Petrified

[Relaxing2]

Really scared that me and my children will catch this there is currently people been treated with this at our local hospital with is like 15 mins away I'm worried it will kill us my children are aged between 11 and 23 months old I'm washing and sanitizing my hands but I'm doing it that much my hands are burning the slightest cough wheezness I panick massive panic attacks please someone anyone recommendations thanks

OK, I'm a bit of a catastrophist, but there are ZERO recorded cases of children under 10 dying. If your children are under 10, I'm going to assume you are under 50, which means you have next to no chance of dying yourself.

This is frightening on a population level, but for young parents of young children, you WILL be fine.

Even children in countries where they have less access to clean, running water and who live in less sanitary conditions have not died of this. You’re more likely to be struck by lightening.

Please stop worrying. The chances of yourself and your children dying of coronavirus are next to none as you are young and (as far as I can gather) perfectly healthy.

80% of people in the UK (IF they catch the virus) will have mild symptoms that won't require any treatment and will go away on their own.

Calm down

The experts have all said children are at very low risk of dying from Coronavirus try and relax and start living your life.

Okay. This is scary and everything feels out of our control. But it IS going to be okay. Consider steps to help you feel better:

• rationing amount of time exposed to news cycle
• seeking social support from friends
• getting fresh air / some exercise
• ensuring you eat and sleep well to boost your physical & mental health
• practicing deep, meditative breathing
• looking at online CBT resources to help you spot anxiety-provoking automatic thoughts, and begin to challenge and weigh up evidence for and against the most common ones
• try to recognise when you are catastrophising - we all do it, but with practice we can learn to put breaks on when it start to happen.

Good self-help resources here: www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Health-Anxiety

If your anxiety is that bad you need to go to the doctor's and get some support. That really isn't healthy.

There's been no fatalities of children 0-9 globally - it has it here:

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/

So no rational reason to worry about your children dying from it. You should calm down on the hand washing - if you are damaging your hands it increases risk of illness through cuts not decreases plus constant washing does nothing for your mental health. Wash hands after the toilet / nappies / bins etc and before eating and preparing food otherwise you can stop. Buy some handcream to improve condition of hands. Stop looking up news on it and coming on this forum - its has lots of anxious people on it. Try and get CBT help for health anxiety / ocd - you can self refer for counselling in England. There is no way you will catch something 15 mins away. Remember population of UK is 66 million when considering the statistics. China's population is 1.3 billion. Hope things get better for you.

This is a very good leaflet from WHO.

Limit worry and agitation by lessening the time you
and your family spend watching or listening to media
coverage that you perceive as upsetting.

www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/coping-with-stress.pdf?sfvrsn=9845bc3a_2

Agree with other posters and thank @vera99 for link.
I'm a general prepper. And finding ways to keep morale strong is an important prep. More important in so many ways than buying "stuff". I'm sorry you are worried but that link has some really good information.
On a practical front, get some neutrogena type hand cream for your hands.

We don't know what OP's risk profile is, as she has not posted whether she or her DC have underlying health conditions.

It's entirely rational to be worried about new disease about which evidence is still emerging.

But it is not going to help (and indeed could harm) if you let these worries grow out of all proportion.

Follow the advice - wash your hands frequently, use good hand cream, stop yourself touching your face unless your hands are freshly washed. Teach your DC the same.

If in a higher risk group, consider avoid crowded, enclosed places which you do not need to attend. Cases 15 mins away may as well be on another planet. If you don't visit the hospital, then risks to you are low. Are the patients there people who were diagnosed and taken straight to isolation beds?

It's pointless telling an anxious mum to simply 'calm down'. As has been said, COVID-19 is not a threat to healthy adults or children; it will probably present as a cold/l or another seasonal virus.

What I find helps with anxiety is finding the facts so you know what the actual risks are.

@Relaxing2 - I think the anxiety you are suffering is likely to be much more detrimental to your overall health (and your kids' health) than this virus.

If I were suffering this kind of anxiety - I would stay away from this section of Mumsnet. Anxiety seems to be much more contagious than COVID-19. Many cases have been spread through computer screens!

I don't want you to think I'm trivializing your woes, but people need to take a deep breath, step back and read good quality information, e.g CDC, WHO, NHS.

I must add that your immune system could be weakened by elevated levels of stress, it's in your best interests to keep calm and just wash your hands!!!

This is the second thread you have started OP and the advice will be the same as on the other one. Get informed, follow advice as it changes and get some support with your out of control anxiety. Talk to people in real life, do some relaxation, do something other than worrying about this.

Please do not go on the scaremongering coronavirus threads.

Try this one instead. Sensible. Measured. And more positive than negative.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/a3821799-The-Positive-Mental-Health-Corona-virus-thread?msgid=94468837#94468837

If you’re feeling that way OP then my best advice is to stay off MN - there are some quite frankly ridiculous scaremongering posts on here by people who appear to have no grip on reality and seem to thrive on spreading panic.

The chances of you or your kids perishing from this virus are minuscule - take sensible precautions (like washing your hands more) and carry on as normal.

IMO no need to change plans, no need to panic buy and no need to prep. Heard on the radio today the UK is the most prepared and equipped country IN THE WORLD to cope with this. I remember, when I was younger and more anxious, that I was terrified of AIDS, mad cow disease, SARS and flesh eating disease. Guess what? Still here and it turned out to be media scare-mongering. Just like now.

Young children will be absolutely fine. No young children have died, even a newborn baby ,(baby’s mother had it pre-delivery), caught it in China and was fine. You are also likely to be in a lower risk group if you have very small children. You do need to be careful about older people, or adults who are not in good health.

Tens of thousands of people who have caught cov19 have recovered.

It’s normal to be scared, I am too, but if you’re going to keep yourself informed focus on the right numbers and try to limit your exposure to the news.

I’m old enough to remember when you got news broadcasts three or four times a day and honestly it was much healthier mentally. The constant ‘breaking news’ banner wasn’t even a ‘thing’ and reports had time to be properly vetted and fact checked instead of the constant stream of whatever the news outlets can pull together to fill space.

@GPwife2411 that is such a kind, helpful post.

OP sorry you are feeling like this . It is a worrying situation but highly likely you will all be absolutely fine - try to focus on that and stop reading about it as it doesn’t help.