Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

If there was another pandemic in your lifetime...

259 replies

GoodChat · 07/04/2023 16:05

Would you follow all the rules as stringently as you did the first time around?

I was thinking about this today. I was completely law abiding the first time round - followed every single rule and guideline they put in place.

I had a 9 month old at the start of lockdown so it was nice to spend more time with her as I'd just come off maternity leave and then got furloughed. We were basically living in a little bubble and it was lovely.

I was made redundant which was crap, but it also opened up new opportunities for me and now I'm in a completely new industry, with a far better work life balance and better pay for a more relaxed life.

But... I now have an 18 month old and an almost 4 year old. I can't imagine only leaving the house for an hour a day and not being able to take them to parks etc. I don't know how people managed it. I think those who did are incredible. My mental health was battered by the end and I still get wary of groups in enclosed spaces without masks - even though I'm not scared of catching anything.

I also think any kind of lockdown/furlough scheme etc would destroy the economy beyond repair if it were to happen in the next 50 years or so. I imagine more people would die from poverty than die from infection next time.

I don't think id cope with a pandemic being managed as it was last time, and I don't think I could trust the government with the complete mockery they made of us before.

I think I'd approach it the next time with a stiff British upper lip of "keep calm and carry on".

What do you think? What did you do before and what would you do again? Would you be as fearful as you were at the start of covid?

OP posts:
Aposterhasnoname · 07/04/2023 17:04

No bloody chance

quietnightmare · 07/04/2023 17:05

Yes because if I didn't and my job found out I would be fired on the spot

Oblomov23 · 07/04/2023 17:05

You only say this because you are looking back in hindsight. None of us knew at the beginning of say feb 20 how bad it was nor how bad it would become. I mostly obeyed the rules and would do so again.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Covid-19
AskMeMore · 07/04/2023 17:10

GoodChat · 07/04/2023 16:21

It's a very good point about it depending on the impact it has physically. I hadn't thought about that. But there was a lot of scaremongering about monkey pox and that quickly disappeared.

I think people would be less likely to accept its a real threat the next time.

It was known quite quickly that monkeypox was spread by sexual contact. It was a rea; issue for those affected, but it was never going to affect most people.

megletthesecond · 07/04/2023 17:10

Yes. I have better things to do than be a guinea pig for novel viruses. I'd have to find some new running and walking routes though.

Smokingonthestairs · 07/04/2023 17:10

It’s alright saying you wouldn’t engage with it but what about diseases that make you bleed from every orifice, or flesh rotting diseases, brain shrinking diseases , diseases that make you lose your limbs ?😩
what about diseases that are really visible, like you’re covered in blisters from head to toe?
I think I’d just do what they tell me again, to an extent!

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 07/04/2023 17:11

SoggyPigeon · 07/04/2023 16:58

I’m in a country where there was no lockdown, schools and everything stayed open. I remember watching the news, UK was on the news all the time, and we could not believe all the rules you had. I mean going out for 1 hr a day..? And it does seem now sadly it was all for the worse.

The regulations were tougher in France and Germany.

I always thought the Great Barrington Declaration was the correct protocol, but if you dared to say so, people accused you of wanting to kill their Granny .

I’m over seventy btw so in a ‘ vulnerable’ group. I never, ever, wanted the rest of the world to come to a standstill on my behalf.

SoggyPigeon · 07/04/2023 17:16

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 07/04/2023 17:11

The regulations were tougher in France and Germany.

I always thought the Great Barrington Declaration was the correct protocol, but if you dared to say so, people accused you of wanting to kill their Granny .

I’m over seventy btw so in a ‘ vulnerable’ group. I never, ever, wanted the rest of the world to come to a standstill on my behalf.

Show quote history

Yes maybe they were, I don’t know why it was UK who was on the news all the time.

Our country’s priority was to shield the elderly, I still think that was right. But it must have been so miserable and lonely for so many.

IceMagic · 07/04/2023 17:19

I'm hoping it's a once in a lifetime thing. My grandmother had a 7 year old brother who died in the influenza epidemic after WW1.

TomeTome · 07/04/2023 17:21

I’d follow the rules again.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 07/04/2023 17:22

I didn't follow them stringently the first time round!

But if there's another pandemic, I'm not sure we'd have another lockdown or similar. Even if it does turn out it caused less damage than not locking down, it's actually something that can only happen with quite a 'sweet spot' of disease. Needs to be dangerous enough to get most people to buy into behavioural changing but not so dangerous that people refuse to leave the house and everything collapses. That certainly isn't going to happen in the near future, harder to call longer term. It also needs to be funded, which might look different in the future once we've experienced paying for one.

Whenever this topic comes up, there are always people saying things like you'd do it if your kids were dying/arse was falling off/plague etc etc. Actually, what would probably happen then is societal breakdown. People wouldn't be following restrictions because they'd be out looting and looking for scapegoats.

CwmYoy · 07/04/2023 17:23

I would do what was necessary to protect myself and others.

Only the selfish wouldn't.

Ashia · 07/04/2023 17:23

Mumped · 07/04/2023 16:08

It depends on what the disease was.

