Plea from a mum (not me, shared with me by a friend)

pinkjj27. Thanks for lots of interesting information especially as this poster seems to be doing the rounds and the people on it seem to be known by people not in the midlands where the ambulance is from and not in Kent.... the plot chickens...(as my daughter used to say).

I'm so sorry about your job and situation. No wonder you are fed up. It's terrible that people shouted at you! I am disgusted to hear that!

I do hope things begin to look up for you. I am on Nextdoor.co.uk and from that learned many people are offering to pick up shopping for people in isolation/elderly in my area. Perhaps there are some in your area? Milk and more were not taking new people but you may have a dairy in your area that is delivering.

I do hope you are able to see the way forward more positively soon. Good luck and many thanks for the Happy Mother's Day! Love from Elle x

This lady is on Facebook and her story is on there with 50k shares with a lot of support and 10k comments.

Trying to be sensible. Went out yesterday but made sure I avoided anyone else. My DS,DDiL,DGD bought some supplies in on Friday. We all stayed fair distance apart tho my DS & I had a quick hug facing well away from each other. DGD got closer but hard to explain to a 4yr old full of love. Put a plea for cat litter on local site & so many lovely people shared theirs. So there is help & kindness still around in the middle of all the selfishness going on. We all kept safe distance too. Trying our best here!

Laurensnan I am so sorry about your son. I am very sorry too that the terrible sadness of that time has been brought back to you by this discussion. I do hope you are coping. ?

Maremia You are missing the point. The points were that the OP s were very distressed by having family members who were not taking the advice and were turning to us because they knew we would back them up. If you read the replies you would see that the stupid people were castigated and the OPs were given advice on how to deal with them in order to keep to the advice. The subject heading was critical of those people not taking the advice seriously. Plus it was a while ago and the news has changed now with daily bulletins so possibly those people have got the message by now.

@ Newmom101

I was born and bred Birmingham, before 1939!

we always said MOM

whatever... wish I could navigate around Gransnet I want to see how we deal with having a cleaning person into the house if we are self isolated, or any sort of help

I am just utterly confused as to what a person should or should not do.. and no, I am not mentally deficient.

why can`t people be kind...

The very same pictures were placed on a local site last night. The poster knew the family and they were apparently local and I am not from Kent or West Midlands nor do I live in the USA. Along with other horror stories this has now shown up in a few places. As yet I have not met anyone who has even been in contact with the virus.
I lost my job as an A level /GCSE teacher and an examiner last week, Just let go not required because of this Virus. I am a widow and live alone I have been in total isolation since. It’s only a few days I feel so low so lost and lonely.
I have been verbally attacked by the young girl next door because I have never and wont stock pile as she has done, because I won’t wear a mask and I won’t prepare for the apocalypse. I was shouted at in the street last week and told to get home I was selfish I show no signs of the virus. I need milk but feel too anxious to go out as everyone is in a hyper-reality mode of hysteria.
There is a massive assumption that because I am over 50 I am weak vulnerable and a risk to others and I should stay away, and yet I were a doctor, I would be being calling upon to help those infected.
A few months back everyone was screaming about Brexit and the effect it would on the economy now no one seems to care about the economy,
I am not saying the threat is not real but I think most older people are very aware of how to cope and be responsible.
Things like the post above no matter how well indented are fulling the crisis. Why have we not heard about anyone who has recovered?
Any way happy Mother’s Day no one has even remeberd that in my world

And yet there was a thread the other day about a husband who refused to social distance! Another one a couple of weeks ago about a Gran who was expected to take on the childminding tasks when school closed. Hope it is working out for those GNs as the situation progresses.

The thing is people, both adults and children, can fall seriously ill for a variety of reasons, some not necessarily related to COVID-19

I am looking out of my window at the sea front in Littlehampton and can see very little social distancing. There are large groups wandering about with little sign of keeping 2 metres apart. I have just witnessed a group saying goodbye with hugs and kissing on the lips before leaving in 3 cars. We need stricter controls and better self control.

My son died of cancer. At no point during his 6 months of illness in hospital did I take a photo or even think to take one. When you've had your child critically ill you don't want to take or share pictures, describe their horrendous suffering or scare others that similar might happen to them. Most of us are taking this virus very seriously, I wish people on social media would stop judging each other and instead support each other to make the right choices. We're all in this together and each of us reacts to it differently and responds to it differently. For those that are abiding by recommendations we are doing all we can. For those that are not ....well they won't listen or take notice of posts anyway. People are scared by this virus, we need positive stories on the internet at the moment.

