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Looks like shielding might be returning

385 replies

2X4B523P · 13/09/2020 14:56

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8727553/Up-4-5million-risk-Covid-told-stay-home-new-shielding-plan.html

Couldn’t see another thread but excuse me if I’ve missed it.

So shielding is currently paused and it looks like there’s a plan to restart it and with extended to more people.

OP posts:
RedRiverShore · 13/09/2020 20:22

The more people the government tell to shield though, the less help will be available to the really vulnerable shielded people. There is only so much to go round.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 13/09/2020 20:23

@Hereinthesticks

general distancing stopped or reduced the problem with that is the virus is then circulating in extremely high numbers in the rest of the population who are not shielding. So shielders can never come out, not even for a GP appointment or dental emergency. And they cannot come out until a very high proportion (86?) of the entire population have received a vaccine that is highly effective and reliable.
This is absolutely true. My physio got really agitated on learning that I'd been getting shielded texts (even though my gp tried to remove me from the list). Apparently I shouldn't have gone to the appointment.

You can't just lock people away and deny them access to any sort of medical treatment.

Some of you seem to be utterly devoid of empathy. I don't think you realise the utterly desperate fear many have of returning to that again, not seeing anyone, being locked in flats for months on end, cut off from society.

Jenasaurus · 13/09/2020 20:25

[quote Azerothi]@Windyone You're right. Not a lot of people are weighed their GPs.[/quote]
I know a fair few people in lockdown who have gained a considerable amount of weight over the last 6 months, one person has put on about 4 stone, but their GP wouldnt think them at risk as he hasnt been to be weighed. I dont know how this would work at all.

Ecosse · 13/09/2020 20:25

But what is the alternative @OhYouBadBadKitten?

It makes no sense to confine everyone to their homes just to avoid singling our people who are shielding.

midgebabe · 13/09/2020 20:26

@Pixxie7

People know the risks, to ourselves and others if the vulnerable have to isolate for the sake of society so be it. The country can’t afford another lockdown. so a different approach is needed. If people are genuinely concerned about their health status, they need to take the necessary precautions. I am fed up with apportioning blame to different groups. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions.
If everyone could be relied to be accountable for their actions then I guess we would not be in this situation

The problem is that too many people don't want to be accountable for the effect of their actions on other people

Lemons1571 · 13/09/2020 20:26

I imagine the letters will be advisory guidance. This will never be mandatory due to the sheer numbers of obese key workers in professional roles.

The government need some way of making it our fault if we ignore the shielding “request”. They will never pay salaries of those with BMI > 40, can you imagine? Some people with BMI > 35 would be piling on the pounds to get into the furloughed category. Or maybe they could set a date - if you’re fat on 30th September you qualify.

I’m recorded in my GP notes as BMI 40 and get offered a free flu jab. I’ve lost weight and am now BMI < 40. My gp says over the phone that she can’t correct my medical records until she sees me but I can’t have a f2f just to be weighed. So I’m still eligible for whatever BMI 40 are / will be entitled to, while simultaneously not being eligible 🤷🏼‍♀️

Pomegranatepompom · 13/09/2020 20:27

There’s definitely a danger for further shielding to bring resentment. It seemed quite haphazard previously and not fair.

MilesJuppIsMyBitch · 13/09/2020 20:29

@Ecosse

But what is the alternative *@OhYouBadBadKitten*?

It makes no sense to confine everyone to their homes just to avoid singling our people who are shielding.

When ECV vulnerable people point out how scared they are and how inhuman this seems to them, throwing your hands in the air and asking them to provide an alternative solution is not an appropriate response.

It's a tired (and mean) derailing trick, & it's beneath you.

GalaxyCookieCrumble · 13/09/2020 20:30

@Lipz

I think I may have read that a poster on here got a shielding letter recently. I'll see if I can find the thread.
It was me and yes I am shielding as advised by my GP but the new letter was for my sons school as he is shielding too and they wanted proofs
Ecosse · 13/09/2020 20:32

@MilesJuppIsMyBitch

I’m not detailing anything. I support the restrictions that are currently in place and I would support a voluntary shielding scheme with wages funded by the state.

We cannot, however, have another lockdown that would devastate the economy. The alternative has to be to protect the vulnerable while the rest of us work through to keep the economy going.

midgebabe · 13/09/2020 20:32

So we need not confine anyone to their home

So we need t9 get a lot better at maintaining social distance. I would change the 1 meter plus rule back to 2 m except in specific circs

We need to get a lot better at testing and tracing

Exception is people who are ill who must be helped to isolate, not going into work because they otherwise can't pay their rent

When my mam was a child she was isolated for 6 weeks ( scarlet fever?) a six year old child locked up in a hospital ward, no way to see her parents. That was enforced, not a load of woolly politians saying oh please would you just mind ....oh look you naughty people what's happened...

GalaxyCookieCrumble · 13/09/2020 20:33

@Azerothi

I posted on the last thread to say that I had had a new shielding letter. I am not posting another screenshot so this thread stays up, but I can assure you the letter was real. I am highly vulnerable and in the highest of the vulnerable groups.
Yes we both posted and had so much flak but I did get an apology the day after and my thread is still up!
GalaxyCookieCrumble · 13/09/2020 20:35

@EleanorOalike

The other thread got deleted because it was later revealed to be a recent copy of an old letter the GP sent again for OP to give to DCs school and it panicked people unnecessarily. Although now it looks like we are going to have to shield again anyway.

