The shielded are being told to stay home for another twelve weeks after the initial twelve weeks....AIBU to think this is going to increase the gap between disabled and non disabled?

[AlternativePerspective]

I know several on the shielded list who have now received additional letters from the government telling them that they are required to shield for an additional twelve weeks after the first twelve week shielding period expires.So that leaves the vulnerable shielding until September at the earliest,and I can only imagine this will increase as time goes on.

Now,in principle I can see why this is the advice,after all with no vaccine or proven treatment yet the vulnerable are still going to be at the greatest risk, but while when everyone was in lockdown everyone had to be taken into account re work etc,once lockdown starts to ease, employers are rightly going to be expecting people to go back to work,and realistically how is that going to affect someone who is shielded for the foreseeable future? Are employers, who are already looking at lost revenue, going to take that into account?

And people like me who are currently looking for work, does that mean I have to stay unemployed for the foreseeable as well?

I’ve seen a lot of posts on here from people saying that the shielded are selfish if they go out because they know they’re at greater risk so if they choose to go out then they’d be taking up a valuable bed if they get sick.

I can only foresee that this is going to make the divide between the disabled and the non disabled in this country bigger than it already is.

I also doubt very much that a 2nd latter has gone out as this would pre-empt the announcement on Sunday.

I understand from my friend who got a letter than it was very late, so it would not surprise me if the 2nd letter was in fact the first and sent out late by mistake on the basis it hadn't been sent at all the first time!

Those shielding will be doing so until a vaccine or cure is discovered. No government in the world will openly say vulnerable people are free to leave their homes, it would be a death sentence and the public outcry should these people get sick would be catastrophic. The twelve week period will just keep extending and rightly so for those who wish to stay safe.

Given it could take years to get a vaccine that would be totally unworkable and would be a mental health nightmare

Seems to be some basic confusion here...

shielded and disabled or not the same thing.

I know people who are shielding and are not at all disabled.

I think from what I have read that there is a good chance of a vaccine in the new year maybe the end of this year; all the scientists at Oxford and Imperial Unis have said they are hopeful of that.

Those shielding will be doing so until a vaccine or cure is discovered

More personal opinion passed of as fact. You don't know, I don't know, nobody fucking knows.

Excellent advice from lilac there

NagevMama Sending hugs to you .It must be so difficult for you .Lets hope things improve . xxx

shielded and disabled or not the same thing. I know people who are shielding and are not at all disabled.

I agree. Lots of those "shielding" are active and holding down senior jobs or running businesses. My OH is "shielding" due to cancer but is still running his own business. We have a neighbour who is a clinicial lead consultant at a local hospital who is shielding. Loads of nurses, teachers, etc are shielding due to serious health conditions. Lots of serious health conditions are manageable and mean you can lead a normal life. Far too many people have this weird idea that those "shielding" are elderly, sit in a chair all day and likely to die in a few weeks anyway - they're just soooo wrong!

We really don't have a choice (and I speak as someone who is shielding). But I think there is a very real chance that we will be forgotten as services stop making us a special case and the majority of people forget that we need their help to shield. For example, losing delivery slots, delivery and other people failing to observe proper distancing and handling food/goods etc. It will also be very hard on our mental health to see everyone else going out and enjoying life while we have to stay at home.

I wish I knew the answer.

AmelieTaylor, the friends I referred to in my post are terrified at not being able to pay their rent and being evicted. Not right now, but in a few months when it’s possible bon-shielded people will have gone back to work, and shielding people have been forgotten about.

If you have no money to buy food or pay rent, that is a much more immediate fear than the possibility of contracting a virus you’ve only heard about on the news.

And all my shielding friends live with flat mates who are still going out anyway.

These are young people in their 20s and 30s who work full-time jobs and are ambitious to progress in their chosen careers. They are not ignorant to the risks. But it’s understandable that they are worried about the long-term economic and career damage, and the fact society is just shrugging and going “yeah sit inside for a year or two I guess.” Furlough will not last forever - “no magical money tree” isn’t that what everyone keeps saying? What do shielding people do when the money runs out?

Lots of those "shielding" are active and holding down senior jobs or running businesses.

Lots of those disabled are active and holding down senior jobs or running businesses!

I mean, I agree that we need to combat the idea that shielders are elderly and sitting in a chair. But there are several posts in this thread implying that shielders can’t be disabled because they work and have active lives, when most disabled people do work and plenty of disabled people lead equally active lives.

Well if this is right, shielded people who can't work at home, are pretty much stuffed, unless their employer is going to pay them to stay at home and do nothing.

