Where are those who predicted 18 months lockdown now

[AfterAte]

Firstly I realise that the lockdown in England is only being eases not ended. I am also aware that it is entirely possible there will be a second lockdown necessitated by a second spike. Finally, I am aware of and grateful for the sacrifices of those frontline workers, sad for those who have lost loved ones and both aware and grateful for the sacrifices of those who died in the 2 world wars and in other conflicts.

On 21st March on this website a thread entitled "How long are you expecting this to go on for?" was posted. Several posters speculated that "this" would last 18 months or longer and others also said there would likely be a war as well. I realise there has been terrible suffering and my mental health has been I impacted. However, rightly or wrongly, the lockdown is significantly eased and plans are being made for a near future which can in no way be described as lockdown. I wondered if any of those who predicted 18 months would like to comment here and perhaps admit that they were wrong. I'm afraid I still see their motivation as primarily to drag others down, so I'm not holding my breath, but neither am I prepared not to call them out. They've ruined MN, and they made an awful awful time worse.

@Sharkerr completely agree. I see it in my place of work - usually older ladies making a big fuss of putting their mask on (they always wear gloves as we despite there being no point) and telling me all about where they got their ‘PPE’ from etc. if you want to wear a mask, wear it. I wear one too. But no need to go on like you’re personally saving the world by buying some masks from Poundland.

@Cheeseislife2020 - do expand on your theory - it’s quite interesting and oblique. You say that anyone who went a wee bit mad over the possible Covid fall out was because their lives were boring and they are jealous ?

People saying you will DEFINITELY have a close loved one die, people saying bodies will pile up in the streets. In reality I don’t even know anyone who’s had Covid. People are just SO negative and I think often have quite boring lives so saw/see this as something they can ‘be involved’ with instead of just being positive and trying to get to the other side. It’s like those slagging off people who want to meet up with friends and family, or go to the pub etc now - I’m inclined to think part of that psychology is because they don’t have any friends and/or have cut off wider family so they feel left out anyway, and seeing people get back to their nice lives hurts them.

I have pondered this. I have lost people, a loved one & family friend (both had underlying conditions). It made me reconfirm what's important in life & I couldn't wait to see loved ones again.

Jesus Christ what a tragically petty OP.

I'm not sure MN is the place for you OP. You seem far too invested and stressed by what is written here.

Jesus Christ what a tragically petty OP.

What a tragically petty response. No one makes you engage with a thread so beneath you.

They’re able to gain a small sense of authority over others, bossing people around in a socially sanctioned way, to feel a bit of power (‘I’ll report you for stepping foot in the park!’) while also puffing their chests up a little with the sense that they are the morally correct virtuous ones for following every rule to the letter.

Yup

You see the same people revelling in the same pro-conformist ways over any issue where there is a "right" way to think and behave. It's not confined to Covid.

Also, now that Covid turns out not to be that dangerous they are making up new pandemics to masturbate into a frenzy over. You can see it upthread. People so misinformed they thought the bubonic plague had "gone away".

• I think it’s been a weird blend of:

people with massively triggered health anxiety/agoraphobia/general anxiety catastrophising and panicking and sharing their every passing thought online (to desperately try and get some reassurance), and

people who just love a bit of drama, have quite small lives and just relished the opportunity to suddenly be part of something dramatic, exciting, and with a very mild tinge of danger to it.*

Yes, most people I know were just trying to get on with life as best they could. Most people are desperate for some normality & to spend time with friends & family while respecting its a difficult situation to navigate. If others don't then that's their prerogative but why be so sanctimonious?

Some of the people saying they wouldn't leave the house for a year have reason for saying this. They are extremely clinically vulnerable. My Dad is in this category. Whilst the shielding advice may have been lifted they may feel that it's not worth the risk especially if they have a lack of trust in government due to how the crisis has been handled. I think it's a perfectly reasonable position to take tbh, especially if you are retired and financially secure.

Other people were very very alarmed and saying all sorts but this has to be put into the context of many having lost friends and family and being in a state of grief-stricken anxiety or even post traumatic stress. Someone I know 'did all the right things', followed all the guidance and still got the virus. She ended up in ICU and 3 of the people who were admitted at the same time died. She has been on the news describing her experiences, telling people to 'stay the fuck home' or words to that effect. She almost certainly has post traumatic stress and is part of a group of a survivors group of people having a similar reaction. It's been publicised about how many survivors are struggling to cope psychologically.

And then we have the doctors and nurses who have to deal with this first hand. Again some have been suffering from the effects psychologically of doing that. Again this has been documented as post traumatic stress and there are documented suicides of doctors and nurses from across the globe.

