Would you self isolate?

[janemaster]

The advice is to self isolate if you have travelled from certain areas abroad, even if you have no symptoms. We know in other countries that not everyone has followed this advice.
So be honest, if you had no symptoms but were told to self isolate for 2 weeks in the house, would you? This would mean not leaving the house at all and staying in a separate room from anyone else living in your house.

YABU - No I would not
YANBU - Yes I would

One of my dc is in a very high risk category - he would be five times more likely to die of corona virus than his brothers. I would like to isolate him now because the chances of everyone considering other people's health before their need to pay the mortgage is very low and I am a realist.

That said, I am keeping an eye on the local news, encouraging him to wash hands, not touch mouth etc and then pushing it to the back of my mind so I don't become a paranoid wreck

If the government guidance was to self isolate then that's what I would do despite the massive inconvenience. I would be supported at work and paid if this was the case but it is an impossible dilemma for those who have to choose lose half a months pay or risk spreading the disease. If the government really cared about halting the spread of the virus they'd be offering quarantine compensation or rushing through legislation mandating sick pay in these circumstances.

We would have to self isolate as a family realistically. Food wise we would manage, bread can baked at home but my youngest still drinks milk so that would be a struggle. I imagine food shopping online will still be ok but delivery costs will be higher and deliveries will be left on the doorstep. My dh would be able to work from home however I cannot. I do not get paid for the first three days and would struggle to be without pay for two weeks. Dh would be able to pick up the slack but it would be hard.

If you are rural and can afford to it may be a good idea to start buying a few extra things with your shop e.g. cough and cold medicine pasta, pasta and frozen veg especially if you cannot get groceries delivered.

Going to the drs or chemist is incredibly selfish. People who work there have families too, if you have symptoms you absolutely should follow the advice from NHS 24. Many chemists will deliver if this is the case or ask you to get someone else to collect for you.

I absolutely feel for the people who have to buy food day to day and are literally living hand to mouth. We are incredibly lucky to be able to afford a few extra bits with our regular grocery shopping but not everyone can.

We’d self isolate as a family.

Its equally selfish of surgeries to drag immuno compromised patients in for something thats just routine at this time.

We are on a key meter.

No because we don't have a spare room. I would follow the official guideline as much as possible and stay in the house but wouldn't be strictly self isolated as I would still be sharing rooms with DH and there is no way round this.

don't think not getting paid is a good reason to be honest peoples health and well being is more important than money !

Will you explain that to my landlord if I have to self isolate then?
Nobody has explained how I could self isolate yet people were happy to call me selfish.

No work=no pay=no food & no rent=no home. Then I'd end up homeless and be criticised on here for being a benefits scrounger.

Another point about renting is the mandatory gas safety check. Refuse = possible eviction. My HA make no allowances and we have been accused of refusing when its the engineer who hasnt turned up.

So during a period of self isolation neither the tenant nor engineer would be protected.

YABVU to ask the question in the first place.
Why on earth would you, or anyone feel that NOT self isolating is acceptable?? It goes against all government and health advice and is wrong on so many levels.

It is a huge worry and ignorant idiots who don't self isolate may infect so many people.

The selfish attitude of people
Is astounding.

@FoxEars as discussed previously for many it would be the choice of following guidelines or facing potential evictions, being unable to pay for groceries, prepaid utilities etc. It is nice to live a sheltered life where you don't have to worry about the fundamental aspects of living.

@foxears

Why on earth would you, or anyone feel that NOT self isolating is acceptable?? It goes against all government and health advice and is wrong on so many levels.

So how do you self isolate when you have nobody to help you with your shopping and can't get deliveries because of living in a rural area without them? What do you do if you can't go to work and therefore don't get paid and can't get money to pay for your food?

It's all very well people being sanctimonious and holier than thou but people are not offering solutions for those who cannot self isolate.

To those saying don't travel if you won't self isolate - that may apply to people travelling now, but people who for example went on that cruise had no idea they would have to self isolate.

I'm not a prepper but It's probably a good idea for all of us to think about how we would manage if we had to self isolate or if our family had to self isolate. It's not possible for everyone but if you're in a rural area that doesn't deliver could you arrange with friends and neighbours a plan where you would get food for each other in the eventuality you have to self isolate. Hopefully it wouldn't come to it but it can't help to prepare if you can. Those who don't have a spare bed room in this situation I would let the sick person have the bedroom and the others would sleep in the front room for two weeks, Uncomfortable yes but safer than spreading infection. If you live in a studio flat then can the person you're living with stay with friends. Who locally could help you? I think the thing that would kill me would be being in the same house as my DD but not being able to hug her or be in the same room as her for two weeks. That would be painful for both of us.

Also it is possible you may in the future be asked to self isolate if someone in your workplace for example gets the virus. Again you can't foresee that.
I think asking people to self isolate is too little. Some can't because they won't get paid. Some won't because they think the risk is overblown and it is only flu like.

@FoxEars I asked the question because I suspected not everyone would self isolate. I would, although DP would not get paid, but we can afford it.

Yes for anyone on a key meter self isolating would mean no utilities, which isn't realistic.

I trust a rabid dog more than this government and their advice, too, tbh.

Do you know more than the CDC/WHO? Because you might want to pass that onto them? All current information states that it is impossible to work out an accurate death rate. The reported stats vary between less than 1% up to 17%

Sighs heavily

The WHO / UK government / CDC do not support your flight of fancy upper figures

And the WHO continues to advise against unnecessary travel restrictions.

Ironically what will decimate the world’s economy is not coronavirus but panic

There is a difference between panicking and getting a bit extra food in. [I have got extra food in so we could stay in the house for 2 weeks if we needed to.

Depends if work would let me

I think you have to also consider what happens if you have to self isolate more than once. So say you come into contact with a child who has returned from a trip to Italy and is ill and there is advice to self isolate (I'm immunosuppressed and my DC has a chronic illness). You come out of the two week self isolation period and are well and then there is an outbreak at your work or church. So another period of self isolation would presumably be recommended.
I would definitely be following official guidance to protect my own family and other vulnerable members of society. But I do worry that it may not just be two weeks and then we're all fine.

There are more over 60s still working despite having health conditions as state pension age moved up so more of them using public transport.

I would follow advice

For example there’s a lot of talk about self isolating re prime areas of Italy but actually the advice is to self isolate only if symptomatic

It’s only Iran and specific areas of China were people are asked to self isolate without symptoms so all the stick the royals got for returning from Italy skiing and not self isolating was misplaced - they followed advice

Personally I'm hoping that this panic over coronavirus will encourage more care about other illnesses like flu, and even colds, which may or may not be as lethal for everyone but are certainly not something we should be spreading around. I guess it would be optimistic to think that the authorities would also be pushed to reflect on how many people depend from day to day and hour to hour on unsteady incomes...

My youngest DC's school (for SN children) has a warning on the front door that measles is going around. (London) My eldest DC was diagnosed with mumps four weeks ago and the doctor didn't even tell him what to do about avoiding others, let alone take measures to trace his previous contacts. And the whole family has bad asthma. We take all illness seriously, but I can well see why it's not feasible for some families.

And this is, thank God, not China. We do not WANT to copy a country where it is still illegal to move to a new city even in periods when there isn't any epidemic.