Is the fear out of proportion?

[Hotlungs]

I’m asking this genuinely as I struggle with anxiety and have a tendency to catastrophise.
I read yesterday that 99.5% of people will survive if they have the virus. Whilst I understand that people are worried they are in the 0.5% is the fear rationale? The press describing it as a ‘killer virus’ and people saying they don’t want to go to the supermarket incase they die. Obviously I’m not talking about those in the vulnerable group.
Are we doing poor risk management? Again to clarify I don’t mean the current lockdown situation to protect the NHS (which is needed) but I mean the fear of it.
We are more likely to die in our cars but we risk manager that (with precautions) to still use them. What are people’s thoughts?

I think that the 24 hour rolling press coverage of how many people are dying is making it all worse.

People have totally misunderstood the aim of lockdown, they think it is to keep them safe which it obviously isn't, the government don't care who gets it just when they get it.

There are so many diseases you can catch on any given day that can kill you. You can die in and RTA, you could have a heart attack or stroke.

It is concerning to hear so many non vulnerable people saying that they won't go back to work/school until there is a cure or vaccine. That is just madness imo.

Personally (as someone not in the vulnerable category), I am not afraid of catching the virus and I am confident that if I do my chances of survival would be high. Like you, I support the lockdown because of the threat of overwhelming the NHS. But I am not afraid myself.

I think the problem is that the government face a tricky balancing act between wanting people to take this seriously and making people very anxious.

Yes, absolutely agree. A lady I know described her terror as ‘it’s like a serial killer walking the streets with a machete ready to get us all’.
She is too scared to leave her house and hasn’t done for 4 weeks now, not even for any sort of walk or exercise. She is in her 40s, healthy and no underlying issues. I think the media have added to her hysteria and I worry for her mental health.
It is awful for some, we must do what we can to protect them, but for 80% it is a mild flu. This lady doesn’t bother with the flu jab even though it’s offered at her place of work as ‘colds don’t really affect me’. Yet the constant scaremongering by the media has really got into some people’s heads. I think some people will suffer a lot more because of it.

Also completely agree. I'm a healthy 45 year old with none of the vulnerabilities, I'm going with the guidelines so the nhs can cope. There's a lot of hysteria and scare mongering in the media that's fuelling panic and anxiety. I think I may have had it anyway after a London trip in Feb but unless antibody testing happens I'll never know.

I'm extremely anxious however about the economy and the effect of the lockdown, on well everything really. This is likely to cause greater harm than the virus. However I get accused of being selfish if I express this view amongst friends/colleagues.

I have some healthy similar age friends who are bunkering down in fear in their houses with their children who've not been out for 4 weeks. Their choice but not a healthy choice. They are not listening to the science and being predominantly emotionally driven which is how we're being manipulated and is why people like trump are in power!

Yeah I've followed this since January and I was afraid then but we know much more about the virus now and I'm willing to take my chances tbh. I'm still sticking to the guidelines and washing hands etc obviously as I don't want to pass it on to any vulnerable people for I'm not afraid for myself. I do roll my eyes a bit when perfectly healthy young adults refuse to leave the house in case they get it.

Suicide kills more people and more women die at the hands of abusive partners, but people aren't bothered about that as it's not "catching"

I've had to unfollow loads of people on social media due to their scare mongering including I hate to say it, healthcare people (I work in healthcare). What they're posting is irresponsible.

It’s good to hear people say this. Like I said I have a tendency to over worry about things but it’s hard to get perspective when everything you read is around fear.
How do you think we will overcome this fear as a society? Whilst we’ll obviously need to have diligence in place how will we stop people feeling that they’ll die if they venture to a shop?

Yes, absolutely. And whenever anyone on here mentions Professor Spiegelhalter's explanation of relative risk they get flamed because no one understands the sentence "Your chances of dying of Coronavirus are the same as your chance of dying in the next year". But the politicians will carry on the Fing lockdown for as long as the public keeps wanting it, regardless of the rising other risks it causes. Personally I think we also have to accept that it's with us now, people will die, it's sad. End of.

'1 read yesterday that 99.5% of people will survive'. - that's an optimistic forecast - 33,000 or so deaths (assuming whole population catch it).

Was it based on NHS coping (ie the scenario with lockdowns) or if the disease ran unchecked?

The cost of lost productivity if unchecked peak (because of so many ill simultaneously and for weeks) would be greater than the lockdown losses, and there would be significant increase in likelihood of really quite nasty loss of other services, increase in non-COVID deaths from overwhemned health services (was greater than planned and prioritised closures) and the even worse general MH cost to society in those weeks and the (far longer) recovery period

Also, n through there are some comorbidities which increase risk of the disease being serious and causing death, it can kill at any age. So no-one will be truly safe. Even for the majority who live, it could be a very nasty illness, lasting weeks. And without NHS reorgs to deal with the number of seriously ill infectious patients, the dearateouid be higher in all age groups

Yes I agree. My mind literally boggles at some fo the things I read people saying on here. It sounds like a horrible illness and obviously there is a number of people who are likely to suffer very badly from it. I am 40 with no underlying conditions and I accept that the risk to me is minimal - that doesn’t mean no risk, but it is minimal that I would die or end up in hospital from this. And also for my children - no one has said there is no risk, but it is a very small risk. We see the news reports of children or healthy adults dying but the reason these stand out in the news is because overall the number is so low - we hear about all of them.
I totally understand the need to get the numbers under control, I am following the rules and that’s fine. But there will obviously come a time when we need to get and start living and working again and I am not afraid to do that.

