Do you think people are just desensitised and feel far removed from NHS situation and that’s why they aren’t worried

[CaughtInTheCovid]

I feel like one of the reasons for lack of compliance/taking the rules and covid seriously is that after almost a year of the news basically being a horror film and having hideous statistics about death thrown at us we are just so desensitised to it that it doesn’t affect us. I was watching the news earlier and it had horrific scenes of hospitals, staff in tears just awful. But I felt a sense of detachment, like it was a film or happening in a different country that didn’t affect me. Like when you watch children in need and cry and think how awful it is and donate money and then the next day you just forget about it when you’re back to business. I don’t think I connect that if I were to have a heart attack or get hit by a car and need medical care with the absolute crisis and as we all do think ‘it’ll never happen to me’.

Do you think that’s why people aren’t complying or are pushing the rules to the limits? They just can’t keep up to the level of fear so are desensitised or think it doesn’t affect them? FWIW I have followed all the rules and am currently struggling home schooling and wfh but understand the need for it all.

I think there's definitely an element of people thinking it doesn't affect them.
I'd be interested to see the correlation between those who have had someone close to them catch Covid and/or have had medical treatment delayed due to the NHS being overwhelmed and adherence to restrictions.

We're following the rules...in fact yesterday was the first time I'd left the house since Christmas Day!

But...yes...I do feel desensitised now really.

I remember the deaths getting to around 80-100 per day in March and being horrified. Now I barely pass comment on 1000+ per day.

I suppose we've been seeing the same scenes for 12 months now and there's nothing I can personally do about it (beyond what I'm already doing).

I find personal accounts from NHS staff on threads more moving because it's more personal.

I agree @RedskyAtnight. I feel so sad for everyone affected when I watch the news etc but I still personally don’t know anyone who’s been seriously ill or died (v v lucky I know) so again I just don’t have ‘the fear’ I just follow the rules as I know it’s the right thing to do and I’m naturally a well behaved person 😂.

I think you’re spot on.

People don’t see the connection between their minor breach of the rules the wider situation.

I do think the next 7-14 days are going to be horrific but I'm actually not sure what it would take to shock me from desensitisation now.

Perhaps someone physically or emotionally close to me dying or people dying who could have been saved with normal emergency care I guess.

A year ago the thought of a temporary emergency mortuary in a woodland in Surrey (not far from me) with 200 bodies in would have been shocking. Now...not really.

I think I’ve become more numb to it all. In fact when the schools shut I remember thinking that i know really only have the emotional space to worry about my own family and my immediate issues. I know on theory if I get cancer now I’ll be in much more trouble than if I’d got it two years ago. I don’t really feel stressed about it though. It’s weird, like I’ve burned out my panic response.

I don’t think it’s affected my behaviour, I’m following the rules albeit in a detached fashion.

I follow the rules, we have all just had covid despite this and I’m not sure how much worrying is going to help me or my family. I try to stick to the rules and keep as positive as possible for my family and my mental health.

I try not to think about it all too much as as there is nothing more that I can personally do it’s all too overwhelming so no point. I’ve offered to donate plasma and waiting to hear.

I am so busy day to day now I don’t have too much time to think about it anyway.

I do know 2 people who've died and both under 45 but they've been acquaintances / a sister of someone I know.

I think I’m desensitised to the whole covid thing now.

We are following the rules but I don’t pay attention to the news any more, Sky news sends alerts to my phone and like a PP I don’t even raise an eyebrow at the daily death figures now, I barely give them a fleeting glance.

It’s all just become background noise to me.

I think you're probably right. I also think that the problem with the 'ah, you may not be worried about Covid but what about if you need emergency care for another reason?' argument is that the people who are at lowest risk of Covid also pretty rarely use hospital services at all in most cases. Right now I personally am heavily invested in the functioning of my local hospital and ambulance service because I'm giving birth at some point in the next few weeks. I also use NHS services much more in general since I had my first child, and have been to A&E with him a couple of times. I had suspected cancer that required surgery in 2019, and was very grateful that I was seen rapidly and operated on within days of the scan confirming it was necessary. If I think back to when I was 29 I had never been to A&E, ever, I saw my GP solely for repeat contraceptive prescriptions and had never had a serious health issue. 'What if you need emergency care?' wouldn't have been that frightening, my compliance would have been altruistic (as it largely still is now, I still feel at relatively low risk personally). And the problem with relying on either altruism or fear is that they have diminishing returns, there's only so long people are willing to massively restrict their own lives for others, but as you said fear also has less effect over time. It's really tough, it feels like we need new public messaging but I can't actually see what would get through to the people currently not complying and, despite what people think, we just don't have the police power to rely on compulsion, there was to be public willingness too.

I also know many, many people that have had it (including me) and only know of two people being admitted to hospital personally.

Agree, but the personal stories on here bring it home a bit. There was a NHS worker recently who said they had admitted a fairly young man with downs syndrome who wasn't expected to survive. She said he'd never been away from his family before and now he was going to die alone, wondering where they were. That brought it home a bit.

Perhaps more stories about who is dying and the lives they've led will have a greater impact than numbers.

Aside from being careful and worried about my mum who is shielding I haven't felt particularly fearful about the virus in relation to myself from the start.

