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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ask you if you are worried about the new Coronavirus?

999 replies

IvyBush123 · 04/02/2020 06:41

I am not sure if there is reason to worry about the new Coronavirus. I am not a medical expert but to be honest feel a bit scared because we know so little and some experts seem worried. How do you think?

OP posts:
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woodchuck99 · 10/02/2020 11:26

Years ago I worked with someone who proudly announced after I had been sitting next to him all day that he had worked with the temperature of over 102 degrees. I felt like killing him. Subsequently I was very ill for over a week as were many colleagues including a couple who are hospitalised. I'm not suggesting the person from Brighton is similar to that but I think a lot of "super spreaders" are.

ofwarren · 10/02/2020 11:27

We need some TV adverts reminding people of the right way to wash their hands. You can see in public toilets that so many people just give them a little wet and then straight under the dryer. I bet lots of them don't do it at all if nobody is there to witness.

ofwarren · 10/02/2020 11:28

Omg woodchuck I bet you were furious! People like that are so unbelievably selfish

woodchuck99 · 10/02/2020 11:32

Omg woodchuck I bet you were furious! People like that are so unbelievably selfish

Yes, especially as he was a medic. A total selfish narcissist.

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 11:33

@DorritoPaws I feel the same
26 week pregnant and scheduled for 2 operations this year so can’t avoid going to hospitals

NaturalBornWoman · 10/02/2020 11:42

It's more to do with the fact that the benefit of being immunosuppressed may start to outweigh the risks. this is my situation currently @woodchuck99 and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m not due to see my consultant until April but right now I’m not at all happy about taking my drugs. How do you plan to approach this?

woodchuck99 · 10/02/2020 11:47

@NaturalBornWoman at the moment I'm just watching the situation very closely to see how it spreading. I don't think the risk is high at this moment in the UK but obviously that may change. I'm not sure yet at what point I will decide that I need to wash the drugs out. I see my specialist next month but I don't think he will have an answer either.

ofwarren · 10/02/2020 12:00

Stopping the immune suppression drugs wouldn't even be possible for my son. He's a transplant patient and it's to stop rejection.
I can imagine if he actually caught the virus, then they would weigh up whether it would make sense to take the rejection risk.

ofwarren · 10/02/2020 12:11

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-what-is-a-superspreader-and-how-did-uk-man-pass-on-the-coronavirus-11930651 Coronavirus: What is a 'superspreader' and how did UK man pass on the coronavirus?

It is not fully understood why some people are more likely to pass on a pathogen - but identifying them quickly is vital.

MrsBethel · 10/02/2020 12:25

There probably is a distribution to how abundantly different people shed the virus, through no fault of their own.

Whether there is or not, behavioural differences alone could easily account for the 'super-spreader' phenomenon. Some people have poor hygiene, cough openly, 'soldier on' and continue to use high density public transport whilst very ill. If you do all that, you'll probably be infecting easily 10x more people than you could have.

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 12:55

The guardian has an update on the mortality rates and have given figures for both Hubei and outside of china

ploughingthrough · 10/02/2020 13:06

I live in Singapore. Although taking extra precautions (hygiene wise) to keep myself and my family safe, I am leading a normal day to day life. It is not, however, easy to live here at the moment. People are jittery, there has been panic buying over the weekend and schools are doing lessons only (no extra events or anything with a crowd).
It's not that fun, but even in Singapore I am not very worried. Percentage wise it is still a very small number of people and I believe that it's the elderly or medically vulnerable who are at the most risk (much like other viral or flu type infections).

HIVpos · 10/02/2020 13:12

Have to say I really dislike the term 'super spreader'. The way this is being used in headlines and the wording makes it sound like he did it on purpose. Putting the words in inverted commas makes it sound even worse. Wonder how any of us would feel if it were us being called that? Thankfully some reporters have now been told not to use the term.

