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Original poster

To think people don't care about covid anymore?

246 replies

MumofLandD · 19/12/2023 10:57

That really. Quick straw poll on that.
DS (13) tested positive this morning after I had a very faint positive this morning. I tested because I had a sore throat all night and 6 days til Christmas I wanted to check. We have Xmas dinner at the ex's families planned and 3 others going are vulnerable.
I also test when feeling unwell as I am a front line health care worker and work with cancer patients and other vulnerable people. Although my hospitals policy is if you test positive and feel well enough to come to work then you are allowed to work, I morally disagree with this.
I co parent with ex partner, he is due to have DS tomorrow for the rest of the week and he thinks DS can go to school tomorrow if he feels better whereas I disagree. DS's best friend is spending Xmas with his 90 year old grandmother and I would hate for him to pass it on to her. Plus who else will he come in contact with at school who have plans like that? Ex partner is of the opinion that vunerable people are fine if they are vaccinated but I don't believe so. Not sure if I am still traumatised by the sights I saw in the first wave.
Interestingly when I asked XP if he was happy for our son to sit next to his mother at the table, if he was still positive, who is vulnerable but vaccinated he said no. 🙄

OP posts:
x2boys · 20/12/2023 08:08

HangingOver · 20/12/2023 01:24

Dont want to pass you off but what do you feel is the solution to this situation then? Is there some magic way to stop it?

Take a test, and if it's positive avoid other people if you can for a few days. It won't stop it but judging by this thread a lot of people don't give it a second thought, in fact they treat not caring about COVID like some weird badge of honour

Has it ever crossed your mind that many people have no option but to work regardless of wether they have Covid or not ?
Even children are expected in school assuming they are well.enough
Yeah some people might not care
But for many wether they care or not they just have to get on with it
They don't have the luxury of staying at home and isolating

CoatOfArms · 20/12/2023 08:10

I don't care about Covid any more than I care about any other illness floating around at this time of year, no.

TrashedSofa · 20/12/2023 08:11

TempestTost · 20/12/2023 01:31

I think for a lot of people, they care, or don't care, in a similar way to other illnesses they might pass on.

That is, if they are in fact sick with something, they won't treat it particularly differently if it is covid vs something else. For most people that means they will make a judgement call based on how ill they feel and what is going on in their life.

In my experience almost everyone thinks in an ideal world sick people could stay home, but the fact is that people can't always stay home for mild illness. Or conversely, if they are someone else is more vulnerable to illness, they might be more careful than they would be otherwise (assuming the vulnerable people want to be treated that way.)

I think this is broadly where a lot of the population are, particularly as no widespread free testing.

x2boys · 20/12/2023 08:17

Workworkandmoreworknow · 20/12/2023 07:43

We care about it but we have a type 1.diabetic in the family so it matters

My son has type 3c diabetes its treated as type one and he's insulin dependent he has no.pancreas function at all.due to acute necrotizing pancreatitis earlier this year
However we can't just say at home my dh ,has to work, Ds has to go to college like it or not Covid is here to stay.

HunterBidensBurnerPhone · 20/12/2023 08:30

What are people supposed to do though? It's not tenable to isolate whole families for 10 days at a time. People have to work, children have to go to school.

At my kids' school they've had to run remedial classes for all the children who did absolutely no learning during the lockdowns. They're still catching up years later. The reception intake of 2021 - loads of the children were still in nappies and couldn't even write their name. It's obvious even now that their social skills have been affected by such long periods of isolation at such a crucial developmental stage. My kids both had Covid earlier this year and their symptoms were really mild, so I sent them in.

I'm self-employed and I had Covid back in September. For the first couple of days I thought it was a heavy cold and carried on as normal. Then I tested and it was positive. I cancelled the rest of the week's work and lost an absolute fortune. I can't afford to do that again.

WillimNot · 20/12/2023 08:36

Where I work, in hospitality, we have all one by one caught some vile virus. It's the nature of the job.
We have all tested each time and not one has tested positive although I was so unwell I genuinely was shocked to see a negative.

My staff didn't mind testing because they know my DS has a lung condition. But I think the majority don't because you now pay for the tests (I paid for my staff to have them), which defeats the object because you would buy one when suspecting Covid meaning you'd have to go to a pharmacy or supermarket putting others at risk

The government made the whole situation a farce with party gate. If we had a big wave now, no one would isolate, or go not lockdown willingly as before.

