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?

As a nurse I see the impact daily as the effect on waiting times, staff morale and shortages has been immense and devastating.

At home I have mild long covid that impacts my sense of smell and my fatigue levels. One of my children has long covid which has made their school attendance levels around 75% and impacts them daily.

In some ways we enjoyed the sunny lockdown days of feeling relatively safe at home, but I think it’s make the school return tricky for the kids. Hubby WFH though which has freed me up for work and helped him adjust his work life balance for the better.

On the whole the impact has been negative.

I've lost a much loved uncle, long term health problems, my finances are only just recovering and my employer has moved reduced office size to enable more home working.

It didn't change much about my life at the time, except it was odd viewing the world behaving so differently, nothing changed within my world.

I don't see any vestiges of it remaining now out and about, but in fairness I live in a very rural farming community, even at the peak I only saw a few people in the village wearing masks etc, but the population is only around 300 and very few paid much heed to social distancing, by the end of the summer of 2020 it was more or less done here, second lockdown the pub closed again, but farming life went on.

No one seemed to get it until the following April, then we all got it en-masse!

Others experiences, for example in the cities, will have been completely different.

I permanently lost my sense of smell.

Oh, and about a quarter of my pension!

The only change for me is wfh, which I hate.

Both my DILs said that it was a plus but they missed seeing the school work. School went back to normal the last school year.

I didn't know a single person who caught it in the first 8months. Not even friends of friends. I knew it was happening but it wasn't happening in my world (other than lockdown /social distancing)

We caught it about 18 months after it started, thankfully not seriously. I don't know anyone who became seriously ill from it. We were very lucky.

The only change is dh works from home some of the time.

My mum died alone and terrified on Christmas Day 2020 of covid. I’ll never recover from knowing she was alone and we were unable to be with her.

Hybrid working is the biggest echo of Covid still in my life.

Both mine and DPs surviving parents and grandparents were high risk and had to isolate. We made the decision for him to move in with me so we weren't risking getting them sick, and we wouldn't be alone.

We're still living together, which is great, but sadly his nan passed away a couple of years ago and he was very sad that Covid 'stole' a big chunk of her last years.

You must know it affected people differently?
I breezed through it. Still went to work as normal in the city centre, and I didn't even catch it.
However other people's experiences are completely different.

NHS won't recover in our time. covid drained all resources out of NHS quite effectively.
But clapping was bonkers. Never understood it.

My daughter died at 28 years old from COVID after a week on ICU, so yes, it happened.

I had Long Covid for nearly 4 years. Couldn't stay for all of my daughter's wedding celebrations because of crippling fatigue. Only in the past few weeks have been able to walk for more than 20 minutes. Still worried I've been left with brain fog....It certainly wasn't a non event for so many people.

The work flexibility I have now including the WFH. The amount of dads now doing school runs and toddler groups- I feel like this was a huge shift forward. More expectation now that you don't come into the office sick rather than the old battling through. Timed entry slots to attractions that never used to have them.

For me personally though, I feel like my youngest child wouldn't be here without the pandemic- I was experiencing secondary fertility with over a year of trying and then got pregnant a month after we we all sent home to work. I don't think it was a coincidence. I had been really miserable at work but was hesitant to risk jumping ship and get caught out with no maternity pay, and I think that breathing space from the office was everything.

It was a pandemic of 2 halves…. either you were healthy and didn’t suffer or you were very ill and/or traumatised.

I was very ill and traumatised, the whole experience was made harder by others who weren’t affected being insensitive. “What’s all the fuss about it’s only a cold”, when you could have died and left your babies and husband alone.

Yes, I work on an acute ward, and we had the sickest patients outside of ITU - we look after level 2 patients. I sorted out my death admin (Will, letters to the kids etc, list of passwords/financial info, letter with my wishes re: guardianship of the kids etc) and sent my DC to stay with my sibling just before first lockdown happened. I'm still haunted by some of the stuff I saw. It broke our hearts seeing patients dying alone (apart from one of us nurses sitting with them, and doing video calls with their families so they could say goodbye), and also having to triage who would get the CPAP etc. We lost friends/colleagues. I'll never forget it.

I count myself lucky that I didn't get covid until 2022, and that I was able to keep working during lockdowns (it must have been very difficult for people living alone and not able to go out to work/do their usual routines). Also very lucky that my DC were ok. I do love the online parent evenings though.

Statistically it was no worse than most winters albeit labelled differently.

There were more deaths the following year than there were during the pandemic however it was reported in a very different manner.

Standard winter flu is brutal but accepted as part of life.

I think it highlighted the callousness and individualism rife in society – thankfully in contrast to the dedication and caring of others...but the contrast was palpable.

Heartbreaking 😢 so sorry for your loss.

I’m so sorry for your loss 😢

My mother died. My father in law died. Two dear friends died.
It changed my life.
You are so very lucky.

My eldest who started school in 2020 is noticeably behind with social skills and confidence but that may be sue to SEND. My youngest was born in 2019 and didn't talk to anyone outside of the family until he started school. He was painfully shy and part of me wonders if the lack of early socialisation and nursery workers wearing masks had an impact.
Lockdown destroyed my mat leave. Went from lovely days with my chilled out baby to caring for a now demon, screaming baby, a 4 year old, supporting terrified FIL through cancer treatment after his wife died while DH worked 8-6 upstairs. Returned to work as schools reopened, everyone was terrified and the workplace went from a place I'd loved for 10 years to a toxic environment and I handed my notice in during the second lockdown. No furlough for either of us, no sunny days eating banana bread in the hot tub that everyone seemed to buy.
Friend was an A&E nurse and has PTSD. Being told to get wills in order, having to name who would get your death in service money and rules and availablity of PPE changing daily.

On a day to day basis DH now works at home FT and I still find COVID tests and masks from time to time. Random half bottles of hand sanitiser and still seems signage around. Still very much in mind.

My mum had COPD, she had stopped smoking and was about ready for an operation that could have extended her life. The isolation and not seeing us all because we were afraid she might catch it and die meant she started smoking again. The operation was cancelled due to covid. By the time we came out the other side of it all she had lost significant lung capacity and muscle tone as she had to isolate longer due to being vulnerable and not being able to do her usual walks. We are pretty sure it was a large contributor to her passing away in 2023 rather than having had the opportunity of the operation and breathing exercise classes etc.

Other than that I've felt the impact more since covid. Shops closing, everything becoming cashless, cost of living crisis etc. I kept working through covid so had a degree of normality in that i could see other people outside my family, although I was always worried that I might bring it home. I hated that my children had to home school themselves though because they were home and I was working.

I am permanently scared from what Covid did to my family. One member suffered alone for weeks on end, I was advocating for them so spent hours on the phone to hospitals. We were “lucky” that we managed to get them home before they died. Another family member now needs full time care and I’ve had to reduce my hours at work to care for them. My SEN child suffered massively as a result of the lack of socialisation and the other child developed depression. My quality of life and mental health has seriously declined as a result of COVID.

Loss of smell and taste, which I still haven’t regained four years after contracting Covid. Life changing for me. Wfh full time, which I like, but which I’m well aware is probably making me very insular and increasingly anti-social. Anxious about how these things can happen so quickly, and how hopeless and scarey everything felt at the beginning of it, which has resulted in me stock piling stuff in case we’re ever in a similar position again.