I’ve ventured out a little and had already decided to put myself back into shielding and avoid public places as much as possible. I tried going back to church with an elderly relative but was next to a man with a streaming cold, red eyes, clearly burning up, so ill he was falling asleep and he took his mask off and was coughing and spluttering everywhere, wiping his nose with his hand and touching the seats etc. I know it’s unlikely he had Covid but if I now get a cough and temp it impacts upon my family and knowing me I’d likely get pneumonia from the stupid cold anyway. I can’t understand why people would go to non essential events at the moment full of illness and not practise good hygiene or social distancing.

Even in the flu jab queue people were not social distancing...there’s a total inability to stand on a line or dot and I had a complete stranger grab my arm repeatedly when we had to queue next to each other for 25 mins. I’m in one of the worst affected parts of the country and we’ve had a lot of outbreaks around pubs and restaurants etc. I guess I just don’t trust people to be courteous and follow the rules. I think a lot of people resent the Shielded and think everyone should just get on with life as normal and not bother about spreading it. Just get on with it seems to be the message. I’m only in my 30s but have a complex autoimmune condition, neutropenia and a heart condition and my lungs are damaged from two previous bouts of pneumonia (one from the common cold, one from the flu). I’d struggle to survive ventilation. Otherwise I have a great quality of life and should have decades on front of me. So I’m making the decision to shield until there is a vaccine. Only immediate family know though, I’m not making a “thing” of it. Mentally I’m struggling but I know one day the pandemic will be over.

The thread is not deleted I can still see it!
FYJYW · 13/09/2020 20:35

I'm 50 and overweight. I can't shield. I need to and want to work, financially and for my sanity. I won't be the only one.

Butterer · 13/09/2020 20:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Zem74 · 13/09/2020 20:42

I was in the shielding category stuck to it for a couple of months and then decided to chance it. I have 2 small children that can’t spend months on end trapped indoors with no interaction or education, so I won’t be doing it again.
Living like that was making me physically ill in itself

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 13/09/2020 20:42

When my mam was a child she was isolated for 6 weeks ( scarlet fever?) a six year old child locked up in a hospital ward, no way to see her parents. That was enforced, not a load of woolly politians saying oh please would you just mind ....oh look you naughty people what's happened...

The same thing happened to my Mum and not something I would ever want to see happening again

2X4B523P · 13/09/2020 20:43

Interesting to see a few comments about vitamin D, there have been various factors mentioned as to why the death rate is quite low at this time but that never seems to be mentioned in the MSM. I think that will become quite important over the winter once we lose it through the sun.

OP posts:
movingonup20 · 13/09/2020 20:45

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Shielding was for those with health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable, not those who are overweight (that's half the country!) if being overweight is making you vulnerable then there's a solution, we are currently trying to loose weight.

2X4B523P · 13/09/2020 20:45

And perhaps why the BAME community is adversely affected due to the increased exposure to the sun that is required.

OP posts:
MadameBlobby · 13/09/2020 20:50

@FYJYW

I'm 50 and overweight. I can't shield. I need to and want to work, financially and for my sanity. I won't be the only one.
Me too, I wfh but even if I didn’t I wouldn’t be shielding and not working whether I got my wages paid by the state or not just because I am fat, fuck that.
IloveJKRowling · 13/09/2020 20:51

So how would it work? DH is 66 and overweight. I'm 45 and overweight but presumably wouldn't have to shield due to being younger and female and would therefore have to go out to work. We can't shield from each other (and wouldn't anyway) so surely it wouldn't make a great deal of difference other than DH no longer being able to work and losing his customer base.

Yes, what about the children of ECV parents? Would they be forced to live apart from their mother / father? For how long? Seems a bit reminiscent of nastier bits of history. Or alternatively the whole family shields and children of vulnerable parents miss out on education every other child is getting - and the same would be true of vulnerable children. (which is probably a breach of their human right to education when there has been literally no attempt to fund schools to open in a covid secure way)

How about funding schools to implement SD and everywhere else and everyone just doing it. SD and masks has worked over the summer, it's only now rates are going up, now schools are open as normal non-SD I think everyone's given up a bit. Plus testing appears to be falling over.

In other countries where schools, workplaces, everywhere has done SD and masks with good testing they've kept rates low, deaths low. Look at S Korea. That's what we should be aiming for not classing some people as second class citizens, and children as second class children not afforded the education other children are getting.

Keeping infection levels low protects the vulnerable, protects the NHS, allows the economy to stay open and avoids loads of deaths. Other countries have done it, why can't we?

Ecosse · 13/09/2020 20:52

@IloveJKRowling

It’s not about funding. Schools have the same buildings and the same classrooms they’ve always had- where do they Magic yo extra space to have social distancing?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 13/09/2020 20:53

Shielding was for those with health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable, not those who are overweight (that's half the country!) if being overweight is making you vulnerable then there's a solution, we are currently trying to loose weight.

I’m aware of that, I’ve been commenting on the article that states it might be extended to include the obese.

SheepandCow · 13/09/2020 20:58

With obesity, severe Covid seems to be very strongly linked to diabetes and blood sugar levels. It might make sense to consider waist size more than BMI. It's known that visceral fat is the most dangerous.

In case anyone's interested this is the CDC list of most at risk conditions.
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html

The problem with shielding rather than everyone socially distancing is Long Covid, which is a risk to everyone. It can cause heart, lung, and brain damage, psychiatric issues, and evidence is emerging that it has been triggering diabetes in previously healthy patients (who aren't obese). Many Long Covid sufferers were (prior to getting ill) young, fit, not overweight, with no preexisting conditions.

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