I think we all need to get a grip.

[Bulb1976]

I know Coronavirus is scary, the constant media scaremongering hasn’t helped either. But let’s get this into perspective, the majority of us will be fine and whilst those of us who fall into the at risk category are anxious it’s still important to realise that there is still a good chance we can recover from this.
But the food stockpiling, sending your kids to school when you know you shouldn’t (yes I know people have financial obligations but if you are really worried about Coronavirus then surely the health of your kids comes first). The threads on MN are sounding pretty hysterical and we aren’t helping each other instead we are creating group hysteria.

Step away from the phone and just calm down and get some perspective. We can’t control this, just have to keep going.

It is as if some people just don't get this. My friend, said to me last night (by text)
'I don't think it is anywhere near as serious here as Italy. We'll be fine.'
She is intelligent but does not read the news. Hears headlines but sees her daily life as pretty normal - at work, children at school. Husband often WFH anyway.

blunt you need to understand this better. A cure? You're mad. A vaccine yes - and this will take 18 months minimum to be ready for the population as a whole.

In fact the biggest crowds are in the supermarkets, people panic buying and that could have been avoided.

The impact this hysteria is having on those with mental health issues shouldn’t not be underestimated it is also important for people to realise that the virus is very contagious and has to be controlled, ie the opposite of your OP. In other countries in europe this is fully understood, there is lockdown already and very little panic and not nearly as much panic buying. The calmness where i live, in mainland europe, in a country with lockdown, everyone with full understanding of the seriousness, is going to be helping the people here with fragile mental health. Calmness and sense of community and support will help, not hiding the seriousness or hiding what is happening in Italy.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/japanese-flu-drug-clearly-effective-in-treating-coronavirus-says-china

See look.

Everyone would rather invite the apocalypse than stay calm and trust treatments can be found.

I don't think people should panic, but I think the most of us will be fine isn't helpful either. Lots of people aren't taking it seriously, and they will likely be okay, but will be contributing to the spread, and ultimately deaths.

Everyone thinking it’s not much to worry about will make decisions that have huge impact. So yes people need to know what’s coming if they don’t change their behaviour.

How what timescale? when would that be available here

I agree! Yesterday a rumour was doing the rounds that next year we will have Covid 20 which will be even worse. God forbid!

Panic won’t lead to reasonable decisions either.

So don’t panic just do what government asks

Bluntness
There will no no vaccine for months. Covid19 is similar to SARS and no vaccine was found for that.

you need to understand this better. A cure? You're mad

It’s clearly not me that doesn’t under stand it, and yes they think they have drugs that can treat it, and effectively cure it, hence why they have moved into human trial on them.

How can you not know this?

Don’t panic, use your common sense.

But still be afraid.

We haven't even started proper isolation, I am one week into it, and I would say we need to stay very very calm.

Some people will have to deal with some very serious mental health issues which will be made much worse by this situation, others will have a lack of space and feel very hemmed in.

It is very important to keep a check on your own panic levels. At this moment most of us are well, we are posting, we are connecting.

This crisis is not only going to test us physically, but we are going to have to prepare for the mental health hit that comes with being isolated for long stretches. Find ways to soothe yourself, and others, acknowledge this is bloody scary and horrible, and then envisage telling the story to others in five years time. It will pass. It will, so lets hold on to that.

I think it isn't that we need to get a grip but you need to get some empathy, OP.

Yesterday a rumour was doing the rounds that next year we will have Covid 20 which will be even worse.
Well, yes, it is very possible.

If you go along with instruction you don’t have to be afraid and panic.

I’m not sure people can manage it though so go to further measures, fine by me.

I would like to add that while I understand the fear and anxiety, it’s perhaps worth considering the total annual number of deaths per year and the fact that a high proportion of these deaths are from respiratory causes (the other big category of cause after that is cardiovascular). This pattern occurs annually. The media is not really issuing warnings (that is the govt.’s job) but is instead overwhelming us with distressing images and words. That is very irresponsible of them. At the very least, they should change their reporting style.

I’m taking life a day at a time and absolutely no more than a week at a time. We can only as individuals try to obey the scientific advice to the best of our personal abilities. Others may not...well I can to control that. I can only control my own behaviour at this high stress time.
Wringing my hands about the future will change nothing. We can only as people influence the here and now. I have faith in our leaders ....I have more faith in them than I do in myself and I am heartened at Boris’s faith in people - even though we do see countless examples of stupid behaviour each day. I think we will get through this, and faith, being an obedient person and a caring person will speed the end of the nightmare.
As a mum, holding my faith for the mental support of all my family, young and old is very important - so that’s what I’m doing.

The article says the drug being trialled shortens the time people moderately affected are unwell.
Which is great, but it also says it has little or no effect on more seriously compromised patients, and of course is only a symptom treatment not a prevention.
In Italy they are also waiting to begin trials on another drug usually used for arthritis.

In a sense you are right. It is showing up a lot of the faultlines in our very divided society.
The panic buying is stupid and selfish, but what do we expect when we as a society are so selfish.
The hysteria on mumsnet is ridiculous, but what do we expect having seen the ridiculousness of Brexit, the rise of Trump, the awful way women are treated on social media etc etc...'discussions' are mostly at the 'I'm right and you're a pointless tosser' level, but simply writ large.
Many people are classed as vulnerable but what do we expect in such an unhealthy population and an ageing population where people consistently vote against tax rises? Perhaps the media should, next to the numbers of (premature) covid deaths, put the numbers of premature deaths linked to air pollution (millions worldwide but we all drive and fly), obesity (huge numbers yet we all support big business which provides so many of the causes of obesity). We need to all take a really long hard look at the way we all live our lives rather than hand wringing. And just because some people aren't hysterical does not mean that they are ignoring guidance or minimising the feelings or health of others.

A cure? You're mad

Not really, they’ve discovered a combination of drugs in Japan that clears it up.

Instead of watching apocalyptic videos and winding themselves up, perhaps people should reflect on the mortality rates for people under 50 and get a bit of perspective.

Not really, they’ve discovered a combination of drugs in Japan that clears it up.

Yes, we started our first human trial yesterday on a patient, the USA have also started, as have many other countries, there is a hand ful of drugs that potentially clear it up with no adverse effects, and this is what they are trialling now. A vaccine will be slightly later, but drugs that treat it and cure it, would make this something very manageable and It really would be a game changer.

It’s all over the media, there is many scientific journals being published on it, I’ve no idea why some people don’t know about it, or for some reason think it’s just a vaccine we are waiting for. It’s not just a vaccine, it’s also a medicine that cures it. And they think that exists and is already licensed for use.

But it's not athat we're all wailing we're going to die and run out of bread.

The economic effects of this are going to be devastating, that's what scares me. Hundreds of thousands of people unable to work, businesses unable to continue, our independent shops all closed, probably for good in a great many cases . the entire tourism and hospitality industry decimated and all those employed by it, some of the last able to find alternative employment.

after a decade of austerity we are in no position to weather an economic shit storm. any of us