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.

Meanwhile they're quite happy to sit back and allow other more disposable people do their shopping for them etc .

Wow. Entitled.

Good for them.
Just because they're handling themselves differently to the majority doesnt earn them a negative label.

I think that's their perogative and it doesn't seem to be hurting anyone so fair enough

But it's not entirely their prerogative. At some time they're going to need medical care and will presumably expect the doctor/nurse etc to come to them despite the fact that they could perfectly easily get to the surgery. Goodness knows what will happen if they need to be hospitalised.

Probably another couple more years inside for them. They're fully vaccinated. No need for it.

I think that's their perogative and it doesn't seem to be hurting anyone so fair enough

I think they are hurting themselves.
I wouldn’t be surprised if dementia rates rise after this.

Employers can insist on returning to offices from June, plus what if they need a dr or hospital, they will eventuality go out, just leave them to it, their loss not seeing friends and family

@hodgebit

We are a bit better at producing vaccines now than we were in 1959, don't you think? We may have herd immunity in the year or so, depending on how quickly they can vaccinate against the variants. It may also become less severe.

Nonetheless, I'd be very surprised if the vaccine eradicated Covid-19 completely, given its propensity to mutate.

Yes, I doubt it will be eradicated completely. Even if we catch up with the mutations, the fact that animals can be infected means it will hang around. However, there could be herd immunity around most of the world and/or it may mutate into something very infectious but less deadly. Perhaps that's what the BIL means when he says he is staying in until it is eradicated.

@Nith

I think that's their perogative and it doesn't seem to be hurting anyone so fair enough

But it's not entirely their prerogative. At some time they're going to need medical care and will presumably expect the doctor/nurse etc to come to them despite the fact that they could perfectly easily get to the surgery. Goodness knows what will happen if they need to be hospitalised.

As they have been vaccinated they are presumably willing to go out for medical treatment. I'm not surprised if anyone wants to avoid hospitals as much as possible though considering the number of people who have been infected in hospitals so far.

@janj2301

Employers can insist on returning to offices from June, plus what if they need a dr or hospital, they will eventuality go out, just leave them to it, their loss not seeing friends and family

They have their own business.

Honestly I think in their case they are going a bit over the top. I did stay in till kids went back in september last year, it was hell, but I was shielding and have an autistic son which can make social distancing difficult at times especially when people come up trying help if he's having a meltdown because I think they think its some sort of fit when he is lyiing on the floor lashing out.

I'm going out now because I can't take being stuck inside any longer still being cautious handwashing, wearing a mask when I'm able, avoiding busy places or times and trying to only shop when my son is in school to avoid social distancing issues.

When I was shielding it was difficult to afford to keep doing online deliveries, I can't afford to do this any longer, then there was the issue of getting slots, never got a priority slot, at one point had to wait 3 weeks for a delivery so was skipping meals to make sure the kids could eat, in fact that was a reguar thing all through, problems not being able to get enough in my delivery and things being out of stock, there was very little help available, have dairy and soya allergy so most options were useless to us as we couldn't eat half of what they sent, couldn't get enough painkillers for my OA to keep me going, I finally got help in the last month of shielding, was seriously ill anyway most the way through it and lack of painkillers I have been told probably exacerbated my asthma issues more as the pain wasnt managed and stress can make asthma worse.

I'm at a point I can't go through that again, I'm getting to a stage now I can't wear my mask at all and I know I will get abuse from some customers, not just comments but threatening behaviour, the staff are really supportive though. I had one customer have a right go at me for daring to rip my mask because i couldn't breath, and I was gasping for air really bad asthma attack and was taking my inhaler so was obviuos, thats how unreasonable some people round here are. Not the only encounter I have had.

I'm ECV, can't receive the vaccination from any of them so far due to all my allergies, went through 10 different medical professionals to finally get an answer and very soon won't be able to manage with a mask at all not even for short spells. So despite some people might think of me for it I will be trying to get on with my life, avoiding busy places, regular hand washing and social distancing best I can but there is no way I can continue to keep living the way I was before in first lock down.

Not the same thing but my mother was very scared of slipping outside when the weather was bad. One winter there was a lot of snow and ice so she stayed in for 4 month. She then fell down the step inside the house and broke her wrist. Life is a risk.

Oh dear. They need to understand that there will never be zero SARS Cov 2 cases ever again. It’s a coronavirus, they’ve been circulating and causing common colds for years.

