Funny how the people who plan to isolate themselves expect everyone else to keep working.

[LucheroTena]

This.

People on here prepping to isolate themselves and their families. Taking kids out of school, not working. For how long, 18 months until a vaccine is available??

The same people expect others in the service sectors to keep working - supermarket workers, NHS staff and so on. Going on about getting all their shopping delivered and so on.

Some of the preppers / self isolators on other threads were berating NHS retirees for being worried about being asked return to work, and telling NHS nurses who were voicing worries about isolation and childcare that they should lose their jobs.

Selfish irrational weirdos. I don’t know anyone in real life like this but seems like there are dozens hiding away on here.

Exactly!! It’s not about having a zillion cans of beans and taking your kids out of school. They aren’t considered what will happen if their electricity and (god forbid- Netflix) goes off. Most of these people are SAHM with young kids who will likely get it mildly, if show any symptoms at all. This will likely play out for months, with no vaccine on the horizon. You’d have to be set up like a paranoid millionaire recluse With an underground bunker to stay self sufficient and isolated for 18 months. It’s all nuts and not really helping anyone.

People can be selfish - not news.

We wouldn't be relying on delivery drivers. I've been a lurker in the prepping boards for quite some time. We easily have enough in the house to make some moderately nice meals for about three months. Enough toilet rolls/personal hygiene products etc. for around the same time.

That's just generally the amount we keep, it's been built up/rotated over the last year, so no panic buying or emptying of shelves. If anything it will mean one less family in the queue potential infecting you in the case of an outbreak.

Some people can't self usolate easily, either because it is impossible to work from home or they financially can't afford the hit. I don't get the bitterness towards people who can when it could very well help protect those who can't. If not protect then at least lessen the strain on services.

I think the point of being prepared to self isolate is so that you dont have to rely on outside help. I suppose they see it as taking as much self responsibility as they can in a bad situation. Yes I think that a main reason for this is based on being concerned for yourself, but on the other hand the more people that can are in a way helping society as a whole as the less people that are out and about the less chance of it spreading.

I suppose it's like vaccinations in a way. I get me and my child vaccinated as I dont want us to get a disease. But by doing it, it protects society as a whole as it means the fewer people who do get Ill ,there is more service available for those who really need it.

@Nicepud with respect, most people on those threads are not coming across as having altruistic reasons for their actions. It’s pretty much all about keeping themselves safe while berating others who will need to keep servicing their choices.

Sign of the times in this country I'm afraid , OP - irrational, anti-social and selfish. As an example, so many of the GBP turn a blind eye to the structural abuses in the NHS that damage the lives of so many in its workforce, vote against its future in GEs, and then demonise and blame the retired workforce for declining an invitation to return to situations that they were formerly scapegoated and/or undervalued in!

It's an "I owe you nothing/you owe me everything" culture in many blind corners of the so-called UK now

I don't think most people are planning to self isolate unless they are ill or have reason to believe they may have contracted the virus. The extra stuff is in case they have to self isolate and it may be difficult to get deliveries as demand will be very high and supply lines might be interrupted for a bit.

I assumed that if people like me tried to self-isolate, it would benefit others in the long run. If I were to get ill I would take up a disproportionate amount of NHS resources, whereas for others the symptoms could be much milder. So it’s selfish but I also feel like it would be the responsible thing to do for our society.

From my point of view I'm in transport services.. people not products. We are looking at what we can do to reduce risk to both staff and passengers, I will be working until if and when we are told not to. Then I will work from home. We will operate a reduced rota between frontline workers to reduce exposure time to the public in their job, and luckily we got in front of this a couple of weeks ago and put health measures in place. Extra cleaning rotas, disinfectant, hand gels for staff/passengers as we dont want to risk peoples health.

On a personal level I have an elderly mum with lung disease. I have made sure that she has any extra medication and food that she needs so if we do have an outbreak in the area she can stay safely at home and wont need to be going and taking up appointments space with the gp for prescriptions ect. Hopefully if she is at home and can lessen contact with others she reduces the chance of her getting anything and needing hospital treatment and taking up a bed.

They aren’t considered what will happen if their electricity and (god forbid- Netflix) goes off

You must not know many preppers we are prepared for that.

Some may not have very altruistic motives, but still if they are preppers it means they have taken responsibility upon themselves to make sure they don't have to rely on others if the shit hits the fan.

Selfish or not, this would still help ease pressure off the local health services, shops and schools anyway.

I've seen a few preppers include isolated elderly neighbours they know of in their plans. There's an elderly lady on my road I check in on regularly, and I've made sure I can continue taking things round that she needs in the event of SHTF.

Whatever the motives, it can only help.

At the very least I'm sure those who can't afford to pull their dc out of school would be happy that mine wouldn't be contributing to the doubled up class sizes/germ factory.

@Sunshinesky1981 that’s pretty normal, sensible low key things you’re doing. I’m talking about those healthy people, who want to stop having contact with any other people- now-when hardly anyone has it- and while expecting everything else they need to be provided by others.