My household had Covid over xmas after my dd started a new job working at the hospital. Admittedly she caught it very quickly, she'd only been there a handful of shifts. However all the children got it very mildly and I had two negative tests so didn't catch it at all. However, I work in a nursery so very likely to have come across it in the past as I've carried on working since March.

I'm not convinced things like masks are particularly effective and now we've all had it I'm hoping we should have a degree of immunity for a little while, at least during this current wave. So therefore I will comply but I'm only doing it because it's required by society right now.

@Beecham

Agree, but the personal stories on here bring it home a bit. There was a NHS worker recently who said they had admitted a fairly young man with downs syndrome who wasn't expected to survive. She said he'd never been away from his family before and now he was going to die alone, wondering where they were. That brought it home a bit.

Perhaps more stories about who is dying and the lives they've led will have a greater impact than numbers.

The Guardian ran a series like this - 'lives lost to the pandemic', or something like that - and it was very moving. I did notice, though, that despite their insistence that the deaths of the elderly mattered just as much, the people they chose to include skewed massively younger than the average Covid death, which maybe points to a (ugly and unpleasant) public sentiment about whether all Covid deaths are so worth worrying about which is also part of how people can dismiss it in their minds.

My elderly uncle died of it in the second wave.

I am now desensitised despite that. Because of that even? During a major spike in his area only one very old relative died. All the rest were fine.

Too much damage to everyone else for too long.

There's only so long people can tolerate social isolation. It is a common form of punishment for a reason. It is not a natural state of being. People's minds rebel against it.

@Beecham

Agree, but the personal stories on here bring it home a bit. There was a NHS worker recently who said they had admitted a fairly young man with downs syndrome who wasn't expected to survive. She said he'd never been away from his family before and now he was going to die alone, wondering where they were. That brought it home a bit.

Perhaps more stories about who is dying and the lives they've led will have a greater impact than numbers.

That is awful and so sad. I can’t even imagine what it must be like working in a hospital. Sometimes you hear stories you can’t help but dwell on do really hit home.

Clarification: During a major spike in his area only one very old relative died. All the rest of my many relatives in that location were fine.

I recognise that many other people's elderly relatives died too at that time in that place.

Reading many threads on here it's always other people.

Theres only so much people can take.
Every week they say this is the worst week ever.
I think part of the problem is last year on March when everything shut down.
We thought the hospitals were going to be overwhelmed and there would be scenes like we had seen on Italy.
But there weren't.
Instead the people obeyed lockdown too well because of how worried they had been
The NHS was fine
And the people in charge acted like idiots e.g. Neil Ferguson, and the one who went for a drive to test his eyes.
Since then we have had mixed messages.
Eat out to help out. And a very lax lockdown.
Multiple U-turns and the Christmas debacle. Even today people are being fined for sitting on a bench while the Prime Minister is seen miles away from home 'exercising'.
Despite people following the rules we have had multiple episodes of the people in authority doing what they want. MP in Scotland who once she tested positive went on a train. More of a do what I say rather than do what I do.
I'm not surprised that people aren't listening to them.

She said he'd never been away from his family before and now he was going to die alone, wondering where they were.
That's a failure of end of life care in the UK. We are really very shit at it compared to other countries. Too many people die in hospital who could die and would want to die at home or in a hospice type environment.

Discussed this with my line manager the other day in our 121 as I was getting quite down. I think part of the issue is that when you aren't with anybody during the day, outside the home or work, you can only relate to your own personal feelings. Unless you spend all your day talking to everyone and exchanging sob stories.

@HardBackWriter - I agree about the needing the NHS thing - last time I needed the NHS for me that was something that couldn't wait, it was giving birth to dc2 who's 7 now. Last time I had to go to A&E was over 3 years ago with same small child who'd climbed a tree then fallen out.

There was a period in my 20s when I lived in London for 4 years, in that time the only point I accessed the NHS was for the pill.

It doesn't feel like hospitals being overwhelmed is a huge problem for me personally, more a general society issue.

Sadly, I think it’s more a case of a lot of people just not caring.They were initially told that it only affects the elderly, which is a group many people in this country don’t care a great deal about.

Everyone should listen to today’s PM on radio 4. Hugh Pymm reported that in the past month, 40% of ICU admissions were in the range of 18-64 years, including many people with no underlying health conditions whatsoever. He spoke to a 32 year old, previously fit sportsman who has been left with heart failure by this. He required ventilation and believes he is lucky to be alive.
I don’t understand why this message isn’t being shouted from the rooftops. The demographic affected by this new strain has changed massively. The consultant in respiratory medicine said they had many very sick patients in their 30s and 40s

Until people understand that this can impact them personally, they’ll continue not caring very much.

I liken it to bereavement, luckily I haven’t had anyone close to me pass away so I don’t know how it actually feels but I can understand why someone who has lost a loved one is devastated and I sympathise but then get on with my life.
If covid hasn’t affected anyone badly then it may be similar to this , it just hasn’t touched them enough for it to bother them too much.
Same with big disasters, tsunamis etc we’re all ( rightly) horrified but that fades and our lives continue.

Fatigue, lack of trust in the government.