The majority of people seem genuinely terrified

[thewheelsonthebus23]

I keep reading threads on Facebook and elsewhere, I will also include my own mother in this. There are so many people genuinely petrified of life returning to normal right now.
I can’t get my head around this. Yes, it poses a threat to some, but the survival rate is incredibly high for most of the population. It seems a lot of people think lockdown will eradicate it completely and it also seems that they believe if they get it, they’ll almost certainly die. I know that’s what my mum thinks. She’s adamant if she gets it, she’ll end up on a ventilator.
Someone posted about sending their child back to school and said something along the lines of: “I’d rather pay the fine, than pay for her funeral”.
Has the media been really irresponsible here? I feel the mass media has a lot to answer for.

For the majority who are not overweight, lead a reasonable healthy lifestyle, have no underlying health conditions and exercise common sense, the likelihood of contracting, let alone dying of Covid-19 is extremely low, whatever your age
This kind of spectacular missing the point is worryingly prevalent.

Well we can stay locked away while the economy nosedives,.....CV will still be there when we venture out. The vaccine is a while off and the virus isn’t going anywhere until we get the requisite level of immunity.

We will have to learn to live with it. Like our predecessors did with TB and Smallpox etc. Minimise risk as best as possible but we can’t hide from it and we can’t stop it moving through the community, though we can (and have) slowed it down a bit. However, whether it’s going fast or slow, until we get the required immunity then it’s going to stay. That’s how I see it.

I’m a Health care professional. Have been for 20 years. I just cannot understand the complaints from people. This is a pansy ass lock down, way less strict than other countries and way more poorly enforced. I genuinely don’t understand what has been SO terrible for people.
The same people complaining it’s terrible, did you all refuse to vaccinate your children or take them yourselves because the death rate is only 3%? Nope didn’t think so...

That's a very good point moreginrequired

I think our semi lockdown might be part of the problem re the complainers. Sometimes when things are too lax people are less grateful rather than more.

Illets from the newspaper article it doesn’t state that 3300 have Abs (they tested less than 1000) what it says is that on the total island they estimate by multiplying up that actually only a small amount of the population have had it. Hugely different implications...

jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2020/05/08/antibody-testing-indicates-3300-islanders-may-have-had-coronavirus/

“It is estimated that about 3,300 Islanders have been infected to date.
'The fact that only a small proportion of the Island population has been infected shows that we have been successful so far in containing the outbreak.”

This is only 3% of the population. In scientific terms that’s buggar all

Yes, I didn't post it to say most of the people of Jersey have had it. I just found it interesting and thought people might like to read it. Small island or small community studies are interesting.

Jersey has contained it really well so far - poor them - now what do they do?

But they estimate 3000 people have antibodies with only 300ish officially tested positive and their testing regime is like ours. So for the poster earlier up who was unsure whether people who say they've had it, really have had it, if there is a 10x testing rate infection rate (sorry, that sounds a mixed up phrase) then in the UK wide population that makes a lot of people. It's quite possible that when people say they've had it, they really have had it. I live in the NW and would have said about one in ten people I know has had it, from what they've said. I actually think that might be a fairly reasonable estimate,having read that.

3000 with antibodies. 25 deaths. Let's set the world on fire. Absolutely.

Do you work in science illets? I agree that small area study’s show lots of diffferent things but surely with only 3% of the population showing antibodies (exposure in any sense) there is no herd immunity with such a low figure

Even with the jersey figured it would equate to an expected death rate of 43000 which is not far off the UK tally (though why that doesn’t seem a big deal to you is questionable ) . The increased morbidity is massive as well though. Anyone that I know who has had this (mainly Nhs staff or military so actually tested) have been knocked off their arse so that has a larger implication on the economy surely.

It sounds like jersey could be a microcosm of the UK and maybe the take home message is that this misconception that that nasty cold I had in the winter was actual CV seems optimistic.

We move out of this with better testing. Populous testjng is taking place not just in jersey but all over to see what percentage of the population have had this. Without that actual scientific knowledge we cannot move forward safely and likely yes the world might be on fire

I have to admit threads like this annoy me a bit.
Every person is individual and will have their own view on the virus, that view will probably be different now than it was at the start and will continue to change as time goes on.
As an immunocompromised person with a ds with 3 health conditions inc asthma I believe I have a right to be scared.
I believe as a family we have already had it. A week before they were even discussing lock down dp and myself came down with hacking coughs and high temps. Part of my health conditions inc chronic pain, I would take a thousand dislocations over how I felt with the "virus" I had. I didnt get tested because I, thankfully, didnt end up in hospital despite spending 3 days reliant on an inhaler and incapable of speaking a full sentence without gasping felt breath. At one point i sat on the floor, with my head on my chair, sobbing and begging for death. I know that sounds bad but honestly it is the illest I've ever been.
While I agree that most who catch it will be fine I am pretty sick of people downplaying the death rates and the risks to people like myself. We do matter! And to say "only the weak and old will die" is, quite frankly, disgusting!

We will have to learn to live with it. Like our predecessors did with TB and Smallpox etc. Minimise risk as best as possible but we can’t hide from it and we can’t stop it moving through the community, though we can (and have) slowed it down a bit. However, whether it’s going fast or slow, until we get the required immunity then it’s going to stay. That’s how I see it.

