Evidence of the pandemic?

[LaceWingMother]

Just idly wondering whether it's clear from any aspect of my life that the covid era ever happened.

Fortunately, no one I knew died or became seriously unwell from it, DH and I don't work from home because of it, DC now going through secondary school as normal, I didn't make any large purchases linked to it (one friend built a home office and a feckless neighbour bought a now-neglected dog). Apart from a few face masks stuffed in a drawer and forgotten about, I don't think there's any evidence of it in the house.

Does the impact of the pandemic appear in your life now?

I'm glad OP that it hasn't affected you in anyway and it just seems like it was made up, but as you can read a lot of people where and still are very ill because of covid. Lots of people WFH and I think they should start getting back in the office because a lot of people didn't including me had the good fortune to WFH.
I totally agree with @BIWI

I was a nurse, visiting homes, during lockdowns. Afterwards, my team has observed, that those families with least after effects, seem to be those who ignored the lockdown rules. Those whose children were still meeting friends. Those families who put us at risk, by having the room full of visitors, when we arrived etc

I have PTSD from how ill my mum was - she spent months in ICU and has been left with only one working lung.

I have long COVID that means I had to give up a job I loved because I couldn't physically do it any more.

I had my first (long awaited ICSI) baby in Summer 2020 in a different country to my family and friends. He also screamed for the first 4 months all day. Being stuck at home, no where to go, no one to help... It's left a few marks shall we say.

Exactly. People are too quick to take offence these days.

Partner has long covid and had to give up work and is still very unwell

We will never recover financially from it

Thankfully I didn't know anyone who died of covid or suffered long covid.

My 2nd daughter was studying for a PhD in California when the pandemic broke out and ended up returning to UK because of it, developing her career here instead of there. So I guess without the pandemic she would probably be working now in Silicon Valley and have made her life in the US. I would say this is the most significant long-term effect of the pandemic for us

People are right that the level of alienation from government and institutions increased. Some of that was due to things outside our shores that the UK government didn't have any control over. China's behaviour and the WHO's response weren't our doing, for example. Then there are also some UK specific factors, such as the decision to deliberately try and frighten people into compliance without considering the impact on mental health. And of course, Partygate. These are ongoing problems.

One thing I'm really glad I did quite early on is identify that me and mine were in the collateral group, the ones designated to take one for the team because the policy response had decided to prioritise other people. And in fairness to our government, they had no choice other than to decide that some were going to be thrown under the bus for others. There was no way to protect all the vulnerable. They did, of course, have a choice about not making this clear.

Armed with this knowledge, my family decided that while there were some things we couldn't affect, we did have a choice about allowing our kids socialisation to be collateral. That's changed me. The knowledge that I have to be the protector and promoter of my children's welfare, and my loved ones generally, when the state decides there are higher priorities.

Yes it continues to effect us.
MIL died of COVID at the peak with BIL, DH, myself and our primary aged children gathered by her window. That was the best we could do.
Financially we are worse off to the tune of about £500/month.
It triggered health anxiety in my DM so we saw my parents about 6 times over 3 years. It's only now she doesn't wear a mask, but she still does in crowded places.
I still only meet my brother and his partner outside as she has a suppressed immune system.
I work in a primary school (and did back then) and COVID casts a long shadow. The impact on children cannot be underestimated.

The ridiculous appointment system at the GPs.

My husband was working in intensive care at the time. They came close several times to being overwhelmed with the number of cases.

What did you propose? That we let the virus do its thing and kill many more people, all of whom would’ve died without any medical help?

The pandemic has left me with a permanent dislike of the hard of thinking who post ill thought out shit on social media.

Hard to be sure I'm not imagining some things (or they have other causes), but:

• I get colds more seriously more often (I have basically been ill since mid-December)
• There's more antisocial behaviour round where I live
• People behave worse on trains
• People have less time to spend outside their families, even though they largely work from home

Wow this thread makes for some seriously solomn reading. 😔

For me, it forced me to change career and get sober, both of which have changed my life immeasurably for the better.

Well done! Always good to hear a positive sobriety story.

