I'm 32 and not ready to die - anyone else care to demonstrate it's not just older people this will hit hardest?

[Helenshielding]

I keep seeing posts by people saying they dont think we should be on lockdown to protect older people who will "die next year anyway" or similar.

Here's the thing, over 70s are not "old" these days. People can live well into their 80s, 90s and 100s now.

I'm 32, I've survived cancer (which is now clear- it is not a case of it being controlled, it's been gone for 10 years), I happen to have some lung damage. I dont know what my life expectancy is, but I know it's not 33.

So if you're moaning about socially distancing etc for older adults, stop. You're doing it to prevent deaths of all ages. Younger people with no underlying conditions are dying of this virus.

Stay home. Shut up. Stop moaning. We will all get through this a hell of a lot quicker.

we arent locking down though to protect the vulnerable that isnt the point of the lockdown

We are locking down to protect the infrastructure of the NHS to enable us time to get systems in place (Nightingale Hospitals) PPE (hopefully in place) and more time to find a solution and get testing (including antibodies done) and to manage and suppress the first wave as much as possible.

We are doing the above to save everyone

Just dont pretend I'm on deaths door so I wont mind dying so your kids can get back to school. And remember, it's not just the old and vulnerable who will die from this. The NHS being overwhelmed could impact any one of us.

This is exactly it.

Have a look at the “my lungs are burning” threads and see how people are coping with this disease. A “mild illness” here is categorised by people who don’t need medical intervention, but if you have a look at that thread you will see how ill many are who would be considered mild - most of those are previously healthy people.

Those “mild” cases in any other situation would find themselves in hospital, possibly in HDU, so serious are their symptoms.
The vulnerable don’t get a look in if a chunk of mild illnesses escalate to high dependency.
Do you really want to increase the demand for normally healthy people needing NHS treatment (invasive or otherwise) which all but prohibits the vulnerable people accessing treatment?

We can handle a trickle of the normally healthy people being in need of treatment and still provide treatment to some of the vulnerable. We can not handle a deluge of normally healthy people (who are able to stay home) getting so sick they need NHS treatment at such a volume that all vulnerable are denied care.

And if you think society would quieten down nicely and your assets and mental health will be fine after 500,000 people die then you’ve got another thing coming. That will be social upheaval the likes of which we won’t have seen since WW1.

Is your home and pension worth more than the life of a child dying of starvation in Africa?
No it isn’t but that’s why I do something about it.

My Great Uncle has just been admitted to hospital with suspected COVID-19, he's been tested and doctors have told us to prepare for the worst. He's almost 91 and has advanced dementia, it's probably fair to say that he wouldn't have had that long left but fuck me, I don't want him to go like this!!! Struggling to breathe, suffering? No no no no!

We've been told that when the inevitable happens only 5 of us can attend his funeral. One of the most popular, well loved people I know! His funeral should be packed to the rafters.

We are all making sacrifices so the NHS does not grind to a halt so that all their services do not crack and break

I'm finding this a very moving thread. I do not want the OP and the many like her, to die.

John Donne's words keep rattling through my head:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.

People are questioning whether everyone needs to put their lives on hold. Can we shield the vulnerable and everyone else get on with mending the economy?

I think it’s a fair question. I think it’s what the government had in mind before everyone started clamouring for lockdown.

I think it will be the next step. We can’t have the whole country on lockdown indefinitely; we’ll just go bust. We import half our food, we’ll be starving.

The government have played us a bit. People now will accept just the vulnerable being in lockdown and the vulnerable will stay at home, whereas previously no one was taking it seriously.

IllustriousToad
Pleased to hear your dad is a match. I hope it all works out for you.

I agree OP. There was an entire thread discussing that the deaths from Coronavirus were going to be mainly expected deaths of the sick and old.

Well I don’t consider myself sick. The NHS spent a lot of money transplanting my liver and funding expensive anti rejection drugs because they DON’T expect me to die this year or for many years to come.

People are always more upset when they hear of a younger person dying of Coronavirus if they have no underlying conditions because it makes it more personal to them. It could be you. How would you then feel if you were in the vulnerable health group and heard of a death but ‘oh but they had underlying conditions’. It doesn’t make that person’s death any less upsetting or unexpected.

