At the garden centre....on home oxygen

[Clemmieandareallybigbunfight]

Went to buy plants. Lady in the queue looking frail and with husband carrying her home oxygen tank. Life is for living

I'm sure many would say she should stay at home but I applaud her.

I hope she has many happy visits to buy plants.

And to clarify - I don't think that anybody in the OP's scenario at the garden centre was being selfish. You're legally allowed to be there. I hope you all had a lovely time and that you bought some nice plants.

She may only have days to live. I know what I would be doing!!!

She’s now taking up a much needed bed

Eighty percent of icu beds are sitting empty. It’s hardly like she will be depriving someone else. Get a grip.

I would imagine she is like my 90 year old very frail neighbour who thinks this is all scaremongering and has had her son take her out to do her shopping regularly throughout lockdown, despite having at least 3 other healthy (her son isn't) adult children living locally and refusing an offer of sharing our delivery slot. I find it worrying and selfish, but ultimately people have free will, which includes freedom to do unwise and irresponsible shit like that.

Good for her.
She could be dead in a few months. Life is for living.

Not sure a trip to the garden centre is worth the risk of dying tbh

I guess that's her assessment to make. Nothing to do with anyone else.

Twilight zone man.

Its like the government has sent out a load of flying monkeys out all over the internet to talk the plebs into taking one for the team.

I think you have to assume she's an adult and can make her own choices. There's a lot to be said for quality of life rather than quantity. I hope by the time I'm old there will be more recognition that people don't necessarily want to have long lives when their health (mental or physical) is failing. Save me a jaunt to Switzerland.

I don't think you can judge. As a PP said this lady may have months to live and has decided that she doesn't want to spend them looking at 4 walls and I wouldn't blame her.

I agree with other posters OP, she should be locked away at home against her will. How dare her husband take her to an open garden centre, as was presumably her choice as well so she can enjoy time outside of the confines of her home.

Would she get a bed or would she be treated at home? Is there such pressure on the local hospital that she is going to stop someone else getting a bed? And even if she did, does she not have the same right to a bed as someone else? What if the person who also needed the bed had got sick from doing something else you think they shouldn't do? Would she still be taking the bed unfairly for them?

On the whole, too many unknowns and questions about this situation. The best thing to do in such situations is mind your own business and stop judging other people.

Good luck to her.

For clarification - they opened garden centres because Tory supporters go to garden centres.

If you live in Tower Hamlets or Salford (for example) it does not make a lot of difference to you. However if you live in Chipping Norton or some other delightful shire town then it might well make a difference to you as you will likely have a nice house and a garden that needs plants and be very grateful to Mr Johnson.

I hate those 'what if they infect a young HCP Mother and they die' FB style posts.

So crass and designed to pull at the heartstrings. HCPs are no more likely to die of CV than the general population which includes the risk to 'young mothers'.

Tiny numbers. No increase for HCPs.

And if she’s terminally ill and has a few weeks left and doesn’t want to spend it in her house? That’s her choice.

She may have life limiting illness and is following the guideline saying you may not want to shield in that instance

Exactly that. Her life’s already pretty damn limited, why would anyone begrudge her the pleasure of a visit to a garden centre? She stands no more chance of spreading infection than anyone else.

We could have a new form of triage. Who gets the ventilator? The lady on oxygen who went to the garden centre? The healthy wife and mother who took her children to sit in their grandparents garden? The healthy 16 year old who met up with a group of friends in the park and didn't stay 2m away?

Only one of those has followed the rules. In my book, lady on oxygen wins.

How do you know she was on oxygen because of Covid-19?
I know of several relatives who have or had oxygen; one for emphysema, one for something else, for some time and pre-dates Covid-19.

@MrsSpenserGregson

I hate the way people are putting a greater burden on the elderly and sick - why should they have to be responsible for not infecting other people, when the non-vulnerable can go out for a walk / go to the garden centre etc without judgment? How is this lady being any more selfish than anyone else at the garden centre? And that includes you OP. You are just a likely to infect a nurse as she is.

Because if she needs oxygen to go to the shop, if she catches it, I would bet my house on it that she would need ventilation and the like!!!!! Putting extra pressure on the NHS.

We (the fit and healthy) have to stay home to protect the vulnerable (clearly she’s in this category) so why should we bother staying home then?? I’m 99.9% sure I won’t end up in hospital if I get it yet I’m not allowed out.....? Selfish

If there is never a vaccine, she spends the rest of her life at home. Even a year or 2 for a vaccine could be the rest of her life. Remaining at home must be a personal decision, otherwise the suicide stats will be horrific.

She is highly unlikely to take a hospital bed, and would more likely be managed at home. There is very little chance she would come close to meeting the criteria for ventilation.

Good for her. Some fantastic scenarios invented here. Any one of those present could have picked up the virus from another customer and set off the chain of events that ended up with a nurse dying.

Sad that she was queuing though - couldn't she have been allowed to go to the front?

We went to a local plant nursery today. First day opening so it was predictably quite busy. There was a woman, probably about my age (in her 50's) with her arms outstretched to the side of her as a physical "2m" measuring stick. She looked absolutely petrified.

My first thought was fgs, then "why was she even there?" After I got over my irritation (probably caused by my own anxiety) I decided that it was just incredibly sad. How must it feel to be that fearful? Poor woman. I mean that genuinely, not in a snide way.

So go out. Nobody's stopping you going to a garden centre if you want to.

Good for her I hope she thoroughly enjoyed it.

So she gets Covid-19 and has to be admitted to hospital with complications due to her health issues. She’s now taking up a much needed bed. She passes it onto the nurse who tends to her. The nurse becomes infected, develops breathing problems, ends up on a ventilator and sadly dies. She was young with 2 children.
Exactly this, too many people only care about the risk to themselves only and whether they are prepared to take that risk. They give no thought to the impact on others.

@TheFairyCaravan I watched ""hospital" too and indeed it was harrowing. Everyone should watch it to see the impact of Covid19