Have I totally misunderstood Coronavirus?!!

[Soph7777]

I'm really confused on so many levels. I don't understand why such panic about contracting it IF you have no underlying health conditions or are over 70.

The chance of dying is still much lower than many, many other illnesses.

I obviously get why people shouldn't be going out of their way to get it - to protect the NHS in the main.

But my understanding of this disease after watching hours and hours of documentaries and reading up is that 80 percent of us WILL get it.

Lockdown is to stop it spreading so quickly that NHS can't cope to treat everyone leading to many more deaths than necessary - it's not to stop us getting it (which inevitably most of us will).

Have I totally missed the mark here?

I don't get why so many people I speak to are acting like getting it means you'll die instantly once you contract it. It doesn't.

Does anyone else feel the same?

The media is scaremongering people as they are sensationalists but that doesn’t make it less real. As I said I work with doctors and they are all scared and not from the daily mail. From NHSE, WHO, PHE and the other doctors sharing information with them. They all have families and loved ones and they don’t have enough staff to help them
The situation is real

Because no-one knows how it will affect them, or their loved ones. Statistically some may be less likely to get very ill than others, but that doesn't negate the fact that some people not identified as particularly vulnerable have died. That's why people are scared of catching it, the uncertainty of how it might affect them or their loved ones. Honestly, if you can't understand that, you need to work on your empathy.

Apologies perhaps my initial post wasn't clear.

Don't apologise, your OP was very clear. People are just being particularly sensitive now due to heightened anxiety. An earlier post today saw a woman get piled on for buying chocolate eggs during her essential shop!

I get what you're saying op.
I think our lockdown conditions will just slow it down so the Nhs isn't overwhelmed. I'm Not sure it will stop us all from getting it eventually over the next year but it will stop us all getting it in the next 8 weeks.

As someone who is chronically asthmatic, I can assure you I am pretty fucking worried about getting it... You might not believe you have a reason to be be frightened, so, y'know YAY for you.

And frankly the only way to get all the stupid fuckers to stop having barbeques like nothing in happening, putting high risk people in peril, is to scare the shit out of people then I say go for it.

So three things as a reality check OP:
a) not everyone is lucky enough to be healthy
b) this fucking thing is lethal for high risk groups - DO YOU GET THAT?
c) those badly affected who might survive with medical treatment won't be able to get it because there are too many in the same boat, so more people will die.

Thousands will die. If I get it, I might well be one of them. So I'm fucking praying I'm in the 20%.

@Soph7777 Are you kidding me right now?!

There was no need to be reply like that to the OP @whycantwegoonasthree she asked a valid question.

For my age, I have a 5% chance of needing hospital treatment if I get it with symptoms. If there are no hospital beds, though, that becomes a bit of a problem I’d imagine.

We are all ...or most of us ... scared of contracting the virus because it's like russian roulette. You have no idea of what the outcome for yourself will be. It could be like a cold, a bit worse would be a flu but it can also kill you. If you go out and pass it on to people, again you have no idea what the outcome would be. Its caused the whole world to shut down. I am 68 so almost in the vulnerable age but I have to support my 89 year old mother so I must go out to the shops for her. We see the really young getting it. No-one is safe.

The risk is low of dying of CV if you’re young and healthy but it’s not 100% you won’t die. Many young healthy people in Italy and Spain are not dead but in ICU. Not sure about you but ICU doesn’t sound fun neither does coughing so bad you can’t breathe. I don’t want to catch it at all. I think people need to stop thinking if you’re young you’re fine. As the parents of the 21yr old who died know is not a fact. And now they can’t even give her a decent send off. It’s a horrible illness

Let’s put aside the moral and emotional factors.
The reality is that there are a lot of productive under 70 who have or might have the right underlying conditions to potentially die because of this infection right now. Even with the right medical care at the right time, they can die or survive it with lungs permanently damaged by 20-30%
You may be a temple of health but still have underlying as yet undiagnosed conditions.
That’s for starters...
Immunity is a very complex and seemingly healthy and strong individuals can die from infections.

