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A friend of mine is leaving HK today - he lives there, so this is not a casual trip abroad. He said the level of fear is making it impossible to live there as a

by ttul 7y ago

A friend of mine is leaving HK today - he lives there, so this is not a casual trip abroad. He said the level of fear is making it impossible to live there as a single person. The shops and restaurants are closed. Even his own employer shut its doors indefinitely - and they’re just a video production company. The virus won’t be what ruins China. It’s the panic itself.

tempsy 7y ago
there's no way that's true in HK. there's images of people waiting in line to buy face masks.
- user5994461 7y ago
  It's all sold out as of yesterday. If you bought a bunch before it was sold out. You can certainly resell some for a large multiple of what you bought them. Shops themselves started doubling price before they sold out. edit: I am talking about face masks.
  - tempsy 7y ago
    I’m saying HK is not on mandatory lockdown. People are going outside and there are shops that are open. I’m sure there are some closures but it’s not government mandated.
DataWorker 7y ago
Why would that panic be limited to China? They are the world’s second largest economy, there’s no way to isolate the economic impact. Can’t quarantine dollars.
heymijo 7y ago
Speaking of Hong Kong, what impact is this outbreak having on the conflict with Beijing?
- ksec 7y ago
  The "normal" stuff, HK Government continues to give benefits to all Mainland Chinese, sending all the Face Mask reserve to China instead of giving it to Hong Kong people, ( Or only giving it to its own supporter in HK), refuse to shut its border with China. Basically adding more fuel to the fire.
- Stevvo 7y ago
  The protests died out as soon as the as outbreak started. Protesters avoid congregating to avoid transmission, and the news cycle has moved on. Carrie Lam must be breathing a sigh of relief.
  - germainelol 7y ago
    Quite the opposite regarding Carrie Lam. There is a lot of anger towards the government over how they are handling the virus, specifically the insufficient mask supplies and not closing the border with China. Even the pro-Beijing supporters are angry with the government, and pro-Beijing parties are criticising the government in order to gain support in time for the September LegCo elections.
    - ksec 7y ago
      Exactly, but somehow my post below gets two downvote. I wonder why.
- Proven 7y ago
  It's making it worse because the China-appointed leadership of Hong Kong continues to allow flights from China, risking lives to please the CCP. Medical personnel going on strike this week.
celticmusic 7y ago
I have a friend in China right now who wants to leave but can't due to not having a reasonable way to make it to the airport. Apparently they're not allowing anyone to leave the city atm.
mrtweetyhack 7y ago
Tell him to stay in China where he belongs
conanbatt 7y ago
Is it the virus or the general political situation of HK?
ulfw 7y ago
Agreed. I did the same last week. Left HK. Who knows for how long.
sytelus 7y ago
So really, how bad is this? Per article less than 400 people have died in the country with over a billion people.
- hkai 7y ago
  It's not bad at all. CNN showed its incompetence again with headlines like "Hong Kong turned into a ghost town". And then I went out and people are playing in the park, doing sports, going shopping, eating at restaurants - all the same except the horrifying crowds of tourists, which are gone. We do work from home though, something that a Hong Kong employer wouldn't usually allow.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  So far.
- flukus 7y ago
  Here's a page putting it into perspective against other recent outbreaks: https://ncov.r6.no/ https://ncov.r6.no/ On day 23: Swine Flu: 27 deaths 8541 infected, SARS: 119 deaths 2160 infected, Coronavirus: 361 deaths 16768 It's not quite 12 monkeys territory but it does have the potential to kill a lot of people worldwide.
- tim333 7y ago
  >The real number of coronavirus cases is more than 75,000, according to a scientific model that says the outbreak will double in size every 6.4 days (businessweek) Doubling every 6.4 days gets big fast. If it kept up that rate, which it won't, the world's population would all have it within 4 months. While it won't be that bad it has the potential to quickly run amok and kill many millions.
dageshi 7y ago
Interesting, China's absolute control of media within the country turns into a double edged sword, people don't trust what they're being told on the subject and go with the worst possible scenario's instead.
Melting_Harps 7y ago
> The virus won’t be what ruins China. It’s the panic itself. We should be so lucky. Prior to this I feared the only thing capable of such a halt would be something like WW3, but if the Corona Virus makes an China incapable of being a Human Right violating power, than all the better. I can cope with less trinkets and cheap products from there, I already by used or repair most of what I use that made me reliant on China. Everything else I have or want comes from Japan and to a lesser extent (that isn't food/water/housing related) US/EU/Korea.

