New Zealand health messaging

[JustAnotherRandom]

Spot the difference. Wash your hands and don't mention covid vs

twitter.com/covid19nz/status/1670943608428539905?s=46&t=G9BWOZlYGPa1_pR7aKkbHQ

I find the cognitive dissonance and mental avoidance around Covid in the UK to be astounding. It is simply fact, supported by official data and trustworthy organisations, that a lot of people are ill all the time now in ways they weren't before Covid, that Long Covid is pretty widespread, dangerous and making a big dent in the job market, and that life expectancy has gone down. Anecdotally, I see evidence of this amongst people I know, too- several with persistent health issues and noticeable brain fog newly acquired in the past couple of years. Yet any mention of these things, or any attempt to suggest small mitigations or avoid infection (such as "please wear a mask in a crowded place" or even "please open a window" or "please don't stand so close to me in this queue") is met with cries of "go get your anxiety pills, crazy person/lockdown lover!" It's like Don't Look Up, come true.

I've given up talking about it but I personally take every precaution including respirator masking. I'm not playing Russian roulette with my brain and other vital organs.

It's pretty clear there are a lot of long term risks with covid. I hate how many people are getting completely screwed - even with the moral and ethical aspect aside - people act as though there's no economic cost to doing sod all.

Are you on Twitter? It’s the only place (aside from NZ) where you can find out the truth.

I go on Twitter sometimes, but it's very polarised. I've looked at both sides. I think lockdowns were harmful, but understand why they happened. Some aspects were exceptionally cruel, but I don't think those elements would happen again. I also don't know why some think it's not a case unless you make stuff up (deliberately). So many times I'll see an article like 'lockdown caused x,y,z' and click on the article and it's either nothing to do with lockdown or is giving data from prior to lockdown. These are from journalists, 'scientists' - obviously know what they're tweeting is bollocks, but people don't read beyond the headline.

I also think what we are doing now is exceptionally cruel - especially in places where people have very little choice in being there (schools, hospitals etc). I guess I feel I'm middle of the road - let people have a life, don't unnecessarily deliberately harm others, let people have safer access to the places they need to go. What surprises me is that this is seen as extreme as we have gone so far the other way.

I was a bit naive when I first started questioning - thinking those that spoke about lockdown mental health impacts, loss of learning etc were unaware of risks to kids/staff etc now or would use their influence to speak out - I genuinely don't understand why when we are not even in a lockdown they don't push to reduce some of the same impacts being caused by policy now, that they were upset were caused by lockdown.

I find Twitter useful for links to actual journal articles though and giving explanations that the layman can understand. I also find the long covid private group useful.

I don't understand why people can't just wear a mask. My family are masked at all times when leaving the house and none of us have ever had covid. Same story for our family and friends who also mask. We travel internationally, eat outdoors when not many people around etc. Simples. Beats getting brain damage.

I have never been so thankful to live in NZ… science led approach which protected its people.

So true. Strange times.

Most people have no idea. They don't read the research, or go looking for information. They base their views on their own experiences, that they didn't really have symptoms or weren't that unwell. They followed the narrative that preventative measures are restrictive (for children, for people's mental health etc) and unnecessary because covid is going nowhere and we "need to learn to live with it", so measures are pointless.

My view has always been we need to learn to live with it so we need to take measures to minimise impact. There should be proper air filtration and people should take illness seriously and stay home when they are contagious (just like with chickenpox, mumps etc).

I've had covid nine times. No lasting health issues as far as I can tell. I have other chronic health issues and due to the medication I'm on I'm monitored closely - bloods, scans, chest X rays etc. So far there has been no change in these since before the pandemic and my first infection. The only blip is that when I have covid but haven't yet tested positive (this has happened three times) my CRP levels go through the roof and take a few weeks to settle.

I know this in only one person's experience but given my underlying health issues I find it reassuring, particularly given that I am in the most vulnerable group (just had my seventh vaccination).

Incidentally, please can we stop telling people they're irresponsible if they don't stay at home when they're ill. Many people can't - most employers insist you come in if you're well enough, and those on zero hour contracts for example can't afford to lose wages. DD is a teacher and she has to go into work if she has covid unless she is very unwell, and even they have to be back in after three days. Same for her students.

because they were either exempt all along, or abandoned them with relish the second the threat of a fine was off the table. You don’t HAVE to “understand”. Feel free to carry on with your respirators and outside socialising for the rest of your life. Just don’t expect others to follow your lead.

I think lack of masking in healthcare settings is appalling.

And more and more people go down with long covid or the other consequences of covid, but we're very much in denial at the moment. I don't think it's a good idea to keep catching covid. I don't think it's a good thing at all to repeatedly expose DC - and really do think that we need better air quality in schools as a matter of some urgency.

No. I have an autoimmune disease and I'm immunosuppressed due to the medications I take to treat it.

Someone I know in their 40s with the same disease as me, on the same medication, caught covid in April 2020 and died of (not 'with') it. Thank goodness for vaccinations and antivirals.

I've had covid nine times. Vaccinations don't work so well on immunosuppressed patients as we don't mount a full immune response, but they do lessen symptoms. As do antivirals, which have been a godsend.

I'd rather take my chances with a vaccine that has proved to be safe for billions of people than with a disease that has killed millions, ta.

I don't watch the news or read about covid in the media. A decision I made very early in the pandemic.

What are you being so supercilious and condescending? On this thread and the one where you're telling people, including me, that it's our fault we have autoimmune diseases and we could cure them if we ate properly?

It's not helpful to tell people with potentially life threatening diseases that they shouldn't take their medicine 'because big pharma'. Nor is it helpful to suggest we're to blame for being ill.

HTH.

So now you're blaming those of us with lifelong chronic illnesses for abusing the NHS? Mmmmkay.

I haven't feigned helplessness. I do physio, I have changed my diet - neither of which will help my disease, but it makes me healthier generally so better able to cope with it, and with the rigours of its treatment. As anyone on medication for autoimmune diseases will tell you, the treatment is intense - I inject on a Sunday and usually spend Mondays being sick and sleeping. The effects ease off a bit by about Thursday before I have to do it all over again on Sunday. It's not an easy option at all. You don't just merrily pop a pill and off you trot, fixed. It's rigorous and unrelenting.

Do you tell people with cancer that they're feigning helplessness if they have chemo?

What else am I 'blaming' for my disease, by the way? Sometimes people just get ill. Nobody's fault. It's shit but it happens.

@SomeDizzyWhoreI804 I couldn't see what you were responding to as deleted. The management and side effects sound v hard. Your post reminded me of how a close relative talked about the impact chemo had on her.