I've had customers in who said they suspected covid (one who ended up in hospital the day after he was so unwell with it) and they still sit there with others, coughing away.

TrashedSofa · 20/12/2023 08:40

What are people supposed to do though? It's not tenable to isolate whole families for 10 days at a time. People have to work, children have to go to school.

Exactly. It doesn't matter how good a reason some people think there is for others to do it, it's not viable. Isolation compliance was patchy even when it was a legal requirement, and there's a reason for that.

endlessdarkness · 20/12/2023 08:50

x2boys · 20/12/2023 08:08

Has it ever crossed your mind that many people have no option but to work regardless of wether they have Covid or not ?
Even children are expected in school assuming they are well.enough
Yeah some people might not care
But for many wether they care or not they just have to get on with it
They don't have the luxury of staying at home and isolating

Show quote history

Work is one thing. You can't not work but people should still be informed so they can protect themselves. Someone in the workplace let us know they had Covid, so we could choose to work at home this week. At least this way, because of their consideration, my child won't be spending Christmas in hospital. I know not all jobs lend themselves to working at home.

I do judge people in social situations though. Fine if they still choose to go, not fine if they don't tell other people so they can choose if they want to take the risk or not. There is a choice there.

Maybe this makes me a bad person but I won't feel bad for selfish people when it's their own or their loved one's life on the line and someone take selfish actions around them.

Workworkandmoreworknow · 20/12/2023 09:07

x2boys · 20/12/2023 08:17

My son has type 3c diabetes its treated as type one and he's insulin dependent he has no.pancreas function at all.due to acute necrotizing pancreatitis earlier this year
However we can't just say at home my dh ,has to work, Ds has to go to college like it or not Covid is here to stay.

Show quote history

Why do you assume we stay at home? Absolutely covid is here to stay. But being aware of it when you are vulnerable doesn’t make you a bad person Confused

Differentstarts · 20/12/2023 09:46

From someone who was hospitalised for over a month with covid nearly died and now i have long covid which has completely changed my life. I really appreciate that some people do still care ❤️

endlessdarkness · 20/12/2023 09:50

Workworkandmoreworknow · 20/12/2023 09:07

Why do you assume we stay at home? Absolutely covid is here to stay. But being aware of it when you are vulnerable doesn’t make you a bad person Confused

Show quote history

Exactly. It's not wrong to be aware and exercise reasonable precautions while not actually fearing Covid in itself. I'd like to avoid it, I will test if I think my child is sick so I can get them antivirals to keep them out of hospital. I haven't stopped living my life. I just do so mindfully (as I did before Covid was a thing because there are other illnesses out there that can be concerning). It's impossible to avoid but we can at least aim to reduce the number of infections.

Menomeno · 20/12/2023 09:54

YANBU. My dd has long Covid, after being hospitalised with Covid two years ago. She lives in fear of catching it again. I woke up on Sunday with symptoms but didn’t test as we had none. Dd got up yesterday morning with symptoms so DH went and bought tests. Hers was positive, mine was negative. DH was due to visit his parents (late 80s) and refused to cancel his visit. As far as he was concerned, my test was negative so he’d be fine. Given that I’ve got the same symptoms as dd, and have had them for two days longer I’m just assuming that I also have Covid. I was furious that he’d put them at risk like that, especially when as a family we live with the devastation than Covid can cause. People are so selfish, they just don’t care.

Previousreligion · 20/12/2023 09:58

I agree with you op. I have just had covid and had a lot of internal debates with myself over what I could legally do vs what I felt morally right.

I isolated for four days and then wore a mask if I had to go out until I was negative in the end.

endlessdarkness · 20/12/2023 09:59

Previousreligion · 20/12/2023 09:58

I agree with you op. I have just had covid and had a lot of internal debates with myself over what I could legally do vs what I felt morally right.

I isolated for four days and then wore a mask if I had to go out until I was negative in the end.

Edited

Thank you for caring. You are a good person.

FreezyFord · 20/12/2023 10:00

Just stop testing. If you’re really unwell stay away from vulnerable people

endlessdarkness · 20/12/2023 10:01

FreezyFord · 20/12/2023 10:00

Just stop testing. If you’re really unwell stay away from vulnerable people

But if we don't test we can't get antivirals and then end up in hospital, if we are immune compromised.

