The loss of NHS staff

[Londongirl88888]

Three nurses have died since Thursday and now a midwife. It really brings it home. It proves that this virus isn't mild at all. It's killing "healthy" NHS staff. They don't have the right protection and it has been said many times there's no masks, gloves etc. They surely need to be fully covered. Why should these poor NHS workers end up dying like this due to the lack of PPE? Most of these NHS workers have children.

If it can kill them, then it can kill us. It was easy to believe a few weeks ago that this was killing old people and poorly. But it's killing 30 year olds and 50 year olds.

It's absolutely terrifying to think when the restrictions lift we will all be mixing again and they expect most of us to catch this. To risk our lives. We are mostly parents on here. I can't help but worry about this. Even Boris is poorly enough to need help. This virus isn't mild is it? It's actually bad even in mild cases?

These are really strange time and we have to look at what’s true and what isn’t. What’s spin, what’s assumption, what’s implied.

And then we need to work out what’s true. What’s fact. Because at the moment, whether it’s on mumsnet or Facebook groups, I see lots of information, driven predominantly and rightfully by fear, but it’s not all factual. I went for a walk yesterday and somebody posted on my fb in capitals ‘stay in.’ Which was a bit hysterical given that I live in a rural area and I don’t see many people.

Our NHS is under a lot of strain and the staff are scared. We need to give them facts, not rely on insinuation. It is indeed worrying and heartbreaking if those nurses and the midwife died because they contracted the virus at work through lack of PPE. And if that’s true and I were a nurse in a similar position, I think I might refuse to work.

The problem is, if it’s not true, if they contracted it elsewhere, then we are allowing half truths to terrorise and traumatise thousands of NHS staff (and their families) at a time when we need them to stay calm and try to think with a clear head.

So I’m perfectly wide awake thanks, leafy. I’m just taking a step back and trying to sort truth from half truth, misrepresentation and fear mongering. As the wife of an ITU consultant, it’s important to me right now, as I need to make an educated guess at the risk he’s placing himself at, and the risk we are at from living in the same house. I can’t do that by believing every headline in every media source. Not without the full facts.

Good post, Daffodil.

The problem with this OP is that it suggests this is about the virus being either 'not bad' or 'really bad'.

It's a contagious (more contagious than some, though not as contagious as some other diseases) novel virus. Many are asymptomatic, some are fairly ill, a few are very ill, a very few die. Viral load (or perhaps exposure from multiple carriers?) may contribute to severe disease. If, considering we know all this, healthcase workers are working without adequate PPE and/or not being rested regularly to give their bodies a fighting chance, that is an immense national scandal and we must hold the government to account for its running down of the NHS when all this is over. What we must try not to do is spread even more fear than is already going round by concluding that these devastating deaths mean the virus is absolutely 'very bad' and likely to kill swathes of the population. That level of fear (as I have just said on another thread) is already leading to worrying irrationality. We also need to note that the professional media are more a mirror of the actual, complete situation than are social media, but not a complete or necessarily accurate one. They have their emphases, their biases, they miss things.

My apologies @Daffodil101 - you must be very worried about your DH.

I really hope his unit has adequate PPE.