by ttul 7y ago

tempsy 7y ago

there's no way that's true in HK. there's images of people waiting in line to buy face masks.

user5994461 7y ago
It's all sold out as of yesterday. If you bought a bunch before it was sold out. You can certainly resell some for a large multiple of what you bought them. Shops themselves started doubling price before they sold out. edit: I am talking about face masks.
- tempsy 7y ago
  I’m saying HK is not on mandatory lockdown. People are going outside and there are shops that are open. I’m sure there are some closures but it’s not government mandated.

DataWorker 7y ago

Why would that panic be limited to China? They are the world’s second largest economy, there’s no way to isolate the economic impact. Can’t quarantine dollars.

heymijo 7y ago

Speaking of Hong Kong, what impact is this outbreak having on the conflict with Beijing?

ksec 7y ago
The "normal" stuff, HK Government continues to give benefits to all Mainland Chinese, sending all the Face Mask reserve to China instead of giving it to Hong Kong people, ( Or only giving it to its own supporter in HK), refuse to shut its border with China. Basically adding more fuel to the fire.
Stevvo 7y ago
The protests died out as soon as the as outbreak started. Protesters avoid congregating to avoid transmission, and the news cycle has moved on. Carrie Lam must be breathing a sigh of relief.
- germainelol 7y ago
  Quite the opposite regarding Carrie Lam. There is a lot of anger towards the government over how they are handling the virus, specifically the insufficient mask supplies and not closing the border with China. Even the pro-Beijing supporters are angry with the government, and pro-Beijing parties are criticising the government in order to gain support in time for the September LegCo elections.
  - ksec 7y ago
    Exactly, but somehow my post below gets two downvote. I wonder why.
Proven 7y ago
It's making it worse because the China-appointed leadership of Hong Kong continues to allow flights from China, risking lives to please the CCP. Medical personnel going on strike this week.

celticmusic 7y ago

I have a friend in China right now who wants to leave but can't due to not having a reasonable way to make it to the airport. Apparently they're not allowing anyone to leave the city atm.

mrtweetyhack 7y ago

Tell him to stay in China where he belongs

conanbatt 7y ago

Is it the virus or the general political situation of HK?

ulfw 7y ago

Agreed. I did the same last week. Left HK. Who knows for how long.

sytelus 7y ago

So really, how bad is this? Per article less than 400 people have died in the country with over a billion people.

hkai 7y ago
It's not bad at all. CNN showed its incompetence again with headlines like "Hong Kong turned into a ghost town". And then I went out and people are playing in the park, doing sports, going shopping, eating at restaurants - all the same except the horrifying crowds of tourists, which are gone. We do work from home though, something that a Hong Kong employer wouldn't usually allow.
jacquesm 7y ago
So far.
flukus 7y ago
Here's a page putting it into perspective against other recent outbreaks: https://ncov.r6.no/ https://ncov.r6.no/ On day 23: Swine Flu: 27 deaths 8541 infected, SARS: 119 deaths 2160 infected, Coronavirus: 361 deaths 16768 It's not quite 12 monkeys territory but it does have the potential to kill a lot of people worldwide.
tim333 7y ago
>The real number of coronavirus cases is more than 75,000, according to a scientific model that says the outbreak will double in size every 6.4 days (businessweek) Doubling every 6.4 days gets big fast. If it kept up that rate, which it won't, the world's population would all have it within 4 months. While it won't be that bad it has the potential to quickly run amok and kill many millions.

dageshi 7y ago

Interesting, China's absolute control of media within the country turns into a double edged sword, people don't trust what they're being told on the subject and go with the worst possible scenario's instead.

Melting_Harps 7y ago

> The virus won’t be what ruins China. It’s the panic itself. We should be so lucky. Prior to this I feared the only thing capable of such a halt would be something like WW3, but if the Corona Virus makes an China incapable of being a Human Right violating power, than all the better. I can cope with less trinkets and cheap products from there, I already by used or repair most of what I use that made me reliant on China. Everything else I have or want comes from Japan and to a lesser extent (that isn't food/water/housing related) US/EU/Korea.