Would you travel within the UK at the moment?

[Thymelord]

We are due to travel from the north west to see family in Edinburgh, on 12 March. We had planned to go by train. I think we should cancel and not go because of Corona, husband thinks I am being dramatic and overreacting massively. What would you do?

I am very anxious a lot of the time so will accept I might be being ridiculous!

my mum cancelled going to london for a scan but that's because london is more likely to be infected and shes been in and out of hospital for a year including chemotherapy. I'm going into a hospital to have my gall blader out on tuesday and the virus does make me a bit anxious but i keep thinking about the 81% only get mild symptoms reports and think i'll be fine. I'm not old and i'm pretty healthy.

Atm your at just as much risk as going to the shops or work, so yes I would go but then I am already here . I am planning to go down south to west yorkshire in May to visit an elderly relative who will be lucky to live out the year. Who knows what will happen coronavirus wise between now and then but I will still go unless mass restrictions are in place etc.

You may as well stay at home, having your food delivered (by driver s wearing masks in case your loose food is infected)mm working from home ancc hon e educating your kids if that's the way you think.

What utter nonsense. It simply stands to reason that someone getting their shopping delivered, who also works from home and doesn't go to social events for the time being is going to be less at risk than someone who goes to the supermarket, who works in an office and who goes to all social events, meetings and hobbies.

The first individual above would still be at more risk than someone who lives in a sealed sterile room with no contact with the outside world, but that option obviously isn't doable or practical.

Saying "oh well you do one thing so why not do all of them" is ridiculous. That's like saying if you're driving down the motorway and your seatbelt breaks, you might as well increase your speed to 100mph and drive with your eyes shut. Ridiculous.

The point is, that those of us who CAN mitigate the risk, should. Those of us who can work from home, should work from home. Those of us who can cancel non essential meetings, trips and holidays, should. Those of us who can easily avoid social occasions, should. Those of us happy to get our shopping online, should.

There will always be people who can't do one or more of the above for whatever reason, and that's life.

This is the advice from the head of the WHO about over 60s avoiding public places

And he can just fuck right off. A huge number of over 60s are still working, how are they supposed to avoid crowded places? I’m not prepared to put my life on hold just in case I might catch a virus. Life’s about quality, not quantity and I’m not spending precious days skulking about in a half life just because I’m over 60.

Some of us have to for work ! Our bosses aren’t arsed enough to stop it so I figure just carry on as usual.

How can the over 60’s avoid public places - many are still in full time work???

@Parker231 have you lost the plot? Aren't you married to a GP? This is the Head of the World Health Organisation telling over 60s and other groups to avoid crowded areas. its really bloody serious now!

I know it isn't easy/convenient etc but that's the official advice! Clearly not everyone can follow it but those of us who can should!

Two of my friends are over 60 and nurses, another teaches at a large school - should they not be in work because they are over 60 and work in a crowded environment?

It is only advice not an order. I guess the general message is that if you are over 60 be extra careful with hygiene, social interaction etc. If these warnings weren't given people would wail 'well nobody told ME about the risks'. Well now you know the risks, it's up to you how you deal with them.

So everyone whose 60th birthday is behind them should just can their job, stay at home and rot until - when? How long are we supposed to put our lives on hold? And for what? Just in case we contract a virus we could easily recover from? No way, life’s too short.

My best pal nearly died of swine flu and she’s nowhere near as bothered as some of the absolute anxious messes on this site 😂 are you all the same people that were sobbing over Brexit and stockpiling calpol and loo roll for when it ‘definitely’ went out of circulation months ago ?

It's up to you what you do, so long as you aren't putting others at risk.

In your position I'd be angrier with the younger, healthier people who are still travelling as normal, not self-isolating when appropriate, turning up at GP surgeries with Corona symptoms, using the NHS inappropriately on a daily basis and not following the simple rules like frequent hand-washing rather than the head of the WHO who is actually trying to save lives.

But you’re not in my position, are you @Waspnest? And I’m not angry, just frustrated at being treated like some fragile little flower who should apparently have given up on life, yet try to prolong it at all costs. If I die, I die, to (almost) quote Joan Collins.

Yep, I can't do my job without travel I have plenty of hand sanitiser and I'm avoiding using lifts.

I am not anxious for myself, DH or DD. However my PILS have diabetes and chronic lung conditions and my DM has recently had chemo. All are over 80 and my parents use the GP surgery in the news so yes I am a bit worried for them. Is that so hard to understand?

No I'm not in your position, I just thought the 'well he can fuck off' comment was unwarranted. He's trying to help even if you personally don't want/need that help.

Many 60 year olds are the very experienced doctors and nurses who would be treating you if you caught the virus and needed hospital treatment. It wouldn’t be ideal if they all self isolated.

It's all very well saying that people should avoid non essential travel and mixing in crowded places, but for the people who work in those transport, shops and leisure services, it is essential to their livelihoods that people continue as normal unless advised otherwise.

If people stopped going to shops, restaurants, cinema, leisure centres, theme parks etc etc, than those places would probably close temporarily, or at least cut back to skeleton staff and the people on low/zero hours contracts would lose most or all of their wages and wouldn't be able to pay their bills and there would be a huge economic knock on effect.

The stock market has already shown it's biggest fall in over 10 years, and there's been a lot of flights cancelled due to panic over Corona and a lot of it is due to what might happen, not what will happen.

Good point @Schuyler, the Dept of Health is also suggesting bringing HCPs out of retirement to help out. I guess they’re a different kind of over 60s!

are you all the same people that were sobbing over Brexit and stockpiling calpol and loo roll for when it ‘definitely’ went out of circulation months ago ?

I'm not a brexit prepper, but surely you should be intelligent enough to realise that the shortages, if any, are obviously not going to come now, while we're in the transition period? They will come if and when we exit with a no deal Brexit.

Not relevant to the thread, just makes me face palm that some people literally do not know how to think.

Also if you're over 60 there's nothing stopping you from ignoring the WHO advice, just don't complain when you're dealing with the consequences. not sure why it's making people so angry.

All this talk of isolation reminds me of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire who chose to self isolate completely during the major outbreak of plague in 1665. The story itself is interesting and very powerful but a huge scientific discovery was found out hundreds of years later. Some descendants of survivors of this plague that wiped out most of the village carry a mutated gene. Their unusually thick cell walls protected them from infection.

We can be as clean as we like and eat as healthily as we can but some of us are always seem more prone to catch illness. I had a colleague who caught absolutely everything going and then her dc were just the same.

Once again, not in the least angry but very frustrated with all the panic and near hysteria. It’s difficult to complain if you’re dead! 🤷‍♀️