What is your personal long term plan?

[Meruem]

So, as I understand it, the government still expect most of us to catch this, but lockdown has been implemented to “flatten the curve” right? Covid19 will still be a risk to all of us until a vaccine is found.

I was reading the thread about wiping down shopping and to me it seems a bit pointless (disclaimer - different if you are high risk). I mean, do you plan to lock down until vaccine? Surely that isn’t realistic. So you go back out maybe to work (as offices will reopen for a time at some point) or to see friends. All this work you did on sanitising everything goes down the drain does it not? I am following the rules, not going out etc but additional precautions to me seem pointless when it’s quite likely that in 3 months (or so) time, I’ll be out there mixing with everyone again. So if you are taking all these extra precautions, why? What do you plan to do long term given a vaccine isn’t likely until Spring 2021?

I've lived in a country where it's very rare that people get colds or the flu and, moving back to the UK, I do now find it weird how normal it is to get a cold/flu multiple times a year. Even after the vaccine, one thing I think (hope) will change for good is the self-isolation when you have symptoms. I find it so frustrating in the UK how people seem to think it's heroic to battle into work coughing and sneezing. People seem to think it's normal to come over for dinner saying "don't get too close, I've got a nasty cold!" - why are you here then?! I don't think we should be anxiously disinfecting our trolleys forever but long term I hope we are a bit more cognicent about how we spread disease around, especially to those who are more vulnerable.

Yes I totally agree - and also people act really heroic about not going to the doctor! I worked with someone who had a cough that sounded like TB, it raged for 3 MONTHS. It was horrible. I was like "why don't you go to the doctors?". Finally she did, it was a chest infection and she got antibiotics and it went away in a week. Why couldn't she have done it 3 months before?

I don't find it difficult to keep up the hygiene, I've been telling people about it for years, how you should always wash your hands when you get home etc. But I also won't be going on public transport or in huge crowds- pubs etc until a vaccine is found. Sad I know but I'm pregnant and just can't risk it. If my job won't let me keep working from home, I will leave, but I think they will. I'll go to parks etc and keep my distance. Not sure what I'll do a family and friends, that's the hard bit.

vulnerable household.

We are wiping shopping. We are bagging and putting mail away for 48 hours before we open it.

I plan to keep as vigilent as possible. To take all the measues I can until that is no longer desirable or neccessary so that I know if we get it I genuinely can say that we did what we could.

I’m following the advice of my next door neighbour who is a prof in infectious diseases and advised on disinfecting anything that comes home and quarantining things that can wait, because there is Huge evidence that transmission of the virus from items coming into the house.

I don’t want to be an extra statistic that might take up an nhs bed now (peak time) if I could avoid it, to help the NHS cope.

Long term/ exit plan pan be anyone’s guess as THIS IS the one question every country in the world is trying to figure out.

I am sticking to guidelines. I will continue to do so. However I am expecting to get this virus at some point. I think it's going to happen no matter what I or others do and all I'm doing is delaying it as best I can. I think we will all get it at some stage.
Hopefully it will be a light dose, but who knows ? Stay as safe as you can. Do your best to follow guidelines and wash your hands !

No one in my household is vulnerable - we're all in good health and I'm assuming that we will get the virus at some point and will pull through. Obviously there's a small chance that one of us could be one of the unlucky ones - but you can't rule your life based on small chances, otherwise none of us would ever step into a car or cross the street.

Outside my immediate household, my dad would be high risk if he caught it (he's 83 and asthmatic) but I've made my peace with that. Obviously I don't want him to die, but he's had a good life and, in a way, two weeks of sickness followed by death may be preferable to whatever else lies in store for him in the next few years (eg dementia, long-standing pain etc).

So we're following the lockdown rules but mainly for social reasons and the protection of others. I'll have no problem with returning to work / school (DH and I currently both wfh) when the government relaxes lockdown.

I understand that I'd feel differently if one of my DC was in the vulnerable category.

My personal long term plan is to retire but short term I have to put in place a management of change programme to deal with a £9m deficit arising from this. No pay increases this year or probably next; probably some pay cuts.

Chances of getting this seriously based on hospital testing and tripling from now so worst case scenario:

180,000/66m x 100 = 0.27%

Chances of dying
21,000/66m x 100 = 0.031%

The chances of catching this and having serious symptoms are miniscule; the chances of dying are infinitesimal.

The chances of lives well and truly ruined by a deeply damaged economy are frighteningly large and tangibly real.

I really and truly hope I don't read a single whinge about how awful anybody's life is due to job loss, no money, marriage breakdown and repossession in 12 months time.

This is a horrid disease being controlled to prevent NHS meltdown and overwhelm but once that is achieved we have to get back to normal economically as quickly as possible because the consequences of economic freefall will be far greater than the impact of Covid-19.

About 2.5% of the population is in the shield group, and it's perfectly clear that there are many more in the vulnerable group.

That's quite a lot of people to 'other', and of course many if them are not frail in any usual sense of the word. And they could suffer all the consequences that are concerning people on this thread. Working out how to avoid abandoning those people to their isolation will be an important consideration - as it always should be .

Reopening workplaces might happen, but what would be the arrangements for staff who have to remain under additional precautions, perhaps indefinitely?

I'm not sure I have a plan, I'll do as I'm told re government restrictions and hope not to catch it before the vaccine is available.

If I do, I'll just cross my fingers and toes that I don't get it severely. Bo Jo being in hospital has made me realise that can happen to anyone.

I think a lot of the precautions are hocus pocus honestly, at least in Italy.

