What is the point

I'm old myself and sick of the sentimentalised attitude towards old people who have already lived full lives

A serious over generalisation. Many older people have had very restricted lives - many women denied careers due to the attitudes of their day, lives without the labour saving devices we take for granted now, lack of an NHS to treat their illnesses, men conscripted to war, stunted education, unequal pay, limited travel, mental health issues not even recognised as a condition, even attempted suicide was criminalised until 1961!

This isn’t an ‘old’ V ‘young’ situation - it’s a virus that has taken 42,000 lives in the UK (probably more). It’s a crisis overseen by an inept Government who reacted too late, prepared insufficiently, puts vested interests first, has lied and chopped and changed its response to events so few people know what is the right thing to do.

We went into lockdown to save LIVES not the NHS.

You believe that? We went into lockdown as the NHS is screwed and Johnson was shit scared the NHS would be fucked over even more than it is now.

Saving lives? That's not on their agenda at all.

Im sorry but it is 20-45 year olds that account for 90% of infections. Nobody is throwing them under the bus. Those of us who follow the rules are being thrown under the bus.

I'm angry at ppl who dont SD or wear masks, those who dont quarantine, ppl who've had house parties with too many ppl and those at illegal raves.

If ppl were more considerate of others we would be much closer to getting our old lives back.

And in other news, somebody somewhere today had a serious accident and lost their legs/their husband/their child/etc.

I don't think anyone is being unreasonable for feeling a certain way about things and everyone will have a different experiance of the current situation.

I had a health scare this year and while there was a slight delay I still got tested and seen by the relevent people. I've think the NHS has been really efficent as at all my appointments have been really quick, no waiting and telephone appointments where appropriate. I know this will vary region to region but I hope people know that all other treatment hasn't just stopped.

You need to reassess your way of thinking now, no point in making yourself unhappy, and downbeat about everything. Most people are being affected by things this year.

shocking the mythical “counselling” so readily advised on MN is not so readily available in real life. There is no NHS face-to-face counselling now, it’s all by phone, which makes it limited. The services are overwhelmed. Anyway, people don’t want to talk to counsellors. They don’t want medication. They don’t want therapy. They want their lives back. For many of the patients I speak to there is literally nothing I can do, beyond 10 minutes of sympathy every few weeks.

And good job you're not a psychiatrist. Do you think all their patients spontaneously generate their illnesses with no environmental trigger? Of course not. Do they have a wand? No. Do they successfully stabilise mood etc? Quite often! Would it be nice if they didn't have to? Of course.

A few weeks ago Chris Whitty said we were at the limits of what we could safely do and that if we want to reopen things other things would have to close. At the time it was said that reopening schools might mean closing pubs, but I think this is the alternative they have chosen. So reopening schools is the priority which the government has been clear about. I do agree it is important for children despite the risk to teachers and people like me who work in the school. That is not ideal and don't get me started on year group "bubbles". But in general if the price we have to pay for getting kids back to school is this reduction in social gatherings I think the children have to come first. They do need that social contact and their education.

minty

It's worrying that you don't know what you can do.

Life events will always be there. You do what you've always done-direct and treat as you can, and distinguish between people who are ill (needing treatment and likely to respond ( and those who are actually ok but finding it tough (so not ill).

Those of you saying people should speak to their GP - I’m a GP, what do you think we can do? People aren’t suffering from “normal” depression. They’re despairing because their lives have been messed up. I can’t get their business up and running, I can’t get them their job back, I can’t cheer up their unhappy kids, I can’t put money in their bank account, I can’t pay their rent, I can’t restart their hobbies - the list goes on.
I am absolutely convinced that deaths due to lockdown measures will outstrip deaths from Covid by many thousands. Poverty and suicide will be the memorable killers of the the Covid 19 pandemic .

Very proud of the young people I work with

Some are now the only workers in there households due to furlough or redundancy

Coping well, they are not stupid, they can see it’s not going to rumble on untilll they are old themselves!

And why the fuck should they wear masks? They are about as much use as the plague masks of the 17th century.

There is a very large body of scientific and medical opinion that would disagree with this.

I'm tired of existing this meaningless shadow life now. Life has felt pointless beyond servicing my family for months. I'm not depressed, but existing in a continued void through the winter and every hope being routinely smashed within days could tip it.

This was the first week where I have to purposefully get up in the mornings. Where I have places to be.

I need to get DS1 an EHCP. Lockdown happened soon after diagnosis. He's only y5, but really we needed to see the secondaries at their autumn open evenings so it's not a rush decision next year. We are in serious danger that Covid is fucking up his secondary school life if we make an ill-informed choice now plus paperwork backing up in an ineffective system. He coped well with a quiet life in lockdown... but the toll of it is yet to come and could be felt for years.