It’s a reasonable question actually. I look around at the amount of traffic on the roads and the fact that supermarkets have removed the sanitising stations and people now stand close to each other in queues and wonder did it really happen. But it very much did.

Scratch the surface and we’re all impacted. The NHS didn’t recover, and getting a face to face GP appointment is seen as a privilege. People will have illnesses we don’t yet know about that would have been spotted earlier. The knock on effects of that will be with us for years to come.

Isolation drove many of us to near madness. It put some people in real danger. One of my DC who lived alone was so traumatised by it that they may never be able to live alone again.

I agree looking around it’s hard to see what difference it made and on the face of it there might not seem to be much evidence but it’s there.

Incidentally, I'm seeing on this page an NHS advert saying "90% of brain growth happens before the age of 5". The irony!!!! 😆

Take note! So many hundreds of thousands of children were robbed of that development, with a large proportion of what should have been meeting people in their formative years sacrificed on the altar of "protect the NHS".

There’s been a big increase in lots of autoimmune conditions. Really seems to be a side effect.

My DH died in hospital on the same day that Boris Johnson was holding a Christmas party in No 10. I still blame Johnson’s spectacular failures to manage the pandemic for the wave of covid that swept through that hospital killing my husband.

Thanks for starting the thread op, so much food for thought here.

We were largely untouched directly by lasting hardship caused by COVID but the wider societal impacts affects us all of course and I'm sad about that as it seems to have hardened our cultural norms. It feels like there is less fellow feeling not more.

The effect on our collective psyche is significant, though it's impossible to quantify it. Customer service, for example, has never recovered; the air of 'honour thy key worker' has persisted.
Much of the cost of living crisis (which isn't actually a crisis, it's - to coin an awful phrase favoured by so many during the pandemic - actually a cost of living 'new normal') is attributable in large part to the economy being shut down for so long. Most in government were stunned by how willing the majority were to abide, without question, by ridiculous and arbitrary rules. It seems incredible now that no one in government felt it necessary to explain/forewarn that the financial cost would be huge.
I also think people are generally more insular and selfish. Mask wearing and isolating ourselves was sold as an 'in it together' effort, however it wasn't that. We weren't protecting each other, we were protecting ourselves. A culture of snitching and judging was nurtured.

I’m very aware of the impact Covid had on some families, so I count myself as lucky. I caught Covid very early, but was fortunate to recover, eventually fully. As an over 70 with a history of lung issues, I was aware I was vulnerable. I also live with DH, so not completely isolated.

Our little garden was a blessing when the weather was nice. We were able to keep in contact with our DC and DGC by Facetime, and we started having online supermarket deliveries, which we still do occasionally. DD is a nurse, who worked all through the pandemic, and we’re grateful that she, and our other family members survived, more or less intact.

I have to agree with others, the quality of many services has suffered, as has some general behaviour. Is that as a result of Covid?

Yes. Mostly. (One failure to connect last time but still better than the scrum in the hall)

Outwardly and at face value I feel like there's been no impact other than I now work hybrid. DS11 seemingly unaffected. I don't say this lightly but being an anxious person, I feel like I was mentally prepared for a pandemic and coped well.

More subtly, DH and my relationship has suffered. Being usually so sociable he struggled with being locked down and his mental health was impacted, although he won't admit it. Resentment also built...me working hardest I've ever worked (but enjoying it for the most part), him furloughed and homeschooling (not minding the homeschooling bit but hating lack of socialisation).

Mentally I feel I've come through it fine but I recognise my world has become smaller, which as an introvert feels nice but isn't really good for me. I go into the office quite a lot, which helps. I have colleagues who WFH most of the time and would say they've been unaffected but they definitely have been...they just don't recognise it...it's actually quite sad to witness.

DS was very sick and in hospital for 2 weeks mid pandemic. Not with Covid though. I remember those days often when I return to the hospital and have to queue for an hour to get into the car park. Mid pandemic the Children's hospital was calm, quiet and parking was plentiful.

Wish our school had carried on with online parents evening. It was so much better!
hours of standing about to miss several appointments because they’re running late…