RoseAndRose · 20/12/2023 10:02

FreezyFord · 20/12/2023 10:00

Just stop testing. If you’re really unwell stay away from vulnerable people

You can't tell who is vulnerable just by looking, so that has to mean staying away from everyone

Greezynogreasy · 20/12/2023 10:03

Covid is no longer the disease it was at the start.
For most people it is just like a bad cold now and yes, people have also historically been hospitalised with a bad cold and for flu too. For the vast majority of the population life goes on.

We can’t keep isolating or wearing masks when we have a bout of Covid or a cold (masks don’t work anyway)

RafaistheKingofClay · 20/12/2023 10:31

Daisydoor12 · 19/12/2023 23:42

I thought the general consensus was just carry on as you would if you were unwell with any other virus eg stay home if you have a temperature/don’t feel well. Interestingly today a letter from the gp surgery reinstating masks for face to face appointments (if you’re lucky enough to get one) due to high covid infection levels. I hope this isn’t an indication of where we are heading.

WHO recommended universal masking in healthcare settings yesterday because of JN.1

I suspect on this case it’s because Covid is so contagious that with high circulating levels they don’t want all their staff wiped out with it.

96waystobehappy · 20/12/2023 10:31

@endlessdarkness
i meant close , that I love. Of course I know people who are immune compromised, at least by the standards the government set out during Covid, crohns / diabetic , etc. I do not know anyone life or death immune compromised.

TempestTost · 20/12/2023 10:39

RoseAndRose · 20/12/2023 10:02

You can't tell who is vulnerable just by looking, so that has to mean staying away from everyone

Show quote history

This is not new.

96waystobehappy · 20/12/2023 10:40

@endlessdarkness

One of my best friends has Crohn’s disease and was told to isolate for months in Covid. At one point he didn’t leave the house for weeks they scared him so much. He says now that looking back it was madness and completely out of proportion and he will never do it again (although he’ll take the paid time off work 😂) There is absolutely no way I would test myself for an illness before going to see him and he wouldn’t want me to. He’s not afraid of Covid anymore.

I had an aunt who was ridiculously terrified of Covid as she was also told she was vulnerable due to a heart problem. To the point she was falling out with people left, right and centre and still taking precautions for years afterwards. She caught Covid a cpl of months ago and invited me round when she had it and said “I’ve been going out, someone gave it to me so I suppose you’ve just got to get on with things now” I’m glad she’s relaxed but I thought it was a bit hypercritical for someone that would have seen her own family jailed for such a deed 3 years ago.

ManchesterLu · 20/12/2023 10:43

You shouldn't be testing for covid anymore. You should be keeping away from people, where possible, when you have a contagious illness, whatever it's called.

I don't know why people see covid as the devil, but colds and flu yeah fair game, let's go and infect all the grannies.

x2boys · 20/12/2023 10:44

RoseAndRose · 20/12/2023 10:02

You can't tell who is vulnerable just by looking, so that has to mean staying away from everyone

Show quote history

In reality people can't just stay away from everyone.

endlessdarkness · 20/12/2023 10:45

96waystobehappy · 20/12/2023 10:40

@endlessdarkness

One of my best friends has Crohn’s disease and was told to isolate for months in Covid. At one point he didn’t leave the house for weeks they scared him so much. He says now that looking back it was madness and completely out of proportion and he will never do it again (although he’ll take the paid time off work 😂) There is absolutely no way I would test myself for an illness before going to see him and he wouldn’t want me to. He’s not afraid of Covid anymore.

I had an aunt who was ridiculously terrified of Covid as she was also told she was vulnerable due to a heart problem. To the point she was falling out with people left, right and centre and still taking precautions for years afterwards. She caught Covid a cpl of months ago and invited me round when she had it and said “I’ve been going out, someone gave it to me so I suppose you’ve just got to get on with things now” I’m glad she’s relaxed but I thought it was a bit hypercritical for someone that would have seen her own family jailed for such a deed 3 years ago.

There was someone in hospital with Crohn's with my son when he was in there with Covid.

Just because you know people who reacted over the top (and plenty of perfectly healthy people did too), it doesn't mean that taking sensible and realistic precautions is wrong. There's no need to stop living while being sensible.

One day you will know someone for who it matters, guaranteed. Pretty much every family has someone who develops cancer or some other truly serious illness. I'm willing to bet you'll change your tune then. "How can people be so inconsiderate when my child/husband/myself has cancer?" Don't expect more consideration than you give other people.