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[Katejo]

The government interview I heard was talking about the police having the power to arrest those who break isolation, so no, the elderly won't be 'asked' to self isolate, they will be made to do it.

If we are going to have a lockdown, it should be done as it is in other countries, where EVERYONE is on lockdown for a shorter period, not forcing the most vulnerable in our society to suffer isolation while the rest of us carry on with our lives.

It's also ridiculous to talk about isolating the vulnerable and elderly when many of them are sharing houses with younger, fitter people.  The advice is that the vulnerable person stays at least 6 feet away from other household members at all times - really?!!  Do they seriously think that e.g. an elderly lady is going to share a house with her children & grandchildren for four months without having any physical contact with them?  And a lot of houses are just too small to keep that kind of distance.

So we will have elderly & vulnerable people stuck at home (increasing their stress levels and therefore lowering their immune system - it is proven that stress makes you more vulnerable to catching things) while younger people go in and out, potentially bringing infection back with them.

Isolation should be for everyone, not just a small group, as it has been in all the other countries.

I agree that isolation/lockdown should be for everyone (initially for 2-4 weeks perhaps)  not for  specific categories even if they are more vulnerable. Yesterday I talked to my Dad about this and asked whether wartime food rationing and other shortages were easier to tolerate because they applied to everyone. I had to chuckle at his reply. He claims he barely noticed the food shortages because his Mum was such a good cook. He only later realised just how difficult it must have been for her.
She certainly was an excellent cook as I know from whenever she invited us to lunch years later.

[CLKD]

Scaremongering in order to alert people.  If we had been told 'it's a virus, it will pass' the public wouldn't be as alert.

Apparently no more than 500 people at any one Event ........  so that's an idea.  Not 

Some stores are already offering 'over 70s' shopping opportunities. 

What about Vicars, Undertakers, Priests - many in their late 60s early 70s 

[Sparrow]

What about Vicars, Undertakers, Priests - many in their late 60s early 70s 

Also judges, University lecturers, self employed some MPs and almost the entire House of Lords etc., etc.,

[Ju Ju]

One cannot enforce isolation in a modern world. 

The government can actually. They will put police and army on the streets. If there is a curfew you will be fined for breaking it and if you subsequently break the curfew you will face prison.

Having drastically reduced the numbers of police officers and the military, they have a job enforcing that easily.

I thought they have been and continue to increase police officers?!

My husband retired from the police force 15 years ago. Numbers were short then, with increasing paper work. Since then, numbers of police officers and funding has been slashed, hence not seeing police officers around particularly in the rural areas and most police stations closed, apart from large towns. The recent numbers that are supposed to be recruited are just a drop in the ocean compared to numbers when DH was serving. Plus they have to trained. And wages are poor and all the benefits my husband enjoyed have been stripped.

[Ju Ju]

My parents are well into their 90s. My dad has mastered online shopping. I rang up this morning as I have had great difficulties in getting a delivery slot, so I was worried about how they were going to cope. Fortunately they got food delivered on Saturday and the neighbours are only too happy to shop for them. Thank goodness for caring neighbours. Apparently their 2 freezers are full, as mum has made sure they had enough while dad has been ill. They are carrying on as normal, which is being isolated in their own house. Sadly I can't visit as I have health issues, but I can keep in touch by phone. I feel sorry for those elderly people who are on their own, particularly if they don't have a support system like my parents. if they have to isolate completely.

[Tc]

IMO. It's all  just another example of the way older people are scapegoated in our society.  Why have they got any more responsibility for spreading it than anyone else.?   Or for the old "strain on the  health service"  chestnut.

  Why does a person with 25 years on this earth feel they have the right to dictate to someone who has far more life experience .  Or to blame them .  We have a generation here who has been told the world belongs to them.  It doesnt.   They certainly dont know more about being in the middle of a pandemic than their elders. 

I will not take advise on isolating myself from someone who is not isolating themself. And I wont blame older people for feeling the same.

Isolation is not going to mean the same thing for all of us.  Someone who has love and support at home cannot be telling someone who doesnt what to do.   . Even for some of us not in that age bracket isolation is not a chance to "catch up on netflix". It's a daunting prospect if you live alone and already suffer from depression.

An elderly person with few precious years left  may feel afraid it could mean they sit in their flat for 4 months with no human contact and then die anyway and nobody would care. Especially since I dont see those who say "old people are being selfish" offering to ensure that doesng happen. 

Its funny how those who tell the rest of us to have more of a social conscience are often the ones  who have less of one in practice than those they are trying to dictate to.

