To be worried about people over 70 who aren't really taking COVID seriously

[upstar]

I'm really worried about friends and neighbours over 70. They seem to be the ones who are still out and about, going for papers and pensions, refusing offers of help and generally not wanting to make a fuss. I'm sure they think old people are someone else! How do we get across to them that it's really important? They also seem to think that we will all be back to normal next week !!

It took my mum and dad a while to take it seriously. Up until a few weeks ago my dad was still going out for the paper every day and him and my mum were strolling round bloody Asda every day for random crap. My dad had cancer surgery a few weeks ago and came home on the bus?! Wtf?

Thankfully they’ve now got it, my sister and I are shopping for them and leaving it on their step, and their neighbour who works in Asda gets them bits and pieces between times. I suppose they just don’t want to accept that their age makes them vulnerable and don’t want to lose their independence

@jiggeriepokerie
I'm really sorry about your mum. It's stories like yours that break my heart more than the CV stuff weirdly. I hope you have some decent communication methods with your mum atm, must be awful tough if she doesn't live with you . Sending all my best wishes.

South side, I’ve been to,d off for saying similar about my mum

So though your comment wasn’t for me, thank goodness for people who can see this side of it.

You can't police selfishness unfortunately

Where we are, the old people follow rules to the letter while the young parents let their children run around all day playing together 🤷‍♀️

This virus is particularly nasty to those over 70 and that is just a fact

It's not quite like that. That is like saying when the clock strikes midnight and you are 17 becoming 18, you are an adult, shove off and be responsible. You don't suddenly become a vulnerable adult at midnight the night before your 70th birthday.

There are very many vulnerable adults out there, those that have had cancer treatments, my niece who is auto immune supressed etc. And there are many 70 something year olds who would survive it a damn sight better than a 32 yr old lardy arsed 40 a day smoker.

It’s the attitude on MN that’s blatantly ageist. It’s really shocking, as is the lack of self awareness of the most ageist posters. Disgraceful
^This.
I've seen it a lot on MN over the years but even worse since COVID. It's a them and us situation and I feel that you won't get that it's because you are younger with parents who are breaking every rule under the sun.

I've said it before.... if your parents are deliberately flouting the rules by popping and getting their paper every day, having Beryl up the road round for a cuppa, going to an afternoon tea with lots of others... bloody sort them out, and do not assume we are all like that. We're not!. And realise that many of us older ones are taking it very seriously and doing exactly what we should be doing.

It is not ageist to say that over 70s are much more likely to suffer serious illness and die from coronavirus than younger people. That's just a scientific fact

It's also not ageist to point out that it is the younger generation that are disproportionately more likely to suffer from the lockdown restrictions in terms of loss of employment and income, and for the very young disruption to their education, than the elderly who have a steady pension income regardless of economic conditions.

The "ageist" police on Mumsnet who try to shut down any discussion of these topics are so frustrating. The coronavirus discriminates between younger and older people. You can bury your head in the sand about that if you like but why insist on stopping others from discussing it?!

There are very many vulnerable adults out there, those that have had cancer treatments, my niece who is auto immune supressed etc. And there are many 70 something year olds who would survive it a damn sight better than a 32 yr old lardy arsed 40 a day smoker.

Have you got any evidence at all of this ?
The only other risk factor I am aware of is ethnicity.

It's not about what could happen to them - it's about who they could infect.
Whenever we go out we should act as if we're infected [thereby to protect others] AND as if we're going to get infected [to try and protect ourselves].

These are the weekly death figures for Scotland from
www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/
Links to UK, England and Wales are in the tracker

Have you got any evidence to the contrary?

My friend who had breast cancer last year, and a masectomy had the letter from the Govt about not leaving the house for 12 weeks. My niece ditto. She had the letter because of her conditions, she is 40. Is that enough evidence for you?

As for the lardy arse, I would have thought that a 70 year old who has a BMI of 22 and who walks five miles a day compared to a 32 yr old 40 a day smoker who is very overweight and eats junk food all day, would be a fair comparison.

But you take what you want from it, I know which category I would prefer to be in.

There really is no talking to you is there ?
The death rate for under 50 is less than 0.5 % that includes all those with underlying health conditions.

I feel the same.

But the risk to a healthy 16 or 25 yo is virtally nill.

@hopefulhalf a big risk is being male which like being over 70 cuts across all social groups.

Anybody is "allowed" to go out for exercise. If that takes the form of a walk to the shop for a paper then what's the problem? Unless they are on the shielded list then why should someone be kept under some form of house arrest for committing the terrible crime of being a certain age. Why don't we ban teens from going out as many of them aren't keeping to the rules?

True, there was a thread about keeping all men in.

Why isn't the OP (and the rest of you) worried about EVERYONE who isn't taking the rules seriously? Not just older people.

What about the cyclists, joggers, sunbathers, kids playing out, teens hanging out, party-throwers, bbq-holders, The Range shoppers? (And there's more) All over 70 were they?

Why single one group out? If it's the spread that you object to then that's not age-related.

Just wait till some of you get older. You'll understand a bit more of the frustration we 'oldies' feel on here. And I'm not even 70 myself, yet! God help me when I am...

So agree with you NannyOgg.

I don't think anyone on here can deny that there are rule breakers in every age group. Can they?

It's not about what could happen to them - it's about who they could infect.

What about all the young people breaking the rules, are you not concerned about who they infect? The groups of young lads hanging around, the girls sitting by the river having a picnic, the groups of boys biking and chatting side by side, the quad biking young family, the teenager on his quad bike with his friend on a trail bike? I see all of those regularly.

The only other risk factor I am aware of is ethnicity

There are many risk factors other than age and ethnicity, I'm surprised you haven't heard that. Sex, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, immunosuppression for starters.

But age is the biggest one, except for sex that somebody pointed out.

A healthy 70 year old has a thousand fold risk of dying compared to a healthy 20 year old.

Sorry 100X 0.1 vs 10%

Of course the risk to older people is higher, but to say age and ethnicity are the only two risk factors was incorrect.

My papa says he has to go sometime - he's 90 in August, but finally conceded to stay indoors after realising he could forest it to others. Also, I said to him that I wanted to visit him for his birthday in August and couldn't do that if he was dead!