The strategy of fear is back

[annabel85]

I think this is the latest strategy, to try and get people terrified again.

Young people particularly targeted because they're deemed, rightly or wrongly, to be self-centred hedonistic ravers who don't give a shit about catching Covid. The government have recognised that the cases are going up among younger people who aren't fearful enough of the virus, so the new slogan is "Don't kill granny", because 'they must care about their Nan and Grandad even if they don't give a shit about anything or anyone else'.

I do think it's important that people aren't too complacent, but the other extreme is putting the fear of God back in people which isn't always healthy either. For the first time since March I was just starting to feel confident going out and about it a bit more and been to the pub/restaurant (following the guidelines and basic hygiene etc). Today, I did my weekly shop and felt that fear again inside, my confidence has gone again. And it's all from the hysteria that's back again this week.

The problem with the strategy is the simultaneous lobbying of "get back to the office" and "eat out to help out". The juxtaposition of government messaging will send people crazy with confusion, so it's no wonder people switch off.

[annabel85]

Right so don't punish the people who deserve it, punish everyone else. Got it.

It's the easy targets who are punished. Police turning up at parks during lockdown to fine or disperse lone sunbathers, or using drones to catch out dog walkers too far from their house.

Anything that looked hard to tackle; such as a rave here or a protest there was left alone.

[Mrs1989]

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Right so don't punish the people who deserve it, punish everyone else. Got it.

I don't think many people would comply with a second lockdown.

Lots would and lots wouldn’t, I guess. People are very different in their morals and willingness to abide by rules. Some understand what’s it all for, others give zero shits about anything except themselves. But it’s one way of trying to manage the situation to protect health services as we did before, and it’s something I’d support.

[ChardonnaysPetDragon]

Most people I see not wearing masks and not distancing are young. They don’t care because they get it it lightly and are don’t care what they are spreading.

I’m pissed off with young people wearing their masks as a bib or not at all. It’s irresponsible and maybe a thought about killing granny won’t hurt.

[Mrs1989]

@annabel85

and lack of common sense (this second group I’m taking about). That is why I think messaging to remind people of the risks and swift action such as local lockdowns is important in continuing to manage this.

But the government kept telling us they could rely on the Great British common sense.

Well I think the government is wrong on that one!

[Bollss]

Lots would and lots wouldn’t, I guess. People are very different in their morals and willingness to abide by rules. Some understand what’s it all for, others give zero shits about anything except themselves. But it’s one way of trying to manage the situation to protect health services as we did before, and it’s something I’d support

Morals?? Do you think this is about morals??

No. This is about people's mental health. Their well-being. Their finances. Their ability to feed their children. This is about living and not existing. This is fuck all to do with morals.

"Protect the NHS" - yeah I absolutely understood and supported that, but it was bollocks. It quietly went away and we went from protecting the NHS and flattening the curve to giving up our lives for months with absolutely no explanation or warning.

[dementedma]

My mother is 85 and lives alone. I will continue to vist her to clean, shop, change the bed etc, and to ensure she has human contact. I have done this all year, to enable her to have some quality of life. She will not be left alone hungry and afraid regardless of what any government says.

[Mrs1989]

@annabel85

Right so don't punish the people who deserve it, punish everyone else. Got it.

It's the easy targets who are punished. Police turning up at parks during lockdown to fine or disperse lone sunbathers, or using drones to catch out dog walkers too far from their house.

Anything that looked hard to tackle; such as a rave here or a protest there was left alone.

I guess there are situations that are too hard for police to tackle without compromising their safety both generally and from a Covid point of view. The “easy targets” were still disregarding rules and thinking they were above those rules, but, yes, very frustrating that those who are taking part in raves and protests are that intimidating that the police may have decided not to tackle them.

[Redolent]

I agree that the government messaging is constantly switching, depending on whether the economy or public health looks more under threat at any moment.

