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A message from a coward re coronavirus

(77 Posts)
Bbarb Sat 29-Feb-20 11:22:01

I attend a hydrotherapy pool which helps me with my arthritis but I have a little niggle which I daren't tell anyone about because I feel a fool and a coward.
One of our members is on holiday in Vietnam and is coming home this weekend - I am tempted not to attend next week in case she's carrying the infection.
Is this a wise move or the symptom of a hypochondriac?

JenniferEccles Sat 29-Feb-20 13:07:29

Is it true that most people need hospital treatment for the virus or is it a case of playing safe along with isolating the affected person?

Dottynan Sat 29-Feb-20 13:18:47

Just been to our local town to buy sanitising hand gel. There is none in the town. The assistant said people were buying whole packs. For goodness same my last pot lasted me ages. What on earth is anybody going to do with 24 pots of gel. Sounds like it is panic we need to fear not so much coronavirus

GagaJo Sat 29-Feb-20 13:20:29

I don't know, Dottynan. I used it rarely before, now I've gone through a bottle in a week. That is in ADDITION to hand washing (in situations where I can't hand wash), before I'm told which is more effective.

Dottynan Sat 29-Feb-20 13:34:20

Boris Johnson says two minutes of hand washing will stop you getting coronavirus. Wish it was that easy

GagaJo Sat 29-Feb-20 13:35:55

Wish it was that easy to get rid of Boris Johnson.

timetogo2016 Sat 29-Feb-20 13:37:41

There`s nothing to say she will be allowed back without being checked.
And Gagajo is spot on.

Tangerine Sat 29-Feb-20 13:42:41

If you are worried, don't go. It won't hurt to miss it for a week or two.

52bright Sat 29-Feb-20 13:45:46

I think that anyone with a compromised immune system is wise to keep on the side of caution. If, for example, you are going through, or have recently had chemo, your immune system is likely to be very compromised. No good going through all that and surviving cancer to be possibly made very ill, or worse from a virus.

For the rest of us I think it should be pretty much business as usual regarding being out and about. I always carry hand sanitiser anyway as it's surprising how often the soap dispensers in public toilets are empty.

I would take advice from the gov. travel site regarding travel to other countries

pollyperkins Sat 29-Feb-20 13:50:10

Pink quartz I don’t think that’s quite right. Flu can be very serious - it’s not like a cold. And my understanding is that many people with Coronavirus are hardly ill and may not know they have it. I think from what I’ve read that
most don’t need to go to hospital. My understanding is that it’s less serious than flu but much more infectious and none of us us has any immunity as it’s a new virus.

EllanVannin Sat 29-Feb-20 13:59:05

Can't be any worse than the Asian 'flu of 1957 when people were dying like nine-pins, not only the elderly. I was working on a busy hospital ward at the time and a ward had been made ready for admissions-----including myself sad

Callistemon Sat 29-Feb-20 14:02:37

I must find my hand cream

All this hand washing for two rounds of Happy Birthday is making my hands very dry.

seacliff Sat 29-Feb-20 14:03:20

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtRjjzxaWI&fbclid=IwAR3SJGGWpkbKDgoHk7j_zEkcoSxwxfO_pkZHzDigfzFk1dZwkyoADSYtgh8

If you get it badly you need hospital treatment ie oxygen to aid breathing and fluids as you can't drink, help as kidneys begin to shut down.

Riverwalk Sat 29-Feb-20 14:03:29

There certainly does seem to be a fair amount of tv and newspaper hsyteria, as if we haven't got enough to worry about with flooding and other things

I agree Gill57 - watching the BBC News channel my involuntary sharp intake of breath was the sight of flooded homes and just how high the water was, rather than the latest virus numbers.

curvygran950 Sat 29-Feb-20 14:52:41

I do wonder how many people have or had the virus and thought they had a cold or flu? The outbreak in China was first notified in December I believe?
Unless everyone in the UK is tested, whether they’re ill or not , I can’t see isolation working .

