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?

A lucky few have no or mild symptoms.

It's not a few, in countries that have done tests about 50% have come out asymptomatics! That's how it's spread like wildfire, loads have had it without even realising.

I've always, since this whole thing started and before it hit Britain, I've stressed to people the survival rate rather than the mortality rate. The death rate is minimal and people need to get there heads round it.

The government aren't bothered if you catch it, it's a case of when.

It's not just death though.

This virus has left some of those who caught it with 20-30% diminished lung capacity. This may be reversed wholly or partially with time, but who knows how long it will take for that to happen, if at all.

There have also been reports of heart and nervous system damage.

@Sunshinegirl82 👏🏻 well said

The whole "young healthy people are dying" is mostly irresponsible fearmongering to make people more scared & compliant - every single "healthy" person I've seen in the news (apart from HCPs who are different because of extreme viral road) were visibly obese.

The death rate worldwide is relatively low, but I don't fancy catching it. Had flu once and it was horrendous so will take the necessary precautions to avoid getting it now and after the lockdown.

Though I've every intention of going back to work

Beijing “ I honestly think if the media had completely ignored it, not reported it at all and the government had just done a cover-up, no-one would notice much amiss and would chalk it up as a bad flu year.”

This.

I also live in London and there’s always an attacker out there.

The lung damage from covid mentioned - isn’t it similar to my asthma or what things were like months after having pneumonia?

The whole "young healthy people are dying" is mostly irresponsible fearmongering to make people more scared & compliant - every single "healthy" person I've seen in the news (apart from HCPs who are different because of extreme viral road) were visibly obese.

Not to mention it's typically followed in the next breath 'people are disgusting for not caring about this just because they'll be OK, what about the vulnerable'.

I've been wondering how many of us actually sanitises everything that comes into their homes. DH is completely paranoid about it getting in via packaging and has to sanitise everything with wipes. It takes ages to do all the shopping. I spoke to someone and they said they don't bother doing any of that stuff. On Radio 2 Jeremy Vine had a doctor on talking about this and they said the virus lasts 48 hours on cardboard and paper and 72(!!) on plastic and glass.

Another thing mentioned previously is the long-term effect this will have on kids. Already our DS is terrified of touching anything outside the home. It's worrying.

👆🏻What @BigChocFrenzy said 👏🏻

The whole "young healthy people are dying" is mostly irresponsible fearmongering to make people more scared & compliant - every single "healthy" person I've seen in the news (apart from HCPs who are different because of extreme viral road) were visibly obese.

So why is it "irresponsible" to state that young healthy people are dying because it makes them scared but okay to say visibly obese people are dying. Don't you think you are making obese people scared when you say that?

Oh, the over-sanitising and germophobia is mad and also setting us up for a much more deadly pandemic - antibiotic resistance. As well as all the kids who never let their immune systems "practise" on anything mild because they're so sanitised.

Anecdotal evidence but I've always been a bit meh about germs, use the same blue cloth in my kitchen for months, hold the escalator handrails then eat crisps on the Tube and lick my fingers. Never get ill.

So why is it "irresponsible" to state that young healthy people are dying because it makes them scared but okay to say visibly obese people are dying. Don't you think you are making obese people scared when you say that?

Obesity is a major risk factor. Youth is not. Would have thought that was the obvious difference.

use the same blue cloth in my kitchen for months

Gross Beijing, please wash the blue cloth already!

@woodchuck99 mention of healthy people dying of a virus will scare the general public, that's why they have these headlines. Obesity isn't a life sentence, in most cases people have the power to do something about it and lower their chances of having a bad CV outcome.

@MarginalGain don't worry, I bought a new one last week

Obesity is a major risk factor. Youth is not. Would have thought that was the obvious difference.

You are not getting my point which is that it is a bit rich to complain that people are making you or people like you scared by saying that it can affect healthy people if you are doing the same thing to people who are not like you (assuming you are not obese).

But saying "weight is a big risk factor" would enable people to do something about it now, if they wanted to lower their risk. Yes it is scary to realise you are at a higher risk or death, but something can be done NOW, especially as we are allowed to exercise.

