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?

@noooblerooble -great post. I think many people are living in denial. Many people (my mum who has severe heart problems and copd, and my dad who is in a care home with dementia for example) would be totally unsuitable to ventilate and I would support any doctor who would make this decision. Yes it would be heartbreaking, both have long standing DNR orders in place so it would be their wish.

I think unfortunately due to the taboo of death many people though have not had such discussions and there seems to be a presumption, especially outside the medical profession of preserving life at all costs. Life has to end at some point, ideally this should be as peaceful and natural as possible. Staying in icu on a ventilator can lead to a very long road to recovery, sometimes this will never be full.

At the moment it looks like the nhs will remain stretched but within capacity, if this remains true everyone who might benefit from ventilation will receive it, those who unfortunately die from this deadly virus would probably have passed regardless of government policy, medicine is not able to save everyone unfortunately. It’s not clear why some seemingly healthy people die, viral load? Genetics? Latent health problems? sheer dumb bad luck?

But I think people seem to be denying the sad truth that people are going to keep dying from this. It will be interesting whether countries that are managing to currently keep their death rate low through testing and tracing with targeted isolation manage to maintain this long term or will they end up with similar numbers long term spread over a longer period once more movement starts to occur up to the point of a vaccine/treatment.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras I think noble was discussing similar groups to me, ie people who would not benefit long term from ventilation rather than people who would but have long term health conditions/treatment which makes it more likely they would suffer complications from this illness.

@Lifeisgenerallyfun

I'm 50. This isn't me ( or it wasn't until 4 weeks ago)

those who unfortunately die from this deadly virus would probably have passed

How would you feel if someone said it to you right now?

Lifeisgenerallyfun

Where's the difference? I have no way of telling how seriously this will affect me other than my hospital consultant telling me to take it very seriously because the chances are if I catch it I will be seriously ill.

My oxygen level is already much lower than it should be. I doubt I will have the capacity to stay at home and try to recover from this but from what I'm hearing it's virtually impossible to get 111 to help you. I don't know if my illness would cause the drs to decide not to ventilate me and I don't want to find out.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras you missed an important part off my quote “those who unfortunately die from this deadly virus would probably have passed” I ended this “regardless of government policy.” This does not mean all the people who pass away from the illness would have died if we didn’t have CV-19, obviously many wouldn’t. But what I’m saying is a different government policy would probably not have saved them. They are two entirely different points.

I understand why you are particularly frightened, although I cannot obviously feel what you’re feeling
And I sincerely hope that you don’t have to go to hospital with this terrible illness. I’m not sure what your current Illness is but would you be able to speak to any relevant support groups to see if they have any further information regarding cv-19 and your specific illness?

YANBU. Some of the threads are ridiculous and bullying towards people who do not adopt exactly the same measures as the op seems to think they should.

YANBU at all

@PineappleDanish

YANBU.

It's like the Coronavirus Olympics. Some posters think they are going to get a gold medal for not leaving the house in a month and bathing their children hourly in bleach.

OMG spat out my tea - soooo funny - thanks for cheering me up.

Just to clarify. From Public Health England:

Public Health England estimates that on average 17,000 people have died from the flu in England annually between 2014/15 and 2018/19. However, the yearly deaths vary widely from a high of 28,330 in 2014/15 to a low of 1,692 in 2018/19. Public Health England does not publish a mortality rate for the flu.

So the poster who claimed 2000 deaths annually is somewhat underestimating.

Mittens - gosh, yes, I remember being rather frightened re vCJD at the time (having, ironically, gone veggie shortly before it all came out). I'm still not allowed to give blood where I live now because of that risk.

YANBU. At all.

I've also found some of the responses to the pandemic more worrying than the condition itself.

I've just made an apricot crumble 😁

I've just made an apricot crumble 😁

The BEST post on this thread

I’m not sure what your current Illness is but would you be able to speak to any relevant support groups to see if they have any further information regarding cv-19 and your specific illness?

That's the thing though, there isn't any specific information. All they can do is guide us based on what they know about other infections. They don't know for sure what will happen if I catch this but from what they can see, and from their experience with other viruses, someone in my situation is likely to not do well.

I don't know if I would be a candidate for a ventilator - possibly if there was capacity in the system, but given that my lung capacity is already compromised realistically I know that likely outcomes wouldn't be great. So, the best advice is to not catch it.