Shielded “extremely vulnerable” people will be banned from any work that isn’t carried out at home. Businesses must help nonshielded “vulnerable” people work from home where possible.or take extra care enforcing social distancing around them in the workplace.
www.buzzfeed.com/alexwickham/governments-draft-plan-to-ease-lockdown-workpace-in-full

@HavartitoMeetYou I know more than one person with the same medical condition and depending on how it individually affects them is whether they categorise themselves as disabled or not.

I’m meant to be shielding. Bollocks to that. I’d rather take my chances than risk losing everything.

I'm disabled. I work. I live as active a life as I can. I'm not vulnerable and not shielding. I've been discriminated at work and lost jobs because of my disability every since I became disabled 8 yrs ago. It's common for employers to assume a disabled person is going to be a problem employee, needing more time off sick and being less able to be flexible/dynamic/hit the ground running etc. I've not had a day off sick in 8 yrs btw.

If the government decided that anyone with a disability should be shielded I'd be devastated....and then I'd lie about my disability in order to keep my job. Thankfully my physical impairment isn't immediately noticeable and I've had to learn over the years how to keep it that way, in order to keep a job.

BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup that’s exactly the point I’ve been making.

shielding is advisory not the law, Chris Whitty himself said that some people may decide that because their life is already limited they do not want to spend their remaining days in isolation, those with shielding letters it advises not mixing even within own household separate bedrooms bathrooms not eating together, so not even talking face to face with own family personally I think that is too much to ask no face to face conversations even within own household for 24 weeks ( 6 months) it is unhealthy mentally
my father is 96 he has a shielding letter he is only going into his garden not outside the home but he and my mother are not living separately in the house my father is quite severely deaf so he can't zoom or even phone easily so he and my mother eat together etc

some people are saying shielded when they mean vulnerable only 1% of population are shielded not everyone who has asthma is shielded in fact only a small % of asthmatics that have it very severely and are poorly controlled will have had letters
but as I said it is advisory not compulsory

Whats worse is if you ARE vulnerable but do not get any shielding letter.

Then your decision to remain in and shield can be viewed as unnecessary, and for those out of work or seeking employment that could be a big problem.

I fall into that category , whilst my GP can't tick a box to say Im very vulnerable, because my dx do not fall into the boxes she has available, she and my specialist heart nurse want me to continue self isolating as long as possible.

I am already aware that I score rather highly on the medical check list that is used to determine if its worth trying to save someone (its more 'will this result in teh person being a vegetable' than financial but finances come into it), I wouldn't be resuscitated, am a poor candidate for ventilation, cannot have a GA or heavy sedation...

I cannot be the only one in this situation and I feel for those who are out of work, who really DO need to self isolate longer for their safety but will be bullied, due to a lack of a piece of paper, to get back out there.

@mumwon

I'm not in those categories and have a letter.

My GP explained one of the big risks with the virus is it causes you immune system to attack your body. I have a very long list of severe allergies to common every day things I can't avoid and with allergy based asthma (not severe) along with fibromyalgia, my body is more likely to have that reaction and it's more likely to affect my chest/breathing.

I know lots of people received second letters, but I’d be intrigued to see the wording specifically says an additional 12 weeks or if they are duplicate letters of the first and have been sent when the additional groups were added, meaning some got notified twice.

As RedCherries and other have said. Admin error on a template. 30th June for shielding.

It probably will be extended for some. But it hasn't been yet.
Many people will choose to continue shielding. Many will not be able to, or will prefer not to depending on their circumstances.

I very much hope the government clarifies the rules to employers and puts proper financial assistance in place.

some people are saying shielded when they mean vulnerable only 1% of population are shielded

1.5 million in a population of 67 million is not one percent.

The trouble is that all the alternatives are worse. There is no great solution to this. The objective has to be to cause the least amount of pain to the fewest people for the shortest time.

Shielded “extremely vulnerable” people will be banned from any work that isn’t carried out at home
Whilst I cannot say that, for those people who wish to continue shielding, banning them from workplaces is not a good idea, I wonder how the government intends to safeguard their jobs and their income. Few employers will be willing to retain, on the books, people on full pay for an indefinite length of time; and it raises all sorts of issues about if those people are protected, why aren't those on long term sick. Or is this just shorthand for "please queue here for benefits" - because if it is, then the impacts of losing their income may be much, much worse than dicing with a virus. My best friends husband, who is not shielded but is furloughed because he is vulnerable, is already expecting to be the top of the list of redundancies that his company have already announced are coming.