BBC article that I regret reading

[PurpleRainGirl]

I just read this article on the BBC website (if you are feeling anxious please DO NOT read further):

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51963486

and I am absolutely panicked, sobbing my heart out for the first time since this thing has started.

I tried my best to keep calm and carry on and to cheer up everyone around me in RL.

But I feel so, so scared and upset now.

No one knows what's going to happen, where we're going with this. Are we going to see horror scenes on our streets? Are we going to just let go at some point and let people die? The kind of measures that have been introduced are not sustainable long term. According to the article, there are only three ways out of this, two are a long way away and one is not a long term option. Is this the end of life as we know it? The actual apocalypse?

I'm so depressed having read this article and I don't think I can comprehend that it's come to this. It's finally got to me.

Don't expect anything, I know no one has any answers. Just needed to write this down.

[definitelygc]

If that means calling a sick day (or two) at home and watching movies on the sofa then do it. It is better to keep yourself in a frame of mind where you can cope with life

I second this. I took a day off last Friday as I just felt mentally exhausted. I weeded the entire garden which I would normally hate but it was actually quite therapeutic, especially with all the birds and bumble bees buzzing around. We've got to look after our mental health for the next few weeks.

[PurpleRainGirl]

It seems from reading responses here that a fair number of people have a 'key moment' and really processing and accepting what the future could potentially be like starts there.

@ChristmasCalamity

This is exactly what's happening and it will happen to everyone.

This is also how the grieving process works, you are shocked, then you acknowledge what has happened, the loss it's caused and you go through various phases before eventually accepting this is part of your life at which point you can live your new normal life well.

This is a big deja vu, or deja senti for me personally.

I agree, this thread offers an open, honest and collected discussion, thank you all for your contributions.

[DaughterOfHekate]

Burying our heads in the sand so that we don't get "triggered" is not gonna help

We should avoid panicking as much as possible but we NEED to start making contingency plans for how to look after our loved ones

Even if life goes back to "normal" in a few months this type of disaster is likely to reoccur

[GenxfeellikeaBoomer]

I cannot believe the willful denial that people insist on steeping themselves in. I have known this since about 20th feb. I knew it was bad news when china reported this 10 jan.

It is people who cannot and will not see the extent of the problem who make it worse.

OP is not in government but it is this mentality that has us here now.

Face it op. And everybody else who thinks the article shouldnt have gone up on website. Fgs.

[Quartz2208]

The problem with the article is that testing and contact tracing should work South Korea have
It also doesn’t mention antibody testing at the moment the actual numbers are unknown
This period of lockdown should enable testing and antibody testing to be implemented. I’m sure given the circumstances we would all agree to an app on our phone allowing tracing (missed the last time)
And the fact that awfully the plan isn’t to stop people dying it’s to reduce the amount get the hospitals ready. Balancing acts will be taken at stages to decide when things should be lessened to save the economy and when it’s tightened to reduce spread again

[ilovemydogandMrObama]

A few things make me optimistic:

China is recovering, so there is hope, and so is South Korea.

I am less frightened now that there is action, if that makes any sense? I was petrified this past weekend watching my neighbourhood with people treating the time as a holiday.

Now that there is official lock down is somewhat of a relief as if this is the right action to take based on the science.

[Cam77]

Thats the kind of article the government should have hasd on their desks from the end of January (after reading the Chinese article about the virus in the Lancet, dated Jan24th, which warned of its pandemic potential). But they were too busy "celebrating" Brexit. If only they'd done their jobs.

[Cam77]

@GenxfeellikeaBoomer
Same here. I started getting in rice and pasta at the end of February because I have a family member in China and I read.
Unfortunately, the UK press almost entirely ignored the virus, at least as something warranting front page status, until the beginning of March. That's right, a pandemic that had basically closed China, the second most powerful country on the planet since February, and has now changed the world was virtually nowhere in the British media until three weeks ago. There's a great article on thereaderapp(?) which shows this in great detail.

It's not just the government that is corrupt. The press/media is totally unfit for purpose. They are little more than leeches hanging off the governments "sources" and celebs. Real journalism and reporting is almost gone. The likes of the Murdochs and Barclay brothers etc won the war, and have no interest in providing the public with real news. But be sure they will be first to their hideaway islands.

[Jerseygaly]

@Bluntness100
Why no mention of antiviral etc
I think that could be becauseof
If not have them or enough of them and maybe don't manufacture
Cost?

[PurpleRainGirl]

The point I was making is not about being unaware of the seriousness of it all, but about being unaware, for a while, about how long our lives will be affected and about the lengths the whole world will need to go to.

I don't think anyone can genuinely say that they knew exactly what was going to happen and the reality is we still do not know what is going to happen. No one has been there and done it yet, not within our lifetime. No one has won this fight yet.

It is also incorrect to say that the tabloids were not reporting on this early this year. The fact is that the mainstream media were sidelining this, but actually the tabloids picked up on it straight away and were publishing multiple articles on the "Wuhan virus". Whether they were accurate and what the purpose behind them was, is a different matter.

[Loopyloopy]

Life has consistently gotten better on nearly all measures over the past 200 years. We get dips down - great depression, world wars, etc - but the trend always returns.

[Kuponut]

I'm coping (and I'd been following the story since the China outbreaks so knew where we were heading) by just taking it one milestone (or millstone) at a time. It was getting to a stable state of affairs regarding the kids' routine before lockdown... now it's the initial three week lockdown... then I'll deal with what comes after that next. Each adjustment period whacks my mental health right down while I readjust - and that's natural and normal - it's bloody painful but it's part of how humans cope with things.

