Worried About Coronavirus- thread 36

[TheStarryNight]

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@RedToothBrush

I haven't seen that complaining- perhaps because I've been avoiding certain threads and certain people on social media, however I totally agree with you.

I read an article a while back written by an Italian doctor, talking about exactly how the Coronavirus kills people. I was already worried about the virus on a global level at that point, but that article made me scared of catching it as an individual, if that makes sense? I think something like that should be required reading for everyone.

A friend suggested showing a patient being intubated before each press briefing.

I think the rules we have at the moment (bar everyone who can't work at home being allowed to work) are pretty good, and importantly, sustainable for the long haul- but they won't work if people keep breaking them, and thinking of themselves as the exception.

Red

When I was studying we were shown unbroadcast war footage. It was considered too distressing to show to the public. We then had an ethics debate on what this did to the British public and whether it let us forget and ignore the reality of war which we fought.

This was at the time Al Jazeera was starting to broadcast some of this stuff and it had the effect of making the west look like its censorship policy let us forget the reality of life.

We have built up this society where we avoid death and don't like to talk about death being part of life.

If we look at media narratives and how this drives the charity sector, there's £ for £ much more money given to the hopeful survival story rather than 'the lost causes' eg palliative care or dementia.

This is one reason that the care sector has been just so overlooked imo. There aren't enough fluffy recovery triumph against adversity stories in social care to make it attractive to the public. Too many miserable stories where people inconsiderately get old and gradually infirm.

I do think as a society we need to address and confront this unnatural aversion to death we have developed.

It's a real luxury which is comes back to haunt us all one day.

Encouraging dignity in death, lessening unnecessary deaths and putting a real value on quality of life are a real missing part as a result.

I definitely believe that death has been made into something clinical and somehow separate from natural life. I wonder if people feared death as much in the days before morticians and funeral providers took on the majority of the service.

Back when people cared for their own elderly relatives and they died at home and put a coffin in the front room, it was all very real.

Back when people cared for their own elderly relatives and they died at home and put a coffin in the front room, it was all very real.

So many people are completely detached from it and don't come into contact with it. Especially younger people. There isn't a sense of social responsibility for it.

People clap and cheer for the NHS because it's ingrained in our culture as a national treasure but we still take it for granted. And there is this sense of expecting the NHS to perform miracles.

Where it fails most are in areas with a culture of where suffering is normalised (such as maternity) or where it can be made invisible and hidden from view (eg residential care) which is essentially social care.

There is a certain amount of dehumanising going on here which we'd all be better off if we woke up to it.

5903 new cases today. The biggest yet, but we did also conduct over 12k tests which is also the most tests conducted in a day.

Ooh an extra 2000 tests. We might hit 100000 tests by Christmas at that rate. What is it we are aiming for? End of April?

But look green shoots the number of tests is up.

Today's death total in the UK is 4,934, up by 621.

Was that 47% of those tested in the last 24 hours were positive!?? That is quite a leap. Are the results of the recent NHS staff tests included in this figure or is it too early for them to have been completed?

Thanks crunchycarrot for those numbers. They made me cry though. I'm so angry and frustrated. I saw this coming in January, why didn't our government act? WTF did they think was going to happen. Those poor people, their families, the doctors and nurses! All the people who have lost jobs, income all facing an uncertain future. I would like an investigation into who handled this at government level and how the decisions were made from the start.

Whatever Dominic Cummings was doing, looking for 'weird' people who are able to spot future trends and so on, he dismally failed, didn't he! They simply needed someone with an ounce of common sense, looking at what was unfolding in China then spreading out to other countries, and they should have been motoring into action a lot faster than they did.

Crunchy it depends on what Cummings goal was.

Given what he's written in the past, a 'do nothing' strategy in the face of watching what was happening in China and who he's tried to bring in who sympathised with those views you might think things aren't going too much against his plan.