Callistemon Sat 29-Feb-20 14:56:51

And still more flooding to come, Gill and Riverwalk
We were forced to turn back last night and had to abandon our planned evening because of water gushing across roads and forming more floods. It was lashing down with rain too.

lemongrove Sat 29-Feb-20 15:02:38

I agree with Bluebelle on this, but each person has to decide themselves what precautions, if any, they will take.
Just realise though that whatever you do, all it would take is a nearby cough or sneeze or touching door handles, just as happens with seasonal flu, and you could catch anything.
It isn’t rife here, just a few cases.

pinkquartz Sat 29-Feb-20 15:10:55

pollyperkins

Only some people have few symptoms.

Descriptions of the virus experienced by other people is horrible.
Some people will not get through it without hospital treatment and ventilators because it attacks the lungs.

I am sorry but if your understanding it that it is less serious than flu then you need more information and I am not saying this to be rude.

I can live through flu but I doubt i can live through coronanvirus as I already have 2 respiratory issues and a weak immune system.
There are many people like me. Many.

A robustly healthy individual will get through relatively easily but they are not the norm. In fact they will be the so called "superspreaders" because they may not realise how ill they are.

pinkquartz Sat 29-Feb-20 15:17:07

Here is a link to the experience of a Healthy young Man who had the virus and survived.
Note a healthy young man and note the title "my 3 weeks in suffering"

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/29/to-hell-and-back-my-three-weeks-suffering-from-coronavirus

Callistemon Sat 29-Feb-20 15:25:09

pinkquartz it also shows how the virus spreads. The young man felt ill for some time before he self-isolated but was in contact with family members who then continued with their daily lives before two more of them succumbed to the virus.

JuliaM Sat 29-Feb-20 15:31:24

You can shut yourself away and withdraw from any social activities, but the one thing we all need and handle is Money, or even the need to touch keypads in public places to obtain it.
As a young nurse, l worked in the local isolation hospital which was originally built to deal with infections and viruses pre antibiotics being discovered. We used to handle a fair few tropical diseases mostly brought into the country by imigrants, and Typhoid was common on our ward, as was TB. Any cash brought in by patients was left in the cubicle submerged in disinfectant untill they were given the all clear and left. Any paper money was sealed in metal containers and collected to be distroyed, with the value refunded to the patient via their bank with an agreement with the health authority. Locally we have seen many shops and businesses providing bottles of hand sanitiser at the tills for public use, even the local Honda dealership were providing it for customers use at the entrance to their service centre.

Riverwalk Sat 29-Feb-20 15:36:49

Many of us moved to contactless a long time ago JuliaM.

I can't remember the last time I paid cash for anything - certainly some time last year.

Thank goodness for new technology!

sodapop Sat 29-Feb-20 15:47:53

We have been bombarded with information about Coronavirus which has caused a lot of concern for people. We should all be as careful as we can without letting this take over our lives. Some people have health anxiety and others are more at risk because of lowered immune systems, both groups should do whatever they are confirta

annep1 Sat 29-Feb-20 15:48:31

I'm not going into crowded places at the minute either. And being careful about handwashing etc.
We only have one case here in NI.
However if that increased to a level that worried me I wouldnt go near anyone until I felt safe, not even to buy food. And I don't care what anyone thinks. We have lots of tinned stuff etc stored and an online shopping list prepared. I think if as many people as possible did that it would help.

sodapop Sat 29-Feb-20 15:51:09

Sorry posted too soon. Comfortable with.
You are not a fool or a coward bBarb if you perceive your hydrotherapy as a danger then it is. Take break and go back when you feel the danger has passed.

BlueBelle Sat 29-Feb-20 16:05:41

Do you not go anywhere when we have the usual annual flu epidemic ? There’s up to 50.000 deaths worldwide from seasonal flu but we don’t mask up It’s because this ones new and an unknown
I remember when people wouldn’t shake hands with an AIDS sufferer or have a drink out of their (washed) cup although I wasn’t a big fan Princess Diane helped combat that panic
I think we just have to be sensible and not get overly uptight about this virus and stop talking about stock piling as in another thread
It seems to be slowing down in China

Just a thought as this is pneumonia style virus does the pneumonia jab help at all I haven’t seen anything about that