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?

My sons 2023 GCSEs were definitely impacted and no consideration was given to his year group whose boundaries were abnormally high. It meant he missed out on one of the subjects he had intended to study at A Level. I still hate visualising him at school being forced to wear those awful masks all day.

I have had severe fatigue and body aching since having the vaccine which I bitterly regret having especially as the vaccine I had has now been banned - the only reason I finally went for the vaccine was because I stupidly got too wrapped up in the daily death rates on the news. My GP thinks it is long covid symptoms, but I’ve never had Covid. I am on a long waiting list to see a specialist.

Lovely goady thread. As an ICU dr yes it still impacts my life and actually a lot of patients we now see in ICU have had Covid a few times and now have complications of it

Haven’t lost anyone to Covid. I’ve never had it either, but the impact has been financial - husband lost his job and his industry has never fully recovered. We lost all of our savings and are still trying to get back on our feet financially, but it’s been difficult with this government.

My niece had the Covid vaccine when she was pregnant and her child is non verbal and autistic - who knows if this had anything to do the vaccine.

Made redundant,used redundancy, pension money to try and avoid benefit system whilst looking for work had to admit defeat and claim.
I'm of an age where no one wants to employ.
Young man opposite us died at 34yrs old leaving behind his wife who also nearly died with two very young children.
A pp said it was a non event their either trying to provoke or are extremely stupid.

Long COVID for me and I havent been the same since. I also havr to have a heart ultrasound once a year due to being left with an irregular heart beat.

My autistic dd really struggled to settle back into school. School closures obviously disrupted her routine and the impact that had on her mental health was immense.

The transition period she was supposed to have to move up to high school didn’t happen and she ended up out of school for months. Online meetings with teachers didn’t help because what she needed was to be able to go into school and meet with them face to face.

All of this culminated with a suicide attempt which she thankfully survived. I will never forgive the people responsible for the harm that was done to our children.

The repercussions of COVID have left a lasting damage for many.
Situations like yours makes me angry when others are so blasé or deny the seriousness of what happened during the pandemic.

It does feel like people flippantly self-diagnose serious mental health conditions post-covid.

My friend has long COVID. I'm emotionally scarred by the experience of losing my wife to cancer during COVID restrictions.

@Joystir59 sorry for your loss and the difficult circumstances during that time.

I met my husband because of covid, we've now been married a year and a half and have a 6 month old daughter.

Also, near crippling anxiety, total distrust of government (or any authority to be honest), constant contingency planning incase of sudden immobility again and an obsession with bulk buying.

Well yes OP, plenty of lingering evidence of covid in this house.

I'm my DH's carer now due to covid destroying his lungs. We do manage the odd trip out though, unfortunately it's always to the local hospital.

Appreciating the fact that Covid forced many employers (and other organisations) to accommodate more flexible working/approach to meetings isn't the same as saying that Covid was a good thing.

More flexible working was one outcome of Covid; there were plenty of negative outcomes too.

REALLY, you're gonna do that?!

I don’t think the OP was being goady. I think she was just genuinely wondering on it and is obviously very fortunate that she is one of the ones who hasn’t been impacted longer term.

I think it’s incredibly important that we don’t forget the huge impact that covid had and continues to have on so many people. To me the responses on this thread have acted as that important reminder.

My heart goes out to all of you who have lost someone in such tragic circumstances and those who continue to be affected.

We lost all of our savings and are still trying to get back on our feet financially, but it’s been difficult with this government

"This government"? The government we have now is not the same as the government in power during and in the years after after covid.

My niece had the Covid vaccine when she was pregnant and her child is non verbal and autistic - who knows if this had anything to do the vaccine.

Vaccines don't cause autism.

Took a chunk of my kidney function, drove me into burnout needing anxiety medication. And DS 2 social skills hugely impacted even now. Definitely took a chunk off financially.

That feels like small impacts in the scheme in things. Thanks to all the medical workers and essential workers who did their jobs. I haven’t forgotten.

I got ill in the first wave and could barely stand up for 1.5 years. My friendship group were truly horrible about it, they kept meeting up in places I was too unwell to get to and it chipped away at my mental health, realising I was no longer of any value to them. I was about to work abroad for a year as covid hit, and being so ill, I lost that opportunity. Our house was going to be renovated whilst we were away, so that also didn't happen. It is now going to cost double what we were quoted in 2019!! Because I became so ill, I'll never be able to do that and i'll never have the career I would've. I was planning for pregnancy but that didn't happen either due to my illness. It meant that by the time I was well enough to consider it, I now had to go through IVF instead. It's cost me £30k so far. I was hoping for 2 more children but i'm scared I won't even get the one now but we're trapped in the smaller house so maybe it's for the best since I can't work enough nor afford the required extension.

