Boris and The Shielded

[AustBron]

So last night after another worrying poll result for Boris, they decide to announce that from Monday the shielded group of which I am one, will be allowed some freedom to meet family outside at a social distance, that further information will be outlined today, and that we, the shielded, will now be given regular updates.

Well now how grateful should I be that this decision has been made to coincide with the government easing lock down restrictions too early and too fast, purely to deflect attention from their atrocious handling of the Dominic Cummings arrogant ignoring of the rules HE had a hand in forming?

Judging by the thousands gathering on beaches, blocking roads, and over running beauty spots there will be a major leap in the infection rate within the next month - so yes you idiots, this is JUST the right time to announce that the shielded should relax their vigilance - said no scientist ever!

And are we supposed to feel grateful for the promise to give us regular updates from now on? Shouldn't we have been included in these all along? Most of us feel completely forgotten and excluded from any plan for moving forwards into recovery .

By staying almost silent on the subject of shielding, other than brief mentions that we are being helped with information via letter and text, we have been badly treated all the way along. And how supportive is it actually to receive patronising texts to tell you to find a nice window to sit by and learn how to play suduko? Another factor arising from being left out of the daily briefing is that some of the none shielded population have come to the conclusion that they are in lockdown BECAUSE of us, when in reality, the shielding was to keep us out of hospitals so that the NHS had chance to treat those who have a better chance of survival than we do. Shielding wasn't meant to save the shielded, it was meant to save the NHS, and now we are to be thrown on the bonfire until the NHS gets overwhelmed, used as another smokescreen for the Government to try and snatch back some support from a population reeling at their inadequate handling of everything.

Don't think I don't want to go out, I do, I want my life back. But I also want to stay alive when I do go out. Boris however apparently doesn't seem to think that might be an issue.

Well, I don't disagree with you that we have been physically and politically shelved and forgotten about. But I will and have been going on quiet, socially distant walks for a little while now. I think it has been clear for a while that the risk of contracting coronavirus from aerosol transmission is negligible and the benefits of being outdoors is great.

Ahhh sorry for lack of paragraphs, that must be hard to read. I've used the app for the first time and although I did use paragraphs when I typed it out, the disappeared when I posted it

Aerosol transmission ... while outdoors...

Tbh the shielding list was very flawed. Those at the very highest risk of dying from Covid (presumably this means the most clinically vulnerable) were never on it. Figures showed as far back as February that the three conditions with the highest mortality rates were cardiovascular, diabetes, and hypertension.

The way this has been reported is bizarre. 'Allowed'? They weren't ever forced to stay inside. It was (probably sensible) advice. Advice that nobody had to follow.

I think anybody vulnerable - shielding list or not - should use common sense rather than trusting the government of the country with almost the highest death rate in the world. Question why they've changed advice when our infection rate remains high. When scientific advisers don't appear to support the government's premature lifting of lockdown. Why would it suddenly be safer for people in higher risk groups?

I know of several (older) people on the shielding list. All are going for quiet walks and the odd socially distant garden coffee which are very low risk activities. People can make their own risk assessments.

I don't mean to be unsympathetic but if you know you're in a vulnerable group surely you keep sheltering?

@ToffeeYoghurt people aren't forced to wear cycle helmets, yet the majority do because it's the safest option for their health. We were "asked" to remain inside, which the majority of us have done. At huge detrimental impacts to ourselves, our families, our jobs, our income and our wellbeing... Don't be a dick hey?

@lboogy I know my boss will read the update and decide it's time for me to go back to work in our office in Central London. I wasn't even allowed to work adjusted hours in the weeks leading up to this to avoid peak tube times.

The official list was a farce. Most people who didn’t need to be on it were, and those who did weren’t, myself included and someone I know who was a transplant recipient as well as someone who was informed by her consultant that she should be but wasn’t able to register on the government lists..

At the end of the day people need to use common sense. I didn’t need an official letter to tell me that I needed to stay home. I am well aware of the risks if I catch COVID.

I also don’t need to be told that I am now “allowed” to go out.

The only one issue I can see is that if people are relying on being on the shielded lists for work purposes this may put them at a disadvantage, but the fact that it’s currently said they can go out for one period of exercise during the day should mean that they have a case to make for their employer as to why they can’t physically go back to work yet.

Agree OP

At this point I've stopped paying the faintest attention to anything that comes out of Westminster, they're making shit up as they go along. I'll be making my own decisions, and since local press is talking about the county not yet having reached the peak and the hospital recording a spike in deaths, they're going to involve a lot of caution.

I just read a post on another thread about 'Boris at the helm' which now drags up the image of an overexcited large kid in shorts crashing about with a pirate patch and a telescope.

My favourite phrase was Chose a window with a view to sit by....if you have one I wasn’t on the last, one GP even said they didn’t think I would be but my asthma has been unstable ever since I got ?Covid19 symptoms and fortunately the occ health department at my work said they thought I should shield so I’ve been home.

I have started going for walks. I live in a village so I have space to do this safely. But yes it’s felt very much like we were told to stay home for 12 weeks then they didn’t need to worry about us!

One of the issues though is that the non shielded seem to agree with this sentiment That the vulnerable should just be locked away and forgotten about. I have read on countless threads people saying “the shielded should stay at home so that those of us who are at less risk can go out and get on with our lives.

I said elsewhere that “shielded” has become the new institutionalisation.

As much as I detest the idea of being told that I am now “allowed” to go out, it does give the message to people who seem to think that people like me owe it to them to stay home can’t just go out and get on with their lives with the expectation that the vulnerable will stay away from reality.

