Over 70s to self isolate

[Dodie66]

Over 70s are going to be told to self isolate even if they don’t have the virus and this will be coming in 5-20 days and last 4 months
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-coronavirus-over-70s-told-21694397?fbclid=IwAR2k9MqPf7vOzNcnqfVroLXVp0sQjYRmihHKBiL9pvdhSi5780WpYkgFNnI

Hancock on BBC news just now (agree, looks like a very tired man)

"the protection of the vulnerable and the elderly by asking them to stay away, to stay at home, is in our action plan but we do not want to ask them to do that just yet because (long time)...we know people can tire, has negative impacts, etc"

I would take that as confirmation that it is coming, and probably fairly soon

asked about family carers specifically
"you've got to make sure that people staying at home get the support they need" - didn't really answer the question at all, fluff about national effort. Did confirm that if you are healthy and they are healthy you can do things to help, mentioning 2m distance for contagion too.

I thought Matt Hancock did confirm it. He said that it wouldn't happen yet, but he implied that it will.

also so you basically don't have an answer.

Yep I also think he confirmed it would happen but no indication of when.

My mum (80) lives with us. What do I do, put her in the shed? Not everyone lives alone or with a single generation
The whole household self isolated, it’s really not that hard to grasp.

It will happen. I hope they don’t get spooked people will complain no matter what they do.

My mum (80) lives with us. What do I do, put her in the shed? Not everyone lives alone or with a single generation
The whole household self isolated, it’s really not that hard to grasp.

Same but how can they isolate teachers and even worse nurses and police if they have aged parents.

And I think it will happen soon. I think they are socialising the idea to get us used to it. Which is probably the right strategy. I'm affected by this and have been very emotional this morning but am quickly coming towards acceptance.

The school run at my daughters school is 80 percent grandparents.

Jane, instead of finding excuses of why it won't work, perhaps try to think of ways it will work.

Socially distance at gone as much as possible. Ensure surfaces are thoroughly cleaned after use in shared spaces.

Parents take their DC to school whilst they are still open.

at home not gone

No Random I don’t have an answer, nor do you or anyone else. An epidemiologist has said it won’t work, he says that if the great British public can’t be trusted to buy toilet paper responsibly, there’s no hope of them behaving responsibly in any other regards.

Also, loads of over 70s work for the NHS in senior positions, or have partners under 70 who do. Then what?

"Very selfish for your MIL to ignore. Will she be one of those people who also expects an NHS bed because she has paid her taxes?"

I don't know that she will, I just suspect it. I think along with a lot of her generation she has a bit of a "lot of fuss about nothing, silly snowflakes" attitude to it - certainly, when DH rang her yesterday to see how they're getting on, they were in the pub.

Plus, isolation would have a very bad effect on her mental health - she's a very extrovert, social person with lots of very social hobbies. DFIL would be ok just pottering around at home and in the garden, but she'll find it very tough - she has a history of depression, and an experiment with moving to a (large) village triggered it, because she felt isolated - and this was quite a busy, bustling village with a vibrant community life. They lasted two years before she couldn't stand it anymore and they moved back into a busy city centre.

I'm not saying I'd support in defying the request, if it happens. But I'd understand why.

Also they know how to get people to listen and change behaviour. Being blunt about who will get care would probably do it.

8.76 of the population are over 70. Not all of those can self isolate. Many will become infected even in the best possible scenario, if the virus gets into a care home, or a hospital, for example. But let's go with 8.76.

That leaves over half of the hospitalisations being from under 70s. This is STILL hundreds of thousands of people all needing hospitalisation at once. People are just not getting the scale of this thing, if we let it run through our population, even if we can somehow manage to only let it run through our younger population.

Also so is there another country whose approach we should follow?

What will happen to elderly with pets? Will they still be able to walk their dogs? Poor dogs!

And you're right - it may not work but surely we have got to try.

*FUCKING IDIOTS" My mother has 4x a day care and cannot cook for herself. Is on medication that needs administering.

The death rate from this is going to be higher than just those with the virus.

Ive never been more scared

Greebo my DH and I will be in the pub at lunchtime. Enjoying Sunday lunch and given it might be the last one for a while, probably having more drinks than usual. Making hay while we can!

I'm not over 70 but my DH is. If you'd asked me, or him, a few weeks ago he would have had a similar attitude to your MIL. That has changed, and although we hate the idea we accept that it has to be done. I think most people will get to that realisation even though they may seem dismissive.

And like your MIL I'm dreading the effect on my mental health. It'll be tough.

OriginalLEM what do you want to happen instead? Only closing schools and large gatherings doesn't work.. we've seen other countries have to go into lockdown eventually, and then you are in the same situation. I expect there will be some flexibility to allow continued care for those not able to care for themselves.

Very selfish for your MIL to ignore. Will she be one of those people who also expects an NHS bed because she has paid her taxes? she is as entitled to an NHS bed as you are. But let’s throw a bit of ageism into the mix of hysteria shall we?

I can’t abide Robert peston and as a rule he likes to whip up a frenzy over a lot of things. The truth is that this is completely unenforceable because while some may limit their exposure to the virus there is no actual way to make the elderly or the vulnerable self isolate.

Man turns 70 next week so he should be allowed out until then? How do you make that work?

Someone with an underlying health condition but doesn’t look ill? How do you make that one fly?

And the knock-on impact of isolating the elderly is the increase in need to our already over-stretched mental health services, because while it’s all very well to tell people to self isolate in principle, anyone who has actually done it will tell you that in reality it’s a lot different.

And I note those demanding that others self isolate so as not to “clog up beds” as I read elsewhere aren’t the ones having to do it. Easy to make those proclamations when you’re not the one having to live by them isn’t it?

People need to take personal responsibility. Limit exposure for yourself and as a result you will limit exposure for others. That includes everyone and the more people do that, the less likely it is that draconian measures will need to be introduced.

Some of the language on these threads is horrible. Talk about clogging up beds? About how people are selfish for not self isolating? Surely you’re the selfish one if you’re perfectly healthy as you could carry the illness to someone who isn’t?

It just shows what a prejudiced society we still live in.

Chinese people being beaten up in the streets.

The elderly and those with underlying health conditions and disabilities being singled out as the selfish ones because they’re the ones at risk.

MH is already an issue for people who are isolated by illnesses. But it’s ok for the rest of you to make demands of them so that you’re not the ones inconvenienced while you buy up the last supplies in the supermarket.

If they are considering behavioural science for a large part of their decision making then I expect this being mentioned now as 'this will come at a later date' is purposeful and actually means they expect some people to start doing it now and for it to gradually increase overtime as people prepare and come to terms with it.

A gradual lockdown / self isolation may be safer overall. If you think about all the panic buying that has already taken place when we are not even in a lockdown situation yet, and we've seen in other countries that as soon as lockdown is announced people suddenly migrate to different regions, panic in large numbers. A gradual approach may be safer and more effective over all.