I think there are a certain type of people who will remain fearful for a long time. But I think for many, once things like schools go back, people will get used to being near to others again and gradually relax. I hate the air of suspicion that is around and can’t wait for people not to need to give each other a wide berth and slightly strained look whenever you pass in the pavement.

nuitdesetoiles "Suicide kills more people and more women die at the hands of abusive partners, but people aren't bothered about that as it's not "catching""

That's correct. I wouldn't avoid the supermarket for fear I was standing behind someone's abusive partner. Did you have a point there cos I'm not seeing it?

Hotlungs we have to make people fear it to get them to follow the simplest rules. Like a sheepdog chasing sheep.

Fewer people will die if we make people afraid to mingle.

Yes it’s absolutely ridiculous. The media have a lot to answer for.

My opinion is that, as a first world society, we have become afraid of illness and even more afraid of death. For our ancestors it was a certainty but our generation (I'm 50 btw) are so much healthier than our grandparents generation and have a much longer life expectancy.

we are generally so healthy now with vaccinations to avoid even childhood illnesses that previous generations just accepted as a rite of passage that we don't know how to cope with a more severe illness and too many of us panic. In reality, most of us will cope. We will get over it if we catch it. The world won't end. But the media portrayal of it as a 'killer virus' is ridiculous and just causes more panic.

yes, people have normalised or don't see everyday risks eg driving, cancer, heart disease, stroke, etc. Risk is avoided in a health and safety culture, and death is generally hidden away, so I think for many perception of the risk from this is larger than reality. Not if you're vulnerable of course, but the average citizen.

My opinion is that, as a first world society, we have become afraid of illness and even more afraid of death. For our ancestors it was a certainty but our generation (I'm 50 btw) are so much healthier than our grandparents generation and have a much longer life expectancy.

My opinion is that as a society we have become too afraid of a drop in living standards and a temporary change in lifestyle. Humans have always been afraid of dying prematurely. It's a survival instant. Those that aren't afraid just think that they are at much of a risk. A bit like Boris Johnson a few weeks ago.

The problem is that we now know you don't become immune. Those working on the vaccine, Sarah Gilbert being one has now said this.

That then gives the potential to have your lungs weakened during each infection. As well as the effect on other organs. If we then liken it to TB, that then shortens your life and causrs a whole other range of problems.

We are getting better on treatment and i think we will get a yearly vaccine for this, but we've still got to recognise what a threat to public health this is.

The ones who are scared beyond any sense of proportion seem to be the ones who can stay at home with the news channels on 24 hours. Scared for their life that someone came within 2 metres of an open window, or that they accidentally brushed against a lamppost or forgot to bleach the entire floor after the post was delivered.

Those of us who still have to go to work are just getting on with it ... Keeping distance between people where possible (but that's not always possible). I'm not dead yet, nor are any of my colleagues, we've had a couple of people off 'with symptoms' but we certainly haven't all had it and we're an office with a number of staff with medical conditions that increase their risk.

Some people really need to get a grip.

Blobby10, but our life expectancy has just been reduced. Cancer treatments and research would have become a waste of time and once again we can write off heart, asthmatic and transplant patients. If a vaccine wasn't found. I think it will be.

I can understand the attitude of people who are 70+ and feel that they don't want to sacrifice quality over quantity.

It's interesting because i have Nigerian friends and for their Family still in Nigeria, while it's worrying, it isn't the biggest threat to their life.

alittlecloudfloatinginthesky, before this did you tell people with survivable cancers to 'get a grip'?

Yes, the fear is totally out of proportion. According to ONS data, if you catch the virus, the risk of an under 40 year old dying is just 1 in 100,000. This all under 40s, including those in higher risk groups.

But yet, there are hysterical claims that sending children to school would be risking their lives.

I suspect if this had have happened before the internet and social media, we would never had had lockdown as the percentage fatality at a population level is low.

But social media and bodies piling up for the simple reason everyone is getting it at the same time, caused an irrational emotional reaction in people that demanded government take action.

The problem is that we now know you don't become immune

I think that's overstating it. The absence of evidence (how can you know about duration of immunity when the first people to recover did so only 5 month ago?) is not evidence of absence.

If you look at what immunologists have been saying all along (their actual words, not how the press repackages them) you will see that strength/duration of immunity is a factor that has always featured.

Just as death rates vary depends of effectiveness of flattening peaks is there. And also that indirect deaths (from other diseases including MH conditions and suicides) are not being overlooked but are predicted to be far worse if peaks not fiattened.

It is very easy to fall into comparing apples and oranges.

Eyewhisker

Aren't those ONS figures entirely drawn from data fro Norris's whinhave used lockdown etc?

The death rate during an uncontrolled peak would be considerably higher than that. Because of over-faced health services. But by how much is unknown as no country has been prepared to risk its population in that way

Also seeing posts from some teachers on social media (I state some), that they won't be going back in until a vaccine is found as it's too risky for them as social distancing is so difficult in schools...these people are in the healthy group. I'm sorry and don't mean to sound harsh but it's their job!

The support workers in our service are working with people with complex mental health diffs and are putting themselves at risk on minimum wage going in every day because that's their job! And because we're a private social care organisation we're bottom of the pile for ppe.