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?

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

Yes, and it’s really worrying.

I also think people’s reaction has highlighted the almost God like status the general public has raised science to, an omnipotent saviour. Then the government and scientists are constantly blamed for changing tactics. This is a new problem requiring new solutions, learning as we go.

Broken down to its basic principles science is nothing more than falsifiable hypotheses to be tested by repeatable observations. Basically just keep trying things til we get it right. Sometimes the results of previous experiments might be useful in narrowing down the remit of a relevant hypothesis. It is not a global panacea for all the world’s ills. It is a keep trying things until we come up trumps, the things that are tried by scientists are guided by previous experience and theoretical knowledge. It’s why we get sent for loads of blood tests rather than just have one blood test giving all the answers - it’s an informed process of elimination.

Yet for some people (not scientists) science should immediately know all the answers, be able to save everyone, not change its opinion. I’ve loved seeing all the scientists on tv patiently )and usually with humour) explaining what’s they are doing.

In the Black Death people prayed to God for deliverance if they were worthy

With this “pestilence” as the COfE referred to it, people are demanding immediate and unequivocal saviour by the state and science.

Faith and expectations to solve the challenges presented in both periods were misplaced.

But just as in Eyam during the plague, looking to what we can do to help wider society rather than how to serve ourselves lies in an individual’s willingness to self sacrifice for the greater good. It will be this that decides whether we win or lose this battle more than anything which happens in a test tube or round a cabinet table.

But chis Whitty deserves massive recognition after this is over.

Yanbu people are being ridiculous

@Greysparkles Yes but someone's mum sisters friend probably told them those figures , I'm seeing so much in factual things in here if people are going to quite figured then they Should do as you have done and post source as well

I also think people’s reaction has highlighted the almost God like status the general public has raised science to, an omnipotent saviour. Then the government and scientists are constantly blamed for changing tactics. This is a new problem requiring new solutions, learning as we go.

Well, quite, but that is why I get annoyed with people insisting that they can do whatever they want, so long as they stay two metres apart, as though that guarantees safety.

The scientists think, at the moment, that is a safe distance but they don't know it for sure and some evidence is now coming out that throws doubt onto it. So, insisting you are safe by following social distancing and then ignoring guidelines and sunbathing in the park or whatever isn't applying critical thinking. It's putting blind faith in science and believing that what they know now is correct and absolute, when it may well change as time goes on.

Of can every death is very, very sad and even 1 would have been 1 too much. However...224 THOUSAND people died in the UK ALONE during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919 and you can bet our ancestors never behaved like some are now - hysterically quaranting their mail or frantically cleaning their shopping down.

It might change, of course. But there is absolutely zero chance of anyone being able to act based on something that may or may not happen. Common sense also dictates that lying on the grass metres and metres away from anyone else is highly unlikely to spread the disease. Those applying that common sense are no more extrapolating than those who are applying their own, different, common sense and assuming that science will change and say that actually grass can carry it.

That brand of thinking to my mind sounds a lot like the arguments used by antivaxxers.

@hearhoovesthinkzebras exactly- this is why people looking for loopholes is so wrong. The government have repeatedly said people need to stick to the spirit of the legislation, basically they don’t know the answers except that it spreads between people, sometimes through airborne droplets other times through contaminated surfaces. That’s why the spirit of the legislation is stay at home as much as possible with the exception of what are seen as NEEDS. Ie food, minimal exercise, medical needs of yourself and others, work which absolutely cannot be done at home, ie things NEEDED. If you don’t NEED to leave home don’t - no one knows enough about this virus to make the alternative safe for you, or more importantly others. Even in war zones people NEED to leave the house for basic life sustaining things.

I think the main mistake the Government has made in all this is assuming that all people have common sense and a sense of societal responsibility.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat Thank you. It's a lesson I learned from my African friends, who don't spend their whole lives worrying that they'll catch malaria or another dangerous illness. Life does have to go on eventually.

I don't think YABU, no. I think a lot of people have the luxury of being able to fully isolate - perhaps they've been furloughed, perhaps they're living on pensions etc. Others don't have that luxury - some of us are still going to work every day (in schools, supermarkets, care homes etc) while also doing shopping for not only ourselves, but our elderly or vulnerable neighbours, so the risks we are facing every day make the risks of a bit of sitting on some grass in a park to eat a sandwich seem minor.

I think it's the people who are actually able to minimize their risks who are getting most militant about other people's perceived flouting of 'the rules'. Along with a touch of good old British malice.

@cologne4711

Hear Hear! Sure the govt has made some mistakes, but they were guided by scientists with conflicting views. There has been a huge politicisation of this virus, and the blame culture has blossomed under it.

