Beck Vass: Coronavirus: the worst thing you can do is panic

"Please don't panic. Panicking only ever makes things worse." Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

As Beck Vass recalls a woman losing her cool in a lake recently, she is reminded why panicking is the worst thing we can do in a potentially threatening situation.

We spent Waitangi Day this year at Lake Rotoma in the Bay of Plenty. It's a stunning area. Families were enjoying boat rides and jet skis. It was one of those days spent in and out of the water, which was refreshing, clear and inviting.

Our friends, who were taking off for short rides on their jet ski, came back with serious expressions on their faces.

As I looked up, obviously concerned, my friend mouthed to me "that was a rescue" as they off-loaded a very shocked-looking older woman. They had just saved her life.

More on that later because what I am really here to talk about is coronavirus.

Just hearing the name is a little freaky. There's always something to panic about when you are a parent. Whooping cough, influenza, measles.

But please don't panic. Panicking only ever makes things worse.

Now, I'm no scientist, but if the past seven years of having kids has taught me one thing it's that so much of this stuff seems to be a bit of a lucky – or rather "unlucky" – dip.

It's easy to feel angry at people for viruses spreading, especially when there is lot of fear involved and when some aspects of this new coronavirus remain unknown.

But how do you stop it really? You can take all your precautions and everyone can do their bit but in some ways it seems impossible.

I know it isn't the same, but the first time we had a tummy bug in our home, I tried to clean everything. Bedding, light switches, walls, the toilet area and surrounds.

Everything that had been anywhere near where our daughter had been sick and beyond. I didn't touch my face, my mouth, or nose. I don't share drink bottles etc. I washed my hands thoroughly any time I touched anything that had been remotely close to anything that might have been near saliva or sick or poo.

I watched my son drink out of my daughter's drink bottle in between pukes. I waited for him to go down. He didn't. Or at least he never showed any symptoms if he did.

I still don't know how I went down, but I did. Four days after she did.

I take the same precautions with common colds. Sometimes I dodge them, sometimes I don't. It's hard when you have little people sneezing in your face.

You can take all the precautions you like but still skip something. If only we could see infectious bacteria with the naked eye.

Even then, you might do your bit to prevent everything, but then one of your kids or your partner doesn't have quite the same stringent control over their hygiene and they will get hit and give it to you anyway.

Maybe your hygiene wasn't quite as good as you thought it was.

Of course, there's no way of knowing how who gave it to you anyway. It seems impossible to catch every case.

I'm not writing this to make anyone panic.

I'm writing it trying to explain to that there is only so much you can do.

Please do it all - the hand washing, the mask-wearing if appropriate, self-quarantine if appropriate - all of it, do everything you possibly can.

But try not to panic about it, because more stress than you already have will only make things worse.

The woman my friends rescued had been on a paddle board. She was wearing a life jacket. She wasn't far out in the water. She was with her daughter. She could swim. She just fell off her paddle board and couldn't get back on it. She was trying to get on to her daughter's, but couldn't get up. She could have simply waited for her daughter to get her help.

There was no real reason for her to drown. Except she panicked.