This -well said.
I had whooping cough a few years ago-was horrible and some people die of it but we have to live with the fact that is out there and some people catch it some don't.
My father's mother died of TB when he was 3. Terrible tragedy for him and his sister but the world did not close down because there was an infectious disease-and no cure . Many people die of malaria - but they are in Africa so we don't notice.

The 'We just have to die live with it' people.
Why? Why do you think us Brits are special?

Nowhere else in the world is supporting such a reckless and dangerous policy. Morals aside.

It's not only a very infectious deadly disease. It's an unknown one. We still know very little about potential long-term effects. A good example is the Kawasaki type illness link. About 70 children have died. That's just the start. It's still very early days.

How do we 'just get on with it' when the people who run our services, business, and transport are off sick or dead? Our workforce comprises rather a lot of people at increased risk. BAME communities, people over 50, men, people with health conditions, and the overweight. The economy would collapse without them.

And I must also ask. If the disease was disproportionately affecting the white middle class would people still be clamouring to ignore the highly contagious virus?

It's excellent news that the unions plan to stand up for workers right to a safe working environment.

Correction. It's been a very small number of children dead so far. My mistake. Less than 70. I got that wrong. Nevertheless the link to the Kawasaki type inflammatory illness and Covid demonstrates we still have much to learn. In particular we need to know more about potential long-term effects or complications. It's still very early days. A cautious approach is needed. As is realised by Scotland, Wales, and NI (and the rest of the world).

For the majority who are not overweight, lead a reasonable healthy lifestyle, have no underlying health conditions and exercise common sense, the likelihood of contracting, let alone dying of Covid-19 is extremely low, whatever your age

Do you really think the majority of the UK are a healthy weight, healthy lifestyle, no underlying health conditions and sensible? Really?

You haven't met any of the same people I've met.

To answer the OP, I'm really scared because we don't know enough about it and I don't want to die. Nor do I want the people I love to die. I can't feel ok about taking that risk.

Well only around 18% are over 65. The death rate goes up a lot above this age. So even if people are not so healthy below this age, they have a greater chance of staying alive should they get it unless they are really compromised. 14% are 0-14 and 64% are 15-65 so a decent proportion of these people will probably be healthy.

All the people that are minimising this - you've only seen the effect it has during lockdown. You can't draw conclusions from that around how minor you think this virus is. They interviewed two ITU consultants on TV last night -1 was from UCLH in London. They both said how scared they are based on what they've seen, how serious this illness is and how they fear that ITU staff, mentally, won't be able to cope with a 2nd wave. So how do you think that will pan out, if the hospital staff are so shell shocked from this round that they refuse to work? Do you still think it will just be a minor illness or do you think, if it rips through the population, that thousands might die?

I wonder, if you were in the vulnerable group (which you might be, many have undiagnosed conditions) whether you'd still be so relaxed?

They would not refuse to work. That’s more or less like the army saying they won’t fight. If I have something wrong with me I don’t know about, then too bad really. Also I do understand why front line staff see things differently. That’s all they see. Most of us haven’t seen anything! So many undoubtedly will take a different view.

My 96 year old mum joined in a street party in her little close. She told her neighbours what she did in the war. I think a lot of people want to enjoy what time they have left instead of being cowed and stuck inside. She’s just renewed her car insurance and the MOT has been done. She’s now going out! It’s good for her mental health and I’m pleased!

They would not refuse to work.

How can you be so sure? The two consultants last night seemed really concerned about the mental health of staff and about their ability to go through it all a second time. They can't be forced to work.

They would not refuse to work

Watch them.

If people who are paid well (doctors) won’t work there will be outrage. Don’t forget it’s now “our” NHS. People have died because they didn’t go to hospital. People are now encouraged to see this service as belonging to them and paid for by them. Any strike or refusal to work will set up ordinary people, and especially the elderly, against those that run a service they rely on. The elderly cannot force the government to make changes that might suit the medics.

In addition medics always get paid. They are not desperate for money. They don’t run businesses facing destruction or months of reduced work. Some people have no money. They are self employed. Others will be out of work. How will they react if others who are supposed to look after them and get paid well are refusing to work? It’s very dangerous for the nhs doctors to refuse to work when more carers have died in care homes. Obviously it hopefully won’t come to this but there would be extreme disquiet because we know people were discharged from hospital to care homes with the virus and doctors were partly responsible for this. They have a duty of care to everyone.

Who's talking about them going on strike? Oh, and by the way, other people work in hospitals than just doctors.

The way it was being spoken about was a mental health/PTSD crisis looming amongst healthcare professionals that have had to face this

One consultant was nearly in tears talking about rows of patients proned, so no one could see their faces.

If HCP are on sick leave they won't be in work. That's got nothing to do with how much they earn.

Medics do face reduced work, actually.

Private hospitals are closed. Some medics work only in private hospitals, others work in both.

You cannot currently get a private operation.

@ToffeeYoghurt it’s 3 children have died in New York

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/10/new-york-mystery-coronavirus-illness-three-children-die

There is such a lot of misinformation. It’s little wonder there are so many conflicting opinions, we have absolutely become a nation of ‘yeah but, no but.’

@ToffeeYoghurt. That was totally incorrect fact about 70 children dying and intended to scare people.

Lock yourself away if you’re worried - no one else cares if you spend the rest of your days bitterly ranting at strangers on the internet but get your facts right. You wander from thread to thread spreading your misery and fear.