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

He said the median age. I suggest you watch that video again because you’ve misinterpreted what he said.

The median is the average. So yes it is not the mode.
Older people are at much more risk of dying, but 1 in every 500 younger people will also die. About 1-3 pupils in every secondary school in a 3 month period (using governments own figures).

I do hope some of the elderly are already self isolating or at least cutting down contact and not waiting for the government to force them.

Part of the issue is that none of the 70 to 80 cohort I know consider themselves elderly. My maternal Grandmother lived almost another 30 years from her 70th birthday (the other one made 25 more years) and my mum is more active at 76 than many of my friends because she needs to be for her mental health. She's also currently 400 miles away from home at the moment.

On dh's side, his parents are very much aware they don't necessarily have much time left and don't want to waste any of it. MiL is from NI and has anti authoritarian streak a mile wide.

When I discussed self isolation/no medical care with my mum her reply went something like "we're all going to die at some point" and a reminder that coronavirus could leave me and dh very rich (inheritances from her, dh's parents and my paternal aunt), the subtext of which I presume is stop nagging.

Our village has set up a group for deliveries. So far despite a lot of 80 plus people living here, I'm the only person who has asked for something as we are self isolating due to symptoms/one of dh's colleagues having a friend confirmed as a case. When I was opening the kids curtains this morning, I saw my 98 year old next door neighbour heading off to catch the bus into town...

Can you provide a link to those figures? Because the figures I’ve seen show children are at very low risk.

My 80 year old best friend and her 90 year old husband are self-isolating right now. Their daughter is leaving casseroles etc on the doorstep.

@Alsohuman he said the median age of people being HOSPITALISED and needing treatment is 65. Not dying. And yes the median is an average. You get the median, the mode and the mean. All different ways of calculating an average.

@alloutoffucks can you please send a link to the source of that information on death rate in children. Many thanks.

Who would get the bed - the 19 year old or 72 year old?

How would feel if it was your child / grandchild died because you decided to go out and socialise when you were supposed to isolate.

How would feel if it was your child / grandchild died because you decided to go out and socialise when you were supposed to isolate.

Hoping any of the people who won’t do it care enough for this.

@MarshaBraydo it is precisely this kind of comment which is fuelling the rampant ageism! The proposed self isolation regime is in order to protect the older person NOT because they are all likely to go out infecting younger people.

There is no statistical evidence that older people without underlying health problems are more likely than anyone else to contract Covid 19, only that they are less likely to survive the virus if they do.

@AlmostHuman - evidence based and ethical medical practice has never in my whole career been determined on age alone. There are a whole set of parameters that the doctor or surgeon have to consider before deciding a course of action. There are multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings where ethical decisions are thrashed out and prognosis for recovery is included in the discussion. I have seen a situation where a healthy 92 year old was fitted with a pacemaker while it was not considered a viable option for a 52 year old extremely heavy smoker who had already had a double leg amputation due to the damage to his cardiac and vascular system plus his BMI of over 45.

By the rationale some posters are proposing the 52 year old ‘should’ have been given the surgery because he was so much younger.

It seriously has never worked like that. Thank goodness we have a medical profession who apply ethics to their decision making.

Lincoln It’s more about them getting infected. Because this age group take the most beds and ventilators and this is to avoid that happening.

If people listen to the advice we have a better chance of getting through it with fewer dead.

I found that video very interesting because what he said was decisions to ventilate or not were being made on the basis of biological age and those with the best chance of recovery got the resources. They've now added the requirement that the patient be under 80.

Lincoln, pretty sure that was the case, thank you for clarifying. The ageism on MN sure has ramped up in the last couple of weeks - and the level was pretty high before.

Italy would have said the same a month ago too. With a better health service.

@MereDintofPandiculation - we are not in Italy. Our Medical Act 1983 is very specific on age related rationing being illegal in the UK.

Italy has a better health service? Debatable- talk to people who have lived there. Their private system may be good but their state funded health care is grim.

Laws can change. Some are already wrt to other areas.

I debate it too after experiencing it once but I keep seeing the no. of beds graph linked in here.

I suspect medics aren't going to have time to work in multidisciplinary teams and spend ages thinking about ethics with this.

I hope I'm wrong.

Our elderly are better able to adjust to the new reality than the rest of us. What do you think got them through a world war ? Innovation and determination, I'm thinking.

I suspect medics aren't going to have time to work in multidisciplinary teams and spend ages thinking about ethics with this

They won’t have to - obese smoker with diabetes and hypertension aged 50 versus slim, fit 75 year old with no health issues - no brainer, or so you’d hope.

@Lincolnfield I hope you are right. I like hearing somebody defending our health service. But I think ethical laws are not being debated at length on the ground in Italy (they are quickly taking decisions based on age) and that the health system in Lombardy is actually very well set up. Am not talking about other areas of Italy. Lombardy is their most advanced and is falling over.

I really don’t think Italian Drs have a lower standard of ethics. Just an extreme situation.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/14/italians-80-will-left-die-country-overwhelmed-coronavirus/

What do you think got them through a world war
yes innovation and determination but mostly the fact that they were young and resilient