I am astounded at the number of people who just don’t give a toss about anything other than their own wants. We know that mixing is the main source of transmission and we are dealing with a very virulent virus. It is impacting on our ability to manage anything non-covid. I would be very seriously concerned about becoming seriously unwell with ANY illness or injury just now. Why do people find that so hard to understand?
The selfishness is unbelievable! You cannot know you don’t have covid- unless you have had a negative test and isolated since the test was done until you get the result. Once you come into contact with others again you cannot know if you are still negative. Yes, most people who get it will be ok. So ,YOU might be fine. That’s all that matters, right? If the only person who would be affected by choosing to follow the rules or not, then I’d say it’s fine to just take your chances. But that’s not the case, is it?! You can infect other people, what about them. They may become very unwell, even die. All so you can have a party/nice Christmas lunch/laugh with your friends and family. I find that utterly, completely selfish. Especially if the people who you come into contact with are not those who are also just doing whatever the feel like- in which case they’ve made the choice to take their chances- but people doing their jobs etc. Your choice to take risks could cost them dearly. I view it as having blood on your hands. Of course, many people will never know they did this and will think they did no harm. Truthfully, we’ll never know if you did cause harm or not, in the majority of cases. But is having a party really worth someone else health, possibly even their life?
I’ve just come back from my night shift working in the ICU/HDU. We have needed to open up a second HDU (so less beds for patients with other things), expanded ICU to our absolute capacity both in terms of physical room/equipment but in staff. All leave is cancelled. We are having to work longer hours, fewer days off because of colleagues being unwell or having to isolate and waiting for tests. We are ON OUR KNEES.
As of this morning ICU is full. HDU has one bed. Anyone seriously ill is going to have to be transferred to the nearest hospital with an ICU bed- currently next county but at morning briefing we were told they are also nearly at capacity so after that it will be at least an hour away. Whilst they have beds. Elective care is already being impacted and this will only worsen. This will cause suffering. People will become more unwell than they would have done. People will have died who could have been treated and cured. Can people really not understand this? I despair!