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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

253 people under the age of 60 with no other underlying health issues had died from Covid-19 in the UK

600 replies

whenthejoyreturns · 23/05/2020 14:33

I'm in no way trying to minimise these deaths at all but I wondered if people were aware of this number. Every day we hear the number of deaths, but this is never broken down into categories that we can relate to ourselves.
30 people under the age of 45 with no other underlying health issues had died from Covid-19 in the UK.
AIBU to want people to know this because I don't think enough people realise.

OP posts:
Alex50 · 24/05/2020 08:49

There are 8 million people on the furlough scheme, how many do you think will be made redundant in August when companies have to start paying towards them? I can see at least 3 million, this will be far more suffering than what the coronvirus has caused

happytoday73 · 24/05/2020 08:59

@30MadameMarie why do you think you won't be added to the stats as you have underlying conditions... You will... The stats show it.
Currently we have far less people recorded as dying of other things... Strokes, heart attacks, cancer... Because if you also have covid 19 it goes into those stats

slipperywhensparticus · 24/05/2020 09:05

Well that's ok then clearly nothing to see here why even bother

Alex50 · 24/05/2020 09:17

I can see riots on the streets when people start loosing their jobs because of lockdown

EinsteinaGogo · 24/05/2020 09:27

@Porcupineinwaiting - spot on.

Death rates are one thing; life changing effects would be extremely enlightening.

Nihiloxica · 24/05/2020 09:52

I can see riots on the streets when people start loosing their jobs because of lockdown

I think we're in a particularly dangerous place because the 10 weeks of enforced social distancing has been an unprecedented experiment with our society.

What does it do to a social species to keep them apart for so long?

It seems that paranoia and mistrust are extremely high at the moment.

When bad news starts to come, into an atomised social context driven by fear, panic, and lack of trust in neighbours, it's a whole new level of this experiment we are conducting with our society.

Limeandsodit · 24/05/2020 10:01

I only found out yesterday how seriously unwell a family member has been with Covid 19.

They have underlying health conditions and were one of the shielded. They still caught it and have been extremely and seriously unwell.

They are still recovering now, weeks later, and it truly is an absolute bastard of an illness.

Please don't underestimate it.

begoniapot · 24/05/2020 10:10

The problem is most younger people are in contact at some point with older or more vulnerable people and they could easily pass the virus on. Returning to life as we know it without restrictions would see another disastrous peak.

I'm older but am not particularly worried, but my DH and grandson are both in the high risk category.

The measures taken are not to protect the healthier members of the public, but to reduce risk to vulnerable people and to keep numbers treatable by the NHS.

If the virus affected everyone equally and was mild, we could just carry on as normal. We are not panicking about a mild illness, but acting as a society (not individuals) to protect society as a whole. I believe around 44% of society members have some type of vulnerability (obesity, asthma, diabetes etc) so it's not all about the low number of deaths in younger people.

Xenia · 24/05/2020 10:11

I don't but I know the risks of lock down are even greater for most people. 3 weeks of lockdown okay but going now into week 10 is not fair on a lot of particularly younger people - how long should the state ban your getting married or not allow a man to see and have sex with his girl friend or not allow people to let off steam with their mates which I know is not the mumsnet demographic but it is a lot of other people out there who have been massively impacted much more than women who were home any much of the time with young children.

mrpumblechook · 24/05/2020 10:31

I don't but I know the risks of lock down are even greater for most people.

The risk of what is greater? Death? Losing a loved one? I would say a lot of younger people would have been at risk of the latter if we hadn't had lockdown. I agree that we need to find a way of getting the economy going as much as possible now but there's no way things can just go back to normal. Whether it's caused by lockdown or the virus itself there's going to be a huge impact on the economy whatever we do.

Alex50 · 24/05/2020 10:44

You can loose loved ones from all manor of things though, do you keep people locked away as they might have a chance of loosing someone? Coronvirus doesn’t effect children’s health very much but lockdown will start to, homes being lost, income becoming sparce, mental health problems.

greathat · 24/05/2020 10:47

I've got underlying health issues so has my DS in a normal world they'd have very little impact at all on our lives. Threads like this make me feel like we're expendable so thanks for that

Sugarplumfairy65 · 24/05/2020 10:47

Without knowing what those underlying health conditions were, those figures are pretty useless.

formerbabe · 24/05/2020 10:51

I agree with @Xenia

It's inhumane for children and young people to be isolated from each other like this. You know when you see footage from refugee camps on the news, the children are always playing with each other. Yes, our children are safe from bombs and have enough to eat but
it's a depressing existence right now. I saw some teenagers in our local park recently hanging out. I thought good for them for sitting in the sunshine and having some social interaction. They're probably bored out their heads at home playing endless computer games.

