Will there be any specific advice for people with underlying conditions or have I missed it?

[Littlemiss74]

My lovely Dad has Alzheimer's and his care home have announced today they are not allowing visitors for the time being. Although this saddens me as he gets so much benefit from family visiting I'm kind of glad that they've made decision and everyone knows what's happening.

I am immunosuppressed, RA meds, and I can't find clear advice as to what I should be doing. I know about self isolation etc but what l's the advice re working, going to supermarket, parents evenings, kids activities etc?

My employer knows about
my condition but I haven't been told to work from home. But then I saw a lady on the news who has MS and she said she's not leaving her house at all.

Is there any clear guidance anywhere for people with underlying conditions? They keep saying we are most vulnerable but what are we meant to do for what could be months??

[aWeaponCalledtheWord]

i’m starting to fret now about what i’m supposed to do next.

2 autoimmune conditions and on methotrexate. mid 40s, unfit. am i indoors til August or not? there’s a lot of ‘vulnerable’ flying about but no concrete advice.

[Foldingstars07]

My DH is at risk, he has a job where he cannot work from home, on top of this his work today announced that anyone off because of the coronavirus will only receive stat sick pay when they usually get an enhanced rate of sick pay for any other sick leave.
There are only 36 employees who do not work in close proximity. He is constantly washing hands, surfaces and has sanitiser for when he can't wash his hands straight away.
We are trying to self isolate as much as possible, I have taken DS out of nursery and will have shopping delivered (thankfully we had enough in the cupboards already for 2 weeks).
There is nothing else we can do and there is no advise from the NHS or government.

[Becca19962014]

christmas especially if in a rural area, where issues such as no deliveries is a major issue.

[ChristmasFlint]

Die quietly and without being tested first in hospital ideally....no truly that is the plan. Anyone with the means and sense will have isolated themselves and their immmediate family by now. No one is coming to save you

[PancakesAndSyrup]

I stumbled across this thread when looking for advice on what people who are immuno compromised should be doing. My dh is immuno compromised and due to the nature of his job it isn't possible for him to work from home. It's very worrying

[Littlemiss74]

Thanks user147 that's very interesting. My boss knows about my condition although I don't think she really understand it. She has said if I have concerns I must speak to her so I need to do this on Monday. We have already had 2 people 'working from home' this week and I feel anxious most of the time. I can't see how I can work from home for weeks and months though..

[shippa]

I get rituximab infusions for a type of vasculitis, I'm supposed to be getting an infusion next week. I have no idea if my treatment will go ahead and if it does that feels scary in itself. I'm working from home and pretty much go no contact outside my dh and kids. Part of thinks it's an over reaction but at the same time I feel it's too risky to catch right now. Very worried. Sorry to see there are so many of us

[user1471453601]

Bugger, hit post by mistake

They will be asking staff to declare any previously undeclared chronic illness. The staff with the greatest chance of serious complications will be the first to be encouraged to work from home.

DDs business is essentially public facing, so risk assessments will be undertaken within days, to try to protect the most vulnerable.

Are your employers doing the same? If not, if be having a word (or twenty) with them pretty smartish.

[aWeaponCalledtheWord]

i’m immunosuppressed as i take methotrexate for psoriatic arthritis. my thyroid is beyond fucked and am waiting for surgery to remove it.

i don’t even know if i’m supposed to keep going for blood tests, let alone what the advice is generally for the ‘vulnerable’ people Boris is hoping will do the decent thing and cark it in the first wave.

lots of advice about not very much. i am staying indoors regardless!

[user1471453601]

DDs firm are in the process of setting up contingency plans (some may say better late than never, but I suspect, like the football league, they were.underwhelmed by the government "advice").

One of the first things they will be doing is asking

[Piggywaspushed]

My DH has a heart condition and is a teacher.

He has had no useful advice.

The union says to seek advice from a health professional. His consultant was rather gung ho and wittered on about the flu jab.

[Becca19962014]

Opps. Pressed send not preview. apologies for the ranting!

[MrsPMT]

DS has underlying health conditions so I've been checking all info I can
this link [[https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html#who-is-higher-risk ]] is American but quite helpful.

[Becca19962014]

My social worker laughed in my face when I raised concerns (yes really). My GP has said they'll "have words" with the social worker, so they'll be getting short shrift for that.

