To say some people are being ridiculously hysterical?

[YoyoYOO]

It's a serious situation, of course it is and I understand the need to slow the spread. And I understand why those at particularly high risk would be extra careful.

But honestly, some of the threads on here at the moment. It is just a constant, endless circle of people slagging off their friends or family for some perceived flouting of THE RULES, panicking and losing sleep because you're not sure if you disinfected your Amazon parcel well enough, quarantining a carton of milk for 72hrs, being called a serial killer because you sat down on some grass for 10 minutes after going for a run, stopping to talk to a family member out the window after your supermarket trip is akin to the worst crime known to man.

I've never ever read or witnessed such mass hysteria before. AIBU to think that some people are going absolutely crazy?

Mascotte
it's still from the government website...

If the Op had come on and said people weren’t taking the threat serious enough, and she’d seen a lot of frivolous activity etc, everyone would be saying how unreasonable she was, we don’t all have to be miserable just because of lockdown..... Such is the nature of mumsnet, whatever your view is the opposite will be held. You can’t win.

@MamaBearLockdown I was stating what the law is. That’s the law.

Anything else is not the law but guidance or interpretation

Not hysterical but I've been bloody scared.
Got accused of all sorts on some threads though, so am reigning it in a bit now. There's not a lot you can do about it, apart from being careful and not taking chances.

honeyroar

But the people washing things down aren’t being hysterical! It’s a perfectly sensible thing to do in these circumstances. If you’re happy just washing your hands fair enough, but you really shouldn’t be mocking people that are taking a little more care. Three weeks ago I’d have poo pooed it all a bit too and said it’s only flu, but I’ve had to face the facts.

Now this is what I've said all along. Those people who didn't take it seriously enough at the beginning have now gone to the other extreme!

Think about what you've said. Three weeks you misassessed the risk, and now, three weeks later, you are still, in my not-so-humble opinion, misassessing it!

Mittens030869 I absolutely was not sneering. The poster I thought was drip feeding had a very sharp earlier response saying that she was doing everything she could to stay safe in response to Hamstersarse who I thought was very measured in a subsequent response.

The poster will health issues then, I think, was very sarcastic and scathing and suddenly including a whole load of very relevant not previously referred to information. OP or not, think that's a drip feed and unfair.

'No it's not certain that they will die, obviously, but there's also the possibility that they could be very unwell, which most of us would understandably like to avoid.'

Oh, absolutely - no argument with that at all, and I'm sorry to hear you have been and are ill with it. I also don't think that people saying they've been told they 'will die' are deliberately scaremongering. But clearly there is a heightened discourse of fear that is leading people to believe this.

Some people are overreacting and worrying excessively, it's true, but the tone of your post is judgemental, nasty and completely lacking in empathy, OP. So are some of the responses. This is an unprecedented situation and you've no way of knowing what any given poster's mental health or coping resources are like. Show some compassion and just hide the threads that get on your nerves, if other people's emotions are such a massive annoyance to you.

Also, 'hysterical' is a word that's been used for centuries now to put women down. It's disappointing to see women using it to put each other down.

Having lost 4 people I would say people aren't panicking enough

I just think the accusation of 'drip feeding' is thrown around far too much in general, and mostly because it spoils the picture they have created about that person. No one includes all relevant information, sometimes it can actually be an oversight.

The 'drip feeding' accusation leads to excessively long posts because the poster doesn't want to drip feed'.

OK then Mittens . Personally I thought it was eye-wateringly relevant.

You may be tired of drip-feed accusations, me, first time in almost ten years on Mumsnet of ever saying it, so I'm pretty comfortable with that. Especially on a thread about over reacting.

Point taken; apologies for snapping a bit, I don't look to see which posters make the accusation. Maybe you don't but others do and a lot. But it wasn't fair to snap at you.

I also think some of you need to show some empathy towards people who have underlying health issues (it certainly explains that poster's strong reaction), as for them it's a very real risk to their life and they won't appreciate the accusation of being 'hysterical' (I know that wasn't you btw).

I'm a little bit defensive myself, because I have been very unwell myself and do want people to realise that COVID-19 might be a mild illness for some, but you can't be sure that will be the case for you.

cattestreet the first thing to note is that the “shielded” people are not the same as the high risk patients. People who are shielded are really at a very very high risk of dying, much high than the at risk group (such as those with diabetes or high blood pressure). They have been told this via their doctors and the government webpages.

The second thing is that people in ICU with invasive ventilation who have a survival rate of ~50% are not the high risk patients necessarily. Many of these patients were perfectly healthy.

people are getting scared about being in the “high risk” groups from the study in China which stratified patients by their conditions and ages and looked at the case fatality rate in those groups (which is not 200%, but still pretty high). There have been subsequent studies in other countries with similar figures.

In many cases, if you have a serious underlying condition you may not be given icu. We’re not quite there yet in the uk but in New York, Spain and Italy lots of patients in the high risk groups were marked “not for ICU” on their notes.

