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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not have a great deal of sympathy for people who attended the Cheltenham Races and now have the virus?

26 replies

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 02/04/2020 14:16

Who in their right mind would attend an event with 60000 people at when there is a deadly virus about? Fair enough the (greedy) organisers should have cancelled it but really? people went anyway?

OP posts:
Original poster
NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 02/04/2020 14:17

Actually that comes across as though I am glad they have the virus. I'm not glad and I apologise if it looks that way. I just think people should have practiced due diligence.

OP posts:
Justmuddlingalong · 02/04/2020 14:20

You're right. That's exactly how I read it.

SeperatedSwans · 02/04/2020 14:21

I think one issue is it was still being downplayed a little by the government at that point. So many went thinking AHH only mild flu at the worst.

People make decisions on the information they are given, they were given half the story so made an unwise decision.

LoveFameTragedy · 02/04/2020 14:22

I think at the time people were taking the decision to go, or not, they may have felt to not go was an overreaction. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

AllInclusive321 · 02/04/2020 14:23

Has any figures came out yet about those who have the virus and went to the races? I know a couple of people who went for the full event and so far seem okay.

corlan · 02/04/2020 14:23

Easy to say that now. A few days before the Cheltenham Festival, the Prime Minister and his pregnant girlfriend were at the rugby at Twickenham with 80,000 other people.

MyBlueMoonbeam · 02/04/2020 14:23

What a fucking nasty thread

forkfun · 02/04/2020 14:24

I suggest you use this time in lockdown to cultivate and practise compassionate.
Stay well.

Alb1 · 02/04/2020 14:27

They were told extra measures were in place to help it be as safe as possible, it wasn’t refundable if they didn’t go, and the government didn’t cancel it, so it’s no surprise they didn’t all predict the future and not go. If some of those people did catch the virus there and now die, they are still people with lives and families that are just as valuable as yours and mine, it’s still just as tragic as every other death. YABU

Pleasebeafleabite · 02/04/2020 14:28

The “greedy” organisers rely on one large event each year and without the appropriate cancellation insurance presumably wanted to remain solvent in order to continue operating the racecourse n future years as a going concern.

AmelieTaylor · 02/04/2020 14:28

Easy to say that now

It was easy to say that THEN & many of us did, but kept getting ‘told off’ for ‘scaremongering’

Anyone with half a brain cell could see what was coming, but people didn’t want to listen nor curtail their fun.

I partly blame the Govt for taking the handshaking/all good/just like the flu fuckwitted approach they did, but at the same time people have to take responsibility for their actions.

China didn’t do what they did for shits & giggles FFS

HighNetGirth · 02/04/2020 14:32

Ugh.

Lots of people in racing are not well paid and race goers may have felt staying away from the biggest event in jump racing would tip them into crisis, weighing that against what didn’t seem to be a massive risk of infection at the time. Govt should have been telling National Hunt racing and other sports to shut down but didn’t.

A dear elderly friend of mine got the virus at Cheltenham but has recovered. I don’t think it was such an obvious misjudgment to go that he deserves no sympathy.

powershowerforanhour · 02/04/2020 14:39

With hindsight it would have been better if it- and Crufts which finished 2 days before Cheltenham and hosted 155,000 people from 50 different countries in an enclosed space- had taken place behind closed doors; but OTOH there were no restrictions in place at that point. There were still approx 5 million tube journeys/day (many of them non essential); all the airports and big railway stations were still shifting millions of people around the country and the world; nurseries, schools, universities, non essential shops and other businesses, offices, museums, art galleries- everything was still open. So there was no real point in cancelling Cheltenham or any other gathering except for the sake of optics. It's only logical that everyone does roughly the same thing at the same time as far as shutdown is concerned or it's pointless.

dontgobaconmyheart · 02/04/2020 14:40

Unpleasant thread. Surely you can think those who went shouldn't have done- and still have sympathy for human suffering.
Indeed all those out of the house for anything other than medicine or essential (not a chocolate bar, a bottle of wine, one item you 'fancy', bloody cake making stuff because they like the idea now) are no better, are causing huge stress and risking lives of the poor staff forced to work in retail with no PPE on next to no money. All of the above do need to grow up and think about who they are as a person that someone elses life is worth less than their entitlement.

However the impact of illness is awful, the illness can be awful. I feel a great deal of sympathy for anyone its affecting and pray they recover fully.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 02/04/2020 14:49

Yes, you are being unreasonable, and nasty.

Carbosug · 02/04/2020 14:49

Thousands of people travelled from Ireland to attend it and then flew home defiantly insisting they had done nothing wrong. The general opinion was that they were selfish bastards.

Lordfrontpaw · 02/04/2020 14:51

I feel sorry for anyone sick right now (and a more sorry for the event staff woking)

gailforce1 · 02/04/2020 15:01

Powershower could not agree more.
Also, these people are claiming to have the virus - have they actually been tested?

TildaKauskumholm · 02/04/2020 15:17

I agree it's hard to have much sympathy, it was clearly not a good idea even if it was wrongly allowed to go ahead.

JKD1982 · 02/04/2020 15:21

It shouldn’t have been allowed to go ahead but the racing industry are greedy and want as much betting money as they can.

My family attended and I was extremely annoyed they did. Pointless and stupid. Can watch a horse run around on tv.

powershowerforanhour · 02/04/2020 15:43

racing industry are greedy and want as much betting money as they can

All profits from betting on the "virtual" Grand National are going to the NHS. As it happens.

alittlequinnie · 02/04/2020 15:50

I remember clearly this was lambasted at the time - it was all over GMB and Doctor Hillary was expressing his concern that people went to it - so the news was definately out that there may be an issue with a large crowd like this.

I remember the same reaction to the crowds at the Stereophonics concert too.

I suspect that real issue lies with the organisers not closing it but there was no way there hadn't been warnings about big gatherings like this at the time.

PardonWhat · 02/04/2020 15:52

YANBU. I watched people ready to go and wondered what was going on in their littles heads.

Sleepwhenimalive · 02/04/2020 16:06

Just awful. How you could muster up the thought process to such an extent to start such a horrible thread is beyond me.

Newdadtogirl · 02/04/2020 16:10

YANBU, We knew there was a virus, we knew you catch it from others, we knew that large crowds were dangerous.
Unfortunately a lot of people are selfish and only think about themselves. Attendees prioritised a day out above the safety of their friends, families, and the rest of us.
Unfortunately for them karma and Darwinism may prove to be all too real!