Refusing to go out until zero covid

[IrmaFayLear]

Bil and sil have not been out since March 2020. They wfh, in 50s with no health conditions at all. They have both been fully vaccinated - two doses (sil’s best friend is a GP ). Dh was speaking to bil yesterday and he said it’s not safe until cases are zero worldwide, and that because they care so much about each other (!) they have decided that they cannot take any risk.

Are there many people like this? I was in the shielding category and although I have been ultra cautious, I have still gone for walks, dashed into the chemist in a hazmat suit etc etc. I wonder if they are extreme outliers or whether there will be more recluses now, feeling fully justified.

I think there probably are. A couple who are friends of friends have this attitude.

Poor them. Have they had mental health issues in the past? They're going to be waiting a very very long time.

Can you tempt them over to your garden and see how they go? It's likely that if you can get them to do something small, they will see it's ok and start doing a bit more. There will be lots like them over the coming weeks and months, I'm really sure. They're going to need support.

Crikey! That'll be interesting to see in 3 or 4 years time!

I only know of one couple like this, he is CEV and can't have the vaccination. She has had both of hers and they both stay in their house and garden, haven't been off their own property since about last April! They have no intentions of doing anything differently. They won't meet me - as in see me from the safe distance of their gate - as DH has been working all over the country all through this, I am deemed to be Very High Risk!

I doubt anything will change their minds. This has been extremely scary for many people, some won't adjust easily to life with Covid!

Unlikely to ever have zero cases worldwide. Are they going to stay put forever? What a miserable self inflicted existence.

They can crack on if they want to, as long as they don't attempt to inflict their extreme mental illness on everyone else by dictating what they should or shouldn't be doing.

Oh well, they'll come out of their houses in coffins then, as there will never be zero covid. And even if there is, they could catch flu instead.

Some people are like this now. Nuts, isn’t it?

Still, let them crack on I say. They can enjoy living under their rock and other people can enjoy life again. Or they could get some therapy. But that might involve leaving the rock.

with no health conditions at all

except obesity if they never get out for exercise? Or do they just not eat much? What an existence.

So they’ll become shut-ins.

It'll be like those Japanese soldiers in the jungles of borneo 30 years after the war ended.

They'll never be able to leave, the chances of there being 0 cases worldwide is remote.

Well they’ll be insider forever won’t they. With all
the health implications that entails.

The government and the media also have a lot to answer for the level of fear they have created.

I was shielding. Still walked every day though. I can’t imagine spending years shut in the house. Because there will be cases for the foreseeable future.
Agoraphobia? Health anxiety? Something like that?

What do they say when you point out that it will probably never be eradicated?

I don't know anyone like this personally but I'm sure there'll be some. There's been people living that way even before covid and I expect there'll be some more now. If they haven't left the house at all for over a year then the thought of going outside is probably terrifying anyway, covid or not - I wonder if the virus is more of an excuse for them at this point. Were they already quite reclusive before all this?

I'm sorry for your DH though. If they're close it must be hard if they won't let him see them at all for the foreseeable future.

Well, I hope they enjoy life in their house until they die then.

They need professional help in all seriousness. Not even feeling they can go for a walk to me suggests extreme anxiety. Either that or what will actually happen is they’ll see life cracking on & realise it probably is OK..

What is the point in being alive if you only spend it inside?
I agree they need some help. They will have to leave at some point for medical attention or the dentists or something!

I don't know anyone like this. My mum is wary but is going out to quiet places. She's just had her second jab.

(They are so lucky to have had both jabs too btw)

That's extreme. If they caught it while fully vaccinated the symptoms would only be mild like a normal virus you could have got pre covid.

Either they'll change their minds or be carried out in boxes/ bags...

Totally unrealistic, and it is pretty awful that people have been wracked with this level of fear by the government and media. Covid is not the only way that lives get ruined.

I'd be telling them they need to go out to challenge their immune system.

This is really sad. I assume they are refusing to have people in their house too? That is no life at all.

Just let them be. Some people are just plain weird. Don’t bother ‘getting them help’ there are many more deserving cases!

They will never come out of the house again then. There will never be zero cases worldwide

I feel sorry for them that they are that scared

I go out but when it's a bit quieter. I actually feel very sad for this couple, but not surprised. When people need to go out to some kind of life again, the mental health of many will have suffered. Im quite wary of travelling by bus, but am determined to do this rather than be a prisoner in my own home. Covid-19 will not be going anywhere, it will be like SARS or Ebola and pop up now and again. Zero Covid is not going to happen.

Bil and sil have not been out since March 2020. They wfh, in 50s with no health conditions at all. They have both been fully vaccinated - two doses (sil’s best friend is a GP

OP, are you saying that SIL's friend vaccinated them at home?

I think they're lying.