Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

SwingsitlikeHogan said:
I have a major dilemma on this matter.

I and a friend run a support group for very vulnerable individuals - all-ages, male, female whatever - it's for everyone and anyone. For many of the individuals - coming to the group can (literally) be a matter of life and death. And it is very important that the group is available for anyone to come along who hasn't been before.

The venue is open if we wish to use it.

What do I do? For me I'd rather avoid it and cancel the meeting.

But in speaking with my wife on this, and with her OK, I have decided that I must keep the group open for as long as government policy allows us to keep it open.

I will set chairs out in the room to give the necessary spacing - and might indeed pause the meeting every ten minutes for us to play musical chairs to avoid anyone sitting beside anyone else for 15 minutes. And I'll have to ask any with a cough - and there is one who has a terrible persistent cough - if they can perhaps isolate even more (sit in the corner of the room like a naughty boy) - and as a minimum cough into a tissue if he must.

Bottom line is that it is dead easy for me to talk about my principles in seeking guidance on doing the right thing - especially in a difficult situation - in trying to determine what is the right thing to do as opposed to what my will might want me to do myself or for myself - but thoughts without action are worthless.

Difficult. But I guess I must rely on my much maligned faith.
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Crack on including the social spacing (DO NOT PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS)
 
I am willing the government to be doing the right thing and praying that they continue to do it - but I just don't understand at all why front line service providers (health, police, fire services etc) who display any symptoms that might possibly be cv are not being tested - but are having to go into self-isolation along with their family. And it is a fact that many. many health professionals are married or partnered with other health professionals. And so when one goes down with a cough - they are both taken-out. Why are they not being tested immediately? I really just don't get it and if anything really worries me that we are not being told everything it is that.

I need to believe absolutely in the government and their chief advises.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
I will set chairs out in the room to give the necessary spacing - and might indeed pause the meeting every ten minutes for us to play musical chairs to avoid anyone sitting beside anyone else for 15 minutes. And I'll have to ask any with a cough - and there is one who has a terrible persistent cough - if they can perhaps isolate even more (sit in the corner of the room like a naughty boy) - and as a minimum cough into a tissue if he must.
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Wouldn't this increase the risk of it spreading through the whole group if someone does have it? If one person does have it and sits next to the same two people for the whole time then it's possible they could pass it on to those two. If one person has it and moves to sit next to new people every 10 minutes then it's possible that they could pass it on to everyone else.

Please don't take that as a criticism as I applaud you for trying to keep the group open as long as possible but the above sprung to mind when I read your post.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
I have a major dilemma on this matter.

I and a friend run a support group for very vulnerable individuals - all-ages, male, female whatever - it's for everyone and anyone. For many of the individuals - coming to the group can (literally) be a matter of life and death. And it is very important that the group is available for anyone to come along who hasn't been before.
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What does the support group provide, food, drink, beds?
 
ColchesterFC said:
Wouldn't this increase the risk of it spreading through the whole group if someone does have it? If one person does have it and sits next to the same two people for the whole time then it's possible they could pass it on to those two. If one person has it and moves to sit next to new people every 10 minutes then it's possible that they could pass it on to everyone else.

Please don't take that as a criticism as I applaud you for trying to keep the group open as long as possible but the above sprung to mind when I read your post.
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Absolutely - as OS pointed out but many thanks also. I'm just trying to work through how I keep the group going - but see how easy it is to get something totally wrong whilst trying to get it right
 
pendodave said:
I'm as Lettie as anyone on this board, but I have to say the guardian's coverage has seemed a bit off to me over the last few days. As for the comments below the line....
For example, they had a headline yesterday that deaths in Italy had increased by 16%. Maybe correct, but not especially insightful. It we had a steady 10 deaths a day starting from zero, the 3rd day would represent a 50% increase, it would sound terrible but wouldn't really tell us anything. But it sure looks scary as a headline.
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The problem with journalists is that they have been taught that the most important thing is the "headline "I.e. Use it to show how good you are, how to dive home the point of how good you are by dramatising the subject to its fullest. Truth?,Perspective?, - what's that?
E.g. It would be helpful to morale, etc if the press found out and informed us what the estimated ( by government) figures were on how many have the virus, as opposed to how many have tested positive.
Then the percentage of deaths to that figure would be more realistic as to the situation, though less dramatic "reporting"
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Spiritual (in it's broadest sense) support, companionship and advice, and a safe place to go for an hour or two.
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So not literally life and death then.
I would have thought putting lots of vulnerable people together in one room would be the last thing you'd want to do, especially when the experts advice is to self isolate.
 
Swinglowandslow said:
The problem with journalists is that they have been taught that the most important thing is the "headline "I.e. Use it to show how good you are, how to dive home the point of how good you are by dramatising the subject to its fullest. Truth?,Perspective?, - what's that?
E.g. It would be helpful to morale, etc if the press found out and informed us what the estimated ( by government) figures were on how many have the virus, as opposed to how many have tested positive.
Then the percentage of deaths to that figure would be more realistic as to the situation, though less dramatic "reporting"
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Yup. and why do presenters insist on shouting as if they were 'projecting' at a theatre - there are things called microphones !!
 
Swinglowandslow said:
The problem with journalists is that they have been taught that the most important thing is the "headline "I.e. Use it to show how good you are, how to dive home the point of how good you are by dramatising the subject to its fullest. Truth?,Perspective?, - what's that?
E.g. It would be helpful to morale, etc if the press found out and informed us what the estimated ( by government) figures were on how many have the virus, as opposed to how many have tested positive.
Then the percentage of deaths to that figure would be more realistic as to the situation, though less dramatic "reporting"
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The most useful thing to do would be to tell us how much loo roll the average person uses in a week. People might stop being so stupid if they realised that they already had a month's worth in the cupboard.
 
bobmac said:
So not literally life and death then.
I would have thought putting lots of vulnerable people together in one room would be the last thing you'd want to do, especially when the experts advice is to self isolate.
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It may be hard to believe - and sceptics might scoff - but I am afraid that it can literally be a matter of life and death for some. If it wasn't I wouldn't be thinking of doing it.
 
I read Sainsburys is to prioritise online orders for over 70s and other 'special' groups - Yet nowhere on my 'personal' account does it have any record of my age or infirmities- so how !

Their email are no longer monitored...
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
It may be hard to believe - and sceptics might scoff - but I am afraid that it can literally be a matter of life and death for some. If it wasn't I wouldn't be thinking of doing it.
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Talk on the phone, create a WhatsApp group but right now there's absolutely no need for any group to be meeting for a chat.
 
bobmac said:
So not literally life and death then.
I would have thought putting lots of vulnerable people together in one room would be the last thing you'd want to do, especially when the experts advice is to self isolate.
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Might be life and death in some circumstances. I'm a volunteer Caseworker for armed forces charities and some cases support, help and advice on a level that cannot be managed over a phone or Skype call unfortunately.
 
drdel said:
I read Sainsburys is to prioritise online orders for over 70s and other 'special' groups - Yet nowhere on my 'personal' account does it have any record of my age or infirmities- so how !

Their email are no longer monitored...
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Can they get your age from the credit card you will have associated with the account? And to be honest we leave a massive digital trace online and companies know so much about everyone nowadays, so getting someones age will be simple as long as it does not break GDPR rules.
 
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