Covid anxiety and CEV/CV

[Jourdain11]

I'm struggling to understand the anxiety specifically around Covid as restrictions are due to be lifted. Obviously there is a need for anyone who is CEV/CV to be cautious and put measures in place, but essentially the same as any other illness. If one has a compromised immune system or another clinical vulnerability, there is always more of a risk of picking up illnesses and/or being more seriously affected by them. I'm struggling to understand why people say they will have to go back to shielding if people no longer wear masks, since this had never been the case in the past (when flu and noro or bad colds, for example, are doing the rounds).

I feel like there's a disproportionate fear of Covid and it's not reasonable for us to expect people to wear masks and social distancing forever. Admittedly there's a big degree of media culpability in terms of spreading a culture of fear and Covid hysteria.

I don't think anyone actually told CEV the opposite of that specifically.

My DH is CEV, he and his consultant know how to deal with flu and common viral illness through years of experience dealing with them, this isn't the case with COVID they have no idea and the fact that the majority of people who end up in intensive care with corona have co morbidities and are medically vulnerable is quite concerning to say the least. For what it's worth your op is goady.

Have you read what these letters said?

Of course they have been told the opposite. They were told to shield.

I don't think your tone is insulting - In fact I'm actually reading it as though you yourself are CV/CEV and have received the same letters? (Apologies if not).

Yeah, I have read what those letters say and they didn't say specifically that Covid is more dangerous than another virus But in March 2020, nobody knew how the virus affected people or how to deal with it. This is not the case now. I don't intend to be goady in my OP, but I genuinely think there should be a shift in the advice or general sense of risks around Covid, because it doesn't make sense at this point to think that catching Covid is specifically worse than catching any other virus or infection.

I've never been hospitalised from norovirus, chest infections are a risk to me as I can't fight infection well which is why I have rescue antibiotics at home, the danger from flu for me is pneumonia/infections
Covid.. you can't throw antibiotics at it. My consultant has advised me what to do, and I'll carry on following his advice because he knows my condition well and how it would affect me

@GenitaliaNotGender

I don't think your tone is insulting - In fact I'm actually reading it as though you yourself are CV/CEV and have received the same letters? (Apologies if not).

No need for apologies! Yes, I am and I have - wasn't mentioning it as I wasn't wanting to make the thread "about me", but just interested to discuss this in general.

I think even if people are in the CV/CEV categories we all have very different circumstances and it's unreasonable to expect everyone to feel/act the same way. It would be nice to support each other not judge.

I am CEV (with lung disease so the risks are very high) but crucially, my DCs are older and I'm not a single parent and I think that really is an important factor. If I was a single parent to young DC and CEV I know I wouldn't be as relaxed, so I don't judge people in that situation who feel that way.

I do think we need to be "remembered" more by the government and provision made eg entitlement to work at home for those who work, but looking back at how appallingly we have been treated by the government from the start, I'm not hopeful.

I would like to see us supporting each other and trying to gain support from the government, recognising we are all in the same category in one way, but it's a broad category with different circumstances within it.

I think we can all read implication. These people were told they were the highest at risk for serious illness and death repeatedly.

The patients I interact with have little to no immunity by vaccination. They have been told they are at the higher end of CEV and have been advised to shield throughout. They are feeling like they are up shit creek without a paddle right now and I think if they were to read your post they'd probably think it a pretty naive view point.

Yeah, there is obviously a difference between people with different health conditions or circumstances and I'm sorry if it came across like I'm trying to deny that - it was not intended. I just think this approach or idea of CEV+Covid = blanket extreme health risk is erroneous.

I agree with that actually.

I was told to shield, then told I maybe didn't need to shield and I opted not to shield because whilst my condition is on the list its only there because of the medication and my condition is currently stable and I do not take the meds so me shielding seemed utterly pointless.

I do wish for the community I work with that masks were staying for longer but also understand the need to return to some form of normal. I truly think doing it when figures are skyrocketing is dangerous for a lot of people but because its a minority its been overlooked.

I'm in Scotland but the majority of the people I work with are not. I'm OK with keeping the mask a bit longer here.