You might not die of CV but you might need hospital for another reason, an accident or cancer. Young women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are not able to get the optimum treatment because of CV.

I’m not at all worried about getting it myself - I would most likely be fine. But I am very worried about who I could give it to. That’s the concern.

It is about how infectious it is. Ebola kills more people. But unless you handle dead bodies of people who have died from ebola or care for ebola patients, you probably won't catch it. So 100 people catch ebola and 85 die, scary death rate, but not that many people overall dying.

Corona, people walk around with no symptoms for a couple of weeks infecting lots of people. A lot of cases in Northern Italy were traced to 1 bartender. So 10,000 people get it, 1% die. So 1,000 people die.

It is because a lot of people have no symptoms or very mild ones that ironically makes this virus so dangerous. That bartender carried on serving drinks to thousands of people, some of whom will have been infected and passed it onto others.

100 die, not a 1,000

Well there always a risk of having unknown underlying conditions. There’s also a risk that (while in a normal healthcare system your case would be totally survivable) you’ll die because you’ve ended up relying on the NHS for healthcare (which is risky under ordinary circumstances but down right dangerous now).

Of course people are worried about catching it. Whatever age they are there's a chance that it'll kill them. There's a higher chance that they'll get very poorly but recover. But we don't yet fully understand the long term effects. China are reporting that it affects the fertility of men who recover. Hong Kong are reporting permanent lung damage in people who've recovered, up to 20% reduced lung capacity. There's so much we still don't know.

I agree that we shouldn't panic and panic buying has given me the rage. However, I think that a little bit of worry is no bad thing.

We're in lockdown so that the NHS isn't inundated all at once. Most people who get it will be fine, but an unfortunate number won't be. Also, while all this is going on people are still getting seriously ill with other illnesses, or having heart attacks, or being in an accident and there is less chance of their survival if we don't take this seriously and worry at least a little.

I think one of the issues has been people not worrying enough and thinking that they're all right Jack and therefore not taking the situation seriously enough. I know I didn't when it first got underway, but I was wrong to think "oh it's just the flu". It is far more contagious and that is the issue.

I get your point OP. I’m a HCP, asthmatic with a chronic health condition and I’m still working, distancing myself from everyone but my husband and being as careful as I can. This isn’t Ebola. We aren’t all going to spontaneously drop dead if we come into contact with someone who coughs. It’s exactly as you said, many of us will get it, we just need to flatten the curve and then fewer people will get it badly at the same time and we will be better placed to help them and all the people who also have other problems.

And panicking literally helps nobody. It doesn’t mean you’re not taking it seriously if you aren’t weeping and wailing and panic buying anything you can find like there’s no tomorrow. I’m taking it incredibly seriously but I also know getting upset and anxious about it won’t change the fact it’s happening and won’t make me less likely to catch it.

You realise that ONLY 20% of people get VERY ill is actually 1 in 5? 2 in 10? That's a lot of people. If you have 5 people living in your home that's statistically at least one of them. If you have a large family with multiple people and lots of elderly relatives that family of ten which involves 4 grandparents that's pretty high odds that they will catch it and be in critical care.

Also some of those who live will be left with lung damage. Its not as straightforward as - you survived so everything is fine.

I agree with you totally OP.

Someone will always come along to twist your words.

I never seen the word terrified used so much ever.
Reminds me of how treacherous is over used when it snows....

I get it's serious and I'm following all the guidance to the letter but anxiety is being whipped up in almost every related thread.

I have a friend in hospital at the moment from this. Looks like she will recover. But young, healthy, just a bit overweight. The kind of person who at her age would not expect to have been in hospital fighting for her life.

@Iwouldlikesomecake I totally agree with all of your post.

My entire point, panicking is what's making people empty supermarket shelves depriving those who need it more than they do.

Panicking is what's making things a whole lot worse right now. As well as the scaremongering which needs to stop.

And that doesn't mean I'm not taking things seriously.