Bloody hell! Draconian, or what?
You are correct - the measures are being described as draconian by the media as well. To be honest I do not think they are draconian enough - I'm in London and still many people not maintaining the 2m distance.
Has anyone on this forum got or had Covid-19, or know anyone who has? I don't: there doesn't seem to be significant absence at work, and certainly no-one's off sick in my bit.
I know a 40 year old carer who got it - she is in intensive care - the hospital kept sending her home initially until her temperature really spiked.
But it was a little strange - I was in A&E in a south London hospital on Sunday for 8 hours - I had to take my husband's aunt in who was repeatedly vomiting and in severe abdominal pain. She had no temperature, no cough, no diarrhoea and they first directed us to the A&E Green area and then decided to send us to the Red area for people with potential coronavirus. Apparently in the Red area the medical staff were supposed to be wearing masks and protective aprons but actually it was a mix - some were, some weren't. A senior nurse was telling the staff they should be wearing masks, but many did not comply - so it appears that even the NHS staff I saw (including doctors) are not being stringent about rules.
My aunt and I were put in a separate room and were asked to wear masks after about 2 or 3 hours. Nurses were telling the surgical team (doctors) and other nurses that my aunt had a temperature and diarrhoea - even though they took her temperature in A&E and it was normal - and I had to keep correcting the information they were giving each other and the doctors. My aunt was swabbed for Covid-19, they took bloods, did abdominal and chest x-rays, and an ECG in A&E over the 8 hours and she has been admitted with suspected pancreatitis (blood test flagged this). She is scheduled for an ultrasound to figure out exactly what is wrong. She is still vomiting if she has even water orally, still experiencing severe abdominal pain though IV paracetamol every 4 hours plus some morphine takes the edge off for a while and then she is back to shouting in pain. They won't do the ultrasound until the Covid-19 test results are in so the doctors and nurses seem to expect her to put up with the severe pain - the doctor has not changed the pain medication plan.
My mother, who is a doctor, says there is only limited things doctors can do to manage pain as there is a risk of respiratory arrest if the dosages are increased. She said this also applies in palliative care where patients are terminal and in severe pain - the doctors can't do any more about the pain as they risk killing the patient and they may get into trouble.
Anyway, just wanted to comment on the situation I experienced inside an A&E.
