Please Remove Housing Timers During the Covid-19 Epidemic

[Iscah]

This is officially a pandemic now. Google it. We should all be concerned. This isn't just some random death in the family.

Google it, but be wary of the results. Check for official sources. Don't rely on social media for (mis)information.

Yes it's a pandemic, but it's basically the flu. (Edit: A potentially severe form that we don't have immunity/vaccines for at this point, but still part of that family of viruses.) The average person who gets it will be dealing with it by staying home. That's what the panic buying is about - people being paranoid about the idea that they wouldn't be able to go out to the shops if they got sick.

Second edit because I did word this badly the other day: I did not mean that the virus is not serious. The flu is also serious for some percentage of people that catch it. But at the present point in time it is not affecting a large percentage of the population in a way that makes it necessary to halt the housing timer, and they're not going to do it based on speculation.

[Nedkel]

Google it, but be wary of the results. Check for official sources. Don't rely on social media for (mis)information.

Yes it's a pandemic, but it's basically the flu. The average person who gets it will be dealing with it by staying home. That's what the panic buying is about - people being paranoid about the idea that they wouldn't be able to go out to the shops if they got sick.

No ITS NOT.
Its 20-30 times more deadlier than normal flu and about 20% of all cases requires hospitalization including oxygen intake, it also gives several times worse complications that could do permanent damage to your lungs, heart and nerve system that could carry on for the rest of infected person life. Stop being ignorant.

[Iscah]

No ITS NOT.
Its 20-30 times more deadlier than normal flu and about 20% of all cases requires hospitalization including oxygen intake, it also gives several times worse complications that could do permanent damage to your lungs, heart and nerve system that could carry on for the rest of infected person life. Stop being ignorant.

Without having done in-depth reading (I don't have time to research right now) I was going from what I read this morning.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-...tions/12042318

[Q:] Is coronavirus worse than the flu?

Many people diagnosed with the coronavirus will feel like they have the flu.

The main difference between COVID-19 and the flu is that there is a lack of immunity in the community for the new coronavirus because there is no vaccine.

As I understand it, the normal flu (also a coronavirus) can have similarly severe effects, we just have more immunity and vaccines.

Perhaps the rate of severe cases is different. As I said, do your research but from reliable sources.

[Nedkel]

Without having done in-depth reading (I don't have time to research right now) I was going from what I read this morning.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-...tions/12042318



As I understand it, the normal flu (also a coronavirus) can have similarly severe effects, we just have more immunity and vaccines.

Perhaps the rate of severe cases is different. As I said, do your research but from reliable sources.

First of all, ABC news is not reliable or trustworthy source of information, first better article i found and they already spreading fake news regarding that Italian lady, which died from seizure not from coronavirus https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/3000168
Sars-cov-2 is not your regular influenza virus, humans never had a contact with this kind of disease before our immune system does not have any antibodies to fight with it, hence why most of people develops more than 2 symptom and big part of them gets pneumonia which is dangerous on its own.
Your regular Flu is caused by coronaviruses but only in 10% of total cases and those coronaviruses are different kind, coronaviruses is just a name for family of viruses which has protein spikes on their surface. Your normal influenza type of flu does not affect as big % of patients with complications such as sarscov2, in fact according to this study
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032
16% from all cases had a serious illness including pneumonia, arythmia, kidney failure, respiratory failure, septic shock etc.
Do you want to know how big % of people having flu need a professional medical care? 1.3%
This virus we are talking about is far more deadly and we already have 3 mutations from which 1 is even deadlier than one china experienced and is right now in italy.
I follow this disease since january, the scale of disaster that is going to happen is waaay above our public health care capacity.

[Iscah]

These are both true. The problem is that it transmits frighteningly easily (see: "you will likely get it"). The fact that people are so dismissive of it does not help that transmission rate go down.

[...]

If you're judging only by your own health, yes, this won't be too serious for most folks below a certain age.

I think this debate is trying to be two different arguments at once.

Yes, it is a potentially serious disease.

But the question here is whether they would pause the housing timer as a result - and the criteria established by previous "pauses for disaster" have been things that impact everyone in a region in a way that would mean the majority of players are unable to log into the game for an extended period.

I don't believe the virus fulfils that state.

It could get worse, of course. But let them make that decision to suspend the timer if and when a considerable amount of the population is severely affected, not on the speculation that it might.


