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?

To you, and to all those with Long Covid. Don't give up...I caught Covid in January 2021. Long Covid made me so ill, that at one time, I told my husband I thought it would kill me (okay - I did am dram, but even so....). Nearly 4 years later, and I'm 99.9 % recovered. And to all those who lost loved ones, and to those whose lives have been irrevocably changed..I'm so sorry 😞

With respect, as I know we are comparing terrible circumstances here, this is said with no ill will or malice

You don't know what the consequences of alternative actions were.

At least for the first lockdown and the winter lockdown, until vaccines were rolled out. We saw what happened in Italy, Spain, New York. I remember the horror in Merseyside hospitals as cases peaked many times. You've heard the stories in hospitals and care homes here. I am no fan of the government, and some crazy rules were made, but the overall balance was an impossible one

I’m so sorry, that’s horrific.

I know that there is huge damage for the long term.

I know that one huge problem with lockdown is that it’s much easier to lock down than to unlock. So we managed to push a second wave into the winter by staying locked down until September 2020 when by June/ July there was hardly anyone in hospital. And this made it worse not better.

@Floralora1 I missed your post but just saw it via @hellywelly3 reply.
That is truly awful and I took am sorry your DD and family suffered this way.
So sorry to all those whose pandemic bright such tragedies and pain as have been shared here. 💐

Migraine frequency suddenly increased massively immediately after my first bout of covid. I now have around 8-10 a month.

That decision always bemused me. Whatever one's views about whether lockdown was positive or not, and working from what I think is majority acceptance that we couldn't have avoided one in March 2020, why did we push it back so long? We knew a second wave was inevitable. Chris Whitty said as much.

What I never understood was that initially, the first lockdown was said to be required to "flatten the curve" but then the narrative seemed to change to be aiming for zero cases, as the first lockdown did indeed "flatten the curve", but we were VERY slow to come out of it even once the curve was flattened. It caused the second wave to happen in September/October just as kids went back to school and students went to Uni! which was very bad planning. We should have come out of the first lockdown a lot sooner and quicker and then we'd probably have had the second wave in Summer, when the schools and Unis were closed and people could be outdoors, so limited restrictions to "flatten the curve" again, and then we'd have been spared the wave in the Autumn. "Flattening the curve" doesn't mean zeroising it - there should have been a daily number of cases which was an acceptable balance of not doing too much harm in other ways which would have meant we didn't need the extreme restrictions for so long.

Agree, we pushed the second wave in to autumn/winter which was the absolute worst time and why it was more severe. We would have been better opening up earlier and having a second wave in the summer.

Yep. And that way, the fear might have abated sooner as well. Making the first lockdown so long probably prolonged the fear of reopening, terrified people more and more, making returning to normal more and more politically impossible. And the constant moving of the goalposts made people like me more and more suspicious that restrictions were going to become permanent by stealth, along with the phrase "new normal", and the signs appearing everywhere. Spending a small fortune on signage made it look as if it was all going to be very, very permanent.
"Reviewed in three weeks."
"Three more weeks."
"In twelve weeks, we can send the virus packing."
"We need to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the brakes on reopening." (August)
"Normalish by Christmas."
"It would be inhumane to cancel Christmas - oops, I've just done it."
"Just until over 70s are vaccinated."
"Just until over 60s are vaccinated."
"Just until over 50s are vaccinated."
"Significant normality by Easter."
"Irreversible roadmap to freedom in June."
"Oops, I meant July."
"There might be seasonal restrictions."

As far as I am concerned, lockdown flattened everything (business, the economy, mental health, children's wellbeing) but the "curve", whatever that was.

I got the impression it was considered politically problematic after the first couple of months to say to people that actually, we do want quite a lot of you to get this virus we've been deliberately trying to frighten you with, and we want you to get it sooner rather than later to help manage flu season. If you bear in mind that by late March, were talking about deliberately trying to raise low risk people's perception of the threat to themselves, it's hard to swing away from that in only a couple of months.

So maybe that's the answer. Maybe if the government hadn't deliberately used fear based messaging with the aim of making people more scared, we could've timed the second wave better.

I had two work friends medically retired with long Covid (one in his 40s and one in his 50s).

I've had long term health problems since getting Covid in March 2020 and I now work part-time from home as it's the only way I can do my job without spending entire evenings and weekends in bed. I've put on a shed load of weight as I no longer am able to go running or to the gym and my self confidence is through the floor, but I realise I've been luckier than others.

Indeed.

I am now pretty staunchly anti-lockdown. But I actually think a short lockdown literally to flatten the curve and work out what the hell to do was justifiable. But with what happened, schools shut till September etc I wouldn’t ever support such an action again.

This is part of the trust problem we have now. People consented to lockdown and other restrictions on a rolling basis, a few weeks at a time. They do feel differently about a restrictions period of 2 years, which is what it was in England by the time we got rid of isolation requirements. I understand Scotland was a bit longer.

@Teateaandmoretea
I know that one huge problem with lockdown is that it’s much easier to lock down than to unlock. So we managed to push a second wave into the winter by staying locked down until September 2020 when by June/ July there was hardly anyone in hospital. And this made it worse not better.

Do you mean in terms of schools opening up fully before the end of the summer term? As there definitely wasn't a full lockdown in place as long as until September 2020 - we went on holiday (UK) a couple of times that summer and there was the much maligned 'eat out to help out! They started bringing some restrictions back toward the end of the September.

Wales was three weeks longer 🙈

I think many had an issues with the schools staying shut whilst the pubs opened…
Schools should have been the first to open.

I don’t remember the pubs opening when the schools were still shut ? Although parts of it all feel a bit surreal

anyone else look back and feel like it was all so surreal ?

I do! Most things actually opened first. I got on a flight in July 2020…

I'm back at the office by choice and convenience but my profession and colleagues in my department are now largely WFH.

I'm more comfortable at home than out now, I don't cope as well travelling but still enjoy it.

The attainment gap in my daughter's junior school class is enormous and is probably partly due to months in the early years where some parents taught their kids 1-2-1 whilst others had only screens. Not judging as it was most often due to what the parents' jobs were.

In fairness this happened in loads of European counties not just the UK. Lots announcing lots of different level ect… of threat when actually it turned into two levels the be extremely careful level and the full lockdown level. I think there was a point where public health professionals and experts thought it would be possible to reduce the cases enough to manage them through contact tracing. There was precedent for this in Asian countries.

But the contact tracing was never good enough.

Contact tracking I remember that. A QR code or write all your details down. Went to Cheshire oaks. Had to use sanitizer entering every shop. And the clickers only X number of people allowed into the supermarkets here. One in one out.

Our youngest now suffers with anxiety and depression after covid as she was being bullied and realised what had happened during covid. She is now on tablets and has counselling.

Yes agree the amount of children affected mentally is insane
I hope your dc will be able to overcome this with time and treatment xxx

Our middle DS was in Y13 so didn't sit his A levels. He worked so hard for his GCSES and was working hard for his Alevels ( both state schools) He had an offer from Pembroke college Oxford , results day was absolutely hideous, that very ill advised
algorithm messed up most of the results for the students, soo much upset on the day.
He did do his masters degree at Pembroke but it was a surreal experience starting at Uni.
I think the whole experience for that school year was extremely challenging for them.