I think we'll be in a loop of restrict > relax > restrict > relax to balance ill numbers with NHS capacity for a good year off and on - but it won't be consistent blanket lockdown that entire time. I actually feel we'll get back to school temporarily before the summer at some point as well before probably shutting down again. The forecasts basically seem to be trying to break one almighty shitter of a Mount Everest peak into numerous smaller "hill with aspirations" peaks instead which would fit with that.

If you want a good informative in-depth look at it all - the podcast This Podcast Will Kill You - just released a 6 parter on all that's known about it - from coronaviruses in general, to how this particular one seems to work, epidemiology, vaccine development etc. It's a good podcast anyway and they did an initial corona episode back in late Jan/early Feb.

[Quartz2208]

Rereading it its an article which doesnt actually say very much at all does it!

[SnakePlant]

I hope you got some sleep last night purple

You have been through the worst life has to throw at you already. You are surviving that and are living with your new normal.

Living with uncertainty is not what we are good at and I think we will all have increased anxiety and times where we feel utterly overwhelmed and dismal. I don’t think we should feel bad about this. I think it would be weirder to feel cool, calm and collected in the face of such a threat.

I have decided to limit myself to watching one news broadcast in the evening and forcing myself not to keep reading up on CV. Other than following the order to stay at home and follow the instructions to the letter, there’s bugger all else we can do to influence the outcome unless we are involved in healthcare, science, pharmaceutical supply and distribution etc. We need to remember that as we type, there are thousands of people throughout the world trying their utmost to help manage this. Keep on going (but from indoors). 💐

[GrapefruitsAreNotTheOnlyFruit]

I think it's too pessimistic

1. Once we have it under control contact tracing and testing could keep it under control
2. Antibody testing could allow people who have had it to visit elderly relatives etc
3. They will develop treatments to help those who have it seriously
4. The vaccine will be developed sooner than usual because everyone is working on it.

[Justaboy]

Heres the TV programe you'll regret watching, seems all too familier albeit a 100 years ago! Shows what a real pandemic can do!

Intretimng all the same showing how some well very few people did things thta saved lives like the offical Mr Niven in Manchester!

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0blmn5l/the-flu-that-killed-50-million

[TheMagiciansMewTwo]

The media weren't ignoring it until March. It's nonsense to say that. We changed our holiday plans at the beginning of Feb because of what we had been reading about the virus.
People might have been ignoring the reports coming out from China but the media were publishing them.

[blueshoes]

The news was out there weeks back. The BBC article is hardly the worst of it.

OP I appreciate it is a shock to read it all at once. If the reality hits home now, well that is your reality and I won't deny your feelings. But the news was there. People just either are not very tuned to the news or ignore it because it is not at their doorstep.

[Feodora]

@ChristmasCalamity, thank you for your kind words and it’s so encouraging that more people outside those of us with ME are becoming aware that the medical world have wrongly followed the behavioural model for too long meaning v little biomedical research has taken place. Thank you too for saying it’s ok for me to feel emotional/distressed hearing people say it’s too hard to be housebound for a few weeks.

@PurpleRainGirl, thank you for writing this thread. I have been greatly comforted by it and I am glad that I am picking up you have been too. Once again my heart goes out to you for losing your baby girl. As others have said on here you have built great resilience by surviving such a terrible thing in your life. You will get through this though that doesn’t preclude bumps along the way.

[PurpleRainGirl]

Thank you @Feodora, you are right.

I am glad this thread has brought you comfort too. I completely agree that you have every right to feel upset in your circumstances. I believe to most people it's the shock element of having to be confined and losing their freedom that is difficult, but it will pass and everyone will adjust. What you're going through requires a whole different level of resilience and for that you should be admired by everyone, no question about that. Do you have anyone looking after you now?

On a separate note, I don't know if you've seen the news that the antibody tests should be available very soon. I hope this is going to bring relief and peace of mind at least to some of us. I am in awe of the scientists, r'n'd teams, inventors and manufacturers from all over the world working so extremely hard right now. It's completely unprecedented.

[Feodora]

Thank you @PurpleRainGirl so very much. I agree it’s the shock element for those not used to being confined but people will adjust. It just stirred up some emotions for me but by expressing them and people’s kind responses feel a lot less woe is me.

Great news about the antibody testing. Will read further. Wonderful to see scientists, businesses, volunteers and amazing healthcare staff all collaborate to beat this virus.

I have paid carers daily, which is great on one level (they are wonderful, been with me many years) but at mo slightly increases my exposure to outside world but couldn’t manage without them.

[AndAllOurYesterdays]

There was a Jessica Hynes one called According to Bex that I remember as being terrible. I loved her in Spaced and remember being really disappointed

[AndAllOurYesterdays]

Oops. Sorry. Clearly the wrong thread

[GrumpyHoonMain]

Look if it makes you feel better there are other options. China and Japan have been able to cure the infection with anti-virals. There is another train of thought that BCG boosters may help protect healthworkers from the affect of catching the virus from lots of people at once. Failing that India’s equivalent to MIT is developing 600 dollar ventilators and if they succeed and are able to produce en masse it will permanently change the face of emergency medicine across the world. A lot of research is underway so it’s not all doom and gloom - but yes be prepared for some of these measures to remain permanently.

[babasaclover]

F