Coronavirus and Anxiety

[Wendy31]

I really like this idea!

Or just combine all the coronavirus threads into one big thread...

 

[Toolulu22]

I try to look at Coronavirus news twice/day, in the morning and in the evening. That way I'm not getting all wound up about it by reading about it all day long.

But some days I can't help it. Like today I had to do some prep work related to my job. So I was all up in it today.

BTW--I realize the DIS probably won't set up a Coronavirus sub-forum, but I'd be for it. It seems like every other thread on the Community Board is Coronavirus related. Just seeing the thread titles is annoying.

Or a Current Events or News Topics sub-forum? People can post Corona threads there, and the next hot topic as well.

 

[cobright]

People acting this insane is making myself, as someone who deals with generalized anxiety, beyond anxious. I had to leave work early because I was having such bad anxiety. I didn't even worry about wiping down my cart, so it's not that I'm worried about catching it, but why are people stocking up on this stuff?

Imagine running out of toilet paper at a time when an outbreak has shut local business down for the rest of the week.

A lot of people who have lived through food insecurity are susceptible to this sort of worry, and buying a $100 worth of rice and oats isn't going to harm anyone.

It'll be no worse than when I got the swine flu back in the day.

Yeah, I had Swine Flu in 2010. I wanted to die. If it hadn't hurt so bad to do anything I would have walked in front of a bus. If Swine flue is the bar we measure against we should be a little more worried. Swine flu killed between a quarter and a half million people in about 2 years. It killed over 12,000 people just in the US. Swine flue had a case fatality rate between 0.01% and 0.08%. At the lowest estimate, the corona virus is killing 1% of its cases, making it 10 to 100 times as lethal.

Thing is, and we see this in one story after another, American citizens will not be quarantined except at the end of a gun and I don't see the states rolling out the guard to enforce quarantine. So, I'm not exactly worried, this isn't something my anxiety monster likes to run away with, but I'm sympathetic to those who are.

 

[MFL101]

Or just combine all the coronavirus threads into one big thread...

They did before, but then end up having to close threads because people turn them into political debates about medicare for all!

 

[MFL101]

Thing is, and we see this in one story after another, American citizens will not be quarantined except at the end of a gun and I don't see the states rolling out the guard to enforce quarantine. So, I'm not exactly worried, this isn't something my anxiety monster likes to run away with, but I'm sympathetic to those who are.

In NY they just rolled out the National Guard....to "clean schools"

 

[40ariel]

These are stressful times. My anxiety has certainly gotten worse lately. Daily exercise and guided meditation seems to help.

Mine as well.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

A little dated, but the symptoms do include the runs for about 4% of those who get this.

 

[Hikergirl]

Anyone else get an email from Best Buy about coronavirus?
What a strange thing to send out to people.

 

[skyblue17]

I can relate. I am not that worried about getting it myself, but it's hard to parse everyone else's reactions. The more germaphobic/health-related anxious people in my life are having a tough time and it's hard to know what to say and do. Everyone handles crises like this in their own way and they don't always blend well together.

 

[ronandannette]

Influenza is a respiratory virus.
It has nothing to do with the "runs"

So much misinformation, which of course is fomenting the panic. I heard a lady caller to a radio talk show yesterday very shrilly insisting that Covid causes bloody diarrhea, and that's why everybody is buying toilet paper. She was clearly very convinced - how many more are there like her or worse?

 

[morgan98]

Well, as I have posted before I am self quarantining and working from home due to my husband getting home from Italy last night at 10pm. I can work remotely, although I don't like it necessarily for 14 days in a row.

Anyway, yesterday I did go to the grocery store for about two weeks of food and wine. I shop regularly and there are only two of us, so it isn't like I had three over flowing carts. However, at my stores (maybe because it was Monday? - Publix and Whole Foods) were out of common things like ground turkey, some chicken, certain fresh fruits and vegetables. I bit annoying because I could have used some of that stuff. But no big deal in the scheme of things, I guess. I have my wine!

ETA: I am really not anxious. If I get it, I get it. I just hope we can sort through the impacts without completely crashing the world economy long term.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I am in no way prone to anxiety. BUT this whole thing has me doing internal freak out. I have a mother with very compromised immune system and a mother in law who is slowly dying from a heart defect. I don't think either one would be able to live through this virus. I have been in AR with my mom and the nursing home to see what protocols are in place to protect her as this gets more wide spread. I brought her lots of wet wipes to wipe down her and her roommate tv remotes, Ipads, wheelchair handles, phones and anything else they are constantly touching all day. My mom made the comment yesterday that if she gets this virus she probably wouldn't live through it and all I could do is try to reassure her she won't get it and be pissed off that I can't protect her from this.

