I’m more concerned about the economic fall out than the virus - anyone else?

[ACautionaryTale]

It’s not the virus that scares me but what we will do to our economies and what will be left afterwards.

I was brought up to be pragmatic about death and not avoid it. I know my mother, aunts and uncles and father in law are all high risk should they get it.

I don’t want them to die of course not. However they are mostly over 80 and In reality death is nearer than far regardless.

To a man, they have all pretty much said that they would not want the lives of everyone wrecked to give them a few more years.

I don’t think people calling for a mass shut down actually comprehend what that will do if it goes on for more than a couple of weeks (and that will be bad enough)

On a personal level yes I'm more concerned about this. I only have one elderly relative who I am concerned about but he is generally in good health.

I work for a small business, not sure what will happen to my job if we plunge into another recession. I also can't afford to take an extended period off work if schools shut. I'm concerned for the future.

I wonder whether building life around the man made conception of money and economy is going to need to fail. Yes we may lose money but after all what is money really? Yet we have built our lives around it.

No, I'm more concerned about my Mother and parents in law plus a few of my friends who have underlying conditions that put them a high risk of serious illness if they get this virus.
Health before economy every time.
Over 800 deaths in Italy those people can never be replaced.
I'm afraid our health system will crash under the pressure of this virus. Italy's hospitals are currently working at 200% capacity.

I'm scared that ICU beds will be allocated on a lottery based when this virus really takes hold here.
I'm afraid of the virus. I'm scared cos our government is only testing people with a history of recent travel and have close contact with a confirmed case .
I'm scared cos gps are seeing people with symptoms but unable to test them cos of strict testing guidelines .
There is a lot more of this virus out there than what is being currently detected .
So, the economy may drop but idc rather than lives lost .

I agree with you. Of course virtue signallers will rock up and tell you that you are callous to even think of money but this is almost certainly going to plunge more families into poverty. There's a high risk that lots of JAM's will no longer manage through loss of income due to time off work and/or companies they work for collapsing.

I would love to be able to do a poll - unfortunately only available n AIBU and the thread would be pulled.....

1, If you want a shut down of everything regardless, would you be generally ok (SAHM, wealthy or DH with secure job, or on benefits anyway)

1. How many people whose lives would be totally screwed want the shut down>

On a personal level, yes it has been worrying me. Me and DH are both freelancers, and already one event that makes up a good chunk of our annual income has been cancelled. In the short term we both work from home so if schools are shut that will become more difficult - and of course, no sick pay. Our jobs would both be affected by a longer recession as what we do is ultimately affected by how much companies spend on marketing and advertising. We don’t make a massive amount of money as it is so any drop would impact on us quite a lot.

I can't comprehend what the effects of a prolonged shut down would be, even in my industry it would mean massive upheaval. I'm very concerned about it.

The whole point is that economic disruption is unavoidable. If 60-70% of the population get it, that's a lot of absence right there. The pressure on the health system of an uncontrolled peak will mean non-pandemic illness and injury will be less treatable too. People will have to take time off to deal with the deaths of their family members. Systems will cease to work effectively under those conditions even if people are supposed to be working, e.g. transportation, logistics.

An economic shit storm is coming regardless of whether we take measures or not. Personally, I favour trying to minimise human suffering by flattening the peak even if that will potentially be a bit more economically harsh in the short term.

@AutumnLeavesSeptember, totally agree with you .

Oh aren't you sooo clever.

You are clearly far superior to all those silly old or ill people, selfishly worrying about their own life.

You are surely more pragmatic and intelligent than those worried about said elderly or ill relatives.

I bow down at your feet o' great one. Please, teach us how the economy works and how to see 'THE BIG PICTURE'.

After all, worrying about preventable death is just silly, pointless and no one should ever put their own family above the economy.

(Is that sort if what you wanted from this post op?)

I'm not sure I'd say I'm more worried about one than the other but I do think you have to balance things, which surely is what the government is trying to do.

On a personal level, a lockdown or schools shutting would have a fairly minimal effect on me as I could work from home and my children are old enough to be fairly independent. I've prepped to a certain extent by making sure I have medicines in for all of us, I bought a thermometer as we didn't have one, I've put some microwave meals in the freezer that they could heat themselves. My parents are in the at-risk age group but generally healthy with no underlying conditions and they are pretty much self-isolating anyway. So I guess we would do our bit as much as we could.

