Anyone else's family completely OTT about Covid at the minute?

[Toddlerteaplease]

We all get on very well. But they are all being completely hysterical about the risk of covid and social distancing. None are risk. Met my parents in their garden and felt like a leper, completely OTT. My sister is refusing to even walk through my house to get to the garden.
I've been working all the way through. In a job where social distancing is impossible. And my friends are all fairly chilled about it. If their attitude the norm?

Unfortunately my family seem completely oblivious to it

OP, your family are not refusing to see you. They just want to see you in the safest manner possible. Why does this upset you so much?

My son has also been working through most of the pandemic, but he is very understanding of our wishes not to incur unnecessary risks. He meets up with mates outside and at a distance.

Working is necessary, sitting in the house when a garden is available is not necessary.

My parents live abroad which almost certainly means I won't be able to see them this summer. My brother is working. He meets with them at a safe distance because he has to take risks, they don't. Not hysterical, just common courtesy.

How is being cautious following guidance ‘OTT’? Or are you one of the conspiracy theorists who think the virus doesn’t exist?

You aren’t supposed to enter other people’s houses. So you sister is just following the guidance by refusing to walk through your house,

not to take stupid risks

Can you explain the risks?

Can you explain the risks?

The virus spreads through exhalation droplets and droplets left on physical objects. So keeping your distance would make sense. Being outdoors where droplets disperse more easily would make sense. Avoiding putting yourself in a situation where you might inadvertently touch things (door handles, stair rails etc) touched by other people makes sense.

Just heard from a colleague who got infected over 100 days ago. Still struggling to breathe, suffering from tachycardia, skin yellow, worryingly high BP. The day before I was in contact with another colleague in a similar situation. The rest of us are able to work, they clearly are not and has no idea when (if) they will be. The scarring on their lungs may be permanent.

I do need to work and other people will be impacted if I can't. I will take risks where necessary, not otherwise.

The risks are getting ill, spreading it to someone else who could get really ill, the faff of having to self isolate for 14 days, the risk of making someone else having to self isolate under test and trace - the list goes on @userxx

Of course you had to take your own cup; the guidelines are very clear that you are not to share cutlery/crockery etc.

Wow, so all that can happen from sitting in someone's garden at a distance?

It's amazing that I've been into absolutely packed supermarkets twice a week for the past 12 weeks with random strangers breathing down my neck and have managed to stay virus free like the vast majority of people in the country. Maybe I'm super human 🤷‍♂️

Probably because most people have followed the guidance @userxx

What age are your parents?

Mine, and in laws’ age and conditions increase their risk of serious illness/death if they get Covid. They have different attitudes to the risks and have made different choices, as is their right. Younger family members won’t be going against the guidelines by seeing them in their / our homes.

Wow, so all that can happen from sitting in someone's garden at a distance?

The OP didn't make it clear that her parents were trying to prevent her from sitting in the garden: from the fact that she also complained about her sister not wanting to walk through her house I got the impression that it was having to observe social distancing in the garden that made her feel like a leper. May have been wrong there of course.

As for the "I've gone to the supermarket and not caught it" argument- I travelled in cars without seatbelts as a child many times and wasn't killed. Doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Also, how do you know you haven't caught the virus, been symptomless, but passed it on to somebody else who became seriously ill? How many of us can know that? That is the nasty thing about this particular virus: unlike Ebola, where you get seriously ill and can't help noticing, with Covid there are a lot of unsuspecting transmitters.

My opinion ...

I think because of the news over the last few months there are always people that tend to be more anxious in life anyway that will be even more anxious (even if they are fit and healthy) They will always search for the odd case to further their worry. You know eg 99.99% (just using random number here to illustrate) of under 25's don't die so they will find that 0.01% and focus on that.

The glass always half empty type. The let's focus on the bad news and ignore anything good. You see them on threads on here all the time and some people call them 'dementors' because they really do lose all sense of proportion about things/risk etc. If they extrapolated that to other areas of life and risk they would never leave the house/cross the road/use a car etc. Covid-19 had given them something to focus their negativity on.

HOWEVER, if it only affects them all well and good (eg if they want to disinfect their shopping and leave it in the shed for days so what) when they start hysterically shouting at others 'murderers', 'killing people' etc then they need a little more restraint and statistics to show how wrong they are.