Gathering is a way of protecting to an extent. And things like water, cleaning products and TP is gathering when there is nothing else to do but wait and feel like the damn plague is coming across the universe.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Think about it like this - all of this buying is helping keep the economic engines running. Stock prices have nothing to do with the economy. Consumers just need to believe that they will have a job tomorrow and keep spending to ensure that they still have a job tomorrow.

As soon as we stop spending, the recession is here and the job losses follow.

 

[cobright]

I’m confused by the whole thing as well. I don’t recall people being even a fraction as concerned about the last Ebola outbreak and that had the potential to be way worse, IMO. Now we’re talking about a disease that’s relatively mild in the vast majority of cases and the whole world is grinding to a halt. It baffles.

Yes I was more worried about ebola. That was a serious condition. Would not have been pleasant.

Ebola outbreaks self limit themselves in areas where they will do the most harm. 2013-2016 was the most widespread Ebola outbreak ever and it infected less than 30,000 people. Ebola is more like the '97 bird flu outbreak in that its high mortality rate made people who caught it obvious and transmission rates were low.

Corona works more like the flu in that respect. the flu kills 10-40k people a year in the USA but most people you ask haven't experienced the death of immediate family or personal friend from the flu. Maybe they've heard about a flu death from somebody, once.

Covid-19 is just getting started and will probably infect 40% of us. Even if it were only as lethal as the seasonal flu, that's 3 million people globally. And it could infect as many as 70% of us and it's almost certainly more lethal than the seasonal flu, by an order of magnitude.

 

[cobright]

I can relate. I am not that worried about getting it myself, but it's hard to parse everyone else's reactions. The more germaphobic/health-related anxious people in my life are having a tough time and it's hard to know what to say and do. Everyone handles crises like this in their own way and they don't always blend well together.

My wife grew up with food insecurity and this outbreak has her very worried. I don't see this as too irrational actually but my personal philosophical bend is somewhere between nihilism and misanthropic stoicism. So ... I guess if it's gonna get bad I just hope it does so quickly or not at all.

 

[gillep]

Anyone else get an email from Best Buy about coronavirus?
What a strange thing to send out to people.

Not Best Buy, but Target just sent me a Coronavirus email.

 

[RamblingMad]

Not Best Buy, but Target just sent me a Coronavirus email.

REI sent me the best one. Delta sent me the worse one. Lifetime Fitness was pretty blah.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Ebola outbreaks self limit themselves in areas where they will do the most harm. 2013-2016 was the most widespread Ebola outbreak ever and it infected less than 30,000 people. Ebola is more like the '97 bird flu outbreak in that its high mortality rate made people who caught it obvious and transmission rates were low.

Corona works more like the flu in that respect. the flu kills 10-40k people a year in the USA but most people you ask haven't experienced the death of immediate family or personal friend from the flu. Maybe they've heard about a flu death from somebody, once.

Covid-19 is just getting started and will probably infect 40% of us. Even if it were only as lethal as the seasonal flu, that's 3 million people globally. And it could infect as many as 70% of us and it's almost certainly more lethal than the seasonal flu, by an order of magnitude.

What concerns me about epidemics is their potential to cause harm if they can’t be contained and become widespread. Ebola, with a 50-90% death rate is far scarier to me than Coronavirus’s estimated 1% death rate. If I contract Coronavirus, I will likely recover with basic rest and minimal (or no) medical intervention. If I contract Ebola, I will probably die a gruesome death as my insides liquify and I bleed to death from my eyeballs.*

*I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific fact.

 

[Kitty 34]

Stay off the Covid threads, seriously.

And don't worry, soon we'll all have "covid fatigue" and everyone will stop caring.

Which probably means just stay off the DIS, news media.....pretty much the internet and TV.

 

[RamblingMad]

What concerns me about epidemics is their potential to cause harm if they can’t be contained and become widespread. Ebola, with a 50-90% death rate is far scarier to me than Coronavirus’s estimated 1% death rate. If I contract Coronavirus, I will likely recover with basic rest and minimal (or no) medical intervention. If I contract Ebola, I will probably die a gruesome death as my insides liquify and I bleed to death from my eyeballs.*

*I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific fact.

Unless you have one of the underlying conditions, then COVID is pretty damn bad.