That's alright . I'm probably defensive too - I'm a Civil Servant spending my days being fair and balanced and needing the evidence. Seeing so many posts/ threads were folk just not being fair and over reacting is probably not the best place for me to find light relief!

I don't understand the people who blithely say they are trying to slow the spread so it doesnt overwhelm the nhs - they must see the nhs is totallly overwhelmed? Operating theatres turned into wards just for covid, conference centres filled with beds because we can't fit them in the hospitals

This post on this thread is part of the problem. I know things are very serious and yes other treatments are being delayed currently and that is going to have an impact on society and individuals but right this minute this post isn't accurate. There are still itu beds. There is still space on wards. Some of the additional hospitals which have sprung up might not even be used as many hospitals are coping. It's not about saying 'it's all fine'. It's not. But I am seeing these kinds of posts endlessly on here and they don't reflect reality.

everythingthelighttouches - I understand that, and understand that there is a very high risk indeed to some people. But that is still not the same as saying they will die, as a certainty, surely? I'm trying to think of a comparable condition - that kills everyone who gets it - and I mercifully can't, except perhaps (say) rabies. If you catch rabies you will die (and even there there's been a handful of exceptions). But for most other things with high fatality rates (say meningitis, sepsis), death is not a certainty but a risk - a very, very serious risk and one that needs mitigating against - but not a certainty.

I say this not because I wish to minimise people's very real and often justified fears, but rather because a ramped-up rhetoric at the 'top' end - from 'x is at high risk of serious and possibly fatal illness if she catches it' to 'x will die if she catches it' - ramps up the rhetoric at the 'lower' ends too, from 'most people have mild or even aysmptomatic cases but there is a small risk of severe and potentially fatal illness' to 'most people are at [implied: significant] risk of serious illness and therefore of dying' - which perpetuates the climate of fear with all its negative effects.

Having lost 4 people I would say people aren't panicking enough

That is an utter tragedy. I am so very sorry. I can't even think how you're coping.

The reality is, however, that most people are not going to be in your position. It is still the case that this virus only kills a small minority. Every death matters and we need to be working to prevent as many people dying as possible but you have been hugely horribly unlucky. No I don't believe people panicking more benefits society. The government have said how largely people are taking it seriously and staying in. There is no need for more panic.

We’re not quite there yet in the uk but in New York, Spain and Italy lots of patients in the high risk groups were marked “not for ICU” on their notes.

Lots of patients even outside of this pandemic are not suitable for ICU interventions. If someone is 89 and has had pneumonia 5 times and has cancer, it's actively cruel to ventilate or resuscitate them. I appreciate the stories about there not being the potential to treat everyone are terrifying and I can't sit here and say if decisions were made not to treat people who could have been treated in some places. But it's not that clear cut. There are lots of people dying of the virus who were very ill to start with. No, I know not all, but many. I have several elderly relatives who if they get it, they will likely die. It's still wouldn't be the right decision for them to be ventilated at any stage. It would be unnatural and put them through additional trauma.

@CatteStreet

The one illness I can think of that's invariably fatal that I know about is the vCJD, the human form of BSE. Thankfully it didn't kill as many as was feared at the time, but it was a horrific death.

@Pamelaandthepinecones

But just because a poster doesn't declare their health status why should anyone assume that they are fit and well and worrying unnecessarily?

I don't think it's relevant for me to post my medical records because it doesn't make any difference. The fact is that in every other aspect of our lives we are encouraged to do whatever we can to keep healthy and avoid preventable diseases or accidents - except this apparently. With this you are judged hysterical if you are taking fairly basic precautions to protect yourself.

Can I ask if any official advice/instructions from the government/PHE etc has been given with regard to washing/quarantining food, post, parcels? I’m not trying to be goady just trying to find some clarification as seems to be such a lot of conflicting advice & research thank you.

People seem to be using the word "terrified" to excuse poor behaviour. People who are letting nurses tyres down if the don't recognise their car or because they're "not from round here" - it's because they're terrified. People shouting abuse at others for going out for a walk (even though they are also out) - it's because they're terrified. People selfishly stockpiling things - it's because they're terrified. People having a go at me for going out every day (managing a care home) - it's because they're terrified. Except they aren't the people who are terrified. They're the people who are enjoying feeling like their curtain twitching is a good thing.

I know loads and f people who have the symptoms with varying degrees of severity but no-one who had even been hospitalised, let alone died. So this is definitely not the plague yet people are reacting as if it is. Yes of course it is sad if someone with health problems catches an infectious disease and this is an accelerating in what would in any case be an early death, but save the panic for when it is the Black Dearh and when 50% of young and healthy people are dying directly of it.

Noooblerooble

But a lot of us in the shielded group aren't 89 with serious health conditions. I'm 50. There are a lot of people like me in various support groups that I'm in - youngish, working, living relatively normal lives apart from an annoying health condition that require us to take immunosuppressants. The thought of dying wasn't in my head. Ordinarily it should be a long way off and then bam! Now we are having to face it as s reality. Something that might happen soon. I'm getting fed up keep reading posts that make it sound like everyone in the shielded group has got one foot in the grave.