"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.

It's a factual statement. Interpreting it as people thinking the elderly or those with health problems are 'half dead', 'unimportant' or 'a burden'is ridiculous and is assigning malicious intent where there is none. Surely most peolle fall unto the category of either having elderly relatives, small children or friends or family with illnesses. They are not being offensive, they are being rational and factual.

I have a consultant (dr) friends who working a in large London hospital - she's worried and says we shouldn't underestimate the virus and it's impact on youngish otherwise healthy people!! I have another friend who's brother lives in S. Korea with his wife and children - they haven't been to work or school since Christmas. All the schools are closed. OP I'm not being unreasonable!

Troels nobody voting YABU wants anyone to die. Some posters voting YABU are at high risk themselves.

SylvanianFrenemies is completely unreasonable because the reminders that most people are not at risk of death are intended to prevent widespread panic, not to put some kind of curse on anyone.

Panic and mass shutdowns and restrictions on movement would have knock on consequences quickly.

Shortage of medicines and medical staff obviously threaten the lives of the same people as the virus threatens.

There are so many people who enjoy doom and gloom and drama and panic in a way - the same people who live to rubberneck (or these days take mobile phone videos and post them online) at accident sites. So many people. These people love the drama and apocalyptic overtones of the word "pandemic". Panicking with ternage mates over Corona virus is a distraction from mundane worries about exams or friendship or money or whatever but it dangerous if it becomes widely believed. Hence the message SylvanianFrenemies objects to.

Don't know why there are so many typos in that post! Apologies!

I agree. My daughter has a serious heart condition and massively reduced lung function. A simple cold often turns into pneumonia. I’m scared for her.

Save your ire for the real twats

1: people who come to work with a rotten cough, cold or the flu. Fuck off home, you self-appointed adolescent martyr

2: people who don't wash their hands

3: people who don't use tissues properly or catch their coughs and sneezes

I have another friend who's brother lives in S. Korea with his wife and children - they haven't been to work or school since Christmas. All the schools are closed. OP I'm not being unreasonable!

My BIL & SIL live in Hong Kong, their kids school has been shut for over a month now. They’re currently staying with family in South Africa.

Agree that its a factual statement. I dont for one second think anyone saying it secretly means "the elderly and immune compromised will all die and I dont care if they do" I think thats a ridiculous extrapolation to make from a factual comment.

If I say "smoking causes cancer" does that mean I'm "wishing cancer on all people who smoke"? of course not. I'm saying there is a causation between smoking and cancer. Which there is. It is a fact the people most at risk of corona are the immune compromised and the elderly. Thats the case for ALL infections usually and its certainly true of the flu. The reason people are saying it is because it means those who are immune compromised or elderly need to be extra careful and those around such populations need to take extra care to practice good hygiene. It also means that not "everyone"is going to die from corona. Why would anyone go around saying "corona will kill us all" when thats factually incorrect? I'm sorry but I really resent being told I am being an arsehole for repeating a factual statement about a virus. There is nothing "mean" behind my statement, just as there is no unkind hidden meaning behind it when I say "smoking causes cancer". Its fact.

It’s a factual statement. How can making a factual statement make someone a “dick”? Comments about the spread of a disease in general are not all about you.

I think the original idea of that kind of statement was to tell otherwise healthy people not to use up GP and hospital time because they have a cough and are worried but it has become a phrase people parrot without thinking of the implications.

PoolsOfSunshineThroughTheGlass, nobody voting YABU wants anyone to die.
Where did I say that.
I said that healthy people can bring it home and babies and young children could catch it and die. Not that anyone would want it to happen!

When quite a lot of people in the intended group point out what seems to them to be dickish, I suggest 'stop dick' and make the same point in a kinder way.

There it is.

Science is not feelings. Stats are not feelings. It's a statement of facts. It does not have to be 'kind'.

I have had asthma virtually my entire life. I accepted long ago that there but for the grace of scientific intervention, I would cease to exist. That I have lived as long and been able to pass on my flawed genes is purely due to living in a first world country with a free NHS. I never lull myself into thinking it won't get me in some way in the end.

I do not get offended when I read health statements telling me my risk of death after catching an infection is higher. That is fact. It's not the doctors or NHS' fault for having to spell these facts out to me. Or tell me I will be putting unnecessary strain on the NHS if I choose to refuse the flu jab and get ill. It's giving a true representation of the risk.

Vulnerable people are dying in China because of the policy of isolating people and restricting movement as well as because of the actual virus.

Where are you seeing or hearing these views? While I haven't had actual conversations about CV I've read a lot and haven't seen anyone even intimate that the more vulnerable don't matter.

Troels, actually newborns and children seem to fight off the virus very effectively.

I've said on a few threads that I've got friends in Nigeria. It's now hit Nigeria. Some Preachers are already saying it's sent by God as a way to 'make space for the young and healthy'. But the Government and the media have been running factual Q&As for quite some time. Let's hope the Preachers don't get a stronghold.

It would be good to see hand washing stations at the entrances to hospitals/GP surgeries, where people have to wash their hands before entering and on leaving.

The amount of people I've heard saying this will save money, less elderly/ill people to look after is unbelievable. Those people matter, it's like some people enjoy a 'game' of survival of the fittest.

If elderly and immune suppressed are at risk, then so are newborns and very young. I bet those voting YABU don't want to lose their and their friends and families small babies.
They might be healthy themselves and survive, but when you bring it home as a mild illness for yourself, your baby can catch it and die.

Nope, not how it's been working so far. The exact opposite in fact. No recorded child deaths yet. It's perfectly possible for something to be a risk to the elderly and immunosuppressed by less of a risk to children, there's no automatic link between one group being at risk and another, as you seem to be suggesting here. Actually if anything this is a good demonstration of why it's helpful to be clear about who's at most risk here.

As for the OP, depends on context. It's a fact, and facts don't care about your feelings. However there are times and ways to make that point.

Who are these people TabbyCatPaws where are they saying it?

If schools are closed the poorest children often don't get a cooked meal at all, and families reliant on minimum wage zero hour contract work can't earn and feed those children, heat their accomodation etc. - this is already a problem in school holidays.

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/21/food-banks-scramble-stop-1-million-children-school-holidays

Those calling for premature shutdown of everything are calling for other vulnerable groups to be put at risk.

@PoolsOfSunshineThroughTheGlass

Exactly. Very good point. Another reason to present the FACTS about corona virus which is that unless you are elderly or immune compromised, isolating everyone is not only a pointless waste of time, but it will actually HARM many groups of people just as much as the bloody virus will. But of course, apparently we need to ignore their needs because the OP has hurt feelings when people make factual statements eye roll

TabbyCatPaws really? Who is saying that? I haven't heard anyone say anything remotely like that! Surely if there are people saying things like that (Neonazi / National Front Type people?) they're saying that every flu season too?

I totally agree OP. Obviously it's true but context is everything. Anyone who says they don't understand the concern/"panic" and then goes on to say that the deaths will mostly be in older people and those with health conditions Is a total dick. They don't have to specifically say that they don't care about the groups at high risk -their all right Jack attitude says it all.

If every fit, healthy person decided to self isolate without being symptomatic then the elderly and the ill would start dying because there would be no-one to help and and support them. They would starve or freeze or not be able to get the medical treatment they need. The best way to protect the vulnerable is to keep the country functioning and for those who have a genuine reason to think they could have been in infected to take all necessary precautions not for the country to shut down or for the someone 20 miles away has it so I don't feel safe panic.

Those calling for premature shutdown of everything are calling for other vulnerable groups to be put at risk

Exactly right but sadly the type of person prone to unnecessary panic probably won't be bothered by that.