The H1N1 that caused the so called Spanish flu is still doing the rounds!

@Gembie

Oh dear. They need to understand that there will never be zero SARS Cov 2 cases ever again. It’s a coronavirus, they’ve been circulating and causing common colds for years.

The H1N1 that caused the so called Spanish flu is still doing the rounds!

Why do they need to understand that? Nobody knows if there will be SARS Cov 2 as we know it next year let alone for years. Anyway, it's not as if they can't change their minds at some point in the future.

Because their actions are based on an erroneous reading of virology - which is driven by the media largely.

Viruses mutate themselves weaker over time, in order to survive. That, alongside vaccination and herd immunity will mean that covid is v likely to become v much less deadly. However it will continue to infect people and cause cases - just like flu and the common cold.

It’s important to be careful of course but the media and a lot of government rhetoric scares people out of proportion imho

Viruses mutate themselves weaker over time, in order to survive.

Speaking of erroneous views of virology... natural selection and evolution.

Mutations occur randomly. If transmission is more difficult, more transmissible strains are selected.
If lots of people die, viruses that don't kill immediately may be selected. It doesn't mean less deadly. See HIV.

We now have good protection in hospital settings, so the most virulent strains won't be so easily transmitted.

It's complicated. And it's hard to predict how the virus population will evolve.
You won't see many predictions like yours from serious virologists.

@Hardbackwriter

I think that families are in some cases going to have to get a bit tough and gently refuse to run around after or provide the kind of supports some people have come to expect. Especially where the person is perfectly competent and at minimal risk. For their own sake, it's no way to live. As a general rule, we should aim to live as independently as possible for as long as possible and anything we can do for ourselves we should. And it is ok for people who are doing the supporting to be tired of doing so.

There's been a lot of discussion about this on the WhatsApp group for the covid local aid group that I volunteered for - I stopped volunteering when I was pregnant so haven't seen it first-hand but there's a lot of concern in the group about the small but significant percentage of those that have been having their shopping/prescriptions/etc done by the volunteers who seem to intend to now use this service for the rest of their lives - apparently quite a few have made it clear that they don't expect to resume doing it themselves or make other arrangements, ever. Which obviously isn't quite what the volunteers thought they were signing up for last March...

I was talking with my Mum about this yesterday. My Dad has been very unwell over the past year but recently had the operation he needed and is getting much better. As he can now walk and go up and down stairs, the district nurses aren’t going to come round any more and he is going to have to walk to the doctor’s surgery for his follow up (they live in a city centre and the doctor is a short walk). Both my parents are vaccinated but were really quite taken aback that people wouldn’t just keep doing housecalls forever more.

I’m glad - although it may take him a while to walk there and he may need a rest once he gets home, it will be good for him to have to start doing some things for himself. The risk is that people will lose the ability to look after themselves.

@CruCru for some people not all may not just be fear of the virus itself but also be fear if they are unable to wear a mask as you do get some horrible people being abusive.

@Hardbackwriter

Good luck with that...they can kiss goodbye to society for a good few years as this virus will be kicking around for a while yet. Then again if the media finds something new to talk about then people might not be so paranoid.
Could you just imagine what the world would have been like if they reacted like this to sars, swine flu, bird flu or the flu every year. Or announce daily deaths from cancer like some twisted grim reaper.
What amazes me is the amount of legislation has been passed while the people's focus elsewhere. . Just found out my local hospital isn't opening after this. Shocking...but not a mention on local news. Oh yeah my in laws the same will sanitise their food delivery for ever more and bore each other to death

@janj2301

Employers can insist on returning to offices from June, plus what if they need a dr or hospital, they will eventuality go out, just leave them to it, their loss not seeing friends and family

Many employers are already doing this.

I wonder if we ever did get rid of a Covid what there reaction would be emerging into a society that has been out and about for years.

I think those saying that they aren’t going out despite having both doses of the vaccination is like Dh when he stayed in shielding during the first lockdown.
Without a lot of pressing and tough love he would still be staying in and he was definitely on the way to developing agoraphobia and his MH was awful. I think he was on his way to developing dementia.
This last lockdown despite him having a letter telling him to shield he ignored it as he didn’t want to go down that road again.
Dh is extremely careful but faced with death or a slow decline it was an easy decision