I lost it. The computer screen got it right between the eyes. The dog hid under the desk as I gave vocal vent to the emotion the onscreen message incited. It may have been an over-reaction, but it was probably just the final straw. The culprit was another of the public information messages reminding us about the current mass quarantine. This one pulled no punches.
“Don’t go outside. People will die.”
Tell that to the emergency and medical services…who are not ‘services’…they are people, with partners, parents and children they are trying to keep safe while they go out to work every day, trying to help the rest of us. Tell it to the farmers and growers who work outside and without whom we would be lacking a lot more than toilet paper. Tell it to those in the testing labs, in contact with the virus every day. Tell it to the bus and delivery drivers, the postal workers, the refuse collectors, the staff in our shops, supermarkets and essential offices, few of whom have been provided with any kind of protection. Tell it to the people manning helplines, the good Samaritans delivering food parcels and checking on elderly neighbours, the teachers providing daycare for the children of keyworkers. Tell it to the carers who look after the vulnerable in care homes or in their own homes. Tell it to the warehouse staff working their backsides off, unseen and unthanked, to supply us with necessities both medical and domestic.
If many of these people don’t go outside… people will die.
And it might even be them, or their own families, as these are the people coming into contact with others outside their homes and at risk of carrying infection back home again.
I do understand the message the writer was trying to get across… but it is a time to consider the implications of words and how they affect people. The reporting on this crisis is doing more than enough to fuel an emotive response. We are all worried enough, without having the added anxiety of whether or not, by simply doing a necessary job, we will bring home something that could harm our loved ones. It is bad enough that curtains twitch and neighbours, who know nothing about your work, ‘tut’ at the daily sortie.
Heaping guilt upon these people for ‘going out’ is hardly supportive.
Whoever wrote that particular bit of ‘public information’ might just want to think about that…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
👍👏👏👏
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you, Sue. You are a caregiver and have to see to your son’s needs. Some people who are caregivers had decided not to go to work. I understand their choice but it does leave elderly and other needy people in a pickle in this time of anxiety and trouble.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My younger son, with two small children at home, is working all hours shipping necessary supplies too. I’m more worried about him.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
I’m with Sue on this! 🤬
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hear hear, Sue 🙏🏽
LikeLike
I know you are one of those still going in to school to care for keyworkers’ children, Ritu. It adds another layer of worry to an already worrying situartion.
LikeLike
Thankfully we’ve been able to close for the Easter break, but yes, will be back as of the 16…
It us worrying, Sue. Every time I step out of the house, then come back, the anxiety is there… Have I brought this awful thing into my home?
LikeLike
I know the feeling, Ritu, though I am more worried about carrying it to Nick who is otherwise safely ensconced in his garden.
LikeLike
🤗🤗🤗 Sue, I feel.l the worry xxx
LikeLike
I know xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I quite agree.
LikeLike
Thanks, Viv.
LikeLike
Regardless of all those messages that insist we stay at home and everything will be fine, we all know it won’t be. Nothing will be fine until we have a vaccine that works!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have no doubt at all that humanity will weather the storm…but the storm damage is not going to be pleasant for any of us.
LikeLike
it is a balancing act, fraught with many challenges
LikeLike
I understand the value of shock tactics… but I wonder if the person who came up with this would like to be having to go out to work under such conditions…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hear, hear, Sue. There a a lot of mixed messages around. We’ve to stay at home but then they want us to volunteer for the NHS and others. I was feeling guilty about not doing something to help but Jon has several underlying health issues and was not keen on me going off to shop or do other voluntary work and risk bringing the virus back. I hope when this is over people will realise the true value of the carers and the supermarket workers and the farmers – but you know what, I don’t think it will happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The confusion createdby such mixed messages isn’t helping anyone. Nor is the blame culture that seems to be springing up. You only have to listen to the silence out there to know that most people are simply doing their best to follow advice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I, too, am still working since my employer is considered essential. The chances are high that someone in our facility will come down with it and then spread it to everyone else. Given the choice, I would rather stay home and wait it out. Whoever wrote that announcement understood at least one thing – a two by four between the eyes is only way to make some people take the danger seriously. In this case, I think they did more harm than good. I hope you and yours remain healthy for the duration.
LikeLike
I am all for making people listen…and if that means being blunt, fair enough. But don’t use the two by four on those who are listening but still out there doing what must be done.
Many of those I love are still out working, many in envoronments that cannot be considered ‘safe’ at this moment. I am still going out to work too… and would dearly love five minutes face to face with the author of this particular slogan.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I understand. I’ll even hold him down while you have a go! I suspect a lot of people agree with you and would have appreciated a “thanks to all who are doing their part” message. We owe a lot to those forced to remain in danger.
