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.

What I have found particularly chilling is the way some people have turned on others, finger pointing and indulging in self righteous indignation. It has brought the worst and the best out in people, and it’s demonstrated that we aren’t that far from a Police State mentality when pushed.

So from reading this most people who aren't afraid don't know anyone affected, most people who are afraid do.

I am. Do you think the government would have shut things down in the first place if the risk was so minimal?

This is a graph taken from the BBC this morning. Puts a lot of the statistics into perspective. I say this as someone who has had cancer and who loves every day with a 10 - 15% chance of my cancer coming back

I'm not scared of dying from Covid but have you seen what can happen? Even in cases of recovery? I can't imagine the feeling of choking and suffocating whilst battling a 39c+ temperature being easy to shrug offf.
I wash my hands after using the toilet because I don't want to get food poisoning. It probably won't kill me but do I really want the shits and stomach cramps?
A huge amount of people in the UK get the flu jab every year because they don't want to suffer (and possibly risk pneumonia or death) with flu.
Well coronavirus is worse than those examples. It's easier to catch. It's easier to spread. And whilst it may not kill me, if my mum, dad or neighbour caught it they would have a very tiny chance of survival. I'm more scared of spreading it than catching it. I could kill someone. But I still don't fucking want it!

I suppose hysteria is like that. Certainly I feel like I am surrounded by people with a total inability to think straight. Wikipedia lists some interesting cases of mass hysteria. At least we aren't all miaowing like cats every afternoon.

Yes, people are dying, yes it's a pandemic but ffs it's hardly the black death is it. No need to be terrified of leaving the house and refusing to do anything until there is a vaccine, unless you are in a high risk group. And unlike most other pandemics, high risk is not the young. Thank fuck for that. But stay at home if you want to, just don't expect the rest of the world to stop for you.

One of the doctors who treated Boris Johnson said this is this generation’s tuberculosis as the affects of covid will stay with some of us long term sadly. We have to suck it up and carry on just like our ancestors. This is life folks! Things kill us!!

wannabe - can I ask you what you mean by “return to normal”? If you mean that lockdown will end and we will all go back to how it was before, I suggest you are in for a bit of a shock.

And those of you who think your chances of dying are less than 1%, well, yes, that is correct. Most people have a very low chance of dying - now - because of the success of the lockdown. But if we release the lockdown too early, then exponential growth and viral overload might well increase those chances.

Think about why so many HPCs have died. Either they are catching it again and again (probably unlikely) or the viral overload of being in contact with so many who have it is killing them. If this virus is allowed to run riot amongst the population, that will happen on a much larger scale AND the NHS will be overwhelmed.

There will be no “normal” if that happens. The economy will not be assisted if that happens. It will be absolutely disastrous for us all.

We need a middle route. A gradual reduction in the lockdown rules and some seriously careful and accurate monitoring of any upturn in cases.

I really wish I could feel more confident that it will be handled appropriately.

And let's not forget that if you get it seriously and recover your body can be permanently damaged.

I find it hard to believe we're both talking about England. All I see around me is people who have taken it upon themselves to return to normal as much as they can - lockdown or not. Think front garden parties, trips out, seeing friends etc etc. Seems there are 2 extremes!

I know one person who has died two who have been hospitalised. Then there is me that had been on oxygen. Other than the person that died we are all healthy and fit and it nearly killed me. Unless it has mutated to a lessor version its going to be awful once lockdown ends. I actually think the effects of it of people not in hospital have been under reported. It's either dead and dying or mild cases. Not true there is a lot of us that have been trapped in our homes for weeks out of public eye that honestly thought we were going to die.

I had it, FeelinFagin, I've had worse colds frankly. Why would your neighbours and parents have a very tiny chance of survival? Are they all end stage cancer patients? Even the over 90s have a 50:50 chance of pulling through.

Do you think the government would have shut things down in the first place if the risk was so minimal?

It’s not a minimal risk to the population. If it was allowed to spread it would have killed a lot of people.

It is a minimal risk to me as a healthy younger person.

So that’s why I support the lockdown measures (horrible though they are), but am not scared that I and my children will die if we leave the house.

And yes I do know people who’ve had it, one person who’s been hospitalised with it, a few people (including me) who had all the symptoms without getting tested so maybe had it too.

Of my group of friends nearly all of us have had it. Most are getting on with their lives and working from home. The economy needs to restart and people need to start working.

I think it is wrong to lockup people over 65, many of them are not obese, like younger people who have died from it. Should be their choice. The lady across the road from me was sat out in her garden with next door on a chair in her drive 10 feet away and the lady across the road (very quiet cul de sac) also chatting from her drive. It is up to them to do what they consider right.