But people have so seem to have abandoned common sense. Was lightly mocked for bringing hand sanitiser to a multi-household panic (amongst my family). Everyone else hugged/kissed, and I was the only oddball who didn’t...

[Redolent]

Picnic* awkward typo!

[NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite]

My mother is 85 and lives alone. I will continue to vist her to clean, shop, change the bed etc, and to ensure she has human contact. I have done this all year, to enable her to have some quality of life. She will not be left alone hungry and afraid regardless of what any government says.
The Govt have never said you can't have contact in those circumstances. You are providing care and that has always been allowed.

[StealthPolarBear]

You are being naive to think there's a strategy, even a shit one.

[Mummabeary]

@StatisticalSense

Unfortunately Care homes are right to be restricting in person contact with family members, and this will have to remain the case for the foreseeable future due to the impact that a singular contact with someone with Covid can have on a care home setting, but they need to be doing more to support virtual contact. Staff should be spending time ensuring that residents with families (unfortunately a small number of residents have no known family and in such cases it can be very difficult to find people for the person to keep in contact with) are able to regularly able to video call their loved ones. If the loved ones are also elderly and therefore unfamiliar with technology it may be that members of the care home team also spend a bit of time with the relatives to help them in understanding Zoom (or similar software) to enable such contact.
For elderly people living alone it may be much harder to find a way to provide low risk contact with others but again support needs to be available for such people to develop the skills needed to successfully use video calling technology and the government should be extending the schemes to cap landline bills for vulnerable people as well as providing subsidised or free internet access to such people who currently don't have a connection.

When my Nan was in her final months with Dementia, I used to visit her and we'd just sit quietly and hold hands or she'd lean against me and we'd just snuggle or I'd stroke her hand or arm. I always felt that it was childlike the way that familiar touch became the ultimate comfort to her again when her mind let her down. Zoom cannot replace this.

[Mrs1989]

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Lots would and lots wouldn’t, I guess. People are very different in their morals and willingness to abide by rules. Some understand what’s it all for, others give zero shits about anything except themselves. But it’s one way of trying to manage the situation to protect health services as we did before, and it’s something I’d support

Morals?? Do you think this is about morals??

No. This is about people's mental health. Their well-being. Their finances. Their ability to feed their children. This is about living and not existing. This is fuck all to do with morals.

"Protect the NHS" - yeah I absolutely understood and supported that, but it was bollocks. It quietly went away and we went from protecting the NHS and flattening the curve to giving up our lives for months with absolutely no explanation or warning.

My point is that if people did do what is being asked of them and behaved responsibly, we could move forwards and not need to have drastic measures such as lockdowns. I did actually mention previously that mental health and well-being is an important consideration when balancing priorities and trying to manage this situation. As of course is protecting people’s finances and ability to feed their children. But I feel incredibly frustrated that so many are so selfish in their actions. I’m not talking about people who are living their lives. I’m talking about those who do so without following any of the advice given. So, yes, I do think morals and following what is asked of us to protect lives and to protect our health services is important. And over 1,000 deaths in a single day for consecutive days was enough explanation for me during lockdown, to be honest.

[PinkMacaron]

It's clear that SOME young people have decided, rightly or wrongly, that the risk of contracting Covid and/or developing a serious case is worth taking to do the things that make life worth living, like seeing their friends and socialising. Clearly there's an issue with them passing it onto people who are more vulnerable and I dont necessarily agree with them but I can, on one level, completely understand their rationale.

[CoffeeandCroissant]

@BikeTyson

I’m not sure how successful it’s going to be as a strategy. After the VE Day parties and the socially distanced conga people were all over social media screaming about how those people were going to kill their granny. And then the beaches. And then the protests. And then the pubs. And now that the numbers actually are increasing I’m probably not as concerned as I actually should be, because I feel like I’ve been barraged with so much hyperbole that I’ve become immune to it (no pun intended).