This is totally excluding the people who are extremely vulnerable and have high risks but talking about the fit, healthy over the top ones.

My parents are being extremely cautious, but having lost my MIL to Covid in May I really want them to be.

I've not seen my folks since January as I was ill for weeks. Then got ill again in March with possible C19. They've not left their house for anything except the odd walk, they disinfect their shopping, and wear masks when they do go out. The fact they could get extremely unwell, and the chances of both complications and death are higher with age, means it's sensible to be cautious.

I'm hoping to meet up for the first time on Sunday. At the same time I know I will be treated like Typhoid Mary because I work in a school. Quite honestly, at this stage I'd wear a full hazmat suit if it made them feel safer in order to see them properly!

I have noticed that many who have been stuck at home for the past 3 months are almost frightened of the outside world

I think you're right. My parents are in their 70s and are both usually very "get on with it" types with no time for hypochondria or nonsense. But they haven't been in a supermarket for 13 weeks and are very nervous about going. Even though they live in a massive Scottish area which saw 1 case of covid last week (and that was most probably in a care home).

Once they get out there and start doing things they'll be fine.

How can following the law and guidelines be considered OTT?

FromMarch, two things that strike me there.

None of the people I know who have been seriously ill for a long time by now were in the shielding category. They didn't know the virus was going to strike them like this.

Secondly, it is impossible for most people to become seriously ill without impacting somebody else. If a parent becomes ill, it impacts their children. If a key worker becomes infectious it potentially impacts anyone they come into contact with.

I don't think I am particularly worried about dying: I haven't panicked in situations where I was potentially seriously ill, I didn't panic when burglars broke into the house where I was alone at night. But I do think about responsibilities. And not risking other people's lives is one of them. Doesn't mean I sit around being gloomy all day. But it does mean I weigh up my actions.

I find this thread staggering because my friends who work in the nhs are exasperated by people not taking it seriously.

Not OTT at all. Health worker here. I think people working in the NHS have just had to get on with things during the pandemic, with no choice, including often with socially distancing and with PPE. I think there's a sense of feeling aclimatised to the risk, whereas others don't have that sense. Try to see it as the virus, rather than you. It is all of these people, following the guidance to the letter, that have flattened the curve, albeit (reasonable) anxiety may have had a role in this.

@Rhine. The rules state that you can walk through the house to get to the garden.

Don't worry about it , I'd only worry if you were being lectured.
Like on here like it has been , I've exercised throughout but some have said it's a risk . I say that's up to you but I'm happy to take a risk if you like for going for a run but I wouldn't tell others to if they weren't comfortable.
I've booked the hairdressers for next month I can't wait.

This isn't the first time I have had to spend time in isolation because of illness: it didn't result as far as I was concerned in crippling anxiety about the outside world. I went back when I could and was just fine.

In fact, this time is far less isolating than my previous experiences: these days I have the internet, I can Skype friends, I see their faces and talk to them several times a week, there is even a neighbourhood group set up for the same purpose. Phoning used to be horrendously expensive when I was young: now I can ring my mum in a foreign country and talk for an hour without worrying about the bill.

Yes, it is harder than normal life- but compared to what some of my friends are going through, it's nothing.

I really don't believe that is what is making me cautious. I believe it is simply that I don't want one more person to have to go through their experience- and certainly not because of me.

Probably because most people have followed the guidance

Ok, if you say so 🤣

@coreythatwas. No I have no issue with sitting in the garden, I'm more than happy to do that. It was not being allowed to touch things at all that was more the issue.
Their complete refusal to meet for a walk in a park was what really stung though. When that was first allowed.

userxx, this country went into lockdown later than most similar countries and were less strict about it. Death rates are also considerably higher here. There is probably some kind of connection there.

So what do you think people should be doing @userxx? Do you think people should just ignore the guidance? Do you think lockdown shouldn’t have happened?

Lack of guidance and ignoring risks had horrific consequences in care homes.

Yes most people won’t die from this virus, but there does seem to be a lottery for those supposedly healthy people having long term health issues when they supposedly only had it mildly.

Maybe I am wrong but I am assuming lockdown and adhering to social distancing has helped to drastically reduce the transmission rate in the community.