Am I missing something?

[theginge]

I feel like I'm the only person wondering whether covid is the biggest threat now...

Everyone is worrying about lockdown being eased 'too soon' and for some I understand this is a valid concern. The deaths that have happened are really sad and it's horrendous for families to loose their loved ones but there seems to be little context. The general public have been scared by the media propaganda and have lost all ability to reason and self regulate.

My primary concern is the other effects this is having on life. My middle child is in reception and therefore entitled to return to school. He desperately needs it from a social and emotional point of view. The risks to me seem quite low (we live in a small village where there have been not a single case and the school is small and in the village)and our local hospital has never been working at capacity at anytime during this pandemic. The issue I have and the reason I've chosen to keep him off school is the way that schools will re-open. The school sent home a huge list of changes they will implement which in all honesty sound horrific. The children are being treated like leppars. This is going to have a huge effect on all of these children long term and (in my mind) be far more damaging than catching covid for us. What children need to protect them now is some normality.

My baby is 6 weeks old, he hasn't met any of our family. He is no longer a newborn and they have missed this - I can never get this time or opportunity back. Again, a huge sacrifice for what I deem to be a small risk.

My husband lost his job the same day as our baby was born - he was made redundant because his employer could no longer trade and the business collapsed. His job was skilled but very specific so will be difficult to find a new job in the sector.

Every measure in place seems to go against natural human nature and I'm just really fed up of making such big sacrifices for a virus that has a mortality rate of 0.2%.

The lockdown was put in place to not overload the health care system and not to get rid of the virus!!

Don't even get me started on the whole 'clap for carers' thing. It's just annoying and serves absolutely no purpose. Nobody has been forced into working for the NHS or in social care - it's 100% an informed choice (I'm a nurse and many of my colleagues are of the same opinion!).

That 500,000 death prediction was from a discredited scientist, who broke his own recommendations, and used dubious code from 15 years ago that was unreviewed - and when he finally gave in to demands and released it, was heavily critiqued by other programmers as having a lots of mistakes. He was also responsible for the faulty predictions that caused millions of livestock to be slaughtered. Also, the way we record our figures (anyone with covid, even not tested, gets recorded as having died of covid) is very dubious.

This was the moment I started to get pissed off. Can you believe one scientist with, let’s face it, an inaccurate overinflated track record, caused that massive panic at the shaft of this. And then he had his mistress break the lockdown he imposed.

Start not shaft! Freudian slip there me thinks!

@Kurzgesagt

Yeah all those pesky experts cocooned in universities who know nothing about ordinary people...so joe public knows more than an epidemiologist about transmission of disease ? Brexit debate all over again because obviously epidemiologists don’t have children or a life do they ?

Maybe not joe public but I do think that anyone that has ever worked in a care home, a hospital or a community care settings does have more of a feel for the spread of the disease than epidemiologists. The scientist in the briefing yesterday more or less acknowledged this by saying, 'we need more research on routes of infection in care homes and hospitals'

Well ask anyone that works in them and they will tell you that average R rates and community norms are irrelevant when dealing with people with numerous underlying conditions, limited mobility and require full care. So, regular toileting/pad changes/catheter care, repositioning every couple of hours, full assistance with eating and drinking, wound care, medications and confinement to small rooms. Other factors off the top of my head are the challenges that come with working with those with cognitive difficulties, deafness or sight loss and how many staff have contact with each patient/resident.

Please show me any epidemiologists model that takes any of those factors into consideration.

Work in ICU and we are seeing a spike the last day or two.

I am so angry about this. I really feel like my children's future has been ripped away from them. The massive looming recession, on top of the messed up social effects of being treated like little disease vectors by society, on top of the sort of shit they were always having to contend with like the automation of jobs and climate change, it just feels too much.
I sobbed yesterday driving along the Southbank and seeing the message on the screen above RFH. It made me think, what are these incredible cities, what is LIFE, without theatre? Without galleries, without concerts, without friends in restaurants? I have never felt more a part of my community than I have in the past few months due to how much we have all looked out for each other, but I weep for what we have lost, and for what my children have lost.

BeijingBikini Sorry - that essay above is a cut-and-paste of Facebook memes. Do you have your own opinions and/or informed thoughts at all?

I’d love to hear an opinion from people who have lost immediate members of family to covid- do they think we need to b back all guns blazing?

PJ6M
Agree fully.

As for the ruining our children's lives, education in this country is badly underfunded and has been messed about by political parties for years, prior to it being used as a demand for the end of lockdown and getting kids back to school few people seemed bothered that schools were financially crippled, unable to suppirt those who needed extra support, working in building that were rotting around them and using equipment that was dated or not in existence.

Could we use this new interest in our children's education and future to push to have schools well funded, curriculums that work well and support our children through the future.

Or is that just wishful thinking? 🤔

Catsjammies
Get a grip. My teenage child has been housebound for 2 years with a chronic life long auto immune disease. No social life, no education at all when he should be out having the time of his life. He’ll never get these years back - sitting exams, prom, partying with mates. All gone never to get back. It breaks my heart. These kids have lost a few months. The thing about people and ESPECIALLY children is we are build to ADAPT. That is why the human race has survived. Children are VERY accepting and they will adapt for the following few months and thrive if encouraged to do so.

Look at the countries that have done fuck all or been lax - Belarus, Turkmenistan, or even Sweden.

Sweden's death rate is quite high though, eighth in the world.

@EachDubh @Whoopsmahoot Spot on. My sons aren’t exactly happy about the situation but equally they are not sat crying in their rooms. Life goes on. They are doing their work, reading,
drawing whatever. They also appreciate that others are in a far worse situation. And the concern that some have for ‘poor’ children all of a sudden is hypocritical to say the least. Anyone remember foodbanks ? And teachers providing breakfasts amongst other things for those same poor children..... And cuts to sen provision ? But now it’s our children affected it’s a different kettle of fish.

Schools have been underfunded for years and the government have merrily ignored anything they could do to help disadvantaged, SEN and vulnerable children. It’s galling to see them act like they care now as it fits with what they want to do.

It’s not a race to the bottom but I think we sometimes need to stop and put things in perspective. I have a year 1 child and I’m certainly sad for him and angry that this whole situation has happened. But he is safe and he has a loving family, I believe that this will protect him from any long term effects. This can’t be said for many children in our country.

Sometimes life is just hard. I also have a toddler who was born with a serious health condition, he has had 8 operations and will have more. We have lived pretty much in lockdown or the hospital since he was born. I’ve been very angry about this for a long time, but that is just the way life is. The pandemic is similar, it’s just something bad that has happened.

Totally agree. The psychiatric ward I work on has 80% of patients who have had some sort of mental health disorder brought on by the lockdown. Currently we have no one with/known to have had Coronavirus.
PRoblems patients cite include
Isolation
Running out of meds
Lack of structure and routine
Fear (hyped up +++ in my view, but I'm just a lowly no one medic dealing with the collateral damage )
To scared or worried to bother the doctor/ other people
Expectation to do everything 'remotely' suddenly
Caring for and teaching multiple young children, whilst trying to work full time remotely, in cramped accommodation
Financial difficulties

The secondary mental health impact of all this will be greater than the loss of life from coronavirus. I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem that way in my professional world at present.

Oh and my dc have been at school throughout. They are back tomorrow after being home for half term, during which dh and I had to take turns to stay at home due to lack of childcare. We are both NHS doctors so that felt a bit awful, to say the least.

@OxfordMum1983

I just want to say you're not a "lowly no one medic" just because you're dealing with other medical issues than corona patients

I sincerely hope that no one has made you feel that way as they are completely wrong and out of order if so x