Fear is a Contagious Disease

Panic in Washington State is insane. Seems the only thing the politicians can do is scare people. And they feel they are doing the right thing! In King County Washington, if you are 60 or over you are not supposed to attend any events. Bull crap on that. I am over 60. I will take precautions, but I will not stop my life in its tracks. Events with less then 250 people can go own but staff must be tested daily for covid-19. That is not possible because of the lack of test kits. And many have lost their jobs already because of closures. I hope I don't lose mine. Everyone has to evaluate the situation for themselves and their own needs and health. It MUST not be minimized (not even by the young), but the media and our leaders should also stop trying to instill panic in everyone. EVERYONE will get hurt by this. Whether young or old. Your neighborhood will get hit. You will learn of people you know who contract it. And you will be hit financially.

The WHO have today declared it a pandemic. It is a bit scary when you check local news channels and see local cases rise, even more scary if you have underlying health conditions. I agree with @Freya FEAR is contagious. I am not afraid of covid-19 but in saying that I fear for people related to me who have underlying ailments. The media are hyping it up, more hits for them of course but at the same times lives will continue to be lost. For most people we will be fine and recover.

Prayers for anyone affected by this or scared of contracting the illness, or loved ones contracting it. 🎈

I am the same way. I Guess I mixed feeling about it as far as wise as not knowing what’s happening in the world and people discussing it and I have no clue of what they’re talking about yet it’s so filled with negativity, destruction, and violence. it’s just so sad and I have enough issues going on

Can I suggest that if SF is asking (for very good reasons) that folk dont discuss the virus, that admin etc refrain from giving their opinion as if it was informed advice.
That includes not telling people to ignore what the media say - some of which will be overblown but some of which will be a life saver. If the media had not pushed the evidence and reality in the US, there would still be hardly any testing and Trump would still be going round telling evryone the numbers will "shortly be at zero" and it will "disappear, like a miracle".
Thing is to read the media (and listen to politicians) critically and think about the sources they cite and when they cite no sources.
So SF, please decide whether or not u want people to be able to discuss the virus; and, if you dont, then makes sense for u to also stop discussing it.
Sorry, am a bit grumpy this morning.

I'm not quite sure I understand. There are a couple of threads discussing it. Is it Ok to keep on talking there? Also, ignoring it is kind of ignoring something that might lead someone to come here and seek advice and help. This morning, for me, I have two men in the house who are potentially going to explode at some point and make my situation a heck of a lot worse. I feel that not being allowed to mention it is like not being allowed to mention any other trigger. Perhaps that is a bit harsh? I do understand how flooding the threads with it will be triggering in itself and I wouldn't support that either but perhaps just having specific threads where people go to voice concerns is OK. Maybe I misunderstood and I'm sorry if I have.

Also cancelled my two-week-long trip in April to the middle of Asia for a friend's wedding. It was my first time so far away from Europe ^^. But there's many silver linings for me not going, and not spreading the disease too obviously. I think she's postponing the wedding for 2021.

Stay safe, don't spread the virus and relax. ♡♡♡

I think this was written a little while ago when perhaps people were not informed enough yet, so let's not blame anyone, even if I agree in essence with what you said.

Now I believe we more or less agreed that NO information should be spread as "official" on SF, let's definitely not get political, this isn't the place to do so, but we can support each other in our anxiety and how it impacts our daily lives. There is a thread created for that purpose here.

Certainly, let's keep loving one another and spread peaceful vibes. ♡

I havent stop loving anyone. I dont give a damn about people's politics. Some of my best friends are conservatives. Though not sure how that happened!
And I love this site and think it and the admins and mods do an amazing job.
People may not have been "informed enough". But the point is that the original post was not informing them. It was giving an opinion which was in significant part political (as were subsequent ones).
The media have been an essential pillar of freedom and democracy for centuries. Without a critical media, "leaders" can do what the heck they like.
The media in the US have been relentlessly attacked by an increasingly authoritarian executive for three years now and it is a threat to American liberty.
So attacking the media can be deeply political and calling it out is imo warranted.
Its got to be one rule (no politics) for all opinions or no rule at all if SF is going to be politically neutral and welcoming to everyone.

The original post wasn't political @bobbob Its simply stating for users to look locally for the news that pertains to them. One sentence refers to people being concerned about economic collapse which was written in relation to what people are worried about and not whether that will or won't happen.
Saying we don't want the posts here - let's keep SF away from all that isn't exactly ground breaking. People can gobble up all the news they want anywhere on the entire internet. They can vent on every social media platform on the planet and they can call and text all their friends. But where can you be *away* from all that? Here. (at least for now)
What points of the post are you irritated by?

That being said, we're working behind the scenes on where to place a thread that people can vent about things or if that's something we want to do. We realize that people are triggered by things going on personally that aren't said to frenzy people into being scared - like @BlueGreen says above. She's trapped in the house and has things to say, and technically this is related to covid, but more than that it's related to "life right now" so it's not panic or media or fear mongering the masses. We want to try to come to some sort of neutral ground, possibly, that people can talk about what's going on without setting off every other person around here.

Just today there are a few threads popping up, presumably because people are starting to really melt down. We're moving them to the Tavern for now for decreased visibility instead of deleting them until we can talk about it more later today.

The Tavern posts don't show up in the sidebar so are less likely to be seen as a whole and require a bit more searching if you want to avoid them. They're also not accessible to the juveniles who should definitely be getting their news from somewhere other than SF.

Please do post about your family. We understand that things are hard right now. The fact that this is related to covid isn't making it an unacceptable topic. We all understand what you're saying when you're telling us you're all home together.

Hey guys something odd happened last friday I was out in a public place there was around 15/ 20 people at this place was on there for a couple of hours I kept hearing coughs from a guy in his 50s/60s. Person who was next to him asked he ok he said yea she told him to be careful from the coronavirus he actually said to her to late iv already got it. The women freaked out she shouted at him then everyone started to freak out to it honestly actually looked like the guy didn't give a shit. Anyway everyone got tested with some fancy gadget I don't know why we all got tested I thought we were gonna get told to self isolate. Anyway everyone was positive but I was negative freaked me out I was very close to him etc etc. Got call from my docs today to ask about any symptoms no nothing. If I get the virus as iv said on here before my body isn't strong enough to fight it.

Stay safe boys & girls my heart and love are with each one of you look after each other be there for each other and mostly are lives are important there special and unique....

I am sorry you are grumpy this morning and I do not blame you at all. I am sorry to disagree with you because you're one of the smartest people I know but the popular media is not the best place to get your information about this, especially if you are vulnerable to anxiety disorders and other mental health problems.

Your government's official websites, the verified healthcare websites for your country, the local authorities, the world health organisation... not "The Media". I am not arguing that the media is evil, nor that it does not have an important role in holding governments accountable but that papers make money by bringing people back to their publication is not an opinion, nor is the fact that fear is the strongest driver of that behaviour - checking for updates, seeing if things are 'still okay' or 'any worse'. There are, of course, better and worse media outlets in terms of information accuracy and blatant disregard for public safety (I won't be getting into a debate about which is which ) but unfortunately not everyone knows how to identify a reliable source or how to verify data presented and, most importantly for this forum, people overtaken by fear and anxiety are not necessarily able to read critically and rationalise the content they are consuming.

It remains my informed advice to remain conscious and careful, to remember that the media makes money from return readers and that fear drives return readers more prolifically than anything else and, most of all, to take sensible precautions for your health and the health of the rest of the community.

I like that post a LOT

Closed - please see new thread!