Coronavirus - usual sensible advice sought please

[LavenderBee]

Hi - I’m WFH and really limiting my time outside- truly only essential food shopping and mainly exercise done in the house or garden. Might walk couple of times a week outside in a very quiet area. My worry is should I be more cautious? Had a stent fitted in September 2019. Am very fit and healthy other than that. Live with husband but we do not shop together- I walk to the local shop once a week. I do go this morning and was quite surprised at how laissez faire many shoppers seem to have become. I was reaching for a product as another customer launched in front of me and asked if I wanted her to get one for me as well. Not an overreaction but I was quite taken aback. Should I be more self isolating? Made a great recovery last year and was discharged by my consultant in January. Feels a bit of overkill to contact the doctor really but definitely had a wobble about things today.

[Troilus]

Hi Highbury,

I think it is good advice for anyone who can to self isolate. Of course, whether or not you are able to do this or not largely depends on if you can get an online shopping slot.

Like you I have been surprised by people’s behaviour in shops. The queue outside is 2m apart, but once people get in there, a lot seem to forget.

For bits and bobs I find our local garage is best. All petrol sales ( not that they are busy) are done through a little window. If it is quiet the cashier will get what I want and pass it through. If I want a bit more stuff, she unlocks the door and lets me in.

Iceland release shopping slots during the day. The other main supermarkets tend to do it at midnight.

If you are an early riser I find 7am a quiet time to shop.

[LavenderBee in reply to Troilus]

Thanks - I’m usually very sensible and pragmatic about things but it really feels like people have just forgotten about social distances. Agree early is good - our local super market caters for key workers 7am -8 am so I’m running up as part of my exercise and then shopping as soon as I can and walking home with as much as I can fit in a rucksack and two carry bags. Can’t get any shopping slots and I also need to do bits of shopping for my elderly parents which I leave at the end of their drive. They are able to get a delivery which I sort online for them as they struggle and first one came last week. It’s hard to get them to understand you can’t always have exactly the tomatoes you want though!!

Thanks

[Troilus in reply to LavenderBee]

Could you add the stuff that you need to your parents order? When they unpack their shopping they could put your stuff in bags to one side. They could then leave it on their doorstep for you to pick up.

Might be a idea.

[onadiet in reply to Troilus]

Tesco are good with deliveries and there are lots of local food deliveries on Facebook for fruit and veg. Usually better quality.

[Chappychap]

You don't mention your age.

When it comes to managing heart related risks then age completely swamps any other risk factor, and I suspect that the arithmetic is very similar when it comes to Covid 19.

If you're over 70 you have to take social distancing very seriously, irrespective of your general health. Indeed, I guess it's this iron law of health risk (age is almost always the single biggest risk factor) that has informed the government's guidelines.

The second critical risk factor is gender, and as a female you're batting for the winning team!

Good luck!

[LavenderBee in reply to Chappychap]

Sorry - female(yay), 52. Non smoker, not overweight and very active with good diet.

[Hidden in reply to LavenderBee]

Stop worrying then! Why do you think you should contact the GP? Statistically you are fine, this is a disease primarily of the elderly and unfit. 66% of deaths have occurred in people who are overweight or obese. This virus is just compounding the obesity epedemic that we had already in this country, you sound like you are doing everything right.

[Sunnie2day in reply to Hidden]

So much easier said than done, LG, so much easier

[Sunnie2day in reply to LavenderBee]

Your risk factor is probably low - but it doesn't hurt to avoid risk.

Re the ill-mannered lout who reached in front of you, wear a home-made mask next time. My husband says people see his and they go out of their way to avoid him thinking he's wearing it in case he's asymptomatic and is trying to avoid infecting anyone! (He also lets an old pair of large Marigolds hang out of his front pocket)

[GracieOS in reply to LavenderBee]

I know it is easier said than done but try and keep the risk in proportion. At 52, active, healthy weight, female etc you are unlikely to be at the highest risk. Even with a heart condition, especially if you've been discharged. Age is still above all else the single biggest risk factor. 9 out 10 deaths are in the over 60s, over 50% in the over 80s according to the National Statistics Office. The media focus is currently on deaths, not so long ago it was on the fact the 80% of cases are mild. We will begin to see a return to that original message as we move forward with this. Take precautions of course. I'd suggest not watching the news and limiting social media for a while, that's what I've done. I'm 57 female, reasonably fit and active with heart failure and an autoimmune condition.

[benjijen]

I think you just have to do what you can to mitigate the risk. It's very difficult to suddenly change behaviour as people seem to go on auto-pilot when out, especially shopping. I have an on-line shop once a fortnight at the moment and local in between. It's far easier to keep your distance from people in larger shops and I've found that most are doing it on a 'one out, one in' basis which seems to help.

[Ianc2]

I have 3 snoods, one to wear, one clean, one in the wash. Instant bandit mask. I am 75 and I like my exercise so I shove one round my neck and out I go for about 8.000 /10. 000steps. I am determined to keep fit and active.

TRST - what sort of mask do you wear? I am thinking about becoming an urban spaceman, moving in a hostile environment. I have absolute confidence that people will go back to work and for them it will all become just another Flu, along with all the coughing and sneezing, wiping noses on back of hands, pinching the snot away, etc. For them a nuisance, for me possibly deadly.

I did see a fantastic full face mask, designed for use in grain silo's. If you fall in you drown as your lungs fill up with dust. Over the top? too expensive ? Can't find it but I will keep on looking.

I think the flu season starts later in Spain so I am investigating doing a runner in late autumn. But will the plane get me? Should I wash the pilot and cabin crew down with disinfectant before I get on? (steady on old chap). Are they all out to get me? Does Trump have the secret of eternal life? We are doomed, doomed.

[stillaboveground in reply to Ianc2]

Oh dear

[LavenderBee]

Sorry WFH is working from home acronym.

[Qualipop]

I have ben in a local shop just once for something that couldn't wait. The shop assistant was the worst, pushing past me to stock shelves , one annoying woman who took 5 minutes to decide which pack of bread rolls she waned. The worst was a father who kept sending his son running round the shop in all directions to get things he'd forgotten. As for masks, I bought a virustatic snood. The anti viral properties of the material sound good but like anything else, who knows? See the "virustatic" website for a description. I have seen people on TV wearing them.

[onadiet]

I think a lot of us are over anxious. But necessary precautions are needed. Wear face mask and keep distance.