My husband is scheduled for major surgery on Apr 28. This is a long-overdue procedure, and I worry that his health or that of his surgical team may be affected, thereby delaying the operation.
We’re in the over-60 group, but for the most part, we’re healthy. Still, you never know…
My number one worry, by far, is that I’ll lose my job due to societal panic and subsequent depression. That would be a disaster for me, and statistically likelier to cause harm to me and my family than the virus is.
From a personal standpoint, I’m mostly concerned about managing my life and my family’s life under quarantine or social distancing rules. I’m bummed that a number of planned activities are cancelled, but am fine with it because…
From a wider standpoint, it’s about public health, and the hope that we act aggressively enough to keep COVID under control, while not going overboard with economy damaging excess. I’m not concerned so much that what we’re doing right now is going to have long lasting economic impact, as much as I’m concerned whether or not this virus becomes an endemic feature of life. We don’t need another flu level disease on top of the flu we already deal with every year.
My dad is 70 with a chronic autoimmune condition, my wife and I travel a ton for work and my mom is a substitute teacher. I’m worried one of us will catch it and kill him.
I’m a little worried about the economy its been on the edge of a recession for a while and it looks like this may be what kicks it over the edge. I haven’t survived a recession in my new business so I’m worried that we may not. Luckily my wife works in mining so if you would all buy gold to hide from the recession I’d appreciate it.
Lastly my youngest daughter seems very susceptible to respiratory illnesses and while this doesn’t seem to hit kids if there is a 1 in a million shot she seems to hit it. This one isn’t a big concern but its there in the back of my mind.
I’m a contractor at a school, and if I don’t work I don’t get paid, other than my side-hustle at a bar. It won’t be dire, but it will really suck. I have service industry friends who work in music venues, which have all cancelled all upcoming shows. They are shit out of luck.
Maybe we can band together for a life of crime.
This. I’m 74 and have diabetes, kidney disease and a history of heart disease. If my husband and I get it, he’s younger and healthy enough to survive, but I’m a dead man.
I am concerned about my own health and how it would impact my wife and my children. In theory at 51 and not having any significant health risks, if I catch this I may be in for a rough few weeks but I should not be in a life threatening situation. My wife and I both have good jobs, insurance, and income to cover the medical expenses. That said, at 51, there is still elevated risk of extended illness or death. What if I expose my wife and both of us require extended medical care for a few weeks, who would take care of our children? Her parents are in their late 60s and 70s and highly at risk of death from this. My mother is in her early 70s and again at high risk of death from this. So if we’re exposed, we can’t rely upon them to take care of our children while we recover. Both of my children are healthy but young (5 year old, nearly 2 year old) but how at risk will they be if they get this? If I get exposed, how do we prevent exposing them while still providing for their care?
Close call between health of someone close to me (older relatives with already not stellar health) and general economy. I’ll likely be ok health-wise. I’m in a much better financial situation than most of the country. But I think the general economy is fucked and a lot of people are already hurting.
Honestly there are so many different ways this could go sideways that it’s hard to pick one.
One thing I’m not worried about is medical risk to myself or anybody I know. We’re all either in robust age groups, or in retirement communities with good safety protocols.
I’m definitely worried about the economy because the world economy is no longer discrete and complicated, it is complex and interrelated, meaning that that it’s incredibly hard to predict the relationship between cause and effect.
Given the slide toward authoritarianism in so many countries (especially the US), the erosion of stabilizing structures such as NATO, the EU, the Iran nuclear deal, it raises the risk of war, failed states, increased migration crises.
So, the combination of political and economic risk worries me most.
I have a close in-law who simply would not survive being infected. That overshadows everything else.
Of course I’m over 60 and so are my siblings, so one of us could end up a statistic. There are also financial dangers — my wife’s income could drop off the map — but we should muddle through unless the social/financial network breaks down (e.g. Social Security and Medicare become unsustainable).
There’s another insane conspiratorial thought that I can’t get out of my head, but this virus would provide perfect concealment for an “oopsie genocide” in countries with large elderly populations that already have a lot of financial pressure on their social safety net.
Like, if 10% of elderly Italians or Bulgarians suddenly dropped off the map, it would be a huge tragedy that would also massively shore up finances of those countries. It could be entirely intentional and nobody would ever know.
For me: childcare. Once the public school year ends, I’m afraid that many of the day-camps the kids are registered for will be cancelled. In a non-pandemic situation, we have a network of neighbors and friends who could help out with childcare. But that’s a hard ask when social isolation is needed.
I own a seasonal business- lawn care. I’m worried about losing customers if the economy really tanks (although a lot of our customers are doctors, so they won’t necessarily be hit by a tanking economy the same way other professions will). But I’m also worried about getting covid myself. This is the time of year I’m out doing consults and signing new contracts. If I’m in bed with this anytime between now and June, we’re screwed. I also can’t miss work once fertilization season begins. So basically I can’t afford to be bed-ridden anytime between now and October.
So that’s what worries me most, and that’s why I’m being a little neurotic about staying home as much as possible and disinfecting stuff right now.
I worry about my parents, both in their 70s with multiple pre-existing conditions. Yeah the survival rate is still 90% for people like that, but who knows if the hospitals will be overwhelmed and they can’t get a bed if they need it.
i’m also worried about the long term economic impacts of all this. I’m assuming it’ll take the global economy several years to recover from all this.
I’m really only worried about my mom, who is 75 and has a chronic respiratory condition. I may be vaguely worried about my husband’s job (physical therapist) - both for the people he treats (many elderly) and because there’s a good possibility of non-emergency surgeries being canceled (and his caseload is mostly post-surgery patients). But his company is large enough and established enough that I don’t doubt they’d survive a temporary slow down. Not worried about anything else.
When it comes to me personally, I’m mostly worried about missing a very important trip I have scheduled in June. I’m not worried much about my own health, as I’m 31 and have always been very healthy. My immediate family is in fairly good shape, with my parents in their very early 60’s but likewise typically healthy (my dad has some problems, but nothing extreme). My grandparents I worry about more, though. All three are getting pretty frail, and I fear none of them would survive getting hit by coronavirus.
In order:
[ul]
[li]Employment and income disruption[/li][li]Overwhelmed healthcare providers - If there aren’t enough hospital beds and ventilators and staff, it doesn’t really matter if you get infected with COVID-19. Any health issue could be a problem.[/li][li]Supply chain disruption - OK, so we stock up on supplies now, but what happens if this drags on and gets really bigger?[/li]The undying idiocy of my fellow citizens - 'nuff said, yah?[/ul]
Yep. Not a roll of ass-wipe within 100 miles.
I fear for health of the world’s population as a whole. If a third of the population gets it and 3% of those who get it die,you’re looking at the death of 1% of the world’s humans. There will be more people die from this than died in WW II. So far, one side of the US political spectrum uses it to gin up xenophobia and engage in utter denial of reality because Dear Leader cannot be shown to be wrong about any matter, great or small.
My elderly parents with existing health problems. If they get it they’re likely toast.