Also I'm not meaning to be dismissive of the disease itself, but if you're not actually sick then I think a lot of people just aren't able to worry about it exactly because it's too vague and you can't account for every single person you come into contact with during your day. You can be sensible - wash your hands, keep away from people who are obviously sick and avoid doing optional activities that put you near a lot of people... but if you're not personally sick and unless either your employer or the government chooses to bring things to a halt, you still have to turn up for work. That can mean crowded trains, busy streets, offices full of people, talking to co-workers, making a cup of tea with the same hot-water tap and milk bottle that everyone else has handled... you can't hope to avoid it unless you wipe down everything every minute of every day. Sooner or later you'll forget - or someone who isn't showing symptoms yet will breathe on you.

(Edit: I got kind of ranty here. Paranoia/frustration really because... well, where do you stop fretting if everything you touch could have been handled by someone who has it? And my workplace hasn't even put soap in the kitchen.)

First of all, ABC news is not reliable or trustworthy source of information

"ABC" here is the Australian Broadcasting Commission, our public broadcaster, not a commercial station.

[EaMett]

Without having done in-depth reading (I don't have time to research right now) I was going from what I read this morning.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-...tions/12042318



As I understand it, the normal flu (also a coronavirus) can have similarly severe effects, we just have more immunity and vaccines.

Perhaps the rate of severe cases is different. As I said, do your research but from reliable sources.

The flu is an Orthomyxoviridae where as coronavirus is a Coronaviridae/Orthocoronavirinae. They are different. Because both are respiratory tract illnesses they share some (not all) symptoms and a lot of people have been using the flu (that many of us are familiar with) as a means of comparison. But in reality we should be referring to the previous cases of MERS/SARS which were coronaviruses (as is the common cold although not a good comparison point). But since not many people would automatically know what that means they went with the flu.

The death rate for the coronavirus might shift a bit over the next few weeks but it's something like 3.4% currently so that would be 34 times deadlier than the flu that kills an average of 60k people a year in the USA (as per the CDC numbers). It's rate of transmission (R0) also seems to be about double that of the common flu (2.28 vs 1.3 - probably due to lack of immunity, but also from the fact the virus can stay active on surfaces for extended periods of time). So all in all it's a much more serious threat if left unchecked (would probably result in upwards of 2M deaths given current stats in the USA). Hence why every country is going on lockdown currently.
Furthermore, because it spreads exponentially, even cases that would otherwise survive with medical assistance may very well die from lack of said assistance like is the case of Italy currently. Where the hospitals can't handle the demand and war triage is being used (aka people who are more likely to die are given a lower priority than people who are more likely to survive, because if you only have one free ventilator you're better off giving it to someone you know it'll help live rather than someone who has only a 10-20% chance of survival and risking both patients dying. Yet sadly both could potentially have survived)

These numbers, although official, are probably a slight over-estimation of reality since there are certainly many mild cases that aren't tested and don't count towards the total (although this would also imply that the R0 is higher than the official numbers). It's still significantly dangerous enough that you would want to be extra careful as a society. With that said, the USA was infected same time as korea and we still don't have any testing and the little we have is not free ($3k). This should change tomorrow as they try to pass a new bill iirc. We also don't have sick leave so people will go into work with it if only showing mild symptoms. All in all I expect mortality rate and contamination rates in the USA to be much higher than in other first world countries. The numbers are only currently low because of lack of testing, there are already many infected people from all walks of life (athletes, politicians, average joes) with no connections, so you know the country in-between is already heavily carrying the disease.

[Iscah]

This isn't just about fatality. Just because this is a recent outbreak it doesn't make it less worse than the flu.

You're replying to me, but I didn't say that.

I pointed to the WHO website because they are going to have more reliable information about it. I'm not trying to back up my prior posts (which are, as I said at the time, not sufficiently researched), I'm providing something else.

For a lot of people this means finances are going to be tight and it's not something they can really control because they're not the ones deciding that they cannot go to work and earn money. And we all know you need money to fund your place in the game.

I really think this is too much of a stretch to expect them to halt the timer because of speculation that some fraction of the playerbase might not be able to afford a subscription. Or certainly too much of a stretch to start asking them to halt it now because it might happen to some hypothetical people sometime in the future.

Again, it's not a population-wide impact that will stop everyone from being able to access the game.

