Diabetes which group shielding or vulnerable? Stay in or not?

[Cherryghost]

I'm a bit confused as to whether people with diabetes should be in the shielded group or not as it's mentioned as a high risk of deaths with corona.
If people with diabetes are not in the shielded group are they still supposed to stay in and not go out?

People with diabetes are in the clinically vulnerable group, not extremely clinically vulnerable (shielding). We therefore are therefore allowed to go out, but recommended to do so as little as possible, minimise how many people we meet, be rigorous about 2m distance, hand washing etc.

I read somewhere that diabetics should be in the shielding group as 26% of corona virus hospital deaths of corona 19 virus were diabetics. Not heard anything changing so far though.

Type 1 or 2 more at risk though?

Yes, we are in the vulnerable but not shielded group. I suspect, simply because there are too many of us and if we were all told to shield, the NHS & the economy would be screwed. Economic not health decision.

I'm practically shielding (Except d bc oorstep dropping shopping off to my elderly relative and going for a walk early in the morning). Other than that staying home & not seeing DP (we opted to lock down separately to keep my risk lower)

I am currently furloughed. I can't work from home. Depending on what happens with other businesses I might be made redundant, if not I might have to consider resigning and living off dust & rain water. Unless the R is incredibly low (& preferably more success in testing diabetics)

My GP put me in the shielding group. I have type 2, and I'm on insulin. My hba1c (long term blood sugar readings) have historically been disgustingly high- apparently that's the cherey on top that means I have to shield.

^ cherry, even.

If my sugar levels had been better controlled, I'd just be in the vulnerable group.
(I also have asthma, but not severe enough to count for shielding).
There was a guardian article with breakdowns of diabetic covid cases - I'll see if I can find it.

%wise I think type 1 was more at risk than 2.

But Hba1c plays a big difference.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/20/type-1-diabetics-type-2-coronavirus-nhs-study
^ from last week.

People with type 1 are three and a half times more likely to die than non diabetic patients.
People with type 2 are twice as likely to die than non diabetic patients.
Nine out of ten diabetic people have type 2.

Also consider the rest of your health profile: do you also have high blood pressure? High BMI? Age etc.

@NervousInYorkshire

^ cherry, even.

If my sugar levels had been better controlled, I'd just be in the vulnerable group.
(I also have asthma, but not severe enough to count for shielding).
There was a guardian article with breakdowns of diabetic covid cases - I'll see if I can find it.

I'm not sure how well controlled it is will make much difference tbh.

I'm T2 - well controlled through diet and exercise day to day. I had a small routine (unrelatedly) op a couple of years ago and my HbA1c & blood pressure sky rocketed. They couldn't get them down in hospital despite shoving drugs in me.

Back under control in no time once home where I dropped all meds,ate low carb and could walk around. Felt like death for weeks, but wouldn't have got better in hospital.

Terrifies me with Covid

IF I don't get made redundant & work ask me to go back in - if the R isn't very low I'll enquire about being put on the shielded list, just in case it helps me financially. Maybe I should do that anyway?

I'm interested to see if they change the advice on this. I'm early 30's, female, white, type one with an hba1c of 5.8. I've always considered that I'm very low risk even if I do get it but now I'm not so sure I've been working the whole time too (NHS).

My DH is well controlled Type 1. Both of us can WFH and know that our offices won't reopen until next year, but we're trying to do so with a 2 year old DC, it's awful. What are thoughts on childcare? We're keeping her home for now but worried about work being understanding as most children return

I am also early 30’s type one for over 20 years. Well controlled and no complications such as kidney or cardiovascular disease. So I have tended to think my risk if fairly low, and reading the breakdown of the diabetes Covid deaths I still think that. I am also pregnant, which places me in another ‘vulnerable’ category, so I was off work for a few weeks at the start of the the pandemic (NHS) and then non patient-facing until the first trimester was over. But I have chosen to go back to normal clinical practice now, just not looking after Covid/suspected covid patients.
I really think it depends on your overall health profile, as pp said. But so much is unknown about this virus, so maybe I’ve got it all wrong and we should all be ‘shielding’.

I’m a type one, very well controlled, however I’m male, Asian and I don’t have a fully functioning spleen. So I’d be fairly unlikely to survive it despite having a good diet and being very physically fit.

There are so many unknowns! PP right though - stats show risk of death is double for type 2 and triple for type 1.

We have decided to keep our son as shielded as possible. He also has hypothyroidism and although I have no idea if that would play a part, I can't take the risk.

There are people who think diabetics should be on the shielding lists, or at least certain types.
What's the situation in other countries?
If you think you personally should be on the shielding list speak to your GP.

@Laundrywoman

I read somewhere that diabetics should be in the shielding group as 26% of corona virus hospital deaths of corona 19 virus were diabetics. Not heard anything changing so far though.

They should've always been on the list. The information that came out of China back in February and then from Hong Kong, Thailand, Italy, showed clearly diabetes was one of most clinically vulnerable highest risk conditions of all. I've seen it suggested they weren't included because it's such a common condition. Lots of key workers would've been off work and the government didn't want the cost of shielding so many.

What's the situation in other countries?
Many other countries are slowly returning to normal but they didn't have any shielding lists. They either locked down properly or, like South Korea, implemented test, track, and trace - with public mask wearing - very early on whilst cases were still low. And because they handled things better than us their number of cases are decreasing so they won't need a shielding list. As long as they keep us out (and Swedes and Brazilians).

The only thing I can suggest to anybody concerned for themselves or a loved one is to shout loudly about it. Write to your MP, complain, ask for the protection you deserve.

T1 of 45+ years here. I doubt writing to my MP will achieve anything. What medical evidence would I use to argue my case?

My husband is type 1 so I’m pretty worried to read it’s 3.5x more likely he’d die if he caught CV. However that Guardian article says:

‘ So far during the pandemic, 7,466 people who died in hospital in England had type 2 diabetes and 365 had type 1.’

That suggests type 1 is less at risk? Which is what we’d been assuming from the start. Am I missing something?

Type 1 52 year old female had diabetes 43 years.
I spoke to my consultant about this and he said that as my glucose levels are well controlled, not overweight, no issues with cardiovascular system that I would be the same level of risk as those without diabetes. I cannot WFH all the time as I need to visit families so I've gone back to work but only doing doorstep visits to try minimise exposure.

@pickledsausage the reason there are less type 1 deaths is because there are way less type 1 diabetics in the population in general. 9 out of 10 diabetics have type 2.

@Oblomov20
Very good source for stats on corona-19 virus diabetics:

www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/coronavirus-statistics

sooveritalready my dc have been at school throughout I really think the risk is very low of them getting it at school and bringing it home. If you need it for childcare then send him in. If you don't then maybe wait until he's a bit older.

Laundry thank you for the link. But, I'm afraid it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. It was quite general, a bit genetic, a bit wishy washy, and didn't give me anything/ wasn't persuasive enough, to use as a link in a persuasive argument to my MP.

@Oblomov20
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Passive acceptance gets you nowhere.