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Original poster

Refusing to go out until zero covid

347 replies

IrmaFayLear · 12/04/2021 10:08

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 Hmm ). 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.

OP posts:
Lassy1945 · 12/04/2021 15:08

@Rockbird

I agree with *@Cornettoninja*. If they're genuinely that scared then that's a mental health issue which needs treatment and understanding. But this thread shows that mental health still isn't taken seriously by most.
Don’t let’s forget that there are a lot of very daft people out there who have little to no grasp of probability.

And I suspect this couple falls into that vast category.

Cornettoninja · 12/04/2021 15:11

The agoraphobic can stay sequestered forever if that makes them happy

Should we apply this to all mental health conditions or just this specific problem at this specific point in history?

@Lassy1945 I suspect it’s much more of a Venn diagram rather than such blunt categories.

Lassy1945 · 12/04/2021 15:17

@Cornettoninja

The agoraphobic can stay sequestered forever if that makes them happy

Should we apply this to all mental health conditions or just this specific problem at this specific point in history?

@Lassy1945 I suspect it’s much more of a Venn diagram rather than such blunt categories.

Yes some will suffer from mental health conditions

Far more are just thick and don’t understand fairly basic probability

Circumlocutious · 12/04/2021 15:18

It's relative to some extent. I'm definitely viewed with perturbation by my family. When I met my mum last week, she quipped about how we'd (me, DH, DD2) had become 'savages' through lack of social contact, which is hurtful and imo untrue. In the last year, we haven't met any of them indoors, but have been happy with most outdoor activities (park meet ups, the occasional BBQ, visits to outdoor attractions when they were open). We have kept a distance (not strictly 2m, but not hugging either). We've also done indoor children's activities e.g. soft-play for my toddler's sake, with us adults wearing masks.

Currently 3rd trimester and being harangued about when I'm going to be 'brave enough' to meet up with them indoors (i.e. go to my mums with 2/3 other households there, e.g. SIL and my sister).

Cornettoninja · 12/04/2021 15:23

@Lassy1945 that’s just an unpleasant and vaguely concerning way to view swathes of society imho.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2021 15:24

My DB (mid 50s) is behaving like this plus ranting about people who arent doing lockdown 'right'. He has also tried to get DM to go along with this (she is studiously ignoring him).

In his case it is because he likes lockdown. I think he likes people being controlled. By his own admission he wants lockdown to continue forever.

He has always been a bit odd.

Cyntia123 · 12/04/2021 15:24

@IrmaFayLear

The thing is they don’t seem anxious - more convinced of their own rectitude and telling dh he is in the wrong.

Fwiw they have a very successful business and very large house, so not cooped up.

Its strange but I feel like some people almost get a kick out of all this and a feeling of superiority by following the rules and judging others who they deem not to be. I think social media encourages that behaviour. Some of the comments I've read on fb are just ridiculous judging others every move. I've seen videos of people telling off other people who are not wearing masks, recording them to shame them publicly and I think if you were genuinely scared of a virus you would surely stay well away from that person, not go over and risk getting into a dispute. So I think some people just enjoy the feeling of moral superiority and being able to tell others off.
RaspberryCoulis · 12/04/2021 15:26

My inaws are like that too. They are not scared. They are the sensible ones, doing what they were told and staying at home because people are dying. It's the people who are going out and about, taking risks, seeing people, going to work who are the problem. Not them.

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2021 15:28

@Cyntia123 I would worry you were talking about my DB except for the FB thing (another thing he likes to rant about!).

User24689 · 12/04/2021 15:30

The thing is, as long as covid tests are being done, covid will be found. Even if we did eradicate the disease, the lfts produce a small percentage of false positives. So covid zero is not possible with the current testing tech we are using. We are stuck in this cycle until someone calls a halt to the testing, which means they will be probably indoors for the rest of their lives!

duffeldaisy · 12/04/2021 15:33

I think another element to it is how people have experienced the pandemic, too.
While no close family have had it, 3 of my friends have lost a parent, and one friend was hospitalised by it. I also am friends with someone with CFS, which makes me more concerned about long covid. And very recently we have had a death in the family (not covid related), so I think all of that has combined to make me feel it is potentially a threat.

If you've not known anyone directly seriously affected by it, or if you've had it asymptomatically or with few symptoms then it probably feels less of an issue. Same with working from home. If you're used to doing that throughout, then it doesn't feel as weird when there's a lockdown because you're still busy working like before.

