Corona-virus - How worried are you?

pickledonionspaceraider

haha I saw that @Pollycat.  It got my goat a bit the way the first post is worded:-  'are they so bad at managing their lives they have to just live from day to day?'

Just another person who thinks the world begins and ends with the end of their own nose. Literally no insight into the fact that other people are not a clone of them/their lives , and therefore living a completely different life, in different situations.

MoneySeeker1

pickledonionspaceraider said:

haha I saw that @Pollycat.  It got my goat a bit the way the first post is worded:-  'are they so bad at managing their lives they have to just live from day to day?'

Just another person who thinks the world begins and ends with the end of their own nose. Literally no insight into the fact that other people are not a clone of them/their lives , and therefore living a completely different life, in different situations.

There is another angle on this though in fairness.

I know one of the reasons I have always been pretty well stocked-up with everything (ie long before this ever came along) is because it's a form of savings that the DWP can't get at and say "You're over the capital limit allowed for unemployed people - so we will have some of that off you thanks". Whereas any stocks of goods in my home didn't count as savings for those purposes and so full benefit would be due if unemployment came along - again. You learn to think like that if you ever have been unemployed (particularly if the circumstances it happened in were unfair - eg unfair selection for redundancy or unfair dismissal) as you never believe an employer will "do right by you" ever again if that happens to you.

Pollycat

MoneySeeker1 said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

haha I saw that @Pollycat.  It got my goat a bit the way the first post is worded:-  'are they so bad at managing their lives they have to just live from day to day?'

Just another person who thinks the world begins and ends with the end of their own nose. Literally no insight into the fact that other people are not a clone of them/their lives , and therefore living a completely different life, in different situations.

There is another angle on this though in fairness.

I know one of the reasons I have always been pretty well stocked-up with everything (ie long before this ever came along) is because it's a form of savings that the DWP can't get at and say "You're over the capital limit allowed for unemployed people - so we will have some of that off you thanks". Whereas any stocks of goods in my home didn't count as savings for those purposes and so full benefit would be due if unemployment came along - again. You learn to think like that if you ever have been unemployed (particularly if the circumstances it happened in were unfair - eg unfair selection for redundancy or unfair dismissal) as you never believe an employer will "do right by you" ever again if that happens to you.

I - and a number of posters on the OS board - have stocks of items for different reasons to those you outline above.

If I can buy a pack of 4 tins of tomatoes/beans/tuna and get one free or buy a jar of coffee, pack of toilet rolls etc for half price and I can afford to do that and I have room to store those items and I'm organised enough to  operate a rotation system, why wouldn't I? Even though i can afford to pay full price for items.

Doesn't it make MSE sense?

If you read the thread in the link I gave, POSR's comments will make perfect sense.

ndf9876

Anyone would think it's the end of the world or some kind of zombie apocalypse happening....good grief, who needs to buy tray upon tray of tinned tomatoes? Panic buying begets more panic-buying and then things start to go silly. 

Personally, I think most of us are going to get this in some way, shape or form. I think most of us will feel rough for a couple of weeks, then be fine. I think the seasonal influenza is only slightly less lethal, and I think many are getting in a twist over very little, hyped and and sensationalised by certain media outlets.

pickledonionspaceraider

@MoneySeeker1 

@Pollycat

Yes exactly - The slow plodding along, the accumulative buying of grocery offers, when we have a few spare bob.  If somethings on offer, I would likely buy more etc...It's good MSE sense and IMO it's pretty normal behaviour for me, - but its completely different to this panic buying , people are going into Aldi and filling an entire trolley with toilet rolls. 

I think that's selfish. The panic buying I mean. Cos not everyone can afford to do it, forcing a shortage so those people getting weekly monies struggle to stock up

ndf9876  Yep definitely panic buying only creates a shortages where there would have been none
 'many are getting in a twist over very little'...Hmm we will see. I have to admit I feel very nervous but I don't have a garage full of 7 Billion toilet rolls

MY GOD, if a zombie apocalypse did come, we would be ridiculous.  We would be fighting back by throwing bog roll hahaha

Gers

We are more at risk from measles which spreads much faster and easier than this new variation of a cold / flu virus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49394170

pickledonionspaceraider

The same measles that many have been vaccinated against with the MMR? @Gers

amandacat

I went to Tesco earlier, toilet roll was still available but was down to the last dregs. Paracetamol and Ibuprofen was empty apart from a few over priced Nurofen and hand gel all gone. Normal hand wash was nearly all gone. Also bottled water was low,  do people think the taps will stop working?! Strangely tonic and soda water were low. I saw a lady pick up a whole tray of surface disinfecting spray. 
I'm not worried personally about the virus, I'm not in a risk group to be killed by it but I understand the need to be worried for the elderly or those with health conditions. If the disease was something like Ebola I could understand the panic but I think the media are creating hysteria. It does make me think though about the impact and consequences if a more deadly disease became a pandemic. 

savingfortomorrow

I have stocked up on perishables, but I generally have well stocked cupboards. I tend to have extra in case of seeing a bargain or loosing bank cards or storms. 
The virus is worrying because of the affects on older and vulnerable groups. if you can have extra in to limit unnecessary trips to supermarkets, it is practical. I am worried for family members. 

MoneySeeker1

One thing I've noticed is that I'm going to have to be aware of how other people "should" be doing their jobs, as well as my own part in any transaction. Paying rather more by card than cash at the moment - and the other person in the transaction has gone and grasped hold of my card to hand it back to me (even when I'd made a semi-jokey comment to start with of "Better pay by card, rather than cash, with the news right now". Errr....hellooo....wakey....wakey...I said that for a reason. One can't remove all possibilities of people handing something to one with dirty hands - but they don't even seem to be thinking about how to do their jobs more "cautiously". One evening out and one telling-off of a cashier that went to take my card out of the machine for me, when I was obviously the one to take it out, followed by me holding my ticket up carefully for the person that monitors them and they proceed to take it out of my hand (as per their should-be-former practice). It's little bits of things like that that make me despair about just how bright (or, more likely, otherwise) many members of the human race are (or not!). I swear most people go through life with their brains half-asleep....

Though the stupidest one to date was the checkout assistant in supermarket that kept coughing into her hands and then used those hands to pass my goods to me (errr...hello...hadn't she read the "cough into elbows or a handkerchief" info?).