Whereas "healthy people dying!" makes people defeatist, panic and catastrophise into the whole "I'm not sending my kids into school for 18 months", which is quite frankly ridiculous. The first scenario would actually be more productive and helpful to people - it is better to be honest about risk - but the 2nd scenario is simple scaremongering and results in a load of paranoid curtain-twitchers that won't even go to A&E when their limbs are numb.

mention of healthy people dying of a virus will scare the general public, that's why they have these headlines.

Considering that 30% of the general public has an underlying condition you could argue that you will scare the general public if you keep stating that only affects people with underlying conditions.

Obesity isn't a life sentence, in most cases people have the power to do something about it and lower their chances of having a bad CV outcome.

Probably not quick enough to have an impact on this risk. And it isn't only obesity that people keep mentioning is a risk. I just think it's a bit hypocritical to complain that the nasty media are scaring poor little healthy people when you seem to think it's fine to scare people who are not healthy.

Yes, it’s totally ridiculous.
I speak as a doctor, with both myself and do working in acute hospitals during this and seeing patients with Coronavirus (most recover ), seeing colleagues get it and recover etc
The damage in every domain, inc healthcare, being caused by the lockout/ restrictions is well outstripping Coronavirus deaths.

I'm not sure where your 99.5% figure has come from Hotlungs?

Current figures indicate that 80% of the people infected with Covid-19 recover without needing any medical treatment, so that therefore leaves 20% needing treatment, which increases the strain on hospitals. Last time I checked the WHO figures, 1 in 6 of those people who require hospital treatment have severe difficulty breathing. If we have huge numbers of people all contracting it at the same time, then the hospitals simply won't be able to cope - you only have to look at what happened in Italy to understand the implications, the death rate there last month was 11%. Certainly the death rate in the UK is higher than official figures currently show, because they aren't taking into account figures such as care home deaths, etc that haven't yet been officially reported as Covid-19 cases.

Of the people who recover following medical treatment, we still don't know what the long-term effects on them are going to be. There are reports of lung, heart and liver damage in recovering patients. As things stand right now, it would also seem that reinfection is a possibility.

Lack of information has certainly played a huge part in causing fear and anxiety in people - Covid-19 is still very much an unknown quantity, and so there is a lot of focus on what may potentially happen, and how the government is dealing with it, and questioning of whether they are going about it the right way or the wrong way. In truth, nobody knows, it's a case of working on current scientific advice, which is constantly being updated.

I don't understand why people are comparing it to the same risk as having a car accident, etc. We still don't know the actual scale of deaths from Covid-19. If you can avoid something that you know will hurt you, then you should - for example, I wouldn't get in to my car and drive it off a cliff, or intentionally walk in front of a lorry. Yes, there are risks in life, but accidents are just that - accidents. Viruses spread, and this one has done so (and is doing) at an alarming rate. The thought of unwittingly infecting somebody who could then go on to develop serious complications, and possibly die as a result, it what truly makes me feel fearful right now. Somewhere between the complacency that some people are obviously feeling, and the caution others are exhibiting, there has to be a middle ground for us all to stand on, but it's going to take more time and information for us all to get there.

The media distort a lot.

They want to control you by using fear, and shocking headlines and statistics.

If you’re scared- you’ll consume more media that then fuels the anxiety and propagate fear.

They want control and they want people scared to step outside of their own homes I. Fear of catching a virus with a 1% death rate with a high change of survival.

But, that won’t sell newspapers and it won’t keep you watching ....

Case in point: the same , repetitive ridiculous questions posed everyday in the daily briefing. They are simply trying to get a reaction from the politicians and then they’ve got their headline.

Constantly attacking politicians about lack of PPE for 3 weeks is getting old: but it’s the shock factor they want from their consumers.

Certainly the death rate in the UK is higher than official figures currently show

It's not because the real denominator is much, much larger - atm we are calculating deaths out of those with positive tests, who are seriously ill in hospital. There will be millions of people who had it mildly or asymptomatic who we don't test, and when you calculate the death rate out of all of those people, it will be a lot lower (I've seen estimates from 0.1-0.4%)

I have most probably had it - it's a bastard illness, but generally you are vastly more like to die in a RTA.