LikeLike
Indeed we do…and not least for the injection of normality that they put into our days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The larger picture is always lost. No, don’t hold that party for 50 on your front lawn as a defiant gesture (true story hereabouts…)–but thank the people who are keeping you alive, throwing a lifeline to the rest of us, in word and deed. You are right to be angry. (K)
LikeLike
There are so many out there, working largely unseen and unnoticed, so that we can maintain some semblance of normality in our lives. A little empathy and understanding might be a better way to go than casting guilt and blame.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on pensitivity101 and commented:
I will add my five eggs and shame those who vandalise key workers cars, burn home delivery vehicles and spit in the faces of those in the front line fighting an unseen enemy.
There is the UK round of applause again this evening at 8pm for our NHS and all those who are trying to care for us. They deserve it, and much, much more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree ,very well said 💜💜💜
LikeLike
Thank you, Willow ❤
LikeLike
Pingback: Fuming… | willowdot21
These messages are just the pits. No one has thought them through at all. Morons!
LikeLike
A complete lack of thought taken to a professional level…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely. It is beyond disgusting
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am also sick of seeing messages like this. BTW, I’m glad I’m not the only one who shouts at my computer. I’ve often felt guilty for scaring my dogs in this way!
LikeLike
I think there is a danger of ‘over-egging the pudding’ too.
My computer and the dog are used to it… Ani just hides till the storm has passed. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good on you Sue, tell it like it is.
LikeLike
It rather got my goat, Jim.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree entirely with you. Actually in my last blog I quoted from a Lancet paper about the death rates. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30244-9/fulltext
A unique situation has arisen for quite an accurate estimate of the CFR of COVID-19. Among individuals onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, data on the denominator are fairly robust. The outbreak of COVID-19 led passengers to be quarantined between Jan 20, and Feb 29, 2020. This scenario provided a population living in a defined territory without most other confounders, such as imported cases, defaulters of screening, or lack of testing capability. 3711 passengers and crew were onboard, of whom 705 became sick and tested positive for COVID-19 and seven died,6 giving a CFR of 0·99%. If the passengers onboard were generally of an older age, the CFR in a healthy, younger population could be lower.7
LikeLike
I read that, Jim.
We do seem to be focussing on a reduced set of figures at the moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well in this parish, we have somewhere between five and seven people who have had it.
One went into hospital, was tested, but was out by the time the test result came through
Two discussed the matter with their doctor so it might be logged somewhere
Two have not bothered telling the doctor, and there is at least one who assumes he probably had it but frankly it’s bad to tell.
And that’s without those who have no symptoms whatsoever.
And of course the 24hr news cycle wants bad news 😦
LikeLike
It would be interesting to see the results if we ever manage to test everyone for antibodies…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I think so. There are statistically far more cases in Cumbria than you’d expect, but we have a lot of tourists and we people in Cumbria who had something like it in January and February
LikeLike
My area is not as badly hit as many, though we are not far from London here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I suspect it will be very varied
LikeLike
Yes, I imagine so.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having watched, with fearful intensity, the spread of FMD it strikes me that this virus was already in many centres before we noticed it. I don’t thing we’ll ever find the ‘first case’ in the UK who gave it to everybody else, because I think there were just so may who picked it up when travelling abroad, or when standing behind the counter in a tea shop taking an order from a tourist
LikeLike
I wonder how many cases were simply put down to seasonal bugs before we noticed…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, and apparently a lot of upper respiratory tract infections could have been caused by the virus as well. It’s just that they rarely test for what is actually causing it. As the wiki says, “In 2015, 17.2 billion cases of URTIs are estimated to have occurred. As of 2014, they caused about 3,000 deaths, down from 4,000 in 1990”
Indeed even if they did test they wouldn’t even look for corvid 19 and there would doubtless be other viruses etc in there they could blame
LikeLike
All we can do is exercise a little common sense and common decency…and get on with it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lot of people forget and the common sense and common decency 😦
LikeLike
I’ve noticed 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: A Small Gripe | sparksfromacombustiblemind
Our information culture of reducing things down to the lowest common denominator at it’s most thoughtless.
LikeLike
And heartless.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a positive message, not. You are right, Sue. xxx
LikeLike
I was not best pleased, Adele…putting it mildly. 😉 xx
LikeLike
I agree too, Sue! Well written. I hope there will be any chances in ones behaviour, after this crisis. It could not be the only one, and next time we should be better prepaired, anyway. Michael
LikeLike
One would hope so, Michael.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😉
LikeLiked by 1 person