"Only the elderly/immune suppressed are at risk" - attitude of dicks?

[SylvanianFrenemies]

People who say not to worry about Coronavirus, because "Only the elderly/chronically ill/immune suppressed" are dicks.

Some of us fall into these categories. Some love people who fall into these categories. Some have some essence of humanity. Stop using "Only the xxx" to dismiss concerns. Stop conflating it with flu.

Wash your hands. Isolate yourself as required. Err on the side of caution.

YABU = I agree with these dicks.
YANBU = I am human.

I think it's their very clumsy way of trying to calm people down. If we had Ebola in this country I would be very concerned
Corona, I AM concerned, I have elderly relatives but I am not going to get swept along in a media frenzy.

It’s the same risk as flu. The elderly and immuno-compressed get it more often even with the vaccine.

I think it’s very difficult to assess risk for any single person as we all present differently. So I don’t take offence at the statement above even though I am extremely immune-compromised, as is my brother. I don’t believe CV is that selective. It depends on your current level of fitness, whether you smoke, your diet, your health, your age, where you live, your level of hygiene, etc. It Is much more complex than simply the vectors of age/immune-compromised.

I believe that corona virus is another flu. In Britain, Flu kills people who have weak immune systems, the elderly , long term sick who are all high risk etc.

I do believe the hype isnt necessary, I remember the madness of swine flu etc. I’m 43 and had flu once in my life. If people washed their hands and were more hygienic when coughing or sneezing then these types of illnesses could be kept to a minimum.

It is not the same risk as flu.

I think logically if the country doesn't grind to a halt amidst widespread panic in flu season, then we shouldn't do that now. The situations are comparable, is the point I would make. However I can see it would be at the very least a bit insensitive of the person saying it to not acknowledge that you're one of the people at higher risk.

I make the death rate out to be 3.5%, based on Chinese cases vs deaths in this link. SARS and MERS killed far more people, proportionally.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51235105

It's not panic but lack of fit personnel that may make the country grind to a halt.

Sorry but what do you want us to do?? Everyone to be in a panic? Why can’t I just not care about the virus and get on with my life instead of wasting my time worrying about something that still only has a handful of cases in the country! I don’t know how that makes me a dick. I don’t want it to spread here and I don’t want my parents and grandparents or anyone who is more likely to end up with serious complications to get ill and die from the virus either !

Il wash my hands more regularly/carry hand sanitiser - but at the minute that’s the maximum my everyday life will be changing unless the situation gets way worse.

The flu thing annoys me. The NHS vaccinates for flu in target groups precisely because it will kill people and overwhelm the NHS. So now we have a more deadly virus than flu which can't be vaccinated against. So people will die and the NHS will be overwhelmed.

The whole Corona virus thing is a joke. More people have died from choking on grapes than Corona virus this year yet it's all over the news and everyone is panicking. It's a cold, that is it. Yes people that are already ill and elderly might have complications from it but they would also have the same issues with lots of other viruses that are not vaccinated against.

Anyone remember flu? It kills 100,000 people a year WITH a vaccine available. Corona virus isn't a pandemic. If you think you have it, stay away from anyone that is vulnerable, wash your hands and don't be a grot and sneeze onto food etc just like you would with a cold, flu or any other virus

Slightly off topic but this is going to have a severe impact on the world economy as well as individuals.
In China thousands of factories have very few workers due to being put into isolation. Business's all over the world haven't received container upon containers worth of goods that have already been paid for.

It's a massive chain that's now falling apart. No Chinese products here to sell = redundancies.

There was reckoned to be some immunity in the over 60s to swine flu.

Flu with the vaccine has a 0.2% mortality. People with asthma and diabetes are very unlikely to die from the flu. They are at risk from the coronavirus. Lots of people live with chronic health problems who are likely to live to an old age.
I also don't want my mid 70's MIl who has asthma to die. She would likely live at least another 10 years.
I hate this so called reassurance that is coming out. It is basically saying if you are old or have a chronic health problem we don't give a toss about you.

@KaptenKrusty - what do I want people to do? Get on with life, take sensible precautions, not panic.

What don't I want people to do - say Coronavirus is the same as a cold/flu, fail to take sensible precautions, and/or say that the deaths of older people and people with health conditions don't matter.

And people with cancer may have good access to information about how to protect themselves as suggested above, But I have a chronic health issue and have no access to anything except what is in the media. I am a member of an online support group and everyone is worried about this. I am scared about this.

I agree with you OP. I had this conversation today. Someone said that it was the old etc etc and I said, so what if someone didn't self-isolate, you caught it without realising it and you visited your nan? You could see the cogs turning.

@janemaster - so would you rather we all just stopped with any reassuring Info and all just keep reminding the people with weak immune systems and illnesses that they are highly likely to die and to be very worried

How is that helpful ffs 😂 I don’t know what you want tbh

Agree @janemaster. I'm diabetic, but I'm also the mother of 2 children who need me, I'm a partner, a family member, a health professional. My father is in his late 70s with mild COPD, but he's fit, active and does lots of volunteering (and childcare!!). It sucks that there is so much readiness to basically say that we, and those like us, don't matter.

@KaptenKrusty It would be better to say that if you are healthy and young then coronavirus usually only causes mild symptoms. That gives the same information without devaluing people who are old or have chronic health problems.

contessaferjones you’re wrong on the death rate, I’m afraid. What you’ve failed to take into consideration is that you can’t compare number of cases with deaths, because a large proportion of those are still ill and are not yet recovered. It’s looking as though around a fifth of all those who catch it are seriously/ critically ill. I read that the definition of “seriously“ in their reporting was requiring oxygen/ IV fluids etc, and “critical“ needing mechanical aids to breathe.Of the active cases, 19% are currently in one of these categories. We don’t know the death rate because it’s too early to say for those people. The illness takes quite a long time to either kill people or recover from. Death versus recovery rate is currently nearer 10%, but it’s too soon to say accurately, plus we almost certainly don’t have true figures for either rates of illness or death.

Have a look on worldometer for some excellent graphs on the matter.

Every time someone says “it’s just the flu” ask yourself how you think the NHS would cope if the virus became widespread, with 20% of people who caught it requiring oxygen or intensive care. This is why it’s being taken seriously.

And OP, I entirely agree with you. My parents are in their 80s, I have many health issues, DH had a stroke last year although we are only just into our 50s and adult DD has a heart condition and asthma. I can’t stand it when people say “oh it’s only the elderly/ill”. So as long as they’re alright, that’s ok?

Well this doesn’t surprise me. How many times on Brexit threads did we see posters full of glee that the ‘oldies’ who voted to leave would soon be dead. Or that ‘oldies’ had no right to vote as they wouldn’t be affected by Brexit as they would be dead. Sadly, blatant ageism seems to be acceptable on Mumsnet.

Surely people can see its not just another flu by looking at the events in China?

Why would China effectively shut down it's biggest cities and cut back business activity so much causing a massive economic hit?

@SylvanianFrenemies Agreed

I am also astounded at the person on the thread who said they don't know anyone with any chronic health problems. They either know very few people or don't talk to people at a level that they would tell them their health issues. So I know a number of people with diabetes, 1 man with a genetic heart problem - his mum had the same and lived till 87, a number of people with asthma a few who have it severely, 1 woman undergoing chemo for cancer, and 1 woman born with heart issues. There will I am sure be others at work for example with chronic health issues that I know nothing about.

I think you are completely misunderstanding what people are saying , they are not saying that these people don’t matter they are simply saying that there is no reason for ‘ normal’ healthy people to be panicking - and I say that as someone who is in a high risk category for a few reasons .