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AIBU?

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Original poster

Healthy people why are you so scared of catching covid 19?

754 replies

wakeupitsabeautifulmorning · 29/04/2020 12:19

Serious question. I’m interested in why healthy people with no underlying problems are so unhappy about starting to get back to normal. I’m not talking about shielded people who need to stay shielded. But everyone else.

OP posts:
ChicChicChicChiclana · 29/04/2020 19:47

I am sure there are many BAME youngish and otherwise healthy people who have very good reason to worry.

And, yeah, let's not worry about a few fat people and smokers dying eh? Not like they contribute anything to society or have loved ones who care about them. Filthy fat smokers!

Egghead68 · 29/04/2020 19:49

I’ve got Covud-19. I can tell you that even some of the “mild” (non-hospitalised) cases are extremely shit and go on for weeks and months.

Believe me, you don’t want to get it.

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 29/04/2020 19:51

Because I'm worried about transmitting it to vulnerable family members I live with without knowing I'm contagious.

IvinghoeBeacon · 29/04/2020 19:53

I don’t want PND either and it is heading that way under lockdown. So is that the choice I get? PND or covid19? Which is of greater risk in terms of my children’s well-being?

dottiedodah · 29/04/2020 19:54

There are no guarantees though.Also who wants to be quarantined ? At home and confined to their bedroom ?The sheer worry of catching it and not knowing the outcome .

KatySun · 29/04/2020 19:55

I have covid 19; I have had it now for 39 days counting from when the coughing started. I am still unwell and have a lot of chest pain. I cannot do my job, I have two children to look after.
I am what my doctor describes as ‘otherwise fit and healthy’.
Now I wonder when I will be well again. This is not like any illness I have had previously.

twinkleprincess · 29/04/2020 19:56

Because healthy people have died....

Pootle40 · 29/04/2020 19:56

ChicChicChicChiclana

I am sure there are many BAME youngish and otherwise healthy people who have very good reason to worry.

And, yeah, let's not worry about a few fat people and smokers dying eh? Not like they contribute anything to society or have loved ones who care about them. Filthy fat smokers!

Yeah that’s not what I was saying. Factually someone who is overweight and smokes is not healthy. That’s just a fact whether people like it or not. I am merely stating a fact. We didn’t say that they don’t matter. However people keep quoting that ‘healthy’ people have died but are we clear that we all agree on the definition of healthy?

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 29/04/2020 19:56

Because lots of healthy people are getting seriously ill and dying from it, I should think, op.

Plus, lots of healthy people live with at risk or shielded people so I'm sure there's fear there that if they catch it other family members are likely to catch it too.

FabulouslyFab · 29/04/2020 19:57

I’ve not had a hug since the day before Mother’s Day. I don’t want to risk death without having another one.

EmmaOvary · 29/04/2020 19:59

Don't want to pass to others.

Having a strong immune system can create a 'cytokine storm' in the body where the immune system goes into overdrive to combat the virus which can have bad outcomes - this is what killed young healthy people in the 1918 Soanish Flu pandemic: www.newscientist.com/term/cytokine-storm/

Also I know people who have had 'mild' versions which just means they weren't hospitalised. They still describe feeling like they were dying for upwards of 2 weeks...fighting for breath...being unable to lift a hand for weakness...not knowing if they would wake up...imagine how terrifying that must feel. Unsurprisingly, I'd prefer to avoid it.

coffeeforone · 29/04/2020 20:06

100% agree with the OP. Unless people are happy to stay living like this forever...the virus is here to stay...we have to start taking our chances.

ChicChicChicChiclana · 29/04/2020 20:07

No, I don't think we are agreed on the definition of healthy. Healthy on this thread seems to apply only to normal bmi non smoking white women under the age of 40, teens and children, with NO known underlying health conditions.

Whichever way you look at it, that's quite narrow.

ChicChicChicChiclana · 29/04/2020 20:10

I have nightmares that this virus is actually killing the under 20s rather than the over 70s. Would we feel so cavalier then? After all, not many under 20s are economically active and contributing to society through taxation.

tenterden · 29/04/2020 20:14

we have to start taking our chances.

Well we don't all have to do we?

Anyway, to answer OP, a size ten, 42 year old colleague of mine with no underlying health/medical issues died of COVID -19 this week. I really do not want to get it and risk the same fate as her, leaving behind her two young sons.

MerryDeath · 29/04/2020 20:17

because i don't want to (or for anyone else to!) pass it on to my parents unknowingly (not shielded or vulnerable, just grandparent age).

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 29/04/2020 20:18

I was listening to a very interesting Dr today who is looking at processes involved in the cytokine storm and effects of Covid on the body.

He has a theory that a chain of events is sparked that leads to the acute respiratory distress plus blood clots etc which are leading to death. This chain of events is a process involving a particular factor released in the body, involved in conditions such as anti phospholipid syndrome but also.obesity, diabetes and hypertension. He's very quick to say that it's only a hypothesis (though a highly likely one and a drug that would interfere with this process is showing great.promise) but if it is correct would show that obesity, high blood pressure etc aren't risk factors but indicators of having high levels of this substance that is pivotal in Covid.

His hope is that treatment will b developed but also that patients can be screened to know who is.likely to develop serious illness. It also shows that it isn't really possible to know who will get ill or not because this is at a cellular level in our bodies and not something new will really be aware of.

Deelish75 · 29/04/2020 20:18

Worried about passing it onto vulnerable DP.

Also there are so many unknowns about it with it being novel I’m worried about what long term effects it may have.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras · 29/04/2020 20:21

If anyone wants to look it up it's Galectin-3 that he was concentrating on.

Rubywhox · 29/04/2020 20:25

Because even if I don’t die, I don’t want to be ill with it.
Because we don’t know what the long term implications on the respiratory system might be

LilQueenie · 29/04/2020 20:32

asymptomatic people can unknowingly pass it on to those who it can easily kill. you dont know if you are healthy either. you just assume.

AnnaNimmity · 29/04/2020 20:34

mostly because I'm a single parent who needs to be well to look after my children. But also because I don't want to pass it onto my children.

I don't particularly want or need to be ill at the moment.

And finally because any risk of death that I can avoid, I will.

And I don't want to inadvertently pass it onto more vulnerable people.

DianaT1969 · 29/04/2020 20:36

@Iving - you can do something about PND. Exercise outside, get support from friends and family, meditation, eat well, cut sugar and alcohol, get rest and prioritise sleep, ask for help from your GP. But you have zero control over Covid. You don't know how seriously it will affect you, or for how long. You don't know if the people you spread it to will survive either.

IvinghoeBeacon · 29/04/2020 20:39

Really? Zero understanding about what is going on for postnatal mothers

BatleyTownswomensGuild · 29/04/2020 20:40

Because my partner is higher risk, because I have a young child and have no idea who would look after him if we both got sick at the same time....

What a stupid question....