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Covid

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Original poster

When Boris went into ICU

96 replies

sleepyhorse · 10/04/2020 15:41

Do you think Boris was more poorly than what we were being told when he went into ICU? A lot of people seem to think his condition was being played down so as to stop the nation panicking?

OP posts:

DobbyTheHouseElk · 10/04/2020 17:23

Of course it was downplayed.

His father has made a comment today saying his son isn’t out of the woods yet. So I don’t think he’s better, but maybe not so close to death as he was. He’s been given a phone so he can make calls.

He’s obviously still very very dangerously unwell.

GinnyStrupac · 10/04/2020 17:24

very fast sod caught everyone on the hop

That's one way of putting it

ILiveInSalemsLot · 10/04/2020 17:30

I really hope it’s made him and his party open their eyes to what the nhs needs and prioritise what’s important in this pandemic.
I think they all initially thought it was only going to affect old people and everyone else would just have mild symptoms, like a lot of others.

pobparker · 10/04/2020 17:33

I do think it was downplayed
Michael Gove referred to Boris in the past tense in an interview - (and then quickly corrected himself) I think it was with Piers Morgan , which made me think it was pretty bad

Snorkelface · 10/04/2020 17:35

The Guardian said something about having been informed that St Thomas's had been ready for him to be taken in on the Thursday (when he was last seen clapping) but he didn't go in until the Sunday, by which time he must have been really very unwell. I can understand him wanting to hold out in the hope it turned a corner on its own, he'd just watched Hancock get the all clear the day before. But I don't think it's a question of him being more ill than they reported. They reported he was in ICU, isn't that serious enough? They didn't have to report anything at all. The medical teams don't know how anyone is going to respond to the limited treatment they have, all they can do is buy people time, and people go downhill very rapidly. He was ill enough to justify an ICU bed. Now he's not. Hopefully it stays that way.

ptumbi · 10/04/2020 17:39

I think he has totally played a blinder - he was not in an ICU ward; he was in a private room with ICU equipment in it!

And he can now bounce back out, buffoonish grin on his face, declaring that He's one of us! He's beaten the Virus and come back stronger - and so can Britain after Brexit' etc etc ad nauseum.

starlightgazers · 10/04/2020 17:39

People crying and terrified. Really?

Snorkelface · 10/04/2020 17:42

Raab being in charge is a bit terrifying.

MaxNormal · 10/04/2020 17:56

I didn't wish him dead, but crying, really??

DianaT1969 · 10/04/2020 18:05

@Bluegrass - as well as affecting the markets, which are volatile anyway, I think it would have caused more anxiety and despair for those being shielded and 60+. They would have thought "bloody hell, if a Prime Minister can't be successfully treated, with all the extra care you would expect, how the hell are we going to survive?" We weren't even at peak at that time.
Plus, Russia has been sending ships and planes close to our airspace lately and they might have exoloited the power vacuum and uncertainty if they wanted to play with us.
Just my feelings. Feel free to shoot down 😁

mynamesmrdiggety · 10/04/2020 18:45

No I don't think so. He's out now so and apparently never had a ventilator so I think it was precautionary more than anything else.

fallfallfall · 10/04/2020 18:51

he's not a well loved dictator...who on earth would "panic".

KrakowDawn · 10/04/2020 18:55

I think it would have been a huge blow for morale if he had died, however one feels about the conservative party and their policies. It's very shocking when a nation's leader dies, particularly when they're not particularly old.

He was presumably working ridiculous hours instead of resting when he was I'll, and that couldn't continue if he was to recover from it.

Bluegrass · 10/04/2020 18:55

DianaT - not going to shoot you down at all! The power vacuum thing worries me slightly as succession planning should be absolutely hard wired in to government. A Prime Minister isn’t the same as a President, a Prime Minister is selected by the party in power as their leader, but there need to be viable alternatives. A good Deputy is essential.

Anyway, much as I dislike him I’m very glad he seems to be recovering.

Cary2012 · 10/04/2020 19:23

No one goes into ICU unless they are extremely sick.
It is the unit with very sick patients and the last resort.
He was very poorly. It wasn't 'played down' the clue is in the name: critical care unit. He was critical. He responded to the initial round of treatment, so thankfully he didn't require ventilation. Many are not so lucky.
He was there because he needed to be. Simple as that.

stickman12 · 10/04/2020 19:40

Well seeing as the reported yesterday he was now sitting to, and today able to take short walks I think so. Earlier in the week he was 'in good spirits' which isn't the same as not being able to sit up.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 10/04/2020 19:50

But to suggest the British public would panic...that seems quite insulting

Panic is probably the wrong word, but the death of the PM would have made me very concerned. Decision making appears to be haphazard already, so with no-one at the helm of a group of grieving people (and it’s clear he is loved) there’s the potential for catastrophe.

SouthWestmom · 10/04/2020 20:39

I think we were told what we needed to be. Clearly not enough for some people who were desperate on here to claim superior knowledge and that he was at death's door.
Why would we be lied to? Knowing he was ill enough to be in icu was enough for me to suspect he may get worse.

Otherrooms · 10/04/2020 22:01

I think he has totally played a blinder - he was not in an ICU ward; he was in a private room with ICU equipment in it!

Without a doubt this.

As I said earlier, a private room will have been kitted out as soon as there was any talk of him going into hospital.

Couldn't be further from the terrible, heartbreaking scenes from real cramped ICU wards we have seen on news reports.

OutwiththeOutCrowd · 11/04/2020 08:12

Boris, if you are bored enough to be reading MN in your sick bed, I'd like to cheer you up by letting you know that you didn't have just any Covid-19, you had man Covid-19.

Far from looking weak, your experience of the virus is testament to the high levels of immunosuppressive testosterone coursing through your manly veins.

You have been a victim of your own masculinity!

(Naturally if Prince Charles - or Chris Whitty/Matt Hancock - needed cheering up, I'd have to refer to their exemplary monkish, clean-living ways as the reason they managed to kick Corona's spiky ass so efficiently.)

And to answer the original question, I think Boris was really ill. The first time Dominic Raab appeared in deputy role, it was all too easy to imagine a think bubble above his head with the words ' Don't panic ... don't panic ...don't panic!! ' in it. He was genuinely rattled.

Aragog · 11/04/2020 08:26

There has been at least one patient who has said they were in the same ward as him.
So not necessarily a private room if we believe those others patients.

As for walking the day after. Hospitals do like to get patients to sit, stand and walk as soon as is physically possible. I think it's felt that it's important to do these things to prevent worse issues.

Otherrooms · 12/04/2020 09:41

There has been at least one patient who has said they were in the same ward as him.

I don't believe that for a second.

Otherrooms · 12/04/2020 09:44

As for walking the day after. Hospitals do like to get patients to sit, stand and walk as soon as is physically possible

ICU patients don't get up and go for a walk'
They are critically ill.

toryandproud · 12/04/2020 09:49

who cares stop speculating, move on he's out now which is all that matters

CheekyWeeGobshite · 12/04/2020 10:01

ICU patients don't get up and go for a walk' They are critically ill.

Have you ever worked in an ICU?

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