To wonder what people think of those shielding now

[Flamingofolie]

I've seen the shielding mentioned negatively 3 times this morning. What do you think, they get preferential treatment? They're just doing as they're told? It's just an excuse to avoid work?

To clarify I'm talking about those who have been explicitly told to shield, not people who have decided to do so of their own accord.

@throwaway201809

Well done. You win the best shielding prize.. the Covid 19 Shield if you will.

I don't see how comparing your shielding actions to another person's is helpful. I AM shielding. I have been near no one and will continue to avoid people and public places at all costs. I have one walk per day as agreed with my asthma nurse and the benefits of it outweigh the negatives of being in fresh air for a short period. I have to attend the GP soon and they are taking full precautions to ensure I don't even touch a door handle.
I'm very careful anyway due to the chemo drug I'm taking.

What i refuse to do is make myself or my family mentally ill where I can avoid it. We are all responsible for ensuring we take the safest precautions and minimise daily risks for ourselves and I am confident that I'm doing so.

Telling me and others like me that you are shielding the best as you are the most miserable is helping no one, least of all yourself.

@throwaway201809 Are you the shielding police? If the PP has to go and get her medication she isn’t shielding properly?? Honestly, it’s hard enough without us turning on each other.

I live rurally. About twice a week I have a short walk through fields, I’ve seen another person once. Does that mean I’m not taking it seriously??

I'm not sure what has been mentioned at Government briefings, I don't watch them. I do wonder if it was because of a deterioration on my condition or whether it is based on locations and areas.

*I think theres been a shift though... "why should we lockdown to protect such a small portion of society" Now I'm seeing "how dare they decide not to shield, they will take up a valuable ICU bed someone else could have had".

I think it's two sides if the same coin op. Why afoul we shield to protect the vulnerable when they could just gone for 6 months and the rest of us can live our life. It only kills the vulnerable so let's keep the vulnerable locked away.

If one of the threads you mention is the old lady in o2 in the garden centre ir does own up an interesting debate on quality vs quantity and personal responsibility for others catching it

I saw that one sleeping and I just sighed and clicked away. The person is obviously making their own calculated decision which is their right and is what is advised.

My husband is shielding due to a chronic leukaemia - He's otherwise fit and healthy and has a physically demanding job (although he is managing to do some work from home).

It's been an horrific few months fro us as a family - and no idea how we will manage if shielding continues and the children go back to school (one has GCSEs next year).

He is going out for walks and bike rides though - on his own, as he needs the break away from the house.

I think for the majority of people that have no health conditions and aren’t over weight. They will not die from Covid they may feel very rough and it won’t be nice, but they will be ok.

In my friendship group we’ve got paramedics, both have tested positive for Covid, 1 says she felt worn out, more tired etc but generally ok she is already back at work now her isolation is over. The other had a rough time and felt really unwell but she is also ok now and is returning to work next week.
The hospital near me has just let a pregnant woman go home after surviving Covid, yes she needed hospital treatment but her and her unborn child are ok.

Someone on the shielding list is more likely to die, why would I be jealous they are advised to stay home??
If someone said to me if you catch this virus it’s highly likely your die id stay home too!

Thanks Sandybval and Zafferana. it was just a bit of a shock to get it. I consider myself fit and healthy and I'm taking as few risks as I possibly can. I don't live rurally as such, but am doing most of my exercise indoors. I walk to the pharmacist (about a mile away) every couple of weeks.

I could have a food box and home delivery but, my husband can shop so he can do it, there are not enough slots for people who need them so I won't take one.

It just gave me a 'shot of sadness', the same as I felt when I had to give my driving licence in to get a review-every-three-years one. Daft, I know.

just because the government have grouped them together as a class for logistical purposes, it doesn't mean they're public property or not individuals with their own free will and personalities.

Exactly this. My boss put two and two together and guessed I would be in the category, even though I didn't say anything. The next thing I get is "hmmm, now I need to think about this, as I have a personal duty of care towards you".

Bollocks does he, he's over 500 miles from me and has absolutely no personal duty of care. I simply pointed out that the letter is advice and mine to do with as I please. I hate this sudden shout that shielding people are a special case and suddenly can't think for and don't actually know what's best for themselves.

@PhilCornwall1 All employers have a duty of care towards their employees - it's a legal requirement.

Unfortunately some employers only seem to remember it when it benefits them and is a disservice to the employee (particularly if they are trying to "weed out the weak" as they see it)

So people have the arse with those who have been told to shield now? Brilliant.

No, it's not an excuse for me to avoid work. FFS.

To be fair, ALL shielding is 'self imposed' because it's not mandatory. However, people are wisely shielding on medical advice, rather than just randomly choosing to.

Shielding is advisory, it’s not law like the lockdown, you still have choice.

My employer has been pretty amazing. I didnt think I'd be shielding but they refused to let me come to the office before lockdown even happened. My boss had a "I told you so moment" when I got the letter (we know each other well, i wouldn't have expected any less of him). Theyve changed my job completely so I can still work. It's a two way thing though, they know I'm flexible and have different skills - I'm helping them by not demanding I be furloughed like everyone else, they're helping me by ensuring I have a job I can do.

All employers have a duty of care towards their employees - it's a legal requirement.

