Did covid screw anyone else's life up?

[girlmeetsboy]

Interested to hear on this as I have been reading a thread where people loved the solidarity of it all. For me it was redundancy, house lost, business lost and savings...

That is just the direct impact.

I personally use the arts - Visiting Galleries and live music as a way to socialise, and improve my mental wellbeing.

Humans rely on external stimulation to retain their sanity, and without the arts, we are not a society.

"It might be terrible but I don’t get why Long Covid is any different to people having ME or other post viral issues."
No-one is saying it's worse than other post-viral syndromes. The thread is specifically about the effects of covid, however.
Long covid is different in that a) it seems to have different physiological effects, and its cause is not yet understood and b) it's affecting a vastly higher proportion of the population.

Yes we seemed very eager to strip the humanity from people.

Through whipped up fear mostly

You may view the theatre, art galleries, live events, craft fayres, weddings and suchlike as frivolities that we can do without. You would have a very different view if that was how you paid your rent and fed your kids.

A characteristic feature of the last couple of years is people feeling entitled to decide what constitutes important and what other people ought to be prevented from doing. The easiest sacrifices are of course the ones that are expected of others.

One tragic image was of an elderly man sat on a bench by the beach alone - the local facebook group tearing him apart for being selfish and quote 'Scum'.

An elderly man sat alone, possibly dealing with the loss of a loved one, or his own illness, and treated like a murderer. I got kicked from the group for defending him, and I was a Covid Denier!

I think the harm to society is yet to be fully established.

My DS got shouted at in his Uni's library when he attended his "timed appointment" to pick up a book. There was literally no one else in, except the librarian at the counter. They had one of those airport style queuing systems which zig-zag sideways, which was completely OTT as "walk ins" weren't allowed, you had to book a time slot! He ducked under a few of the barriers and the librarian went absolutely ape shit at him! Just why??

I spent two years in lockdown working from home in an abusive relationship, I live overseas and so had no family support. He refused to leave because of the lockdowns, used it as an excuse.
I had lost my job when we had the first lockdown so was temping and had no stable income, and was afraid I couldn't manage the rent and bills alone with my DS and so didn't force him out.
Things were so bad I was drinking every night to block out the misery. He did finally leave a year ago and life is wonderful. I don't look back too much at this time as it's too horrific.

Has he looked at doing his expedition now? I think they get several years to complete and if he's done everything else there are various providers he could sign up with. Or did they make exemptions, I know they changed the rules for the residential so they could do it over two weekends instead of one week.

I hope he can complete it, I think it is a big achievement.

Humans rely on external stimulation to retain their sanity, and without the arts, we are not a society.

So many people posting about their MH on this thread (and the numbers in official stats are truly horrifying) yet many do not make any connection to the MH issues and the lack of the arts. As 'art' cannot be seen under a microscope so is not part of the Science fanaticism, it is seen as being irrelevant. 'Follow the Science' is one of the most damaging phrases known to humanity - and ironically the most reductionist way to look at life that is possible.

One tragic image was of an elderly man sat on a bench by the beach alone - the local facebook group tearing him apart for being selfish and quote 'Scum'.

I saw police moving elderly people on from benches on a seaside promenade.

Lord of the Flies indeed.

I live near a beach and it was annoying as DH is disabled and couldn't go to the beach as they blocked the car park and he couldn't get there. Walking along the prom was ideal for him as it was flat with benches at regular intervals so he could walk a bit and rest. People on here said to just walk locally but we live on a hill and he could only walk a few yards.

When things opened up a bit I'd order fish and chips and we'd drive down to the beach. I'd take plates, cutlery, glasses and we'd have a meal in the car. It seemed such a fun thing to do, to go out for a meal. Seems barking mad now.

Sitting on a bench having a rest whilst out walking was arguably never illegal anyway, in England at least. But the way in which the regulations were interpreted, by the police, politicians and in wider culture, meant that many people were effectively excluded from exercise and fresh air. And often these are people who would have most benefitted from it and would've been at high risk of covid themselves too: disabled people, elderly people, those living at high concentration without much space.

My degree is science based, by job heavily numerical.

I need the arts to provide me with as you say, the joy in life. Laughter at an open mic, the tingling of a live music acoustic show, the visual joy of a photgraphy show. All these things seperate us from a souless existence.

Without science we do not progress, without arts, we have no joy.

I spotted some police in the local park, sat down on a bench and stared them down. I was feeling distinctly grumpy and rather hoping to argue the toss with them, on the grounds of having an invisible disability and therefore needing to rest sometimes on a walk. I was rather disappointed not to get into a robust debate on the competing demands of the covid regs, the need for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act, and the need to walk DDog under the Animal Welfare Act.

Welcome to Wales!

It was literally illegal to purchase paper, books, toasters and dressing gowns in Tesco.

I saw a woman being escorted out by the police as Tesco refused to sell her a dressing gown for her eldelry mother who was rushed into hospital.

Mark Drakeford relished the control, and has blood on his hands for sure.

I keep kidding myself that I'm nearly back to normal, in reality I think I've aged about 20 years. A year ago I was very fit and active and now I have little energy and I'm so easily exhausted. This morning I vacuumed downstairs and drove to a local shop (a year ago I'd have walked) bought some bread and milk and came home and I've just been sitting here for 2 hrs and I'm hoping to have enough energy to make lunch and carry it upstairs to DH (he's disabled and in bed) can't see me doing much else today.

