How typical is MN of real life when it comes to Covid?

[Warhertisuff]

I'm thinking the average poster generally a lot more concerned and anxious than the average person, but that might just be my biases at play.

Is it unintentionally ironic that your username stands for BMA, ButteringMyArse? All those 'anxiety ridden' doctor experts at the British Medical Association...

@Tealightsandd

your opinion doesn't matter.

I was responding to an argument a poster made. But ok. Some opinions matter, but others don't? Is that attitude representative of real life? I'm not sure. Definitely it is representative of some sections of social media. Not always MN. Often on here people welcome debate and different opinions (perhaps not this thread). Is the echo chamber as strong in real life? Good question. I like to think not. Just as the majority of the public were/are accepting of necessary pandemic mitigation measures, so most are still tolerant of differing opinions. Which is good.

When a person is making a decision about whether to self isolate or not, which is what I was referring to, yes only some opinions matter there. In particular, theirs. Unless the person concerned is you or someone who for whatever reason is willing and able to take your opinion into account, yours doesn't. You don't have to agree with the course of action they might take, but your disagreement doesn't stop the situation from happening.

Essentially what you are doing here is answering a different question to the one in the OP. There's nothing wrong with talking about how you'd do things differently, there are dozens of threads in this forum on essentially that point. This is not one of them.

Time for a snack.
Thanks to you, I fancy buttered toast. Maybe a slice of cheese too.

Have a good (hopefully not too anxious) evening.

@Tealightsandd

Is it unintentionally ironic that your username stands for BMA, ButteringMyArse? All those 'anxiety ridden' doctor experts at the British Medical Association...

Speaking of bizarre crowbarring, this is another stunning example of the genre. Have a watch of some vintage Alan Partridge if you want to know more about my username.

I saw a poster lambasting someone the other day because they hadn't been for a test with a sore throat. The poster stated that "everyone knows that sore throat is a symptom of the Delta variant."

That sums up the MN Covid community for me. If you have followed the news closely and read press releases from ZOE and trawled through Covid MN, Twitter, Reddit etc, then yes, you will be aware that a symptom of Delta is a sore throat.

BUT, the government messaging has been clear about the three main symptoms and most people don't look beyond that. The wider public aren't scouring the news for details in the same way that I think many on this board are and are consequently less prone to catastrophising the situation.

I am more anxious on real life than I tell my friends or at work. I am more honest on here.

For instance I have agreed to go into the office to test some equipment because I know.that other members of my team have better reasons than me to not be able to do this but I feel pretty anxious about it. I am in my late 50s with a BMI of over 40 , which I have heard from one lovely poster means I will die of covid even if vaccinated . I will go but I really would like to avoid it if I could

DH and I have just come back from a few days away and I will tell people I had a great time ( which I did) but won't mention that I flatly refused to eat inside or to do anything indoors except buy necessary groceries or takeaways, that I would only go on a beach between 7am to 9am as after that they were too crowded for me . I stuck to mostly outdoor stuff and even then I felt uncomfortable if too many people passed me.

I also agreed to meet in a pub with some friends but had no intention of doing so , in the end I told them I had symptoms and was waiting for a PCR test ( which was negative of course). So I am lying more often in real life to keep the peace and to not seem too anxious

MN is anonymous, so people may feel safer to discuss their anxieties here, rather than with friends or on a platform like FB.

I know I don't discuss Covid at all on my FB as I will get flamed into ashes. It happened last year when masks came in (I am exempt), some of my "friends" and mutuals attacked me to the point I had to stay with relatives as I was not safe to be alone.

I don't discuss covid with people on RL because theres other things to talk about quite frankly. However, this is a discussion board for covid. You'd think it would be the appropriate place to discuss covid with other people who also choose to discuss covid. Turns out some posters think no one should be discussing anything negative about covid. You couldn't make it up.

MN is completely unrepresentative of the country at large which is full to bursting with folks enjoying themselves.

I’ve just been out for the first time to a supermarket this week so only had the accounts from MN to go by and can honestly say I was surprised that 70-80% we’re not wearing masks as I thought it would be the other way around.