I have even read posts from people saying that the shielded should do so until there is a vaccine. That is neither reasonable nor realistic.

The cynic in me reckons that this is paving the way for getting vulnerable and shielded people back to work!

I work in a school and we have large numbers of staff unable to return due to shielding. Using all of our available staff, we are still only able to have KW children and Year R back. The government are desperate for all children to be back to ‘normal’ capacity school ASAP and the only way that can happen is for vulnerable/shielding people to be forced back to work and social distancing in school to be deemed unnecessary.

It’s all very wrong and lots more people are going to die by the looks of it.

What happened to 'we are all in this together'?

Yes, it's been a real eye opener. As someone with an invisible illness I've never come hard up against the prejudice that those whose illness or disability is visible day after day and I have found the whole thing absolutely shocking and stigmatising.

The one thing that has really hit home to me is that most of the non-shielded people i know have no idea what it's like to fear an illness that will likely kill you if you get it. And that that death will be one not surrounded by those we love.

It took me weeks to get past that fear.

Shielding for me is an easy decision. I choose life. Even if that means staying in for at least a year. I'm incredibly lucky that my employer is totally on board and I can work very well from home.

@ Fedup21 the thing is though that even the shielded are going to have to learn to live with this virus at some point.

It is neither realistic nor reasonable to expect them to stay home indefinitely. Many have jobs, bills, responsibilities, and indeed full lives of their own which cannot reasonably expect to be put on hold.

As things currently stand there are many illnesses which people with underlying health conditions are vulnerable to. The immunesuppressed have to be careful of any illness because of the potential implications, but they also have to live their lives and make their own adjustments accordingly.

We don’t expect people with underlying conditions to stay home in general because of their risk of illness, this is no different, it’s just a bit more immediate, iyswim.

it also strikes me that it is usually the non shielded who seem to think that the shielded should be staying home indefinitely.

I do get it, I really do. I have a serious heart condition which means I need a transplant. if I get one then I will end up on the immmunesuppressed list which will put me at risk from all sorts of things. Before then if I catch COVID the damage to my lungs is likely to be such that, if I survive, then I will be ineligible for a transplant, and transplant is my only option going forward. My heart isn’t suitable for any more interim measures such as LVAD etc....

But I have come through heart shock, cardiac arrest, life support, some interim surgery, and my life as it currently is is pretty normal. But I know that one day it won’t be. But in the meantime, while I will take any steps to hopefully prevent me catching COVID, have not seen my family or DP since March or anyone else for that matter, and have no intentions to rush out I didn’t come through the last 3.5 years, and last year in particular, to get back to some semblance of normality only to sit shut up in my house for the rest of what is left of that normality.

@AlternativePerspective So you are not on the shielding list? Or you are?

I should be on the shielding list but the shielding list is confusing.

I have been told by consultants that I must shield. The risk to my heart is very real, and ironically if I were pregnant with the same conditions I would be on an official list.

Apparently the shielded list was calculated based on medications which people were on. I know people who had asthma as teenagers who outgrew it 30 years ago who were sent letters, and people who are transplant recipients who are immunesuppressed who weren’t.

The list is supposed to be an official thing, but the truth is that if someone is vulnerable then they need to be making their own choices. You don’t need to be on a list to know the risks.

Ironically the damage to my heart 3.5 years ago was caused by the flu which highlighted an existing heart condition I didn’t know I had and added a fair bit of additional damage into the mix.

...it also strikes me that it is usually the non shielded who seem to think that the shielded should be staying home indefinitely.

Yup. It goes like this...

I wish there were more talk in the public discourse about how possible ways for shielded children to access an education... to which follows

1. You'll never get out until there's a vaccine, why are you asking?
2. Your kid's will have to go or they'll lose their school place, why are you asking?

It seems to me that those who are not shielding hold the strongest opinions about what we are to do, suffer from black and white thinking, feel as though there should be no room for individual choice or flexibility and mostly, they want us to shut up.

@ FourTeaFallOut I have even seen on threads people say that the shielded or in fact anyone who is classed as vulnerable e.g. over 70, is selfish if they go out because they know they will need a hospital bed and that means someone who is more likely to survive won’t need one.

I absolutely think that if people want to stay home indefinitely then they should do so, provided they have the means and the support (esp emotionally) to do so.

We shouldn’t need the government to hold our hands on that score, but the shielded list was initially so that people could gain access to additional services, food parcels if needed, priority delivery slots etc. Those measures are now in place, and people should feel free to make up their own minds, not told that they are now “allowed” to do something.

The shielded were never bound by law to stay home. In fact it was said that e.g. those with a terminal illness may choose not to shield on the basis that they want to make the most of what time they have left.

Apparently the shielded list was calculated based on medications which people were on.

This is not correct, some conditions were based on medications, others were based on hospital admissions and ITU admissions.

If your consultants think you should be on the list and shielding, then why haven't they added you to it? That's very odd...

And for many people on the list, who are actually on the list, there is still a huge lack of support happening. You are completely wrong in your thinking to think everyone on that list is being supported in the ways the Government are saying.

There were comments by several posters on mumsnet that they stated they were happy they were not able to get a supermarket slot because it would mean that they would get a ventilator as many thought being on the shielding list meant you would not be given a ventilator.

And many thought that because they believed that was the right way to think.

Genuine question from a non-shielded person here: if you as shielded people were in charge, how would you change things for yourselves? How could it be done better?

I think the shielded need to take responsibility for themselves and keep shielding. Use sensible precautions if meeting others. What do you actually want the government to say/do to make it better? They can't really can they. Until a vaccine is found vulnerable people need to continue to protect themselves.