We have been isolating for three weeks. On day 21 of lockdown, 99% sure dh has begun with cv- he had high fever for three days, very sore throat, massive fatigue etc. He says he doesn't have a cough but he does. Anyway, doctor tells me I can still go to get pharmacy for him as I don't have symptoms, as long as he is self isolating in a room. Which he is but for ffs we share a bathroom! I told her this!

I go to the pharmacy, ordered to spray hands with disinfectant. The pharmacist is behind plexiglass and a complicated double layer mask. I leave my health card on the cash tray. She takes it with gloves. I give my cash to pay. She takes it and puts it in the cash drawer. Same gloves. She hands me goods. Same gloves. She must do that all fucking day, same gloves, cash in and out of that drawer. Honestly what hope is there of not getting it?!?!

What does everyone think about covid mutating like the Spanish flu?

I kind of want my kids to get it because healthy kids get it mild and herd immunity is good for others. I keep overthinking that it will mutate and children will be extremely vunerable to it.

But my OH has asthma so I don't want him to get it either, although he isn't worried about it/thinks he has or had it. And agrees the kids should have it while it's mild...

I mean the majority of us are going to get it when we come out of quarantine are we not? Genuine question

I've lived in a country where it's very rare that people get colds or the flu and, moving back to the UK, I do now find it weird how normal it is to get a cold/flu multiple times a year

Was it a more southern sunny country?

I've been on the vitamin D thread and I'm wondering if it's ths cause of me having so many colds and after second pg developing asthma - and that child having asthma.

Though I've also been a bit shocked at how lax people' hand hygine can be before this all.

Though I've also been a bit shocked at how lax people' hand hygine can be before this all.

Yeah makes me think my own hasn’t been the best. I always wash before Cooking/eating/after the loo/sneezing etc but not generally as a matter of course when coming into the house/going into my office after touching the keypad to get in/after opening parcels/mail/putting shopping away. My husband has always been more fastidious about handwashing than me as he works in food prep. It makes me wonder how many bugs etc I have had over the years that I could have avoided. I think where all I’ve had to worry about is the usual type bugs I’ve not had to think too much about how important handwashing really is at all times.

Meh, I hardly ever used to wash my hands before all this (only after toilet) and literally never got ill. I like to think it boosted my immune system! I read that over-washing also gets rid of the good bacteria on your hands and makes you less able to fight off bad bacteria that end up on your hands, plus all the cracked dry skin.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant so I'm doing everything possible not to get it just now, including wiping down shopping. The last thing I want is to be ill with anything right now, let alone Coronavirus. When I go on maternity leave I'll continue with the social distancing for a while, until the baby is at least a few months old and has had a chance to build up a bit of immunity. DH would have to go back to work in an office if the restrictions are lifted, but what can you do. He'll just have to be vigilant about hand washing etc
Hopefully it and when we get it there will be more information about the virus and how to treat it, plus less pressure on hospitals.

long-term I'm going to stay as healthy and fit as I can so I've got the best chance of fighting it, in particular I should be paying special attention to my lung functioning making sure I get enough cardiovascular exercise

In many ways with that nightingale hospital there are lots of spare bed at the moment so now might be a good time to get it?

From what you said you’re a good bit younger than me @BeijingBikini I’m in my late 40s now and pick up much more bugs and bounce back less quickly than I did in my younger days!

I am at the mercy of the government unfortunately. I lost my job just before lockdown so I have been looking after DS, whose nursery is closed. I can't look for work until I know when we can have childcare - either nursery or grandparents. If it's too early (before say July) I don't think I would want to send him to nursery anyway.

This is a really welcome thread as I feel like so many people (particularly the really aggressive posters) have sort of missed the point of lockdown - it's not to stop us from getting it or protect us individually from the killer virus. It's just to protect the NHS from the impact of us getting it all at the same time. So all of those people who are like "YOU BOUGHT A CUCUMBER BREAD AND MILK ARE NOT ESSENTIAL YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL MY VULNERABLE MOTHER AND IF YOU DON'T STOP LOCKDOWN WON'T END" don't really understand that lockdown will end far before the risk of catching CV will.

Personally I'm pregnant, due end of May so imagine will stay fairly locked down until the end of June whatever happens with the lockdown measures. After that I think (provided lockdown is lifted and we're past the peak) I'll try and get back to things a bit and take my chances, if I'm going to get it, I'm going to get it. I can't stay inside for 18 months with two young children hoping for a vaccine so I'd rather try and deal with the anxiety of potentially being exposed to it. No extremely vulnerable people in my family.

In the short term this means that I'm:

• Trying not to get to get sucked into the doomsday drama mentality, trying to take everything with a pinch of pragmatism. My brother and some close friends are doctors working on COVID wards and tbh they sound 500x more measured about it than any of the viral NHS videos and press are.

• Trying to stay strong and healthy.

• Trying to mind my own business and not get upset about neighbours breaking rules, people who have decided to read the rules differently from me etc. It's going to be very hard for some people who have really bought into the "if you go out to buy an easter egg unnecessarily you are killing us all DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A VIRUS THICKO" mentality when in a few months COVID is still around but we're all meant to be back at work.

I only really washed my hands after the toilet and when coming inside and before preparing food before this.

But I hardly ever got ill and if I did I shook it off pretty quickly. Not to say it would be the same with covid though.

DH used to wash his hands far more than me but would always be catching colds etc.

I think a lot is to do with your inherent immune system which you can boost with foods etc but not sure how much you can really change it tbh.