreads so quickly, I am very surprised by the speed with which it is progressing in Italy, despite the measures that they have taken.
We must be very cautious!
I have no reservations dear @fucho80 about your views. More than ever before, the world needs to stand up and collectively face this monster of a virus. Cheers!
hi friend
My answer is no. Necessary measures are being taken to neutralize its spread and in my opinion people should be more reasonable and think about what you are saying: a health system collapsed by thousands (or millions) of patients is a big problem and the biggest challenge. Given this, they are taking immediate action. So it is reasonable and a good measure, hopefully in a couple of months we will be telling how we got through this.
The issue with COVID-19 is that patients might not start to see symptoms until about 14 days after exposure to the virus and by this time, patients would have come in contact with other people thereby putting them at risk of contracting the virus as well. It is good that the European Governments are doing well to keep citizens safe so i do not think they are overreacting.
I agree with you @gandhibaba, I do not think the Europeans are over reacting, I think it is only safe for them to combat this virus at an early stage than waiting until it takes the life or health of everyone involved.
Personally, I'd love to see the same kind of global response to climate change.
Governments and people in general are not pushing hard enough to switch to clean energy, to convert industry to garbageless -or at least less garbage producing- models, or to combat corruption and create a more sustainable and just economic and social system.
The lack of all of that is silently killing way more people than coronavirus, but since we have to touch the big pockets, everybody just shuts up and keeps walking.
Isn't it beautiful to have leaders who seem to protect their citizens, I think that is what the leadership of the Europeans are concerned about.
Dear @gandhibaba
Europe isn't overreacting. If anything - most countries reacted to slowly.
I'm proud (for the first time in many years) of our Polish authorities. Which introduced quiet strict measures and focused on building social awareness of the problem.
Unfortunatelly for places like Italy or Spain it's already to late. So many people out there will suffer great pain. Thousands will say good bye to their lifes, in pain and agony. Feeling desperate, shocked and alone. Far from their families and anyone who care. Knowing that they will not receive proper burial.
Seeing those events unfolding here is seriously terryfing. Mortality rate doesn't matter. Noone should compare dying with family around you, doctors taking care of you, without pain ... to this torture that those people are going through.
What means 'carrying on business as usual'? I would say that business in Africa doesn't really function the same way it does in EU. So perhaps it's not heavily affected. Majority of population lives in poverty and is jobless. Not paying taxes. People with no human rights. So unfortunatelly deaths of those people do not affect economy.
It's absolutely different in developed areas, where humans are an asset. They work, pay taxes, own properties and companies. That changes a lot.
Also it's important to underline, that doctors and nurses out there are also PEOPLE. We don't want to end up with hospitals overcrowded and those who work there to start breaking down mentally.
Glad you said that. For moment I wasn't sure if we're on the same page.
Yours, Piotr
By that I mean economic activities continue as usual, perhaps because those diseases are not infectious, easily infectious like Covid-19. The world, including Europe, is generally dealing with worst diseases but there is no standstill. That point was made to put things in perspective, not underplay the novel virus.
I fear that your comments above are Eurocentric, to say the least. Point of correction, there are poor people in Africa but they are not in the majority. Jobless people are also not in the majority. Majority pay their taxes with defaulters, maybe not as much as Europe. Most people own their own houses and do not pay rent. Their death will not affect economy? Really? Are they animals or chicken? All lives matter, friend.
Maybe you mean some European countries acted slowly. As for Nigeria, an Italian man brought it into the country. We quarantined him alongside the 179 people he had contact with. We treated the man until he recovered. Today, Nigeria is Coronavirus free. If most countries in Europe had acted like Nigeria, the whole economy will not be on the brinks as we now have it.
Cheers friend.
I agree with other points you have raised here. Thanks. We are on the same page.
It makes people wonder if governments are plotting something devious behind the scene.