The requests to halt the timer every time there's a disaster are clearly not having an effect. They evidently have their criteria, or maybe they've even decided they're not doing it again. Let them do it when they decide it's worthwhile, instead of asking every time (especially when the answer has repeatedly been no).

[QT_Melon]

You're replying to me, but I didn't say that.

I'm not trying to back up my prior posts (which are, as I said at the time, not sufficiently researched), I'm providing something else.

Yes, I'm replying more in general to your prior posts which more more ill researched and honestly felt like hand waving and trivializing the impact this issue has

I really think this is too much of a stretch to expect them to halt the timer because of speculation that some fraction of the playerbase might not be able to afford a subscription. Or certainly too much of a stretch to start asking them to halt it now because it might happen to some hypothetical people sometime in the future.


Again, it's not a population-wide impact that will stop everyone from being able to access the game.

In the next few days/next week we'll see. The reason I was on the fence is because it was just too hard to tell how big the impact was, but just a few hours ago a lot of places declared states of emergency. Schools are going to be shut down anywhere from 1-3 weeks depending on the area.

Found out not only was the US slow in starting tested, kits are in limited supply as the strain is new, the kits to develop detection take time to make, it's not some instant thing.

Being able to properly house those that are ill are a problem.
People being able to GET food - at this time I cannot get groceries because of the panic buying.

Our workplace may shut down because of the school issue it's impacted a large percentage of employees with kids, and that means we may not be able to work.

The fear is again not being able to work and afford subs in my case this isn't a big issue as I have pre-paid the sub and internet - but I can see some of the argument of being financially impacted where it affects game play.

There is only one state in the US that hasn't tested positive for a case at this time.

I think the fact it's really a global issue and the fact it's spread very quickly - it's not unreasonable for SE to pause the housing demolition at this time. The game can play - and people who do not have to worry about impacting financial issues have something to do in the meantime.

However, this is more widely impacting areas than an earthquake or natural disaster at this point. They can switch the demolition timer on and off when appropriate.

Thinking about it, what's the real con in pausing a timer at this time? - than those who feel opportunistic in grabbing a house in game because someone is in quarantine due to COVID 19. That seems pretty tasteless.

I do not think we should get refunded for subs - that's also tasteless and opportunistic.

[Penthea]

I really think this is too much of a stretch to expect them to halt the timer because of speculation that some fraction of the playerbase might not be able to afford a subscription. Or certainly too much of a stretch to start asking them to halt it now because it might happen to some hypothetical people sometime in the future.

I didn't say to halt it now but I do think it is something SE should consider as the virus situation progresses.

[Kenky]

No ITS NOT.
Its 20-30 times more deadlier than normal flu and about 20% of all cases requires hospitalization including oxygen intake, it also gives several times worse complications that could do permanent damage to your lungs, heart and nerve system that could carry on for the rest of infected person life. Stop being ignorant.

Plenty of people sadly pass away from the Flu every year, in plenty of countries, making its mortality rate about 2 - 3% (Maybe higher / lower, depending on countrys medical structure)

COVID-19 has a mortality rate of 0.2% (at present and only including confirmed cases. But that's all the info we have)

20-30 times weaker, more like. Stop overreacting.

That isn't to say it can just flip a switch and suddenly become incredibly dangerous (But that would take quite a long time, as no virus 'evolves' overnight) but if you keep with basic hygiene and common sense you can fight off most of the symptoms and minimize spread. Over here in the UK, we're actually being told to avoid going to the doctors and hospitals, purely to avoid potential spread of the virus. Not to mention several clinics in my town itself have been quarantined and "deep cleaned" just to be sure. That's not because "it's dangerous" but to slow the spread and give medical companies (NHS, WHO, etc) time to work on medication and vaccination.

Wash your hands a lot, don't touch your face and if you have to go outside and have a bad cough, wear a mask. The masks are meant to stop YOU spreading it, not to stop others from catching it.

But onto the main point of the thread:

Plenty of countries are trying to get you to stay home and away from other people. Wouldn't that technically make it pointless to delay the timer? I mean, you're meant to be at home anyways. But I can understand some people being unable to log-in or pass their info to a trusted friend or family member to do it for you, should you be otherwise occupied. (Not something I'd personally recommend, but it's your call at the end of the day)

In either case, It'd be good to have a little delay. Maybe an extra week or two on the timer, but not stopping it all-together.