I'm finding the reaction to covid utterly bizarre

[TheDailyCarbuncle]

If anyone had told me that healthy, fit people would willingly put their livelihoods at risk and deny their children an education for months on end, that they would send the country into recession putting healthcare, education and public services at risk for years and years to come to avoid getting a disease that had a very very small chance of killing them I wouldn't have believed it. If you'd said people would be afraid to talk to their healthy siblings I wouldn't have believed it.

I had measles in the 1980s as small child - the vaccination programme where I lived was slow to get off the ground - and it nearly killed me. In 1980 2.6 million people worldwide died of measles, a very large proportion of them children. No one ever considered a lockdown, it was never even suggested.

I think all the analysis of this situation in the coming years won't be about the pandemic, but about the contagion of fear that made people so terrified of something that wasn't a real threat to them that they created huge, long-lasting, in some cases devastating problems for themselves, problems that were nothing to do with their virus and everything to do with their reaction to the virus.

You’re right. I was initially all for the lockdown. But this is too much. Not for me on a personal level, I’m actually loving it. But for everything else, jobs, businesses, education, the economy. Far too much. We need to stop it. Get herd immunity. I’m sorry, but we do.

It's totally mind boggling tbh. I am just so amazed at how people are behaving. Obviously fuelled by grossly irresponsible media reporting.

This quote from the Handmaid's Tale really strikes home right now:
"That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at nigh, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on."

Scarey times indeed judging by people's behaviour.

"But the real effect of lockdown will be in the next two years, with banks collapsing, mass unemployment and no money to run the NHS. There is no point in avoiding covid if the cost of that is that the rest of your life is totally wrecked."

I wonder why no one has thought of that?

The whole world is trying to move out of lockdown. Not suddenly, for fear of the consequences, but gradually.

And ramping up testing, tracking and tracing. And racing for a vaccine. And looking for effective drugs to treat the disease.

Everyone knows that austerity and recessions kill people. It's a balance though isn't it?

@PinkyandTheBrain, it doesn't matter if it's a virus we can live with, we have to live with it. What alternative is there?

Have you not been living in the UK for the last 4 years?

1 word

BREXIT

I’ve found that those who take an approach that prioritises the economy and life getting back to normal are those lucky enough to be fit and healthy, and/or have a cavalier attitude towards at-risk relative’s lives.

Or those of us for whom "the economy" means being able to feed our families and keep our homes, the economic effects of which already seem worse than the tiny chance of dying of Covid-19.

People have always been bad at assessing risk. Couple this with the government communications aiming to induce fear and you get a situation where reality becomes distorted.

Yes, @Pootle40, I do find them worrying.
As do people who clearly do not want to do their own risk/benefit analysis, because they would rather have someone else to blame afterward.

I don't think I'm ever going to forget the MN poster on a thread who was actually calling for a totalitarian government.

I showed my kids that post. You should have seen their faces...

I agree with you OP.

I feel absolutely sick with anxiety about how this is going and where it is heading.

Bottom of my list of concerns is catching coronavirus.

I find it incredible how quickly and easily the world has accepted this and it’s frightening that so many people are so ill informed about it all, believing everything the media is spinning.

Where I live especially (Scotland), all the people I know are slowly being crushed by the weight of the gloom ahead. People with their own businesses are terrified, people with mortgages to pay and bills rolling in. We’ve been hypnotised by this notion of “saving the NHS” when, far from it, we have created a huge backlog of seriously ill people who are missing out on treatment. The NHS already had a backlog. Now it will mean people waiting months and months for urgent treatment. Mum is one. A very close friend in the middle of cervical cancer treatment is another.

All for what?

I still don’t know of one single person who has had coronavirus. Not a family member, friend, neighbour, colleague, local people, shop workers, ANYONE.

But I do have a friend who has anorexia and is out pounding the streets daily with anxiety looking frailer than ever.

I do know of a family member who had a TIA and stayed at home because she was too scared to go to hospital.

And I know of at least three people who have already lost their job or business.

It’s insanity.

Everyone knows that austerity and recessions kill people. It's a balance though isn't it?

A balance? How is it a 'balance' to condemn huge swathes of children to poverty so that some people don't get a mild-moderate virus?

Completely agree. It’s like everyone has gone insane. We’re literally destroying economies - and what people don’t realise is that destroys real human lives too. I dread to think of the cost of this in real terms

Agree with the op entirely. If teachers are sooo very scared they clearly can't analyse the data and shouldn't be teaching in the first place.

I think that the long term implications of recession and unemployment will be far worse. I say that as someone who has a relative in a care home.

YANBU.

It's a good job we've got all the internet randoms with their top-notch credentials to set them straight

But the WHO did make a series or errors.

But for what its worth - I do agree with you. We need to find a centre ground.

We can't pretend this is not a serious threat with massive consequences for the population.

