BREAKING: 2020 AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 1 GP CANCELLED

[Kuckoo]

Stupid Corona and its stupid virus.

 

[AusWillis]

NBA, NHL all cancelled. F1 I think is done along with MotoGP and any other racing that involves moving around countries and extended team numbers.

All concerts and any large gathering are done.

This is not getting better at the moment, we are still sliding downhill, economicaly it will be a long time to recover.

Just hope that by June we are out of it and starting to make sense of what to do to get everything back going again.

 

[BillGuy]

Long Beach IndyCar and IMSA now appear to be cancelled as well.

 

[NDG]

Hey guys! Anyone here actually from Australia? My sister lives in Melbourne, she's a tram operator. I heard from her that the guys positive from covid19 are actually drivers and two of them. I hate rumors. I'm not starting one. I'm here asking our Aussie mates what they are hearing around there...

 

[Nick Hill]

This sucks, but I think it's very prudent until we know more. Outside of China, things are still very early days, we are nowhere near fully knowing what we're dealing with. Heck, it's really only been known in China for a few months.

Stateside, there are some worrying indications all the cancellations are sparking a bit of panic. I have no mouthpiece to do so myself, but I would love to remind the general public that these events are being canceled precisely because they are so optional and, for the most part, entertainment oriented. For example, the NCAA basketball tournament seems like a great big deal (it's my personal favorite sporting event of the year), but it's in fact completely and totally expendable in terms of the basic functioning of society. I'm afraid some are (perhaps subconsciously) making some very irrational and potentially dangerous "what next?!?" leaps.

The name of the game is to keep the number of available hospital beds as high as possible for as long as possible. That represents our collective insurance policy until we know more.

The illness is highly concerning from multiple angles, but for me the biggest concern right now is the uncertainty. People who have dedicated their lives to this stuff are consitently saying "we're still learning", "we just don't know", etc, but you have so many knuckle heads running around clinging to the first apparently disarming statistic they can get their hands on telling everyone it's no worse (or even not as bad) as the flu or even the common cold or what have you. We don't know, give the experts who can time to find out.

 

[rubaru]

On a related note, I just got the call that my kids school is canceled tomorrow.

 

[Mikec87]

Apart from the Toyota Corona virus being a serious issue for sure, this just cost the Australian economy up to $1.4 Billion. That is what it brings to the country each year.

All other races are also cancelled. V8s etc.

The economic impact is going to be very real for many. The next 6 months are going to be a bit ugly....

 

[FinFan]

The economic impact is going to be very real for many. The next 6 months are going to be a bit ugly....

That much is certain. But somehow there will be some winners coming out of this. Alongside many, many who will loose.
That's how these things, sadly, always play out.

 

[Peter.]

its no surprise think this season is screwed.. football everything

 

[Peter.]

the world has gone mad. im going to buy toilet roll..lots of toilet roll

 

[John Addison]

Its all getting nuts.....Its a freaking flu that they knew about years ago now everyone is loosing their minds. Leave it to the media outlets. So from now on anyone who sneezes is going to be thrown to the pits of hell! lol

 

[Deleted member 561801]

It would have been a shame being so blind not to see the global threat of this virus...

I agree.

 

[Durge Driven]

Put them all in isolation and make them beta test F1 2020

 

[Sman]

Kimi: Is it on or not.
Ferrari Engineer: No Kimi You will not have the race.

 

[Tr3voRR]

This is so ****ing stupid! Since the knowledge of the corona virus, there has been more death by flu than by the corona virus... I don't understand why they make it such a big ****ing deal!... the flu kills more ffs!!!!!

 

[Alex72]

The countries who had balls and did the right thing from start have the least spread of the virus like Russia for example who shut down the border to China instantly and they also started checking people instantly. In Europe where i am our leaders and countries have done NADA and the virus is spreading like mad. From Ireland i heard a doctor and politician even saying "its good if old and weak people die"... Of course they think that in countries where tons of tax money is paid out in pensions and for healthcare, but its some of the worst things ive heard ever in western Europe... Doctors usually treat the sickest and weakest first.

Be smart dear RD'ers. Wash your hands minimum 20sec with soap. Dont touch your face before washing them. Stay away from big crowds for now. The virus stay up to 9 hours on surfaces and it lingers in the air for 30 minutes so dont go behind people if you can avoid it. Just be smart. And dont listen to much to the news because they live on selling fear and panic.

 

[Alex72]

This is so ****ing stupid! Since the knowledge of the corona virus, there has been more death by flu than by the corona virus... I don't understand why they make it such a big ****ing deal!... the flu kills more ffs!!!!!

Thats not true. Corona have higher death frequence. Many who had it and got cured also got it again directly afterwards. This is not normal for flu. Many old people die from Corona. Much higher than with flu and even young people can easily die if they have another sickness at the same time. People with any breathing problem (asthma for example) is in danger. Not the same with normal flu. We NEED to stop the spread of this and its not good if people think its normal flu because it isnt. Not everyone knows this information though which is a bummer because our news in the west are such f-ing hacks...

 

[Tr3voRR]

Thats not true. Corona have higher death frequence. Many who had it and got cured also got it again directly afterwards. This is not normal for flu. Many old people die from Corona. Much higher than with flu and even young people can easily die if they have another sickness at the same time. People with any breathing problem (asthma for example) is in danger. Not the same with normal flu. We NEED to stop the spread of this and its not good if people think its normal flu because it isnt. Not everyone knows this information though which is a bummer because our news in the west are such f-ing hacks...

BS, flu killed more and is still killing more, the high risk people for corona are the older people. If you take gastroenteritis it as a contraction mark of 18 while corona 2.2. Young people don't easily die from corona, actually they don't die at all from it! and it the worst case, less than the flu.

 

[GTHO-III]

Hey can't they just get the Mythbusters guys to outfit the cars with radio controlled gear and still broadcast it on TV with out the spectators attending! It might make tyre changes and re fueling fun though!

 

[Case_]

It's the freakin flu people!!

No, it really is not the flu at all.
The coronavirus is spreading a lot faster than "normal" flu. It is also a new virus, so we don't have any immunity against it, unlike with the flu, for which there are vaccines and many of us have at least some immunity to it due to previous exposure. The symptoms are worse than flu in many cases. And it also has a lot higher mortality rate - the flu has a mortality rate of around 0.1%, while the average mortality rate of coronavirus is currently estimated somewhere between 2.5-3.5%. Which means that while 1 out of every 1000 people with the flu might die, with the coronavirus, it's around 25-35 people out of every 1000. And no, it wouldn't be just older people (but even if it would, do older people's lives not matter? The mortality rises rather quickly for people over 40...)

If the virus is allowed to spread uncontrollably like the flu and we do nothing to prevent it from spreading, we should expect a worldwide death toll in millions. Some flu...

Treating the coronavirus as "just the freaking flu" is irresponsible at best, and potentially life-threatening to everyone around such person (including themselves) at worst. (Which is also why I had to respond, even though I expect you won't care anyway.)

We certainly shouldn't panic about the virus. That helps nothing and no-one, it only makes everything more difficult for everyone. But we absolutely shouldn't underestimate it and/or downplay the potential risks either.