I totally agree with Dizzyblonde. There’s something that doesn’t quite ring true in the photos. If the child was that ill why didn’t he have an oxygen mask on and an IV infusion up?? I looked this story up on Facebook and found the post. It may or may not be true - who knows. But we shouldn’t be sharing posts from Facebook or a friend of a friend. There’s too much crap and fake news out there as it is ?‍♀️

M0nica. Thank you. It was brave of you to speak out and point out the truth. I was hurt for all of us. You only have to read the topic headlines of our discussions to know that we are not the people doing those things that this upset mother has suggested we are doing. Indeed we have been the group standing strong trying to get the point across to the people who are panic buying or socialising.

Added to which, we as a group are the highest proportion of those in the highest risk group. In our group there are a very high number of people in isolation, living alone, unable to get food, and having a most difficult time. We are those suffering the consequences of the behaviours of the selfish. We're the victims not the perpetrators. As this OP would know should she bother to read our pages.

Of course I am upset to hear of a child being so ill. But I am hurt that this letter blaming us on our website has been sent. The Poster is strongly misinformed about her target audience - us - and should apologise.

dizzyblonde Thanks. I agree.

MawB. makes a very wise point which I feel might well be worth people understanding, particularly those who post their angst on facebook and bring forth the howling anger of followers in their wake. At this time, we need to be strong and keep positive, doing what we can to cope with the hardships we might experience. Stirring up a storm of anger at people's terrible behaviour or getting angry and venting it at any group indiscriminately is not healthy. Address the culprits and explain why they are undermining the safety of others. But do not throw out all this torrid emotion in every direction you can command without thinking first; to whom am I addressing this? Why am I wanting to identify with this painful and accusing voice? What assumptions am I making in addressing this audience in this way? Am I taking the moral high ground just to sound important? Plus can you verify the details you are printing and making others believe? It is second-hand and not verified. This is not ideal. We have already seen how people are confused by some of the wording in the text, as was I.

So has the little boy recovered now as there is no update? That would be really helpful and useful. Did anyone else in the family get ill and what is the outcome?

I am also fed up of reading all this nonsense. Social, bloody media. The stuff that keeps appearing on WhatsApp, text message, fb etc is ridiculous. I don't believe, for one minute, that message is authentic.

The use of the word ‘Mom’ is a West Midlands word so not necessarily American.

How I agree with BlueBell the younger generation are not heeding the warnings, they can catch it and pass it on. Where are their parents, not enforcing the isolation rule that most seniors are and with no one to talk too, very lonely.

As some others have said fake or not look out of your windows, and watch the news which will prove people are still not adhering to recommendations. Anyone working in the medical profession will see even more proof of this. I don't want myself or my lovely family put at risk because of fools who think they are invincible and that they can still go about exposing everyone else to this dreadful illness...you may not show any symptoms.
Such a lot of unkind remarks which are totally unwarranted. Shame on those who have made such comments! Lets hope you are singing the same tune in a months time, and not laid on a cold slab or attending a loved ones funeral

Hope your little boy and the rest of the family get better quickly

But the problem is Daisymae the more we read stuff that doesn't ring true (and I agree that this doesn't) the more confused we become about what is real. Clear accurate information is what everyone needs. Dizzyblonde is quite right in her impression of the clinical signs & photos.

Sadly fake message or not there are still many still think that none of the Restrictions imposed on us applies to them.

A lot of people are not taking it seriously. You only have to look at photos of crowded seaside towns in this country to see for yourself. Supermarkets are rammed with people spreading the infection. I don't know what it will take for some people to understand that this means THEM, not someone else. It has taken a lot of bad news for many people on this site to take this seriously too. Anything that underscores the situation we find ourselves in is fine with me.

Thank you M0nica, you've said what I feel about it perfectly.

The story of the family in New Jersey who have lost at least four members with others very sick has been reported in the newspapers, complete with photographs and fully verified. My heart goes out to families like that and it brings home the true horror of this virus.

I have a grandson who has several times had infections that have gone critical and he has been blued and twoed to hospital. His parents both write for a living, but were they to be writing a piece on their childs dilemma and danger I very much doubt that it would have been such a finely honed piece of emotive writing with clinical details etc etc. That, as Wordsworth described it is 'feelings reflected in tranquility' not the hard raw emotion of immediate suffering.

But what ever the rights and wrongs of this piece. It wasn't the author who posted it but a regular GN member who must be aware that GN members, all except a small minority, are entirely compliant with all the guidanceand that this piece as Parsley said, is preaching to the converted, and it is irritating.

Sensible, well reasoned post dizzyblonde, thanks for the clarity.

Agree with M0nica too.

I’m pretty sure this post is true, she’s from the midlands though, just outside of Birmingham, which explains the use of ‘mom’. Brummies all say mom, not just Americans!

I don’t like the sharing of photos of unwell children on Facebook though, it’s not fair on the child. Also, lots of the people I’ve known share this on social media are also posting photos of them meeting family and friends this weekend, bloody hypocrites.