C19 is showing in stark relief problems that already existed. Discourse, especially online, but also throughout politics and the media, has become too black and white and relies on personal feelings rather than evidence-based nuance.
Therefore people raising issues are assumed to be making a personal attack when in fact they may well not be.
Some of the issues should really be discussed because they go to the crux of how we live our lives.
Expected behaviour now is the opposite to how we usually behave in that we consistently vote for the Conservatives and against tax rises; and our consumerist lifestyles lead to the poverty and early deaths of millions in the global south.
It therefore seems that we do not generally care about the misery and death of others if they are not our family or friends.
It is interesting therefore, and positive I would think, that most people are complying.

@TinklyLittleLaugh How do you shield half a million people? For those of us who have kids that means my partner and my kids not going out. And what about anyone who needs carers? The carers would have to do their job and not go out. If each of those half a million people live with at least 2 other people, you are talking about 4.5 million people in total lock down for a very long time.
And there would still be deaths in the vulnerable but not shielded group. Those with asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure. Or do you want them to self isolate as well? You are probably talking about another 10 million people at least. So say another 30 million when you take into account who they live with.
It is not as simple as you think. Plus amongst the younger healthy people you would have a lot of people getting very ill and being off sick for a while.
The reality is society would ground to a halt anyway.

Totally agree op.

Thank you @FlockofGulls. It means so much when people show some compassion to us as the shielded vulnerable

Sorry one and a half million people - that is how many are in the shielded group.

Busy, one of the reasons for lockdown is to keep hospitals functioning so they don't leave people dying in fear and agony.

My lungs can’t handle summer, it’s not certain I’ll die but if I get it, it’s unlikely I’ll survive. I’ll drown inside my own body, alone whilst my husband intubates your loved ones.

I went to the chest clinic a few weeks before the lock down and I discussed my fears for my life with my consultant. She agreed I was terribly placed should I become infected or if many others are infected and I’m unable to receive care.

But do me a favour, could you please have a home made lemonade in a Hyde Park for me?

I've just made a face mask (dead easy if anyone wants the link, I made it with an old pram sheet of brushed cotton as the fibres are tightly woven). Not because I think they work stopping me catching it, but I have noticed a psychological response.

Had to go shopping today, covering 5 households so it took a while and people were not social distancing at all. But they were around people wearing face masks. I assume its because it looks medical and maybe introduces a fear that that person may be a carrier. Or maybe its simply a visible reminder that we should be keeping our distance. Either way I will be wearing it everytime I go out (and yes, washing it when I come in), in order to keep people away.

I have 3 households in my immediate family with highly vulnerable people and my DD who works in anasthesia so is going to work and home and thats it, as she doesnt want to be a spreader if she does catch it. So I am not taking any risks more than I absolutely have to keep us all fed.

@Larrygrylls

No, I'm not grateful to you. Because you're not staying at home for me, any more than I'm staying home for you. The elderly and vulnerable are not being kept home because anyone cares about them. They're being kept out of the way so that ICU/ventilators is not stuffed with them at a time that the younger fit end of the population need it, and we don't see scenes in the UK resembling some kind of plague horror film. You're being kept home for the same reasons, not to protect those you clearly think are a waste of oxygen anyway.

Disabled people have ambitions. They own their own businesses. They have families and responsibilities. Their finances are as fucked up as everyone else's, they have the same challenges you do. The othering, ageism and disablism is revolting. I've got closer to leaving MN in the past two days than I ever had; the sheer ugliness and selfishness of some people on here has become too hard to endure as well as deal with everything else. It's depressing, I always thought the British were basically decent people.

Alloutoffucks. I don’t think it would be 30 million needing to isolate. But even if it was, at least 36 million could then go about their business and keep the economy ticking over until a treatment or vaccination is found.

@BusySittingDown I am so sorry to hear that. That sounds very tough.

My temptation to tell you to roll up your investment portfolio and shove it up your arse has thankfully blown over.

Too right OP, I’m with you on this one

I’m actually in tears here.

OrganTransplant, I totally agree with you. It is very sad that many who don't have any close family member or themselves in risk don't seem to understand. For some of us, it could be a real threat, some of our loved one, or ourselves could die. It's really scary.

I agree OP, I’m having chemo right now so am vulnerable and, if I died, would be reported with that disclaimer “had underlying health conditions” - but I’m a mum in my 30s whose condition is completely curable, and ordinarily I’d still be out there doing my key worker job through all of this. It hurts to see deaths and suffering reduced like this.

@TinklyLittleLaugh But they would not be able to. The estimates are that at its peak one fifth of people will be ill. Healthy people are unlikely to die from it, but many will still be home feeling very ill and take between 3-6 weeks to recover well enough to return to work.
There is no scenario in which healthy young people can carry on as if this is not happening.