I also don't know why in the UK we have such a weird attitude towards death. It's perfectly normal for very elderly people to die. Yes, it's very sad when it's your family member of course, but no one can live forever.

formerbabe · 24/05/2020 10:53

I've been through many bereavements in my life. I can tell you this lockdown is having a worse affect on my mental health than the death of my grandparents did.

Madein1995 · 24/05/2020 10:56

I wholeheartedly agree. Its been 10 weeks how much longer is this farce going to continue? The economy is fucked, weve no end in sight and the majority of people will be fine fr it. Let the vulnerable/shielding stop in. Let the rest of us crack on because this is just ridiculous

Nihiloxica · 24/05/2020 11:03

It's not really that sad when very elderly people die after a long life lived well.

3 of my grandparents lived to be very elderly. Two of them died of infections that wouldn't have killed a younger person. One didn't even have any symptoms of infection until she died.

I miss them all, but their deaths were not sad.

Getting to live until your 80s or 90s is not something everyone gets to do. If you get to live a long life, you are lucky.

I'm sick of hearing about how every death is a tragedy.

There is nothing tragic about living a long life and then dying in your 90s.

Porcupineinwaiting · 24/05/2020 11:07

Dying struggling for breath unable to say goodbye to your loved ones is pretty grim whatever your age. Which is exactly what is happening in care homes across the country now.

formerbabe · 24/05/2020 11:07

There is nothing tragic about living a long life and then dying in your 90s

I agree and as mercenary as it may sound, I don't believe that prolonging a very long life is worth the shutting down of normal life.

formerbabe · 24/05/2020 11:11

Dying struggling for breath unable to say goodbye to your loved ones is pretty grim whatever your age. Which is exactly what is happening in care homes across the country now

Death isn't pleasant. Neither is having you home repossessed, not being able to afford to feed you kids, not having any social interaction, not being able to attend routine medical appointments, not being educated, having your business fold, having your mental health collapse...I could go on and on

Nihiloxica · 24/05/2020 11:11

Slowly starving to death because your bowel is blocked by a tumour and not being able to say goodbye to your loved ones because of the amount of morphine you are on to ease the unbearable pain isn't great either.

Although to my great uncle that seemed far preferable to dying of cancer without the pain relief, that was the reality when he was young.

Dying is often painful and undignified and being able to say goodbye to your loved ones is a matter of luck.

formerbabe · 24/05/2020 11:14

To be brutally honest, the death of a person in their 90s in a care home is not tragic enough for me to think it's reasonable that my dc no longer can attend school, see their friends and family, play in a playground and attend their medical appointments

Mistigri · 24/05/2020 11:17

Covid starts to get more deadly over the age of 40, and particularly after age 50. Not that many people over 50 have a completely clear health record, so the small number of deaths in people without "underlying health conditions" is unsurprising because that many if not most over 50s, and a not insignificant number of over 40s, will have underlying health conditions.

I'm a healthy and active 55 year old with a normal BMI. Nevertheless I have two conditions that would be considered to increase my vulnerability to Covid.

Hunnybears · 24/05/2020 11:20

@Nihiloxica

**It's not really that sad when very elderly people die after a long life lived well.

3 of my grandparents lived to be very elderly. Two of them died of infections that wouldn't have killed a younger person. One didn't even have any symptoms of infection until she died.

I miss them all, but their deaths were not sad.

Getting to live until your 80s or 90s is not something everyone gets to do. If you get to live a long life, you are lucky.

I'm sick of hearing about how every death is a tragedy.

There is nothing tragic about living a long life and then dying in your 90s.**

I couldn’t agree more, well said.

What is tragic is the the fact our kids are stuck at home, no interaction with their friends, can’t get routine medical appointments, if they struggle at school anyway, will find it even harder to catch up as they’ll be moving in to the next year group....

And they may have their family home reposed so they be uprooted....

AllieCat22 · 24/05/2020 11:28

Slightly off topic but I think questions need to be seriously raised about how broad the statistical age range is when presenting Covid-19 deaths, as it doesn’t allow for an accurate depiction of the risk of hospitalisations/ deaths by age accurately. The age range of under 45 is so vast. It needs to be split by under 10, 10-19, 20-29 etc. The physical difference between a healthy 20 year old, and a healthy 45 year old are immense. I really want to know how many under 30’s etc. It will truly show how minute the chances of death are for each group under 45. By not doing so it’s a misrepresentation of statistics. As even now the risk is still minuscule (only 253 people under 45, 30 of which had no believed health conditions). If we broke down the numbers by the actual age groups, it will demonstrate even more how small of a threat this virus is. The results of this extreme lockdown will cause way more suffering and harm than good to those in this age bracket, who have to live with the consequences for the longest.