TankFlyBoss · 12/04/2021 15:36

I've got family like this. None who are clinically vulnerable, they all keep talking about things being "not safe". I'm a key worker and frankly it's doing my head in

Purplewithred · 12/04/2021 15:42

My uncle and aunt in law haven't been off their property in a year other than for him to drive round the block with all the windows up to keep the car battery from going flat. They are both 90-odd. I think it's sad - I know they were very high risk but now rates are so much lower and they've both been jabbed I feel surely the balance has tipped? They both have 4-5 years life expectancy, and it feels awful that they would spend any more time locked away from their loved ones.

Nith · 12/04/2021 15:45

What was their attitude to infection risk pre Covid? Are they prepared to risk Ebola, Malaria, Chicken Pox, Polio, Measles, Diptheria Cholera, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Flu etc etc even though they haven't been completely eradicated and most are capable of being fatal or causing life-changing damage?

Whilst their stance is fine when it only inconveniences them, how are they going to manage if, say, they need to see a GP? Unless this is recognised as agoraphobia they're not going to be able to force a GP to do an unnecessary home visit.

TableFlowerss · 12/04/2021 15:46

They may not have physical health issues, but evidently they both have mental health issues, no doubt due to covid and the hysteria that has always surrounded it.

It’s sad really, but if that’s how they want to live their lives then that’s their choice I suppose.

LowlandLucky · 12/04/2021 15:59

They will be in forever then. Leave them get on with it.

Chocouser · 12/04/2021 16:12

My dads 74, and still out working, he’s a gas engineer. Nothings stopping him. I keep telling him to slow down. I find this couple very sad.

Lassy1945 · 12/04/2021 16:17

[quote Cornettoninja]@Lassy1945 that’s just an unpleasant and vaguely concerning way to view swathes of society imho.[/quote]
It is more than “vaguely concerning” that so many leave school without a decent grasp of probability.
I would be fascinated to read future studies if correlation between fear of covid and level of education

MrsHastingslikethebattle · 12/04/2021 16:38

Fucking barking the mad the pair of them.

This is a what a year of reading the tabloids does to you.

I feel sorry for people like this.

MrsHastingslikethebattle · 12/04/2021 16:39

@LowlandLucky

They will be in forever then. Leave them get on with it.
Yep. They can get a cat flap in their door in where people post through their grocery shopping, in where they be wiping down with anti bacterial spray of course.
Topseyt · 12/04/2021 16:48

I don't think Covid is any more likely to be fully eradicated than the common cold or flu. I don't know why some people seem to think it can be.

If they are daft enough to never want to go out again then just let them get on with it. Maybe they just love lockdowns. We need to stop dancing around this thing now and get on with living.

Lassy1945 · 12/04/2021 16:48

@LowlandLucky

They will be in forever then. Leave them get on with it.
The benefit is

More availability at pubs / restaurants / away days etc for the rational

So I’m perfectly content with some refusing to go out until zero covid!

Belladonna12 · 12/04/2021 16:52

@Topseyt

I don't think Covid is any more likely to be fully eradicated than the common cold or flu. I don't know why some people seem to think it can be.

If they are daft enough to never want to go out again then just let them get on with it. Maybe they just love lockdowns. We need to stop dancing around this thing now and get on with living.

They haven't actually tried to eradicate the common cold or flu. There is no vaccine against cold at all and they only vaccinate some people against flu. They have achieved herd immunity against many viruses by vaccinating the majority of the population and it's not impossible that they could do it with Covid.
TheKeatingFive · 12/04/2021 16:55

and it's not impossible that they could do it with Covid.

Even if that’s possible, it won’t be achieved any time soon.

Any estimates I’ve seen around vaccinating the adult global population seem to say 3 years absolute minimum.

Including kids? Fuck knows.

Totallyfedup1979 · 12/04/2021 16:57

@BogRollBOGOF

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.

And give it 3-4 years and we’ll see the real impact. I can’t imagine the number of people who have had care delayed or check-ups postponed due to Covid.

Whilst supermarket workers, police, teachers, shop assistants etc all go to their public facing jobs daily, our GP’s are in many areas still doing bloody video consultations, with the surgery doors firmly locked. My smear is well overdue and all I get told is that they are behind due to Covid.
It’s a disgrace.

Covid is not the only thing out there to worry about and for the vast majority is a mild illness anyway. As for long Covid, Seriously? People can’t get cancer treatment because of the risk of long-Covid? Some perspective please.

A relative of mine now has ‘long-Covid’ though I could have told you she’d have long-Covid before she even had Covid Hmm