I gave up my career to support DS1, and all those props that I use to give my life external meaning have been sacrificed for 6 months already and could be in imminent danger of being stolen from me again.

I am tired.
I am angry.

The national social and economic cost is worse than the disease.

My dad dropped dead in the street of a heart attack when I was 11. No one banned beer and cream cakes for the greater good or to stop another child's heart being ripped out by grief.

This is a long tunnel of shit. Logically, I know that there is hope, an ending because we can not quash basic human social needs and destroy the economy for ever. But we're 6 months in and stil being treated like pawns in an ineffible game of chess, and could easily only be halfway.

Covid is not the only threat to life and health.

On a bright side, it pushed all the Brexit babble way down the agenda.

OP I agree with you.

I know 2 people who have had Covid. Both survived.

I know of at least 3 people in my local area who have committed suicide since March due to their MH deteriorating massively as a result of lockdown, financial and social pressures.

My DC have just returned to the gym/ swimming, to football training, we were all looking forward to Parkrun restarting. I was about to rejoin my Slimming World class. At least some of that now is on indefinite hold and they are bloody fed up with it all. As am I frankly.

We've observed the rules; I hate masks and think they're useless but I wear them. However in every shop I go to 50% of people are wearing them so either their nose or mouth and nose are exposed - what is the fucking point of that?

Not to mention illegal raves, people going abroad and not quarantining, no one social distancing at all. Stuff plastered all over social media yet absolutely nothing is done.

Meanwhile people are dying because they can't get any treatment for their non Covid related illnesses.

Why on earth wouldn't you want to kick the can down the road to a certain extent if there's a good chance of a vaccine next year? Are vast sections of our society really so expendable that we can overlook the difference an emerging vaccine makes to the covid landscape? It doesn't erase the hardships of lockdown but it does make the argument for shrugging our shoulders indefensible. This is in all likelihood temporary. The 40 000+ people we have lost are never coming back and many lives are damaged by that. Young people need their parents and grandparents and everything that comes with not being flattened by a covid surge, basically.

OP, young people need services that haven't been flattened by a covid wave. We're not going to leave you to die if you get ill, are we. Well then, we'll have to treat you. So if you want to help the younger generation, stay home. Don't suggest you're somehow sacrificing yourself and helping young people by advocating for a more 'normal' life.

Lockdown has merely kicked the can down the road.

^^
We need to kick it down the road until we get a vaccine though. And / or a reliable treatment.

areal

Are you aware that recent research points towards an improvement in young people's mental health over lockdown? It seems that school is a bit stressful for many kids and they improved without it. Who knew.

Also, I do wonder if younger people have been coping ok because things have been improving from their perspective - easing of restrictions, lifting of lockdown etc. The prospect of losing this may make all the difference.

If you need medical help with your mental health, see a doctor. If it's not bad enough for that, I find it hard to believe you're suffering that badly

Do you think it's meaningful to wait until a vaccine will probably be available next year? If no, why on earth not. You'd presumably be willing to put your life on hold to have chemo if it meant buying time in the future. Whether you approve of the measures being taken, this works out broadly similar in many ways.

If you do think life will once again be meaningful next year some time, your OP is a very nihilist and catastrophising way to view a temporary predicament.

The government will not be remotely interested if you sit in your PJ's and don't brush your hair so you might as well make the best of it for now. There's lots of point. We're not all succumbing to Ebola. We're just curtailed, lonely and fed up. Unless you really consider you're not well, in which case see above.

Makes my blood boil you lot writing in here that young people are coping well. Maybe a few are in your little lives but that's not significant overall is it, so why comment? Listen to GPs who are increasingly overwhelmed by the mental health crisis caused by lockdown. Completely concur with OP - get over yourselves oldies and let young people be prioritised. I'm old myself and sick of the sentimentalised attitude towards old people who have already lived full lives.

I don't think YABU, OP. Am not sure I can manage to chivvy my DC along much more. DC2 is in Y6 and has started to realise how much she's going to miss in term of 'the lasts' this term alone - Christmas services and productions to name but two. DC4 will miss out on a small birthday tea with his friends just after the new rules come in (DC3 had the same, one day after the March lockdown started) and his first Nativity, and his start of school
has been so different. DC1 is now 3 years from referral for an ASD assessment that we finally had arranged for April and got cancelled. And after one visit all year to their grandparents, looks like that's off for the foreseeable future. They've all been so good and made the best of it - not sure how much longer they can do so.