As far as being immuno compromised/suppressed goes, I think the only way is for us to continue as before, making sure all vaccinations like flu/pneumonia if relevant are up to date so preventing us from possibly catching anything that might lower our immune systems further, plus keeping generally healthy as we can (diet, exercise etc), while following rigorously any direction given by the NHS. Other than that, it's life as normal, whilst keeping a careful eye on the news.

brainfogg · 10/02/2020 13:13

To be honest, I think a good amount of people could do well to worry about this, the amount of ignorance, arrogance and sheer stupidity I’ve heard recently is shocking.

When telling family about my anxiety over this I’ve been told by two separate people ‘Oh unless you eat bat soup you’ll be absolutely fine’ and also ‘I’m not worried at all, there’s a very low Chinese population here so it’s fine but I recommend you avoid Chinese takeaways if you’re worried as that’s the most likely way you’ll catch it’ Hmm

If there was a bit of fear and panic in people they might stop being complete disgusting slobs and actually care about hygiene. This situation has highlighted to me so much about how vile people are, coughing in shops right in people’s faces, sneezing over objects and into the air. Not washing hands after the toilet or before eating. And several who have said they don’t care about this virus one bit and will happily travel and sit in crowded places without a care in the world.

The guy who threatened to leave quarantine is not a surprise to me actually because people are in general very selfish, rude and entitled.

Even though I HATE what my anxiety has done to me and my life, there are times when I’m weirdly grateful for it. I would rather be conscientious, over protective and vigilant to help protect my family and others who are vulnerable in society, than not give a shit like so many.

woodchuck99 · 10/02/2020 13:14

It's not that fun, but even in Singapore I am not very worried. Percentage wise it is still a very small number of people and I believe that it's the elderly or medically vulnerable who are at the most risk (much like other viral or flu type infections).

You are not worried about the fact that six of the 45 people needed intensive care? That's not similar to flu!

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 13:14

brainfogg - how did you deal with such a racist response from family?! Shock

brainfogg · 10/02/2020 13:16

I called it what it was, racist! I wasn’t that shocked sadly, the two people who said these things I always suspected were racist and now I know. It made me lose a lot of respect for them!!

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 13:17

such a shame people are so small minded to think that way.

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 13:20

A medical centre in brighton has been evacuated due to medical emergency this morning.

www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/02/10/brighton-medical-centre-evacuated/

I am assuming the doctor who is the latest confirmed case has potentially been in close contact with a lot of people there and it is best to close ?

ploughingthrough · 10/02/2020 13:21

Woodchuck of course it's worrying for those people but do you know their medical history already? It is also very likely that many more people in Singapore have a mild dose of Coronavirus - these are not diagnosed or documented so numbers are highly skewed anyway, as I expect they are in other countries.

What would you like me to do? Worry when I can't do anything other than practise safe hygiene? Frighten my kids by panicking when Singapore is undertaking huge cleaning and quarantining efforts? Leave Singapore where my job and family are? What use is panicking? Is it not better to do what you can to slow the spread of infection and otherwise live as normal a life as possible.

Fear breeds fear. Fear breeds panicking type behaviours (like clearing out supermarkets and wearing masks when you are not sick) which helps no one.

ploughingthrough · 10/02/2020 13:22

And it's a good thing the UK doesn't report it's flu stats every year or we would be in a yearly state of panic and fear.

FourTeaFallOut · 10/02/2020 13:25

It does it every week ploughingthrough.

teta · 10/02/2020 13:25

I'm not even sure thats racism ,rather than sheer ignorance. There is a question that the virus can live on non-porous surfaces for several days. If Dh's factory in China send machinery over to Europe how do they ensure its safe? From a European manager who is no way racist . Pause to think .

ploughingthrough · 10/02/2020 13:26

Case by case in the national news?

NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 13:28

@teta the doctors on radio 5 live had the same question asked of them but said that anything shipped from china will be free from virus by the time we get them anyway and its not an issue of transfer that way.