But we also need to get rid of the mass hysteria that has overcome many. And at the moment they are the loudest voice.

Denial is destructive. Hysteria is destructive. Fear is good.

I'm baffled why people keep going on about Sweden? Their death toll , either total or per 1 million population, does not look like something to be proud of to me.

You are totally missing the point. Yes the infection fatality rate will likely end up being just below 1% but that’s with functioning healthcare. About 15% of people who contract this require hospitalisation. It’s also incredibly contagious and cases grow exponentially without intervention. I suggest you google an explanation of exponential growth to understand why this virus needs to be contained. It’s also a novel virus and it may well transpire that the “recovered” in many instances have long term sequale. Requires respect not arrogance or ignorance I’m afraid.

The media has a lot to answer for. And people frothing at the mouth about sending their kids back to school. It’s insanity. I am much more scared of that than the virus.

Me too.

From the moment the lockdown was mooted I was scared that people were so enthusiastic about locking their fellow-citizens up and as time has gone on that fear has not diminished.

I reluctantly accept the necessity of a lockdown in March. But the enthusiasm for it scares the living shit out of me.

"Or those of us for whom "the economy" means being able to feed our families and keep our homes, the economic effects of which already seem worse than the tiny chance of dying of Covid-19."

When the government briefly referred to her immunity in the early days, everyone was up in arms. It seems like a lot of people have come round to their way of thinking. As long as it's not someone they love dying of course. Or the guy who delivers their groceries, or keeps their lights on, or fixes their burst pipe.

It's not about whether you'll die or not. It's about keeping deaths manageable, so society continues to function.

I dont agree with you... I think caution is needed.. people need to take it seriously. Not panic and stop living... but they need to love differently, make adjustments... life cant continue as it was sadly... things are going to be this way for some time and we need to adapt in a positive manner not just pretend theres no threat. Both ends of that spectrum are as bad as each other. Expecting everything to return to normal overnight is as bad as being absolutely paralyzed with fear.
This virus IS a big deal.. it is a serious threat. It's worse than normal flu.. it's worse than the swine flu outbreak... it's the worst pandemic weve seen in years. That doesnt meanwe all need to be hiding in our cellars crying... but it does mean we have to act with caution and work together to keep it from spreading. We cant just give up on all the lockdown measures because we are bored of them now. We have to ease out of this slowly. And I do personally think they are reopening schools or trying to.. far too early.
In the long run if we have a second wave across the winter it will be just as bad for the economy as this lockdown is now... I'd personally rather err with caution.

*Deaths from domestic violence have more than doubled since lockdown started.

The deaths from cancers that are currently going undiagnosed will probably be in their thousands*

Any evidence please?

I agree OP. I think the internet and 24 hour global news has had a large part to play in this. Previously we would have been far more oblivious and deaths would have seemed a lot more remote.

Hi OP. This is the best post I've read on here about coronavirus. You are wise and I'd quite like you to run for Prime Minister please!

Seriously though, you've hit the nail on the head. One does wonder why the WHO are extremely concerned if it didn't pose a huge risk though. Maybe it's because they didn't expect a pandemic of this scale to emerge in the 21st Century?

Please understand I do NOT want anyone to become ill or die - in fact I am 100% sure I've actually had the virus (I was in contact with a confirmed case). Of course we must remain vigilant, but the whole world has stopped and... I just find it very strange. In 8 weeks the world has been reduced to nothing for essentially (may the powers that be strike me down for saying this) a flu like disease.

I think people will look back at this with utter horror.

And the people who are saying the experts know what they're doing - the experts are trying hard but they really have a clue. Members of the same expert community created our lockdown and Sweden's and they couldn't be more different.

Also the idea that the government wouldn't tank the economy is laughable. They are the ones who proposed Brexit - the worst possible outcome for the British economy (before lockdown of course). They are also the ones who oversaw the 2008 economic crisis. The idea that they have any skill in protecting the economy has no evidence at all to back it up.

Because it's not the people who get the mild version that we are taking action for
It's for the people who die
And for the people who nurse them through their pain
And for the people who prevent many more from dying , and for those who are saved

And to be blunt, if you let the virus rip through the population, the resultant chaos and recession and mental health trauma would make lockdown and its effects seem like a summer holiday

I am so glad I read this post. I was starting to think I was the only one who thought this.

The fear I see on the streets when I go out is itself the most terrifying thing. People in masks and double gloves, people driving with masks and gloves, wearing plastic visors when doing their shopping. And the behaviour of people in queues making allegations at others. And no children out anywhere - I took mine for a walk today and they went all quiet - obviously they were absorbing the changed world they saw. My local high street is not a place to take kids anymore. As soon as I am able to do so my children will be going back to school because I want them to feel normal. However I don't think it will be the school environment they remember. The impact on children from this whole thing is immeasurable and I find it alarming that as a society
we are not talking about this more.