It doesn’t matter what the preppers’ motives are if the net outcome for society is beneficial.

Food delivery staff is pretty easily solved thanks to the wonders of zero-hours contracts because picking at least is a relatively unskilled job, so healthy staff from all the restaurants/shops/theme parks which are closed can be redeployed. It’s not a trivial task to recruit and train temp replacements for 20% of your workforce (or more if all the parents of primary school children have to stay home and childmind), especially the drivers, but it’s not impossible either, and the government would be highly motivated to help if it takes the strain off the army.

Also not really worried about gas and electricity. That’ll be priority number 3 on the Cobra pandemic plan after medicine and water. You just cancel all routine maintenance work and suspend ongoing upgrade projects and deploy all relevant staff exclusively to operation Keep The Lights/Heat On. People in rural Shropshire who get a power cut will have to wait for longer to get the leccy back but at least we’re nearly out of winter storm season.

The problem is the NHS. You can draft in temp cleaners from closed McDonalds branches but there aren’t a spare hundred thousand nurses and doctors to be redeployed - forcibly enlisting all the staff of Harley Street plastic surgery clinics and the Royal Army Medical Corps won’t get us very far.

It doesn’t help @Nicepud. It just adds to a sense of panic, that then facilitates people panic buying. Who is going to catch all those children up with work after the 18 months self imposed isolation is up? I’d like to see how people get on keeping young kids isolated at home for all that time.

I totally agree with you. Ive read threads about this with my jaw hanging open at the audacity and entitlement ive seen. Then the same people who criticise others for not panicking about it and their "I'm alright jack" attitude then in the same breath they say they'll isolate but GOD FORBID the tesco delivery man or their GP do the same! Thats the absolute pinnacle of an "I'm alright jack" attitude.

The self absorption and ignorance is breathtaking

I’m pretty sure most posters on the prepping thread are either considering immune compromised next of kin, or are looking at the best course of action from a population level. If hairdressers and masseurs continue going to work, for example, this will only make nurses jobs harder.
Teachers are a fine balancing act. We are both the childcare of the nation and simultaneously also likely to be super spreaders. We may be asked to continue working, but how long will the nurses whose children we are caring for remain virus free if their children are gathering en masse in schools where there have already been multiple cases? Will you want your child to go to a school where a dozen teachers are off sick with the virus?

IheartNiles (love your UN btw) I can't speak for anyone else, but personally I've made sure I've got a tonne of activities/appropriate educational texts to keep them busy. But both my dc are very young so didn't need any more than that really.

To your other point, in a pandemic situation at some point there will most likely be panic buying anyway (hence the public order plans). I still think it can only help that I won't be there jostling someone else for the last rolo.

Is anyone actually suggesting they will self isolate for several weeks/ months just to protect themselves or their families though?
All the threads I have seen are about people preparing to self isolate if the government says they have to because they've been to an affected area or been exposed to someone with the virus. In this situation it would be only them in isolation and it is reasonable to expect that everyone else will not be isolated.

gamerwidow I’ve seen at least one person on a thread who has already deregistered her children from school and is self isolating (having her shopping delivered etc).

I don't 'prep' as such. There's two of us and two cats in a family sized kitchen. If the cupboards and freezer are full, that means we have about three weeks of food, more if we eat sparely. They naturally cycle between 2/3-full because we're too lazy to go to the shops frequently.

We are both able to self-isolate in the event of a widespread outbreak and work from home.

I will consider instructing my staff to work from home if it becomes widespread in the area to minimise the chance of infection.

I see it as like immunisation. Not everyone can self-isolate, but if we maximise the isolation of those for whom it is possible, it makes it less likely to transmit amongst those who can't isolate.

@MimiLaRue I know. Some vile preppers came onto the thread where the poor nurse was worrying about who would look after her children if her hospital made her stay on site for weeks. Told her she was selfish and needed to lose her job. When I looked them up they were the super paranoid types who planned to keep themselves completely out of harms way.

I don’t see it as selfish if people want to de-register. I hope they continue home schooling but that’s about it.

@nellodee I want to keep my child in school because 1. I need to keep working through this as a nurse. 2. They’ll get it anyway (might already have) and it’ll likely be mild. Of course if there is an outbreak the school will need to shut for a bit. There was a window to contain this which is shutting.

Some on here defending are doing fairly mild prep. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s the sheer hypocrisy coming from the paranoid types I take issue with.

Op you have explained this really well, I felt frustration when I read the "oh I'll just get tesco delivery" posts.
Agree for people who would suffer worse than most if they got it then take precautions as you see fit. But for low risk people like me life should continue much as normal with some additional proportionate changes. Eg I can work at home so would if the risk was higher. I always wash my hands anyway but now have hand gel. These are minor things.when I need to travel I will and if I was asked by someone who did need to self isolate for help, I would be able to provide that help.

@ IheartNiles I read that thread. The nurse had a child with additional needs. Lots of truly awful posters said she should be deregistered for actually wanting to prioritise her child than work. Everyone else’s family / personal needs need to be valued never essential services their needs are of no consequence