Coronavirus Phoney War

How seriously is Britain taking the prospect of an outbreak of the Coronavirus?

If this notice on the door of an NHS clinic is any indication; the answer is not very.

But don’t panic the Guardian is always ready to step into the breach, to offer it’s particular brand of nonsense…

“ About 40% of people in the UK believe at least one conspiracy theory of some kind, say the researchers from East Anglia University.”

Really? Nearly half of people believe in a (non-State-Approved) conspiracy theory? What like the face masks and protective equipment used by medical staff (worldwide) is made in Hubei?

And who have the oh-so reliable Guardian been talking to?

“ Prof Paul Hunter, who is an expert on the new coronavirus infection.”

Which makes one wonder why WHO is arguing with the Chinese and the Americans to find out what the bloody hell is actually going on, when they could pop up to the UEA, and ask Professor Hunter. Reading the article it becomes clear that Prof Hunter’s actual expertise is in getting quoted by credulous journalists…

“When it comes to Covid-19, there has been a lot of speculation, misinformation and fake news circulating on the internet — about how the virus originated, what causes it and how it is spread. Misinformation means that bad advice can circulate very quickly — and it can change human behaviour to take greater risks.”

According to the ‘expert’, if you wash your hands, don’t share food with ill people, self isolate, and splash a bit of disinfectant about… you’ll be fine… it’s just a touch of flu….

It would be stretching matters to call Prof Hunter’s, five minutes of fame, ‘fake news’. For it barely rises to the level of media filler…. but let’s just check… no… surprisingly the Guardian doesn’t have the obligatory ‘the real virus is racism’ story urging people to go out for a Chinese: the Mail has one, there’s one here, here, here, here, you get the idea…

And to prove the point, (and having wiped his finger), Jeremy Corbyn went to Manchester to call on his Momentum followers to get out there and get some noodles down their throat.

Being an easily browbeaten type, and hearing the call from the Great Leader, I was about to take the whippet off my boots when I found myself conflicted. Should I obey the commissar or the party expert?

For surely it would be changing my behaviour were I to listen to Mr Corbyn’s advice (having never listened to him in the past) which would be putting myself at risk according to Prof Hunter: normally I like to ‘self isolate’ and watch re-runs of Casualty; then wash my hands after Nurse Duffy and Charlie get it on in the surgical appliance cupboard.

Oh what to do…

One thing you won’t find me doing is clubbing a dog to death.

Something that will displease Labour’s most popular leader (ever) is the news that in the face of the… erm… ‘flu’… the vast majority of people, want to stop flights to China, screen incoming passengers, impose mandatory quarantines, and only a fraction more than half want to send aid…. racists…

And so to China…

Where Shangai has been placed on lock-down, with cars and people banned from entering the mega-city. Beijing has started spraying whatever it is that the Chinese spray. Quarantine has become a way of life. And there is talk of ‘wartime measures’ whatever that means…

The Chinese army has been called in to help; as the party shifts officials around. There is also this…

The army has been involved in the relief effort since late January. But, for whatever reason a video has appeared purporting to show hit squads going into a district and executing the infected. In my humble opinion, the video is a fake.

If you search the articles below, and the accompanying links, you will find the clips with which that video has been constructed. And you will find that they were posted on different days, and claim to show something other than what this new video claims to show.

One explanation is that the three armed men were dealing with a rabid dog. Which is possible.

That this video is usually presented with anti-Communist propaganda is another reason to take it with a pinch of salt. The news cycle of the Coronavirus being: ‘the real virus is racism’, followed the next day by money market manipulation, followed by a spike in the death toll (rinse and repeat)… it’s as much a part of this ‘war’ as the trading of ‘fake news’ and rhetoric.

So keep that in mind…

Because there are signs, aside from the perished food, that some sort of crackdown is underway (but not for the reasons the slack-jawed would have you believe). Politics obviously plays a role, but consider the number of people involved.

The key date is the 19th.

And remember…

It is just flu…

Previous posts…

Feb 3rd — Coronavirus May Be Serious

Feb 4th — Coronavirus Spreading, But Rumours Contained

Feb 5th — Report Says Thousands Killed By Coronavirus in China

Feb 6th — Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories

Feb 7th — Coronavirus Misinformation

Feb 8th — Coronavirus ‘Self Isolates’ China

Feb 9th — China Comes Clean on Coronavirus

Feb 10th — Britain Braces for Coronavirus

Feb 11th — Coronavirus: Chinese Market News

Feb 12th — Coronavirus Relaunches As COVID19

Feb 13th — Coronavirus Figures Explained