I know that, but when I don't see him from one end of the year to the next and have zero need to be on a client site, he has zero to think about.

I actually the government's own actions are very much contributing to this problem. Their lack of care and protection for shielded households, I think, is contributing to us thinking "well fuck it I'm going for a walk etc as I'm still at risk in my household anyway".

(I am certainly not going out but understand this thinking).My DH is working as there is nothing in place to stop his employers forcing him in and sacking him if not. So he is still having to go and our house is too small and out family too big (plus he provides personal care for me anyway) for me to isolate from him. I have a lung condition and recovering from pneumonia and I know how much at risk I am, it's fucking terrifying really.

I would love to see shielding households (not just the shielded person) being given the option to work of course, but if they decide not to they have protections like maternity leave ie paid leave and protection from sacking.

The "rules" for workplaces and "social distancing" (and schools) are woolly as fuck and are very much should not must. A lot are completely pointless and meaningless. I feel I am more at risk from DH in these circumstances than I am going for a walk in a genuinely isolated place.

It's circumstances like this that were making me think "fuck it, I'm going for a walk before I lose my mind completely" but reading the comments I have posted up thread have now made me think "fuck it there is no way I am going out to be judged and treated like that". I genuinely had no idea people would think like this and don't think I could bear it frankly.

I also saw the thread about the woman in the garden centre. I decided not to comment. There were some horrible things said on the thread and it was obvious some of the comments on there will become horrendous.

Then there was the thread a week or so ago about the person, who thought we should open up now, enough is enough and just isolate care homes. Hospitals also figured in the argument at some stage.

I teeter on the edge of the high risk group aged 55, type 1 diabetic since my teens, asthma which fortunetly no steroids for a year and have hypertension and a few diabetic complicatiosn which come from being a diabetic for 41 years!

I have continued to work NHS frontline - with serious PPE in place and a sensible manager. I have driven to work and parked on the streets of London. So far been well.

Tomorrow - I will risk 3 months of careful protection because I have to get on the overcrowded tube to go to work. Sadiq has extended the congestion zone, blocked the roads I need to drive down to get to work and upped the congestion charge. £90 to drive to work and limit my exposure is not affordable on a nurses salary - add in the odd parking ticket and £450 per week for the priviliege of working is not happening.

Lets play russina roulette

I think it must be very hard, perhaps unbearable, to be shielding and face it continuing for an unknown length of time

Yes. I live alone and only had to isolate for a week when I had a cough. I had to resort to driving round my village in the car on day 5, just to know that there was a world out there.

It appals me that people are judging those who have been advised (not forced) to shield. They should count themselves bloody lucky that they're not in that position, frankly. And stop making up laws that don't exist, or seeing consequences of making a choice to go out, that don't apply any more to that person than they do to anyone else.

I haven't seen any posts or threads with negative comments about shielding. I'm glad I haven't as I'm a bit gutted to think that my friends may be thinking I'm just a lazy cow who can't be bothered to go to work.

@bogoffmda I'm up in scotland and switch off when TFL is mentioned, but this is horrendously shortsighted.

For anyone who might be miffed off they/ or their granny s sister's next door neighbours friend does not get a parcel this is the contents :
By the way it does not matter if you have allergies , vegetarian or gluten free, you just get a letter every week letting you know it's up to you to be aware of the contents.
2 tins of heinz baked beans
2 tins of heinz tomato soup
The above are the only branded items you get - the rest can vary .
I loaf very thin cut white bread ( in plain plastic bag)
Last week was a half white loaf ( long life and packaging in Italian )
2 tins tomatoes
2 x litre long life milk
40 Typhoo tea bags
50g coffee in sachet
Tin of chicken meatballs
Tin of rice pudding
Bag of potatoes
5 oranges
5 Apple's
Tin of tuna in brine
I roll thin toilet paper
1 hotel size soap
4/5 hotel size shower gel
either rice / or noodles
Given small packet of biscuits last week
2 tins of peas
This never changes, the person gets sent this every week.
Personally I wouldn't want to survive on this , but remember it warns you not to use if you have dietary requirements ( you'd be fucked if you have )

I completely understand why shielding people are shielding.

What DOES piss me off greatly is people who are shielding but then go out and about everywhere, against advice, swearing and cursing at anyone who comes within 50 metres of them. If you are that worried then stay at home! But dont bang on about how vulnerable you are, act as normal and then whine and moan that the entire world isnt tiptoeing around you.

I am helping coordinate the local phone befriending scheme. Talking to some of the people shielding, anyone who thinks shielding is fun, is deranged in my opinion. There might well be a few people swinging the lead. Bully for them. However for the majority it is a miserable existence.

I have multiple disabilities, including Rheumatoid Arthritis. Never have I been so grateful to escape a shielding letter.

I hate the way the term ‘shielding’ is mis-used, I’ve lost count of the number of staff I’ve had telling me that some relative of theirs is shielding when on questioning they aren’t.

I think the fact that the term is misused and misunderstood could lead to a lack of sympathy and understanding from the general public.

We’re writing a policy on admitting patients for elective surgery and someone wanted to put in that the patient, and their household must shield for 2 weeks beforehand, I soon made them changed that to strictly self-isolate.

DH is continuing with his shielding and hasn’t left the house once, I’d go mad if it were me.