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

[wakeupitsabeautifulmorning]

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.

Because I might die from it? Because I might pass it on to someone who might die from it? Because sitting inside with my family for a few months might be hard, but it’s better than never sitting with them again?

This thread isn't about flouting social distancing rules it's discussing people's fear of returning to "normal" when the restrictions begin to be lifted.

@SmileyClare I heard a psychologist on Radio 4 being asked questions about that. She said no we will not see a spike in germ phobia, agrophobia, etc. But those who already struggle with it will likely have it worse.

I also worry there will be a second wave and the NHS won’t be able to cope, and what if I catch it then and my condition gets worse? It might be a choice of sending me or another person an ambulance and they can’t get to me in time. Or between me and someone else for a ventilator. Sounds unlikely, and I know it is, but it’s not impossible.

Because I do not live alone, nor work alone so my extended family some vulnerable might die if I infect them.

I am not scared.

Bodies go wrong in lots of ways, and young people die in lots of ways. This particular way of dying just happens to be in the news, all the time.

But I am scared about the effects of lockdown. The week of lockdown, I was due to have a total hysterectomy that has been postponed due to the virus.

I had a very nasty flu bug back in Feb, possibly CV as Had many of the symptoms. I've never had the flu before and am very rarely sick. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I have never been that ill, nor want to be again. It took me about 5 weeks to get over it. I passed it onto my DC who had a lesser version of it.

@SmileyClare I just had this conversation with my partner. I play Russian roulette every time I step out my front door - we all do. every time I've not had the best night sleep because my baby daughter has kept me up half the night and I have to drive to work not 100 percent, every time I get on a train/plane and i have no idea who's driving it and what kind of day they've had, every time I cross the road and dont know if someone is speeding round the corner, every time I go out in the rain and could slip and hit my head, every time I go swimming in the sea and could drown, the list goes on and on

perspective is key to everything

OP have you seen the video of the gym fit 39-year-old woman that almost died from it? Young, healthy, no comorbidities (no pre-existing conditions). She woke me up. I feel young and healthy - I AM young and healthy, but my life and the lives around me are too precious to me to roll the dice on.

And now the situation with babies dying!! - have you all heard about THAT?? Inflamed arteries and dying from Covid-19 - this POS virus is mutating and getting deadlier, not better.

Porcupineinwaiting do you have any idea where you caught it from? Were you going out to work? My only forays into public places are to grocery shop and I wear a mask and take every precaution I can.

what a stupid question!

I think I can live with the risk when things go back to 'normal' (which won't actually be normal, but nevermind). I still don't want to actively get corona though- the people in their mid 50's I know who have got it were actually very sick, much younger people less so. I know three people who say it's the worst they ever felt and are struggling to get back to normal energy/capacity weeks later.

Why would you not be frightened of that?!

It doesn't mean I think we should live in lockdown forever, though.

I finally know 4 people that have had it. All 4 of them said it was like a bad cold and all 4 were fine within a week.

I try to be worried but I can't. My 2 children have mild asthma so I should be worried.

Pfizer are saying they should have produced millions of doses of a covid 19 vaccine by the end of the year.

I'm not so sure about this, I read in New Scientist that it took five years to get a vaccine for Ebola and apparently that was quick. And as I understand it no one has ever found a vaccine for a Coronavirus before. And how many people will want to try an untested vaccine with lack of info about how it might affect us, plus how long will it take to roll it out across the population. It's going to be a lot longer than the end of the year before most of us are going to be vaccinated.

@RandomLondoner if you are that scared are you also losing weight and keeping fit? That’s going to make far more expensive impact on your overall longevity than staying indoors forever. And far more logical statistically.

Ridiculing people for being worried as some are doing on this thread really is not a nice thing to do.

Nor is doing the same to people that aren’t worried about catching it. We are not all breaking the rules and I’ve no wish to give it to anyone vulnerable. But it doesn’t mean I need to be anxious or panicked by it.

The biggest issue is the vulnerable who will have to go back to work. I am shielded but my friend who also is on immune suppressants will have to go back to work. Also because there has been talk of long term lung damage. Also because several healthy people I know have ended up in hospital on ventilators.

Aside from anything else, all this talk about getting back to normal is deceptive. Businesses are wanting to reopen but many people I know have no intention of going to restaurants, cinemas, shopping etc. The economy relies on people spending money and there are also huge numbers of people who have lost their jobs and others will be very careful with their money. Even if they do rush us back to work, I imagine many more people will lose their jobs as people won't be spending.

@YoYoYumYum How do you know they all had it? (I ask genuinely as testing is not done unless in hospital). They may well all just have had bad colds and not CoVID-19.

Statistically we are all more likely to die in a car accident (if healthy and not over 60/70)). Are we terrified every time we get in a car?

No I don’t want to spread it around but my personal fear of this virus is in line with the absolute risk it poses me. Which is minuscule.

This may be helped by about 10 families I’ve known locally who have had it. Most just had tiredness/ flu like symptoms for a week or two at worst. One just lost her sense of taste and smell and felt a bit run down. None of the children in these families had more than a slight temperature for a day or so. Most of the children had no symptoms. Yes anecdotal but that is what I am seeing.

The media will affect our perception of risk.

Because if I pass it to my husband he would probably die.

Just as we can take precautions once lockdown is relaxed (distancing, hand washing etc)

The massive difference is that we (those of us who will try to preserve hand washing, social distancing, etc) can't control other people. We can't stop someone sneezing in our face, or spitting as they brush past us. We can't stop someone not washing their hands before they prepare our food or hand us our change or a parcel.

Any return to anywhere near normality relies on everyone we come into contact with doing what they should do. It relies on people with symptoms to self isolate. It relies on everyone hand washing. It relies on people not coughing/sneezing without catching it.

Before the lockdown, people ignored advice to self isolate with symptoms and some went to Cheltenham Races and Liverpool football match despite having symptoms. That's why people are scared - there are idiots out there who aren't complying - the number of such idiots will increase when lockdown is eased and it will be harder to stay away from them!

Well because I’m a single parent to 4 And if I get it I’m worried how I will look after them? If I’m in bed for 2 weeks like some say on here.

Thanks cantory I wonder how the psychologist knew we wouldn't get a rise in mental health conditions like agoraphobia, health anxiety, germ phobia as a result of the pandemic? Perhaps some people are predisposed to these conditions and others aren't.

I'm sure she's right, people suffering with clinical anxiety etc will find it worse. Which is compounded I suppose by a massive lack of mental health services at the moment.

No I don’t want to spread it around but my personal fear of this virus is in line with the absolute risk it poses me. Which is minuscule

It's that kind of selfish thinking that will lead to the second, third and fourth spikes/lockdowns. Far too many people not taking precautions because they think they're infallible.

Germany relaxed lockdown and now their new infections rate is rising.

It’s not as straightforward as you think op.

Because we don't actually know the long term effects of this virus. Many healthy people have reported reduced lung capacity. The virus has only been inspected over the past four months. We don't know if that reduction is temporary or if you are literally left, like some people who've survived, with a feeling of exhaustion - like CFS - for life.

Who knows whether the virus can lay dormant, can carry on causing damage without symptoms, could affect a part of the body we never thought about. We just don't know enough about it.

One of the footballers, I believe, has tested positive for Coronavirus for the fourth time. I don't know if that's fake news but Dr Hillary Jones said on TV today they just don't know if it has stayed in his system, is a new infection or is just taking a long time to go after all the symptoms have gone.

If he does still have it, will that cause complications in a year, five years? Who knows?

Personally I'd rather not be the one to find out!