Surely now is the time.......

Moonlight113

Can't find ant tolerance in me for people who are selfish enough to put others at risk, Not at a time like this.

Absolutely agree.

many many people around here, in shops, on buses, not wearing masks.
and rates have sky-rocketed. patient are being air-lifted hundreds of miles away to find a bed. what when they are full too.
i think if a person can't/won't wear a mask, then they should not go in shops. other ways of getting supplies.
i am actually quite intolerant of people who blithely put others' lives at risk.
have you heard the hosp doc who rang LBC y'day:
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.lbc.co.uk/news/intensive-care-doctor-no-mask-covid-treat-london/

Dragonfly x.

On the rare occasions, I have to go out, I wear a mask, despite being exempt. It's not very pleasant, but necessary.

Dragonfly, we try to protect our families and try not to burden them. Half the time they havent a clue how we are feeling.
They are young and have their lives ahead of them, we have lived ours.

Can't find ant tolerance in me for people who are selfish enough to put others at risk, Not at a time like this.

Baggs, surely the point of wearing a mask is to protect other people? However lonely and isolated we feel (and I do) I won’t put other people at risk.

On the strength of this, granny somerset, I wear a mask when shopping but I avoid shopping as much as possible and get MrB to do it. But it's really issues aside from this that I was addressing.

And tolerance.

I feel as you do Marydoll. I have had numerous letters, emails and texts from Matt Hancock telling me not to go out even if I can.
I too am feeling very low today. I see no end to this even with the vaccine and my family do not seem to understand how lonely this is.

I use a plastic insert inside my masks which holds the material away from my nose and mouth. Do not think ANYONE should be exempted from wearing these in shops/on public transport.

If EVERYONE had to wear a mask in these places, it would be far easier to 'police' rather than now when people just claim they are exempted.

Thank you EV, as you know I am a fighter and certainly do not want to be seen as a victim, far from it.
By shielding, I will not tie up vital services for a younger, fitter person, who may need ventilation and a bed in ICU.
My RA consultant has been seconded to Covid ICU, that's how serious things have become. As a result I have had numerous appointments cancelled and treatment put on hold. I have accepted that is what has to happen to fight this virus.
I feel there are some very naive posters on GN, who are totally unaware of what many are going through.
No matter how we feel, we all need to support each other.

Marydoll I can't begin to say how I feel over your predicament as it stands. Life is extremely restrictive for you unlike for the majority of us whose mental health won't be as affected.
Keep on being the brave woman that you are and no harm will come to you.x I feel for you girl.

I so agree with Marydoll's consultant. I think the old and the vulnerable hope to slip away peacefully in their own beds when their time comes. Not struggling horribly for breath in a hospital bed surrounded by strangers. Albeit kind, brave, and well meaning strangers.

And we should certainly care about other people as well as ourselves.

May I add that no-one is forced to shield. The Scottish shielding letter advises that the final decision lies with the patient. The Govt. has also acknowledged that shielding is indeed cruel and seriously affecting mental health, but can anyone suggest a better alternative?
For that reason, each individual has to make the decision that they consider is best for them.
At the invitation of the Scottish Govt, I have been contributing on a regular basis to research into the effects of shielding on mental and physical health and rest assured I have made it very clear of the effects on me.
However, I will continue to shield, because that is the decision I have made, which is best for me.

Great posts Baggs

Baggs, you make some very good points here. Thanks.

Baggs, surely the point of wearing a mask is to protect other people? However lonely and isolated we feel (and I do) I won’t put other people at risk.

Good post Marydoll.
Personally I think masks should be in worn on the streets too, as in Spain.
There are some very precious people around whingeing on about feeling hot or issues with their glasses and in the next breath they’ll be on about British spirit etc.

I think I shall defer to my consultant's expertise, the first hand knowledge of my son's future MIL, a charge nurse in Covid ICU and his SIL a nurse in the Covid ward, where most of her patients have died. They are the ones, for whom ventilation wasn't an option.
They are both on their knees, physically and mentally.

Do we really know what it's like to die of Covid? I've heard different views - those, as above, where it is described as awful. But also others who were on their death beds yet somehow recovered. The two examples I've heard describe an overwhelming feeling of wanting to just give up. I've also heard that people who die when sedated don't feel a thing because of the sedation. Perhaps it's just down to the individual....

As a shielder Baggs I know exactly what the effect is on both mental and physical health. Unless someone has been told they will probably die if they contract Covid, will not be suitable for ventilation or resuscitation, had medical treatment put on hold and most of all cut off from family and friends, no- one can possiblyknow what it is like. I don't say how I feel for fear of upsetting my family, Your post has caught me at a very low point in my day.
However, I have a lot of living to do, so I shall do what I have to do to keep safe.

*stuff

Yes, required in Scotland but no-one has to say why they are exempt if they are, and they shouldn't have to. Nobody has to share their medical status with anyone but their doctors.

I get that, mdoll. I'm not afraid of being dead but of the dying process too.

But we have to accept that some people have been so lonely this year that the damage to their health is equivalent (not the same but equivalent) to being physically very ill. Doctors are saying stiff like this, not just me.

It is a legal requirement in Scotland with exemptions.

To be blunt, my consultant said to me that it's not the dying I should be worried about, it's the actual process of dying from Covid which is unimaginably awful.
I shall forego my social life for that very reason.

I am so used to seeing everyone masked in shops that I thought it was a legal requirement. It is the done thing where I live. Occasionally,I will see one person with no mask and assume that there is a good reason for it.

My take is look after yourself and mind your own business with regard to everyone else. This pandemic has really shown up the intolerant.

The people not wearing face coverings in shops where I live amout to a tiny, tiny, tiny minority.