I also think some people can’t understand that we are staying in so the nhs isn’t breached and that we are not trying to stop the virus, and why. They also don’t understand the low death rate, and many people are absolutely sure they and their children will die if they get it, even with no underlying health conditions.

Many people also seem to think this is going to be it for the next eighteen months to two years, with no hope of a successful treatment and a vaccine being as late as it could be. Worst case scenario always.

It’s pure fear for many people. They can share it on here and find others who feel the same, validating each other’s darkest thoughts.

In real life I wonder how their families, friends, colleagues etc deal with them, if they also validate or if they ignore it and tell them to stop panicking.

On here it’s all “I’m not sending my kids to school, they will die, anyone else, I’m not the only one” followed by a small chorus of “totally agree”.

So validation in its worst form.

🙄 bogroll

Cleaning my groceries doesn't mean I'm mentally unwell. I'm not exactly fastidious most if the time.

But I'm multiply high risk, and my toddler has asthma. Do you think that covid-19 can't be spread by an infected person touching items in a shop/warehouse/delivery process? Does the virus die magically once it crosses my front door?

Yes, we all could die at any time. But I'll keep being cautious with my deliveries for now. Bit like wearing a seatbelt, cooking chicken and looking when you cross the road is fine to preserve health, but doesn't make you hysterical or unbalanced.

Cleaning the packaging chicken comes in isn't quite the same thing as chlorinating the actual meat, by the way....

YANBU at all OP. I feel myself starting to rebel and the blind following and misinterpretation of the rules is making me furious at my compatriots. And it’s sad and awful that so many people are on their high horses and spouting their ignorant rhetoric about how we should all behave. Common sense seems to be out the window.

Lots of people have or have family with underlying health conditions. Or they're over 50

And the relevance of being over 50 is what exactly? FFS!

Global pandemic. Affecting the entire world. Thousands dying and you’re surprised people are panicking?

I’m sure the NHS staff battling this - and risking their lives to do so - would have zero respect for you and your views.

@Lifeisgenerallyfun Totally agree with your post. Also, the fact that biology is the most unpredictable and changeable branch of science, only makes hypotheses less likely to react as you expect them to, hence the changing of advice

Elaine - good old British malice. You’re spot on there.

SylvanainianFrenemies love your username.

“ Cleaning my groceries doesn't mean I'm mentally unwell. I'm not exactly fastidious most if the time.*

But how is it that you never worried about the diseases before, but now you’ve changed so much, you clean your groceries?

Lifeisgenerallyfun

Exactly. Some people are busy deriding others for following rules and not applying critical thinking whilst at the same time basing their own thinking on "rules" that may or may not turn out to be true.

So, my own thinking is that we should look at the most basic guidelines - only go out if essential and for these reasons, minimise how much time you are out and other than that stay home.

Whereas others are choosing to believe the two metres social distancing and then deciding that everything is ok so long as they abide by that. What happens if two metres actually turns out to be woefully inadequate or if they find out that objects like park benches are fomites and people are catching it from them?

I agree people on mumsnet in particular have horrified me and fascinated me in equal measure! I personally have accepted that this is a virus that will unfortunately kill a small percentage of the population it infects. Most of the hysterical few seem to be unable to come to terms with that.

Accept we will all presumably catch it at some point. Some people will choose to remain locked in their homes disinfecting the crap out of everything, until a vaccine may or may not be developed. Others would prefer to take their chances back in the real world.

Lockdown is not a long term solution neither is phoning the police for every perceived infringed misdemeanour of your neighbours.

I would like to see the governments exit strategy now, because I’m not convinced lockdown can continue much longer. People are clearly losing their minds.

Beautifully put @byvirtue

Atrocious I work for the NHS and I hear and agree with what the OP is saying. So please don’t speak for me.

Do you think that covid-19 can't be spread by an infected person touching items in a shop/warehouse/delivery process? Does the virus die magically once it crosses my front door?

Just going to leave these here again...

According to the government’s food safety website, it is “very unlikely” that you can catch coronavirus from food.

“COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. It is not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging”, the guidelines read.

According to the World Health Organisation, the risk of catching the virus that causes Covid-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperatures is also very low

“Things that are in packages, I would maintain a degree of common sense with the view that they are unlikely to make anybody sick” - Professor Baker of the Dept of Medicine Cambridge University.

“ they find out that objects like park benches are fomites and people are catching it from them?”

Londoners aren’t allowed to use benches, they’re taped off.

you can bet our ancestors never behaved like some are now - hysterically quaranting their mail or frantically cleaning their shopping down.

I am willing to bet that this is not true at all. I’m sure as many people were frightened and taking every precaution then as now. They, as we are, were human, not some robotic superior race.