VE Day - outdoors, so low risk
Beaches - outdoors, so low risk/ very low risk (and most people 2 metres apart so socially distancing anyway)
Protests - outdoors, so low risk (and masks worn by some)
Pubs - partly outdoors, so lower risk and lots of precautionary measures taken, so lowering risk.

[Bollss]

Realistically you cannot properly live your life as you did before if you follow the advice can you? You cannot plan anything. You cannot do many of the things you were previously allowed to do.

And yes when there were 1000 deaths a day maybe lockdown made sense but we are nowhere near that and therefore I think there would be a hell of a lot less support if we had a second lockdown.

[Mrs1989]

@dementedma

My mother is 85 and lives alone. I will continue to vist her to clean, shop, change the bed etc, and to ensure she has human contact. I have done this all year, to enable her to have some quality of life. She will not be left alone hungry and afraid regardless of what any government says.

Absolutely, could not agree more. None of my messages on this thread have been aimed at anybody providing care to a family member who lives alone and needs that care and interaction with a family member. My father-in-law has done the same for his mother.

[MadameBlobby]

Yep, they’ve moved from doing fuck all and telling us to wash our hands, to scaring the shite out of us, to telling us to go out to the pub, office and send our kids back to school, to scaring the shite out of us again. Fuckwits

[Mrs1989]

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Realistically you cannot properly live your life as you did before if you follow the advice can you? You cannot plan anything. You cannot do many of the things you were previously allowed to do.

And yes when there were 1000 deaths a day maybe lockdown made sense but we are nowhere near that and therefore I think there would be a hell of a lot less support if we had a second lockdown.

No, you are right, we cannot fully plan and live our lives as before. But right now we have a lot more freedoms than were available earlier this year. And this will not be forever. I just feel frustrated that people cannot behave responsibly now to limit the impact of the virus.

Obviously deaths have gone down drastically, but I worry it’s a slippery slope, particularly when people are showing such complacency, and things could spiral again.

[Gladysthesphinx]

I'm amazed by the idea that the young are the prime "offenders" here and that the elderly are so frightened. My mother is 89 (and still living at home, alone). Over the weekend she went to an indoor party at a friend's house on Sunday, with (I think) about 12 people of her age. She had a small group of friends round on Saturday. Plus she's got social events scheduled for next week. All these will be indoors and they will involve hugging, eating together, etc.
All of my mother's friends are in their mid to late 80s, and still living independently. Their attitude is that they're in the last year or so of life anyway. They seem quite cheerful. I really don't think my mother would want to linger on in a home so "stay safe" doesn't seem to be hitting home as a message - she worries more about my children & seems to think Covid, like flu, would carry her off quite quickly, given her age. She doesn't seem frightened of that - I think she accepted a few years ago that she was in the very end stretch of life, anyway.

[Northernsoullover]

For goodness sakes its not a fear campaign. Its always been a fact that as restrictions were lifted the figures would go up. Did people really think the virus had gone away? The virus doesn't move people move the virus!
I'm not living in fear and I won't stop going out. I am turning down invitations to indoor socializing though and I will be outdoors when I visit my parents (until Christmas, our plan is to quarantine completely before visiting) .
The virus is spreading around families and friendship groups. Not passing people on the pavements and hairdressers.

[StealthPolarBear]

Surely if your mum is living independently, partying and socialising she should hsve more than a few months left! I get that a decline can happen quickly but surely she can expect a few more years
She sounds fabulous.

[annabel85]

@Gladysthesphinx Yeah, i think a lot of older people are philosophical about it. It's quite a modern phenomenon that we should all live forever and have become quite terrified of death. That's not to downplay the virus because I have elderly relatives myself who i'm very concerned about, we probably all do. However, in some way viruses of this nature are population control.

[Chloemol]

Numbers are going up, if it shakes people into thinking about what they are doing, then perhaps it’s needed

[MaxNormal]

I suspect that a healthy, happy and independent 90 year old would not remain that way for very long if you isolated them and drastically reduced their physical activity, mental stimulation and reason for living.