It's only 8 months for me and I know others have been worse and for longer but it is hard to see how much my life has changed. I have a responsible job, very flexible and had no plans to retire but I've handed in my notice as I feel like I've messed them around for long enough and it feels sad to be forced into that, I know I've had a good innings as I've worked for 54 years but it's losing choices.

This is very sad 😓 I often think that we were proper fools to follow these rules. At some point I just decided to carry on with my life as much as I can. Rule of 6 etc. never made much sense anyway.

The rule of six was crazy, crazy as an idea and even crazier re enforcement.

When it was brought in (and cafes etc allowed to reopen under "rule of six"), my DS and his Uni (campus) flat mates (8 in total) were happy thinking they'd finally be able to go out and enjoy a drink/meal together in different surroundings rather than their cramped kitchen. The college common room imposed strict bookings only rules, so they tried to book a table of 8 - no, not allowed apparently due to rule of six. So they tried to book two tables of 4 together - not allowed apparently under Uni rules, they were told they couldn't move tables together and if they booked 2 tables under the same flat number, they'd be given tables at opposite ends of the common room! These were people who were living together "as a household", cooking/eating together in their kitchen, etc., but the Uni staff wouldn't budge. It was as if they hated students - funny attitude to have when your job relies on them! Instead they went off campus and found most cafes etc were a lot more friendly/accommodating when they said they were living in the same flat, with the cafe owners understanding that "households" were exempt from the rule of 6!

Nowhere near as bad as some on this thread but we went into lockdown on my son’s 18th birthday. He missed taking his a-levels and his apprenticeship was cancelled. Apparently he would have been fine with this had he been a bit more ‘resilient’. God I hate that word.

I spent many months living on my own in a flat with no outdoor space. Was berated for taking my dog out more than once a day and had my car vandalised when I dared drive 5 minutes down the road to walk DDog somewhere different for a change.

My dad died yesterday having not left his home since March 2020. He was that scared of catching Covid.

I’m bloody angry.

I am an artist.

It was bonkers, wasn’t it. Today you mix with some people as a rule of 6, tomorrow with others, while these people followed rule of 6 too and saw 5 other people every day etc. What’s the point? How was this supposed to stop the spread of covid? Madness. Not going to the funeral of family member bEcAuSe CoViD. Beyond my imagination. We allowed it to happen.

It was mentioned earlier in the thread that we seem to be expected to just move on from covid as though nothing happened - I think the main reason the lasting effects of the pandemic haven't really been discussed on a national level is because since the start of this year it feels like we've been hurtled from one crisis to another without much time to reflect. No sooner did it become clear that the omicron wave was subsiding than the war in Ukraine started and everyone was panicking that it would become a world war, then it became clear we'd be facing an economic crisis, then monkeypox appeared, then it started looking like China might imminently invade Taiwan, the policy on energy bills was stuck in limbo while everyone worried about it, nuclear tensions with Russia flared up again, the government fell apart and we changed prime minister twice, and now people are talking about running out of fuel and potential winter blackouts. If it had been a 'normal' year I think there would have been loads more discussion about the aftermath of the pandemic both in the media and in everyday conversation, but people are still too busy being battered by the present to have the spare mental capacity to process the previous two years in the way we probably need to, and I expect this is contributing heavily to people's feeling of not being able to move on and get their 2019 personalities back.

Agreed, psychomath. The Ukraine war was a horrible setback just as everyone was trying to get back on track. For both the practical and economic reasons and emotionally.

@ancientgran I'm so sorry to hear this, it's so debilitating. My DS has tried, with some success: no alcohol, meditation (helps with the brain fog), gentle yoga, fenofexadine (antihistamine) and is about to embark on a low-histamine diet, to see if that has any effect. He's also found support groups online to be very helpful (subreddit). I wish you all the best for your recovery

I agree with so much of the above. The idea that "the Arts" are some sort of frivolity which can be thrown away at will is just absurd. Quite aside from the fact that art exists in our society for a reason, the idea that those who work in the arts should just have accepted the complete decimation of their livelihoods is just baffling. As a PP said very succinctly, "the easiest sacrifices are of course the ones that are expected of others".

And the vitriol towards people who were doing perfectly acceptable things still shocks me now. The speed at which people turned on others going for a walk or sitting on a bench was horrific - if I'm being considerate I'd say that people's fear manifested itself in a need for control, which included the control of others. But so much of the vitriol was unforgivable and those perpetuating it never seemed to think beyond their own needs. The idea that things like buying a dressing gown for a hospitalised relative would be made illegal should be made the stuff of satire but it wasn't, it was our reality.

In many ways I was fortunate - I had a form of exemption which, along with my personal circumstances in terms of where I live, allowed me more freedoms than others had and I freely admit to having flouted rules because I thought they were wrong and I felt that the balance of risk between breaking the rules and damaging my mental health was a risk worth taking. But others didn't have those opportunities and suffered accordingly. I know quite a few people whose mental health is absolutely horrendous as a direct result of covid restrictions.

I'm glad that the cost of lockdowns - along with the lack of benefit of many of the obligations that were foisted upon us - is now being highlighted but those who were responsible for it all, especially for those who abused their power, should be made to face up to what they did.