The infection rate is low here

Have had a young and fit friend be ventilated and put into a coma from it. A nurse in her 30s from our local hospital with no previous conditions died, leaving behind three young children. A relative's otherwise healthy young daughter is currently on the HDU of a children's ward receiving high flow oxygen to keep her alive. You just. don't know who will beaffected. Yes, don't be irrationally afraid, but caution never did any harm and acting as though it's insubstantial could well cost the life of a loved one.

There is a clear reason to be worried if you are in the shielded category and lots of talk about keeping you protected

There is a clear reason to be worried if you are over 70 and again lots of talk about keeping you protected

Then there those with "underlying health conditions" who are dying.

It is not clear when this group is JUST the two groups above or if they mean anyone which studies have suggested is vulnerable. Those people who were told they are vulnerable at the start. The over 65's , the obese, those with high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma. They make up a large fraction of the population, say 20% if we excluded the shielded and the over 70s

All of whom have been told are vulnerable and then forgotten about.

Without better information many in that group may be feeling like government is happy for them to take risks that perhaps they would be much less happy to take.

It is like this generations TB, or polio. It is really shit for some people and we will take steps to minimise risk, but life goes on. Why spend it terrified?

I find it strange on MN. There are people starting threads asking how many times you've been to the shops (not telling you) and spying on their neighbours. Then people who think we should just carry on as normal even though if we hadn't gone into lockdown we'd have lost a lot more people. Most people I know are in the middle and being sensible. A lot are key workers.

Personally, I won't be going out as much when I can. My choice.

I think it would be helpful if the media, as some are doing, start to feature interviews with people who have had this and survived.

Firstly it will reassure people that you can get through Covid (with luck) but it will also point out to those who are blase about it, that anyone can catch it. That is a contradiction I know, but you see so many blase people say 'oh it's only those with underlying conditions I don't have to worry' and they take unnecessary risks which DO impact other people. They could be the person coughing behind me in the supermarket queue and I take it home to my family.

This morning, on the TV, they had a young girl who came out of a medically induced coma on her 16th birthday. She had caught Covid from, they think, her dad. His was mild, hers resulted in her oxygen level dropping to 65 (95 and above is considered normal and my DS, who has a heart condition, was rushed to hospital when his dropped below 87 - just for context). She was ventilated and put in a coma. She's now out and getting back on her feet.

The interesting thing about this is that she does have mild asthma but the doctor who treated her, a Covid doctor on the ward, said mild asthma is not counted as an underlying condition - she was just unlucky. Which is probably reassuring for those who do have asthma.

I do think that there needs to be more information put out in the wider media now on the vulnerable (not shielding) group as to exactly what their risks are as a lot of people are classifying themselves as vulnerable which seems to cover a lot of conditions and I think it would help to see statistics on what the actual risks are for them to maybe allay some of the fears or help them assess the risks more confidently.

There is a huge range of feelings/reactions between terrified of the virus to terrified for the economy.

You cannot pick one over the other there needs to be a balance. Currently the priority, while the death rate is still so high, must be saving lives from the virus, this will balance must only change when the time is right.

If you think this is wrong and the economy should be prioritised because it is only those with underlying conditions that die then give yourself a slap, those statistics are peoples parents, brothers, sisters, partners, husbands, wives and children and many thousands of people are suffering a very recent bereavement and the numbers are increasing in the hundreds daily.

Well I am afraid of what would be like if my dc gets it. He spent so many times in the hospital just for regular virus in the past. With this unknown virus, I don't think I feel safe to send my dc back to school, and I don't think I am overreacting.
People who are really chilled about effect of getting it must have no one to worry about, like majority of people won't get the worst.

I think the fear is justified though ,in the fact that for getting on for 2 months now ,we have been told to stay at home ,not see any friends ,work from home and so on .Now the thought of getting back to work Schools opening ,etc is scary ! I spoke to a Teacher yesterday, and she said many of her Reception parents wont be sending their children in even if Schools re open .

I'm not terrified but am am realistic.

This is a global pandemic, most countries in the world are taking extreme measures to slow spread and prevent deaths.

I have a very high chance of dying of this and I'm glad my dcs are not little.

I am one of the terrified. I am a 76year old asthmatic. I can’t wait to hug my grandchildren and to potter round the shops, drive into the hills and have dinner with friends. However, I know that, for me, COVID 19 would bring a high risk of death and I am so scared.

We all have a 100% chance of dying. Fact.

Governments don’t pay people to stay home for two months for nothing! Britain has the worst death rate in Europe because the lockdown was too late.

So off out you all go and get it and then wonder if it was mass hysteria.