My child is behind in schooling because I couldn't manage homeschooling, workload, all the home and pet responsibilities and my illness concurrently, and I feel anxious and guilty about that all the time. 2 of their friends moved away to be rural because of lockdown, their other 2 friends had severe MH issues due to lockdown and so they lost their friends too. They permanently lost their sense of smell, they can't even smell burning and I genuinely worry for their safety as an independent person.

I don't mean to be flippant but would bringing another child into this situation be wise?
The 30K you have spent on IVF would have got plenty done around the house even if it wasn't a full renovation (how bad is it, is it even pleasant for children to grow up in?)
If your existing child is so far behind another child will only take away your time to be able to help your existing child, at the moment you have the perfect opportunity to focus entirely on them so it should be relatively straightforward to catch them up!
I just don't see why another child would be a good thing for you.

My brother died in 2021 (not from covid) and we weren't able to see him technically. When I think of the last year and weeks of his life it does feel a bit sad that we couldn't spend much time together but I did break lockdown rules a fair amount to support him and his wife with childcare etc. In a "normal" year we could have done more, knowing how ill he was. We had to have a small funeral which also was a shame. So although covid didn't kill him my memories of that time are very tied up with covid restrictions and fear of being caught breaking lockdown rules.

I'm almost certainly one of the people who are naturally immune to Covid. I might be in a study about it soon.The lasting effect on my life is the change in working patterns which honestly suits me, I prefer it. But I don't want to say it 'worked out for the best' or anything because of what my friends went through - e.g. one doctor who got redeployed to ICU and is still in the 'I don't want to talk about it' phase, one person who wasn't critically ill but has never been healthy since, one person who got made redundant whilst on a work visa and the borders of their home country were closed.... I don't know how anyone can say it didn't affect them, we're affected by what happens to the people around us.

I'm the same, I still dream of the covid ward. Of the time our colleague died and another colleague lay on the floor and wailed in her grief. Of holding the phone on speaker so people could say their last goodbyes because they weren't allowed into the hospital to do it in person. I once did last offices 4 times before lunch. I was talking to a fellow healthcare professional the other day and we were talking about how spending months in firefighting mode has irrevocably changed our brain chemistry. But at the same time, it feels like I'm remembering a movie I watched rather than something I lived. It's very surreal.

My heart goes out to all of you who were so brutally affected by Covid and living with those consequences now.

We were incredibly lucky to escape virtually untouched by covid. My career has suffered as treatment for an unrelated health condition was delayed by a year to 18 months but fortunately none of us caught covid until post vaccination so got through it unscathed. Vulnerable family members miraculously stayed clear of it and no young children or teens to be affected.

A few of my friends had mental health crises as a result of the lockdown isolations, they lived alone at the time, and I know someone who caught covid and lost their hearing as a direct result.

Lockdowns were the right thing to do, in my opinion, but many aspects of them were mismanaged and I don't believe the government has taken on board the lessons learned. In fact, I seem to remember a report that no changes had been made to pandemic planning at all - the last bunch were too busy playing party politics.

I’m stuck having to visit my father on set days every week, and he continues to be frightened to go out. He had to go to the post office recently, and so wore a mask. It’s a shame that his last years are still affected.
A friend of mine’s brother died after a vaccination. Horrendous.

For me and my immediate family no long term consequences, though my DD has some permanent scars (literally) as she struggled so much with online schooling. Not sure why, as she keeps her cards very close to her chest, but when school had a problem and had to close for a week and lessons were online all week, I had to say she was unwell. She fell behind with maths (she was year 7 when covid began), and a few other things. Who would have believed she would leave school with 12 grade 9’s and is now studying 4 A levels and wants to study maths at uni. She really turned things around, all on her own, no tutor / family help. Super proud of her. It affected her a lot more than DS who was in year 11 and had his GCSE’s cancelled. He turned into a playstation addicted and started a Tiktok with 200k followers! He graduates this year.

For me I just carried on working throughout. Mainly from home but a small group of went back once a week in Sep 2020 and sat a few desks apart. As a people person I needed that interaction. We did hybrid anyway before Covid, so settled back into that, though I go in every day mainly as i’m so over home working (and my internet is terrible).