@TinaYouFatLard

I don’t know anyone IRL who is anywhere near as sanctimonious, judgemental and anxious as the average MNer.

Agree.

I don't know anyone in "real life" who isn't just getting on with life normally now.

Not at all.

I don't know anyone in real life who is predicting more lockdowns, and ridiculously high numbers, or anyone who's bleaching their shopping.

Only worried people would post though, wouldn’t they?

Everyone I know is pretty unbothered but we sort of have to be. People I know work in childcare, supermarkets, construction. They have had to go out and mix and put themselves at risk so have just got on with it really. No point worrying about someone standing too close to you at a zebra crossing when you’ve had someone else’s kids hanging off your neck all day.

i had to come off mn for several months over the past year as I realised what an a strange and extreme view was portrayed by reading the covid posts on here! Generally not at all typical of what is happening in real life . Ive only recently started dipping back into it, and even now when reading some posts I have to keep repeating to myself "this is mn, it isnt real, it isnt what is happening in real life!"

@TheGenealogist

Not at all.

I don't know anyone in real life who is predicting more lockdowns, and ridiculously high numbers, or anyone who's bleaching their shopping.

Some of us on here do know experts - scientists and doctors. And some on here are the experts - the doctors and scientists.

don’t know anyone IRL who is anywhere near as sanctimonious, judgemental and anxious as the average MNer.

Re smoking and food 'lifestyle'? Maybe. I don't know tbh. It's a mix just as in real life. But for sure there's a fair bit of it on here.

I had lunch today with three medics.
Inside in the middle of London.
Then we mooched down a packed Oxford Street back to a packed tube.
Very little talk of Covid in the scheme of things (we were celebrating).

@HelloMissus

I had lunch today with three medics. Inside in the middle of London. Then we mooched down a packed Oxford Street back to a packed tube. Very little talk of Covid in the scheme of things (we were celebrating).

Oh dear. Clearly not friends of those at the BMA... There's always a few outliers.

Tea if you think HCPs are not out and about/going on holiday etc but rather sitting around endlessly banging on about Long Covid you live in a bubble.

I mean what are the chances I know the only outliers (and I happen to know tons and tons because I’ve got medics in my family)

Anybody can say they are an expert (whatever professional field you like) unless they want to swerve their anonymity for posters to verify their credentials it’s just opinion the same as every other anonymous poster.

We’ve all got google.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-cases-vaccine-bma-latest-b1889470.html

The British Medical Association, the top trade union for doctors, has called for an “urgent rethink” of the government’s Covid strategy, arguing that it is “not working” and leading to rising pressure on health services.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA council, said Downing Street should never have abandoned restrictions amid soaring infections in the UK, adding that the situation will “continue to worsen as a result”.

user exactly.
And it’s amazing how so many of them never mentioned it before but amazingly joined MN to tell us about their expertise.

There’s one fairly well known ICU nurse on MN and has me toned it for years.
Funnily enough she’s not banging the lockdown drum or saying her ICU is full.

Oh and a group of paediatricians who won ticked to the Euros final all went to Wembley.

The thing that gets me is that on Mumsnet people are horrified by the idea of anyone being asked about their vaccine status. Now, I totally understand the arguments about privacy and why should anyone disclose private medical information- it’s just that where I live it’s the first thing anyone tells you. ‘Hello, I’m here to service the boiler. I’ve had me jabs.’ ‘Ooh, so’ve I, what did you have?’ ‘I had that Moderna. Felt a bit rough for a day or two…’

@Tealightsandd

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-cases-vaccine-bma-latest-b1889470.html

The British Medical Association, the top trade union for doctors, has called for an “urgent rethink” of the government’s Covid strategy, arguing that it is “not working” and leading to rising pressure on health services.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA council, said Downing Street should never have abandoned restrictions amid soaring infections in the UK, adding that the situation will “continue to worsen as a result”.

I dunno… cases are starting to level out a bit. May have been the right strategy after all.