Are my village overreacting?

[charliesmithers]

Small village - started an emergency group - they’re looking for wardens for each street to check each house daily for symptoms (by knocking on windows apparently), people with medical training eg CPR, doctors, nurses, farmers (for food), people who know how to fish, those who have been in the military before and people with skills such as joinery, electrics and firefighting .

They seem to believe that we will be entirely alone from now on, we have to assume there are no services left in society and no contact with other villages and towns - and that as a village we will eventually have to form our own separate civilisation .

These are actual words - that have been sent via social media to lots of us . A leaflet through the door last night saying much the same .

Same group have told us to avoid handling any mail, cardboard or paper from anywhere as it’s very dangerous, all animals, food that’s not been cooked to a certain temperature (so no bread, raw fruit or veg), water that isn’t sterilised or boiled and have told us that our pets and other animals are a danger to us all and should be actively avoided, confined to indoors and washed daily in water .

They’re asking for fire fighting stuff , overshoes, medical equipment, PPE, rubber gloves and rubber trousers, Wellington boots and tools for survival .

Apparently this is all just very good sense . It’s being actively shared amongst the 1000 or so of us who live here - many of whom are either very elderly or families with young children and very, very frightened as it is .

Would I be wrong to contact the group who are doing this and tell them to can it for a bit, or are they quite right? As far as I can tell there is no evidence for any of what they are saying . It sounds like something out of a post apocalyptic film !!

I think one of the villagers must have massive anxiety and are letting it run wild. Just ignore.

What??

I mean communities checking on the old and frail and everyone looking out for each other is one thing but this is crazy.

I wonder if you should forward it to your MP with concerns about scaremongering the old and isolated.

People who know how to fish?

They are reacting in the wrong way. If we look at China and Italy, there's nothing coming out of there to suggest those kinds of actions are needed or appropriate. Why would the water need sterilising for example? Food supply chains are remaining open in hard hit countries so why the need for people who can fish?

Seems a shame they're not trying to mobilise the community in more appropriate and helpful ways.

How small is your village if you don't know these things already?

Avoiding your own pets? WTF??

Massively panicking!

Not helpful or rational. Have a word.

Do you live in Eyam?

We do - I could tell them already who the doctors and nurses are and which of us have medical training - I’m hoping most people are like me and a bit 🤨 ... there’s about 500-1000 of us I think but also outlying houses around for about 6 miles . It just sounds like someone who is very unwell and spreading panic that’s not needed . I genuinely can’t see the country descending into total anarchy - no one else has !!! - which is the only scenario I can imagine this sort of ‘Lord of the Flies’ mentality being played out in ...

Never thought of contacting MP, that’s a good idea

Yes they are overreacting!

Is it being driven by one person?

Well I suppose in a small community getting volunteers who can check in on people (presumably to help them if they’re ill or isolating?) makes sense. Likewise having details of those with a particular skill set in case of non corona related issues eg medical experience in case someone is giving birth, electrician for issues with fridge freezers and so on.

The don’t handle anything/boil water/lock up the cat stuff is way ott though and likely to just increase the anxiety levels of people who are already pretty worried. It sounds like something that started off sensible and well intentioned and has attracted some tinfoil hat wearing distopian sci fi obsessives!

I think it’s sensible to have a group in the village who are prepared to shop for vulnerable people of those who need to self isolate. Shopping can be left on door step.
I phone my mum’s elderly neighbours before I go out to ask if they need anything, which I think reassured them that in any emergency we will help. A letter like the one in your post would terrify them!

Rather than your MP, I would contact your local councillor and ask for advice. As they are more local you will probably get a better response.

Mine has been amazing about helping organise community support.

Next thing is they’ll be painting red x’s on the doors.

If anyone renames themselves Lord Summerisle, run away

Does Martin Bryce live in your village? Have you got neighbours called Howard and Hilda who wear matching jumpers?

Oh my! One anxious person is bad, but you’ve a group who’ve got together to Do Something.
Anyone who disagrees will be Naive and a Cause OfThere Own Downfall.
Maybe local police, church minister, or similar could intervene? Needs to be someone who’s tactful and can calm scared people and be tactful when pointing out that they’re batshit.

Yes, that’s mental

😂😂 imagining village full of people washing their cats daily! Possibly a greater threat to life than covid 19.

I was getting ready to say that it's great your village are taking it so seriously, but the pet thing?? 😂 Insane

Strewth.
Sounds like the chair of your parish council needs a little holiday.

Is this being done by older people who have memories of being cut off for weeks after extreme weather? Or somebody who lived and worked overseas during epidemics/disasters or worked in disaster planning? If that's the case, it seems fairly reasonable to assume that they're choosing to risk overreacting instead of underreacting.

Some places are still traumatised by the Foot and Mouth outbreak. Had such measures been put in place sooner, there wouldn't have been mass slaughter of animals and the ensuing mental health issues for many, many people. And that isn't even the slightest bit dangerous to people.

There's an element of trying to cover all bases in those statements. If deliveries get as fucked as they are in London, then people will still need to eat. It makes sense that ways to get food are considered. It might not be possible to get somebody to come and repair fencing or animal housing. Villages tend to have a lot of older people, so there are fewer physically able people (and a lot will be dealing with livestock, etc). And there is the psychological impact of knowing that you're on your own, as it's obvious that services are concentrated towards cities.

In short, I'm saying you'd be in a worse situation if they were insisting 'it's just the flu'. They're setting up for the worst, which should be more reassuring than not doing anything and waiting passively or pretending there isn't a potential risk and consequences. It's highly unlikely that this will mean the end of civilisation as we know it - but you could find yourselves without deliveries or restricted in what you can source for a while. Which, in a society that never expects shortages or delays and instant gratification, is going to be a huge shock to the system.

Maybe write your own leaflets saying that people have a right to take onboard just the bits they feel revelant to the climate as it is at any given moment ie your feeling right now is "insert what you want here " but that it's good to know there are people who can be called apon to help if required. Might defuse the initial terror to some !

As long as they aren't congregating outside the the little old lady's who has symptoms shouting burn the witch.......

Who is doing this? What's their normal role in the village?

I would be tempted to combat it with an initiative of my own - the "from my window" stuff or ViralKindness.