All well and good threatening to take away people's right to exercise entirely but that puts the blame on citizens. The blame sites work lack of leadership, contrast Macron's very straight talking serious speech with buffoon Johnson's scruffy address to the nation. It's been handled badly here start to finish and ongoing.

I'm horrified to learn people can still order fast fashion here, like it's a great opportunity to update your wardrobe??! FFS such selfish attitudes causing other, very low paid workers to work for no valid reason. Leadership needs to sort this out not the average citizen.

blame sits with, fcking autocorrect

Those figures are wretched, but no surprise. We have always had a window to see what was coming.

Likewise to pp, that's what makes me so angry.

I cling on to the hope that an enquiry will show just how wreckless this Govt has been.
Cold comfort to all the victims though.

Red, thank you for your posts of 14.19 and 14.51
That's it.
That's exactly it. Every word.

I was on a thread late last night where somebody posted how the people die. She was attacked from all sides for being callous, disgusting etc etc. Many posters who have lost relatives to this bastard then posted and said "no, we want every twat not following the rules, every snowflake saying they must go out, every person blathering on about their rights their rights their rights to read it"

And every time (and it's increasing as the weeks go on) there's a poster saying "yeah but they're old and were probably going to die anyway" all I read in their posts is me me me. Why should I give up my barbecue because old Marg down the road is 85.

I know MN is only a microcosm. But I've looked at my own country through different eyes recently. Though there are bright stars, obviously. The local community groups mobilising to help the elderly etc. But at the grand old age of 54 and having been away from it now for 26 years, I don't think I'll ever get those (possibly rose-tinted) views I had before back

And I don't know whether to be sad or mad.

Canterbury I posted more thoughts on the subject on the 'what have you learned' thread.

I'm not finding Matt and Jenny reassuring at all.

Canterbury it is depressing.

I’m going to limit my time on fruitless threads with people spouting me me me.

Yes, I think I should too Marsha.
Thanks Red, I'll go and look.

Absolutely agree Marsha. It's so sad it really is.

Jenny Harries flat out lying again, this time insisting that they have been doing COVID testing in care homes from the start and throughout. Just blatant falsehood, easily refutable by anyone who has worked in or with care homes over recent weeks. You could only get a test on hospital

Actually I have an aged relative who has had a friend (both in the same care home) tested a couple of weeks ago, as they were so worried about her. Friend is 104 and it came back negative, although the staff were not totally convinced and kept her quarantined anyway - but apparently this week she was back in the dining hall (socially distanced) so all is well.
Irrelevant details sorry, but I do believe SOME testing in care homes has gone on.

I’m going to limit my time on fruitless threads with people spouting me me me.

The trick is not to avoid certain threads but to avoid failing onto the trap of engaging directly with certain people.

You make your point, you back it up as strongly as you can and then step back. Remembering you are not arguing with certain posters but making a point that every reader out there (whether they post or not) can see.

The number one rule of forums is your audience isn't a single poster you comment in response to. Nor do you necessarily get a response to what you've said. If what you say has value others will appreciate someone saying something different. Silence doesn't mean a point hasn't struck a note. It's about trying to spark a thought process off in a number of people. And it can offer reassurance to others afraid to go against the grain.

I believe in the integrity of the truth and how that always ultimately shines through. Reality isn't something you can avoid.

I wanted to go into media when I was in my teens because I wanted to change the world and sure constant pursuit of trying to find the truth as integral to that. I didn't go into the media and I've not made any huge waves about changing the world. I do think that Internet forums have given me the opportunity to cause a few ripples though and to encourage others to try and think better and to question and seek out reality more. It's not ground shaking, but I'm not sure it needs to be either.

Everyone can participate and promote debate and challenge nonsense in their own ways and that as important as winning prizes for noble or valiant causes. Understanding that the world is difficult, hard, complicated and sometimes totally counter intuitive as a life skill is sometimes just enough.

RedToothbrush I've always enjoyed your posts on FWR. You stand out and I have learnt from your posts