But that doesn't mean I'm not (a) worried about the overall economic impact or (b) not worried for my parents/other vulnerable people.

Yes and it's all good and well saying we shouldn't be so reliant on money but that's how you have a roof over your head and an education for your children.

Yes OP I am very worried. We live in a beautiful but economically depressed part of the world so everyone relies on tourism for income. There is nothing else except for teachers and supermarket workers. Our winter business has never recovered from the last recession so we've just had 5 months of living off last years takings - it's a tough existence but manageable because come Easter we work 7 days a week for 6 months and earn enough to keep our heads above water for 12 months.

That's not going to happen this year and we've already committed to building works (ongoing) for repairs and so on, on top of mortgage repayments and normal bills but there is nothing coming in. This is all far more scary than illness.

We’re reliant on income from DHs business at the moment. I’m due to go back to work in six months (huge multinational employer). DHs income is fairly stable as far as this kind of thing goes but there is a real risk that he won’t be able to earn enough. My employer is also fairly secure but again there’s a risk of redundancy. Our living costs are very high and this could be a disaster for us.

markmanson.net/coronavirus-risks-and-biases?fbclid=IwAR32JeK7iLemJyxVc5pHTTtjpyg5aTH7tx_

this is quite an interesting view.

I’m worried about my 91 year old mum who has carers 3x a week. I’m a bit concerned about my business which is already feeling the effects.

At least if my business goes down the tubes I can go and stay with DM, negating the need for contact with carers...........

@AutumnLeavesSeptember it’s unlikely that everyone who gets ill would actually need time off. But yes. Economic downturn is pretty much unavoidable at this point.

YANBU OP

It is a real concern for me. Single income house (me) and my work is being affected by CV already. It is incredibly worrying.

I haven't paid the school fees yet this month because I am scared that if I do, I will have no back up money should work really go to shit

Oh thank God!

I've been getting increasingly cross with all the people criticising the government for putting money (the economy/jobs/money to pay for the NHS) first and not just shutting the country down but very few seem to get it.

When we look back at this, the way the economy was handled will be a far bigger issue than the public health crisis.

The financial crisis that will follow will cause a public health crisis of it's own with likely far more reaching consequences than this one.

I'm scared of both. My Fil has COPD and my DS7 has chronic lung disease. My parents are in the at risk age category. I'm worried about their health.

But I'm a front line police officer and DH works for NHS. They are both woefully under prepared and I have no idea how things are going to pan out. I work in a socially deprived area with a lot of gang issues, CSE, burglaries etc. Lots of the kids see school as a safe place, often where they are fed and are warm and dry for a few hours a day. Closing the schools and businesses, with less cops on the street, is just a disaster waiting to happen for these areas.

As far as catching the virus is concerned, both dh and I have underlying conditions so we'd both rather not get it but I'm not anxious.
My main concern is how shit people are in a crisis. How unprepared they are. And how much energy and resource will be wasted dealing with people's avoidable problems that should be focussed on people with real problems like the elderly or the very poorly.

Could not agree more OP. Death has always been with us, at this rate we're making life not worth living.

I’d rather loose everything and live in a caravan with my family than something happened to anyone of them.

We had a customer cancel a product with us this week, due to them being made redundant due to the 'coronavirus hysteria' (there words, not mine). So i am a little concerned about the economic impact. But I am more concerned about the virus as DP has asthma and we have a young child (even though kids don't seem to be as affected).

No, I think that's a cold and cruel way to look at things OP. Every human life is valuable and I'm not prepared to sacrifice people for money.

Tootletum, really ? 850 lives lost in Italy as a direct result if covid-19 ..... death has always been with us?, yes, it's a natural occurrence, but not at this rate and this speed .
Economies fail, time after time, they recover , time after time, lives cannot be replaced .

The economic impact has been fast and hard so far. I’m just hoping all this is over in a few months because it’s all very well saying lives are more important...I get it...but if the economy collapses there will be many more deaths than from cv