If there a some sort of flesh eating ebola horror doing the rounds, I guarantee you WILL be staying indoors.

This is the only sensible answer I can think of.

It’s easy to forget, but during the early lockdowns we did not know that most children would be relatively unaffected. I was very cautious with them and would be again with any novel deadly disease.

I’d far rather have a lockdown than be told children must go to school during a pandemic.

Original poster
GoodChat · 07/04/2023 17:23

CwmYoy · 07/04/2023 17:23

I would do what was necessary to protect myself and others.

Only the selfish wouldn't.

Would you trust the government immediately or would you want more scientific validation this time around?

OP posts:
Beginningless · 07/04/2023 17:23

Like pps have said, so many variables so hard to say, but I think we’ve learned that lockdowns have catastrophic unintended consequences. With hindsight I think many would say how covid was handled was completely disproportionate to the level of risk to the general heathy population. It would need to be a really significant threat for me to agree to keep my kids at home like that again and stop them from socialising with family and peers etc. It’s definitely reduced my faith in governments to act in our best interests.

LysHastighed · 07/04/2023 17:24

I was living in a place with much stricter rules than the UK and absolutely would follow those rules or the UK rules in a future situation. However I would hope that a lot will be learned from this pandemic and that future rules will be better designed and communicated.
It would also be interesting to study the factors that make people more or less mentally resilient in these situations in preparation for the next pandemic.

Felixss · 07/04/2023 17:26

Depends what kind of pandemic. If it's something like Spanish flu or Ebola . I would definitely follow if it was COVID mark 2 with a low mortality rate for the vast vast majority I wouldn't if I'm being honest.

daisychain01 · 07/04/2023 17:27

All this ruminating and constantly going round in an interminable loop about the Pandemic, especially in a hypothetical situation of it happening again, is not good for anyone's mental health imo.

time to move on and rebuild rather than keep churning away about the same issues as when we were all forced into thinking and dealing with it and didn't have any choice in the matter.

BMW6 · 07/04/2023 17:28

Well if people don't take measures to stop the next Pandemic spreading then when the NHS staff are all off sick with it or dead you'll be in the happy position of being able to set your child's broken leg yourselves. Yay you.

Or if they get sick and die you can bury them in your garden, or in the nearest bit of ground if you don't have a garden. Or burn their corpses in the streets like India did 24/7.

Still, at least you haven't been stupid enough to follow foolish rules eh.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 07/04/2023 17:29

Smokingonthestairs · 07/04/2023 17:10

It’s alright saying you wouldn’t engage with it but what about diseases that make you bleed from every orifice, or flesh rotting diseases, brain shrinking diseases , diseases that make you lose your limbs ?😩
what about diseases that are really visible, like you’re covered in blisters from head to toe?
I think I’d just do what they tell me again, to an extent!

Do you not think something like that might lead people to panic, and to have less trust in authority rather than more? Also, do you reckon all the people who worked outside the home keeping the basic blocks of society functioning last time would be up for doing the same with diseases they had more reason to avoid?

Original poster
GoodChat · 07/04/2023 17:30

daisychain01 · 07/04/2023 17:27

All this ruminating and constantly going round in an interminable loop about the Pandemic, especially in a hypothetical situation of it happening again, is not good for anyone's mental health imo.

time to move on and rebuild rather than keep churning away about the same issues as when we were all forced into thinking and dealing with it and didn't have any choice in the matter.

To be fair the thread title made it pretty clear what to expect when you clicked on it. If you think that's not great for your mental health then don't interact with it.

It's not something I'm fretting about or have ever thought about before. I was just driving home from a lovely activity with the kids and thought back to 3 years ago and wondered how people coped with young children who they couldn't wear out with nice trips for so long. So I thought I'd get a consensus.

OP posts:
Original poster
GoodChat · 07/04/2023 17:31

BMW6 · 07/04/2023 17:28

Well if people don't take measures to stop the next Pandemic spreading then when the NHS staff are all off sick with it or dead you'll be in the happy position of being able to set your child's broken leg yourselves. Yay you.

Or if they get sick and die you can bury them in your garden, or in the nearest bit of ground if you don't have a garden. Or burn their corpses in the streets like India did 24/7.

Still, at least you haven't been stupid enough to follow foolish rules eh.

This thread was completely hypothetical and most responses (and the OP IMO) were pretty balanced.

I don't understand why some posters are being so dramatic like this.

OP posts:
PCPurpleHelmet · 07/04/2023 17:32

I didn't follow any of the rules first time round, so if another Covid appeared, I wouldn't follow them the second time round either.

If, however, it was something that was killing hordes of young people, I might think differently.

But I still would not be in favour of lockdown. I will never be in favour of lockdown.

Felixss · 07/04/2023 17:32

Just a to ask the question do you think the elderly would isolate to protect the younger population if something like the Spanish flu hit and disproportionately effected younger people (due to stronger immune systems) I don't think many would be clamouring to make the sacrifice.

anonymous98 · 07/04/2023 17:32

If it's life-threatening, yes. If it's not life-threatening, no, probably not.

That being said, we still don't know enough about the long-term effects of Covid and that is concerning.