Coronavirus - are older people being treated as expendable?

.Bluecat I’m aware of the progression of this virus and the effects it has and how death occurs. It’s the reason I’m being so proactive and effectively shutting myself away. People wouldn't be so blase if they realised how bad it can be for some. Young people think they’ll just get a touch of flu but there are young people extremely ill in Italy and other countries. We all need to heed government advice and take care of ourselves as no government can stop it.

I'm just over 60 fit and well.At the moment.But part of the army of grans still waiting for state pension yet propping up society by being a carer.Without me our DD could not work as an ICU nurse.Her shifts plus travel mean no nursery or child minder is open early or late enough.Without me my frail mum at 98 wouldn't be living in her own home but in a care home provided by social services because she has no savings.Plus another 90 + relative who requires lots of help from DH and myself.So I don't feel expendable - rather essential!But if I were much older I certainly would expect to forfeit up acute care for someone younger.
I'm rather hoping a friend cancels the big house party in 2 weeks time for his big birthday.I want to say I'm not coming.Not for myself or DH but I want to minimise risk so I can stay well for our dependants.

Elijah, and others who live alone and may be required to self isolate. You will probably have mild symptoms . In the event you feel ill with headache, aches and pains, and lethargy it would help if you had a toilet and your bed close to each other. Also, invalid food drink the pharmacist sells. you need to keep up your strength during the time of recovery from the worst of the fever. This is useful as it's simple to prepare when you have little energy for anything. Similarly tins of semolina , soup, and creamed rice are easy calories with a bit of protein that require no cooking and are easy to serve up for yourself, as long as you can use a tin opener. I recommend you provide yourself with an electric tin opener if you don't already have one.

Don't worry about normal household chores if you feel actually ill. Get plenty of rest. Drink plenty of water based drinks.

I trust you have a telephone and can find someone local to help for anything you might need.

I read something recently where they said that when they get a vaccine for this virus it will be the younger ones to get it first but generally I think that once you get to a certain age you go to the back of the queue for treatment

if your kitchen is downstairs and your bed and toilet upstairs, get some easily served food drinks and your medications upstairs near where you are.

Over 200 new cases overnight.

Definitely! So many people spouting it only effects the old or vulnerable - as if they don't matter!

I feel the Governments response - or lack of, point to them seeing us as just numbers, and that this will be useful in reducing numbers in unwanted areas! Culling the herd!

I also thing that this will be used to state the NHS is not fit for purpose and introduce even more privatisation.

Definitely Profit before People! But what did we expect!

tickingbird, my sister thinks her husband has coronovirus and has been told by 111 that as of last night they were no longer counting how many have it, wonder if that is the NHS's way of keeping the numbers down

Covid 19
Disturbed by the 'granny bashing' I'm witnessing in the media I'd like to share some thoughts.
Logically it would be best to allow everyone to go about their normal lives and let the sick and the 'old people' take their chance, thus hastening 'herd immunity'. Why disrupt the country to protect 'old people', (who are going to die anyway) against a virus that most people will shrug off. Logically the next step would be to arrange controlled coronoviris infections of care homes and long stay hospital wards - which would help ease up the pressure on the NHS, save money on pensions, benefits and bus passes and release housing to young people.
But logic comes at too high a price for those making decisions for us in this 'civilised' society, where everyone supposidly has an equal right to resources. Having just witnessed a disturbing scene in Tescos over the last pack of toilet rolls, the homeless man lying outside the Coop flushed with fever and coughing, ignored by all who passed by - it seems the logic of 'me first' is the reality. How long before the sick and over 60s are herded onto cruse ships and left to let nature take its course, after all that's how we coped with plagues in the past.

Grannyhall it is only the tested and reported cases which are being counted, obviously.

People who self-isolate because of symptoms may or may not have the virus so a true number of cases is impossible to quantify. This has been pointed out to us by the news media.

Care homes across the United Kingdom are banning visits from friends and family and keeping residents indoors in an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus, Amelia Hill reports.

The government has not told care providers to shut their doors to all non-essential visits but the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Commons health and social care committee, told BBC Newsnight on Thursday he was “personally surprised that we’re still allowing external visits to care homes”.

Mario Kreft, the chair of Care Forum Wales, which represents more than 450 care and nursing homes, advised people on Thursday morning to stay away. “Simply put, not visiting care homes is likely to save people’s lives,” Kreft said.

He called for bureaucracy to be cut so older people who no longer needed hospital care could be transferred to care homes, freeing up hospital beds.

“We’ve got to do everything that we can to ensure that people are safe, and I would say this to anybody who wants to visit a loved one in a care home to think very, very carefully because totally accidentally, this virus could be transmitted,” he said.

Ready Meals - its not just old people is it? It is accross the board. There are a lot of 'younger' people at risk - diabetes, lupus, asthma, cancer survivors.

Also - letting it run amock will cripple the nhs, all these people are at risk of being admitted before they die! (Sounds dramatic - but extrapolating from the idea that they are going to die anyway)

I do think the Government think it’s the elderly that will be expendable , after all it saves them paying out our ever so late pensions as well . I think that’s what he meant in his speech about families will have loved ones taken early , 65 or over ..... look after yourself

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There’d have to be an enormous amount of old people dying for the government to save an appreciable amount of money. I don’t believe the government are deliberately allowing the elderly to die.

50000!!

I read something recently where they said that when they get a vaccine for this virus it will be the younger ones to get it first but generally I think that once you get to a certain age you go to the back of the queue for treatment

Where does that thought come from? It is older people who get the flu vaccine and I don't doubt it will be us who get this vaccine? Far cheaper to vaccinate than treat us when we are ill after all. Let's be a little rational about this for all our sakes.

I haven't seen anywhere that the pneumonia vaccine is likely to act as a protection against this virus escalating. Is that true?

We all need to heed government advice and take care of ourselves as no government can stop it.

Absolutely right. What on earth do people expect? Johnson to conjure a miracle? He has the best information he can get in how to help the most people. I will not be happy if this finishes me off but I will not be blaming Johnson. It the virus that kills. Humans have not suddenly got god-like powers.

No, Maxblank is wrong. The pneumonia injection will not prevent us catching the virus. I think there are different types of pneumonia. I had pneumonia about three years after I had the jab.

I was at Cheltenham races on Tuesday. There were over 60,000 there...

^The pneumococcal vaccine protects against serious and potentially fatal pneumococcal infections.caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. which can lead to pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis.(NHS)

Corona virus is - a virus - not a bacterial infection.

Yes I know people in Cheltenham and they say that the locals are furious that the festival went ahead and that it's all down to money and the racing world.

I'm a fit and healthy at 70. I've had a wonderful life, with no wish to die, but would rather NHS resources were utilised on my grandchildren and their parents, they still have a life to live.

Wow, this thread reminds me of a training session I attended for work in the 90's. We (about 16 of us) were each given the same scenario. There is a hospital that only has capacity for treating 5 seriously ill patients but 10 arrive at the same time, those not treated will die. Seemed easy, we all ranked them in much the same way, mother of 3 young children 1st, father of 2 came 2nd, young teenage girl 3rd etc. with the two eldest - a 67 year old woman and a 72 year old man coming 9th and 10th. We were then given a bit more information - the 72 year old was a still practicing brilliant heart surgeon whose work had saved, and would continue to save many lives, month after month. The 67 year old woman worked as a nurse abroad, which she planned to return to after her treatment and was and would be responsible for saving many lives. There were other bits of information given to us and we were put into groups to see if we could reach consensus - no group ever managed it. If that is genuinely happening in Italy, it is an appalling choice to have to make.