To think the precautions of Covid have made other illnesses worse?

[FoxesAtDawn]

I don’t disagree with anything we’ve done as country (though we perhaps should have acted a bit quicker), but I think after all this careful sanitisation, mask wearing and social distancing, pulling the plug is going to really see a rise in common illnesses all at once. Our immunities haven’t been exposed to every day illnesses and will spread like wildfire once people are in normal contact again.

Anecdotally, DS(4yrs) picked up a cold a few weeks ago and has been coughing ever since. I picked up something around 10 days ago and spend the best past of 3 days in bed with fatigue and lethargy (and I’m still snotty, tired and coughing now). DS has now picked up my illness and has spent the whole day burning up and collapsed on the sofa.

Before all of this, and having a child at nursery, I really only picked up the odd sniffles but a week after restrictions have been lifted we’ve both been really ill. And as winter season comes along I think it’s going to get worse. It has to be done of course - we can’t spend our lives never getting within two metres of others, never touching other people, never going back to ‘normal’ environments. But I do think it’s going to be a tough, shit winter.

AIBU to think Covid restrictions being lifted will see an increase in more severe symptoms in common illnesses? And have you experienced anything like that?

Lots of people have predicted this already, said that "immunity deficit" is an issue & a reason why "opening up" should happen in July, or summer at least.

@ragged That makes sense and I’m really worried at what the winter is going to look like. It’s interesting that over the past 30-40 days, 4 fifths of my team have been off with similar illnesses despite us us all WFH still right now.

I’m scared for people like my grandma (mid-80s, health conditions) who may feel like the government has given them the free light but normal conditions could kill them right now.

Try not to worry, OP. Our immune systems can cope with this.
Our own immune systems were always the way out of this crisis, just a trick of managing how they encounter the germs.

Funnily enough my GP said a similar thing today - my baby has a bad chest and she said we’re seeing lots of illnesses which are usually winter viruses in the summer because of the immunity deficit.

I know us with healthy immune systems can cope, but I still worry about those who would be high risk with the flu - and idea of the common cold being enough to cause serious harm is scary. I worry about DS too as I know it’s just a really bad case of the cold but I’ve never seen him too unwell to play with toys before.

I’m also concerned about the impact it will have on work places. We are due to return mid-September and I can just imagine how quickly simple illnesses will take down most of the workforce. It’s a little overwhelming to consider.

Absolutely. It's why I'm so glad I'm a teacher with a small child as I've not had much of a break from bugs as even when schools were closed my toddler was still at nursery. Summer holidays I've been out all over the place.
I really don't think being this 'clean' is a good idea in the long run. We need germs to keep our immune system strong and able to fight viruses, covid included.

Also anecdotal but I had a very bad cold this summer which lingered on and on. I did wonder if it felt worse because it actually was or just because I'd forgotten how crappy colds are not having had one for over a year.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon I did think the same thing but I haven’t been bedridden since I had the actual flu nearly 10 years ago so I feel like they are hitting a lot harder with lessened immunities at the moment.

@SilverTimpani

Funnily enough my GP said a similar thing today - my baby has a bad chest and she said we’re seeing lots of illnesses which are usually winter viruses in the summer because of the immunity deficit.

Yes. My children's hospital is really struggling with the usual winter bugs at the minute.

Yes and we've seen evidence of this in our own home. Ds has been at nursery since last week and was coughing, pcr test negative. He passed it to me and I have a full blown chest infection at 38 weeks pregnant. Timing is unfortunate but they had to go back at some time.