X

[Katejo]

IMO. It's all  just another example of the way older people are scapegoated in our society.  Why have they got any more responsibility for spreading it than anyone else.?   Or for the old "strain on the  health service"  chestnut.

  Why does a person with 25 years on this earth feel they have the right to dictate to someone who has far more life experience .  Or to blame them .  We have a generation here who has been told the world belongs to them.  It doesnt.   They certainly dont know more about being in the middle of a pandemic than their elders. 

I will not take advise on isolating myself from someone who is not isolating themself. And I wont blame older people for feeling the same.

Isolation is not going to mean the same thing for all of us.  Someone who has love and support at home cannot be telling someone who doesnt what to do.   . Even for some of us not in that age bracket isolation is not a chance to "catch up on netflix". It's a daunting prospect if you live alone and already suffer from depression.

An elderly person with few precious years left  may feel afraid it could mean they sit in their flat for 4 months with no human contact and then die anyway and nobody would care. Especially since I dont see those who say "old people are being selfish" offering to ensure that doesng happen. 

Its funny how those who tell the rest of us to have more of a social conscience are often the ones  who have less of one in practice than those they are trying to dictate to.

X

I feel just the same. I went to cook lunch for my Dad yesterday. He stays at home 95% of the time anyway but is concerned about risks of infection from the carers who visit him.  I don't see why the over 70's should have to stay at home to benefit the rest of us and 'allow' us to lead a relatively normal life.

[Sparrow]

Listening to a Doctor on the radio, it seems the death figures can be misleading.  As they are only testing in hospital it does not mean that all those positive necessarily died of the virus.  Some will have died with the virus but not necessary of it.

The reason for not testing everyone with symptoms now is because it has past the stage when those numbers are useful.  Only around 3.5% of those tested were positive anyway, so not a good use of resources.

[sheila99]

Not testing is also a good way of making sure we don't know how bad it really is, or how people in your local area have got it. Yes, I'm sure the death figures are misleading too. As they are only testing in hospitals now anyone who dies outside hospital will have died from pneumonia not coronavirus. How many people have to die before they act?

[CLKD]

Pneumonia has always been the 'old man's friend'.  It was accepted until recent years.  Now the public expect that NHS to solve everything but are not prepared to pay the tax bill to help fund what we require.

Those in Hospital, according to most reports, have died of viral pneumonia; most with underlying conditions.  Have a look at Public Health England web-site?  Many people die at this time of year due to pneumonia due to 'flu or norovirus.  Which has shut several UK Hospitals but hasn't had media coverage.  The NHS does not have resources to test everyone and if people flying in from abroad aren't even being tested for a raised temperature ........   

Keep up with regular hand washing: hot soapy water.  Wipe down trolley handles with a gel or wash immediately after shopping.  Put gel or a dilute Dometos/Dettol wipe across the car steering wheel and handles, not forgetting the boot.  Wipe down mobile phones, handbags, wallets, purses ....... and don't inhale if someone coughs/sneezes close by. 

[sheila99]

I watched by Dad die from pneumonia, it is no one's friend. Few deaths are pleasant but would you want to spend days gasping for air before you die? IMO it's cruel to let anyone die that way.
  To suggest it doesn't matter because because many people die from it anyway is missing the point. This is a virus that COULD be controlled, as has happened in China and South Korea but we are deliberately letting it spread. For me it's personal. My MIL will die if she gets it and it will from the inaction of this government and the so-called experts who ignore what has happened in every other country.

[CLKD]

A care home in North Lanarkshire has confirmed six cases of Covid-19

Residents of Highgate Care Home near Uddingston are being closely monitored and strict infection control measures have been put in place.

NHS Lanarkshire said all relatives and staff were being informed of developments.



I didn't suggest it's pleasant but Mum's generation knew that many would die of it.  I think that the situation you describe is when people should be helped ........... unfortunately the UK Government were too slow to stop people coming into the country 

[sheila99]

I agree, at the very least we should have been testing at airports. And we are STILL letting them in. Probably irrelevant now though as we it's in our own population.

[Taz2]

A care home in North Lanarkshire has confirmed six cases of Covid-19

Residents of Highgate Care Home near Uddingston are being closely monitored and strict infection control measures have been put in place.

NHS Lanarkshire said all relatives and staff were being informed of developments.



I didn't suggest it's pleasant but Mum's generation knew that many would die of it.  I think that the situation you describe is when people should be helped ........... unfortunately the UK Government were too slow to stop people coming into the country 

It's not the pneumonia itself that seems to be the killer aspect of the virus but the fact that the body's immune response goes into overdrive shutting down all of our organs?

Taz x

[Sparrow]

Similar effect to sepsis then.