See

@Jourdain11 spot on. Health anxiety has gone through the roof, even those that are not vulnerable are still anxious to live their lives as they once did. I think let the dust settle and people will soon resume healthy attitudes towards life, it will just take time after 18 MONTHS of indoctrination.

@SilenceOfTheNaans

I think what it boils down to is that for those who the vaccine isn't working for nothing has changed except they will lose the protection they have had through mask use.

For them the world has just become a whole lot more dangerous again and I don't blame them for being scared. I've spoken to multiple people today alone who are now back to square one and are worried about their health and what their future looks like.

My job means I see the other and its looking grim for them.

Good post

The CEV are currently on additional precautionary advice, which falls short of shielding, but is more restrictive than for the general population. It looks as though the limited freedoms of the post-shield precautionary advice will soon be gone, because the end of SD means no place will be covid secure.

This wouldn't matter anywhere near as much if we weren't in the middle of a rapidly growing wave.

Why they choose to do this now, whilst cases are rising, rather than waiting until just after this peak, is beyond me

I have a CEV four year old. As far as I can tell, he will be expected to start school with no protection measures and no prospect of a vaccine.

Sometimes I feel like no one cares about CEV children.

I'm immunosuppressed and CEV. Also have dc in school. A lot of the normal childhood illnesses and vaccinations happened to my dc while I was still healthy. Those viruses shouldn't get to me via my children or DH. DH and the dc will have flu jabs. As long as I am careful the risks are low.
With Covid, the dc aren't vaccinated and cases are everywhere. The hospital suggested I stay 2m away from them.
So yes I'm anxious but I have cause to be.

@useruseruserusee

I have a CEV four year old. As far as I can tell, he will be expected to start school with no protection measures and no prospect of a vaccine.

Sometimes I feel like no one cares about CEV children.

Whatever gets decided about vaccinating all the teenagers, I really, really hope they start offering vaccines to all CV and CEV kids soon. It does seem like they just get forgotten about.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

I'm immunosuppressed and CEV. Also have dc in school. A lot of the normal childhood illnesses and vaccinations happened to my dc while I was still healthy. Those viruses shouldn't get to me via my children or DH. DH and the dc will have flu jabs. As long as I am careful the risks are low. With Covid, the dc aren't vaccinated and cases are everywhere. The hospital suggested I stay 2m away from them. So yes I'm anxious but I have cause to be.

I’m a teacher and before I was vaccinated I was told by HR that their advice would be to stay 2m away from CEV family members. My CEV family member was three at the time, not possible!

Not all CEV children / people can have the vaccine though. Some will have conditions that mean they can't. For some who can it might not be as effective.

They've said we can expect up to 100,000 new cases a day by summer, but we're removing the things that have protected people so far. No masks, no isolation for close contacts.

People who are CEV are used to managing their risks, if there's a chickenpox or measles outbreak CEV pupils stay home. Bit with covid we're in a permanent 'outbreak' at the moment.

A CV pupil at my school is currently in hospital with covid, I can only wonder whether he'd be there if we'd kept masks in classrooms...

Ah user 3 year old are not known for their ability to keep their germs to themselves My youngest is 10 and I'm making the most of him still being cuddly.

Maybe people’s fear is disproportionate to the actual risk as it stands, but it’s not disproportionate to the amount of fear and weight that covid has been given by the news and guidelines over the last year.

I’m not CEV and have been double jabbed but am finding it hard to get back to normal.

It’s taking my brain a while to understand that cases rising doesn’t mean that deaths will increase.

Why they choose to do this now, whilst cases are rising, rather than waiting until just after this peak, is beyond me

Couldn't agree more. They really haven't taken them into account at all. The pushed and pushed for people to wear masks to protect the vulnerable so why change that when those people are at their most vulnerable point.

It makes no sense at all.

It's tricky, but if you say "wait till it's past the peak" then it just leads to saying, "wait till cases are a bit lower"; "wait till the holidays are over"; "oh dear, now there's a new wave, let's wait till that's over"; "let's wait till after the winter"... And so on.

@Jourdain11 or you could say "Let’s be honest, most of the unvaccinated population are at low risk. We're going to let it rip. However some people are massively at risk so this is how we'll keep them safe."

Oops sorry. "most of the unvaccinated population" should be "most of the vaccinated population"
That's a bad mistype