It just makes me angry to see sweeping statements along the lines of "they were all likely to die soon anyway" or variations there of. Many of us weren't likely to die soon and have been living normal and productive lives and not considered as surplus to requirements.

There are some people on here who’ve taken things to the extreme, assuming they wouldn’t receive treatment (including mechanical ventilation) without any evidence or suggestion from a doctor that this would be the case. I know anxiety contributes to this but a 35 year well controlled asthmatic who’s rarely needed hospital treatment but occasionally needs steroids is not going to be just given palliative care for no reason.

Often, people with serious respiratory conditions will have discussed this with a doctor, even if they are young. If you’re prone to needing hospital treatment for pneumonia then chances are, you’ll know the score and the have discussed the risks.

None has discussed them with me, other than to say that they consider .e to be at very high risk and to do everything I can not to catch it.

My views on ventilators and ITU are based on reading the frailty score guidelines from NICE and also considering my own current respiratory capacity. With oxygen sats of barely 91% it doesn't take a genius to work out that it won't take much to make me hypoxic and if my lungs aren't working well to begin with (low O2 and co2 retention) then how well will they cope with being ventilated?

I think people actually think that the government should be stopping the virus completely and if they don't and people die then it is a national disgrace.

This.

We live in a time where medical science has advanced so much that relatively very few people die of diseases that in times gone by would have claimed the lives of a large percentage of people, children included.

Therefore, people just cannot get their head around the idea that science doesn't yet have all the answers and that people still sometimes die. You see it a lot with cancer as well. It's why some people are convinced that 'big pharma' has 'the cure for cancer' and are hiding it to make more money or whatever. Because people just cannot believe that we don't yet have a way of curing every illness.

It's the same with this. We are so privileged to live in a time when so many illnesses and diseases have been eradicated or are curable, that we cannot get our heads around it when a disease comes along that we don't have the magic answer for and people die. We think that it must just be that people arent trying hard enough to stop it from happening.

@YoyoYOO Totally agree with you! Seriously don't know why people post questions on here regarding corona knowing full well the drama police will be ready to attack 😂

@YoyoYOO I drove to my mum's with a food parcel today and sorted her garden while she sat inside but people on this site will hang me for that and expect my mum to starve 😂

yanbu

I don't feel people are necessarily 'hysterical' as the fear of the virus, serious illness, and high risk to vulnerable people is something to be rationally afraid of.

What I do think though, is that it has made some/ a lot of people viciously judgmental, authoritarian and rigid.

It has frightened me how easily and quickly, large numbers of people will adopt self appointed enforcement roles and not even tolerate common sense questions or nuance.

Many people seem to relish the opportunity for rules which can be used to shame others and elevate themselves as the good citizen enforcers, to the extent of not even tolerating discussion of 'guidance'.

And the extent to which some people want even stricter rules, without considering, or allowing consideration of, the necessity or efficacy..

There has been a thought police element evident which has been so quickly adopted by so many.

It's really made me question, or maybe begin to understand, how seemingly peaceful societies can descend into totaliterianism quite easily.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Obviously I don’t know your circumstances (and I’m not asking as you don’t have to share personal medical info with a stranger) but I assume you have a respiratory doctor who knows your risk factors. I don’t see why you couldn’t be ventilated with what I assume is some sort of lung disease? It happens for many complex respiratory cases.

Essentially what I’m saying is that you cannot make assumptions based on perceived risk factors.

One comment on an early thread though has made me laugh over and over again over the past weeks:

It was discussion over whether people were eating less and rationing their food. Lots of people were.(I'm obviously doing things wrong!)

One poster commented that she was no longer eating biscuits as she was saving them for the children.

Don't know why but this keeps making me laugh.

I think some people are looking for an opportunity for heroism.
But sacrificing biscuits even when there isn't a biscuit shortage, isn't it

People are always hysterical on Mumsnet. Isn't that why everyone reads it? Why would the Daily Mail steal it so often if it didn't do a great line in hysteria and general obnoxiousness?

That said, when something is picking off 1000 citizens a day, a proportionate response couldn't be described as hysteria unless you have something to spin. A proportionate response probably is a certain amount of alarm and thank goodness for that, otherwise no one would stay at home and the death toll would be exponentially higher in a month.

YANBU