I'm very high risk and live rurally. No deliveries here for anything. Bit of a nightmare to say the least.

I saw my GP and asked them the same thing you are. After a mini rant about lack of constructive advice (they too are at risk due to underlying conditions) they suggested the following -

Using hand sanitiser - which I've been using long term anyway, though am worried I'll run out for obvious reasons!

Shopping/getting meds - go at the quietest times so first thing/in evening (not as easy as it sounds). And avoid doing anything else.

Keep an eye on my mental health.

Ignore anyone who accuses me of scaremongering/being silly etc.

There's been no advice officially other than expect to die.

To be honest my GP was amazing, she had some bad news re health anyway for me and was supportive of me. My specialists are based in London and I cannot possibly follow their advice, which was basically to stay in until it blows over getting everything delivered (with shared facilities that realistically was never going to be an option anyway).

People however, are being stupid. Going out its symptoms, saying they're going on holiday to rural places which are "safe" from places which are not. I've had FB advertising trips locally to me (my location is disabled, currently my device thinks I live in Reading!) and several ads for rail travel across Europe. All at slashed prices. I'm sure people will be booking these trips.

As are 111. All the posters around here still state only possible to get if you've travelled to various countries. We are a rural community and tourist hot spot having had people coming here from all over the uk and Europe for the last two weeks. Yet 111 refusing to test if no personal travel, still.

Also, it may not be hitting the news but some of us are still dealing with storms and flooding in our communities as well as this threat.

Anyone using the term "natural selection" has been given short shrift and binned from my social media. Anyone posting about going on holidays to rural areas which are already seriously struggling with lack of NHS resources anyway having lost a lot of GP surgeries and hospital services to bigger cities and expected to travel hours are also getting short shrift.

[Littlemiss74]

I've emailed my consultant to ask him what he thinks bearing in mind there is no official guidance. Have a feeling he'll sit on the bloody fence though!

[Michelleoftheresistance]

Matt Hancock was asked this at his statement in the HoC this week. He said it was very important that people had the right advice.. and added something vague about they'd think about what this might be. I'd never heard him speak before, but by the end of it I wouldn't have trusted him to run a bath without needing several meetings and a science advisor first.

I'm very torn between work commitments - everything gaily carrying on - and the increasing anxiety. Unless something comes from govt to make this acceptable to employers they won't validate isolation, but I'm risking two people every time I go to work right now.

[CrocodileFondue]

@BadCatDirtyCat, Yep. It's appalling! Some people seem to think this could even be a good thing, get rid of all the weaker humans and make us stronger as a species.

[BadCatDirtyCat]

@CrocodileFondue the words "natural selection" were used this morning on a FB group I'm in. It's usually pretty well moderated but the admins just seem to let talking about disabled people like that slide

[CrocodileFondue]

Most of the comments I've read seem to just assume that vulnerable people (myself and family included) are collateral damage and will most likely just die.

I'm finding it quite surreal tbh.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

Its in DS' Educational Health Care plan that he become very ill with nominally minor illness. Yet still here we are....

[Littlemiss74]

I agree. Surely schools would know about these children so should be supporting them and their families at such a stressful time.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

I think were going to hang on until Wednesday and "get a cold so need to self isolate" then. We've only just had our first case in our county today. If i could I'd have taken him out this week. Wouldnt have impacted on anyone as im his carer.

Friend of DD has a sibling who has been actually advised by medical professionals that the whole family needs to start social distancing now. Shes also in school, told that her parents will be fined.

The least they could do right now is remove fines for pre existing conditions

[Littlemiss74]

@Hazelnutlatteplease that's terrible, it's such a worrying time.
They really need to issue guidance for the vulnerable.
My worry is that because my condition is invisible and I look absolutely fine people will think why does she need to work from home? If there was something official I could show them I would feel better about it.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

and again i say if i keep my vulnerable child home i am told it will be unauthorised and therefore fined...

We are doing bugger all to protect the most vulnerable

[Littlemiss74]

Yes I might just ask. My boss did say if I had any concerns I need to tell them. Part of me just thinks its a bit silly though as I could work from home and then pick it up while out at the shops!
I'd kind of just like to work at home until there is a bit of proper guidance... if that does happen!