So I'm kind of taken back at some of the comments about people being 'Debbie doom' or other such minimising nonsense whilst saying the OP is absolutely right in her opinion. The failure to put those who are extremely frightened into any sort of context is depressing. It completely removes the idea of how many people have died, are at real risk of dying (and maybe have come close to death) or have already lost someone they love.

The news waves have moved on from the daily death count to stuff about where we can go on holiday or where is open for a pint but for many they face months or years of rehabilitation and on going treatment. I have friends involved in this and are struggling with the sheer numbers and the heartbreaking stories of individuals who are fairly young unlike the usually older stroke survivors they have to deal with.

It's great news that survival rates are up as we've identified drugs which can help prevent deaths unlike at the state of this pandemic, but there is a darker side to this about what the implications are.

I'm perfectly willing to cut people who are frightened and saying all sorts about how it's really bad some slack for those reasons.

There are a few people on this thread who might like to reflect on this.

I didn’t believe lockdown was going to be in place for 18 months, but then again I really didnt know, neither did the Government or anyone else. We still don’t know, because we will only find out within the next few weeks whether easing of lockdown is working, and we may go straight back into lockdown. Areas in Spain are already going back into lockdown, and they are a few weeks ahead of us.

I'm glad they were proved wrong, they tried to extinguish any tiny hope or light at the end of the tunnel by screaming about a second wave. It was almost as if they wanted lockdown to go on indefinitely. They've scuttled away now like cockroaches now their ridiculous predictions havent come to pass and good riddance!

Whoa, Alexis. Just so everyone is sure: no-one wants lockdown to be indefinite, nor COVID to make a resurgence (as the lovely Nihiloxica keeps claiming).

TBH, the anti-dementors like the above have consistently annoyed me so much for the last few months that MN was almost ruined for me. But then I put my big girl pants on.

@RedToothBrush Not everyone has to think the same though. Like i said I have lost a loved one & a family friend. My dad is also shielding as very high risk. It was & is scary & definitely won't be rushing back to a packed indoor environment or a plane however I can look outside my own circumstances & realise why some might want to.

@fallsballs why do you think @Cheeseislife2020 theory is hard to understand? lots of people love spending time with friends & family.

Well pitchforks and flaming torches at the ready to round up these inconsiderate bastards and give them what for, eh!

OP and all of you whinging about it all being ‘drama’, ‘a hoax’, ‘scaremongering’ etc....look in the mirror and be thankful that you’re still here.

My best friend died last week, my best friend for over 30 years. She was on a ventilator for almost 4 weeks, on her own, no family or friends. But last week she couldn’t fight any more. She was 53 and, before anyone pipes up, she had no ‘underlying health issues’.

I’m so sorry if some of you find her death to be a ‘bit of drama’.....maybe she’ll resurrect herself in a couple of days and confess that it was all a hoax.

Get on with your lives and stop whining on about what someone you don’t know said on the fucking internet months ago. If you chose to believe that anyone’s guesses were gospel truth then more fool you.

Personally I really would not to take people’s personal opinions so very very seriously. They were just opinions. On a casual chat. On a virus few understood.

I was one of those posters that said it would go on until the spring OP. However I was more specific and said I expected the schools would be shut until august, lockdown would be eased and then likely lockdown again in the winter as cases rise again. Seems pretty accurate so far. Many people that posted saying it would go on for a long time weren’t trying to drag people down but trying to get people saying ‘oh it’s another swine flu’ etc to realise the seriousness of what was about to happen.

From postings on FB I’ve noticed there seems to be a lot of this attitude of ‘its over now, it wasn’t that bad’. That worries me because it’s just not true. However we have reached the stage of having to loosen things up because financially (among many other reasons) we just can’t continue strict lockdown. That doesn’t equal not needing it still.

This virus has not gone away. Things have not gone back to normal. Come the winter I fully expect it to be back though I would LOVE to be wrong about that and take no pleasure in stating that opinion.

I'm perfectly willing to cut people who are frightened and saying all sorts about how it's really bad some slack for those reasons.

@RedToothBrush well why not cut some slack to the OP then since those posters obviously frightened her? Or is it the usual Be Kind nonsense which is Be Kind to those with the same opinion as me?

What a shitty idea for a thread. Nobody still knows anything, much.

@Fallsballs no that’s not what I said. Where did I use the word jealous ? Not sure I used it ? You’ve straw manned that quite a lot ! @Sharkerr explained it better than me but what I mean is that people enjoy being ‘part’ of something. Some people’s lives are basically other people’s lockdown lives anyway. Go to the supermarket, maybe for a walk one day. Watch tv. Chat on the phone. Do some gardening. The pandemic has layered a sense of belonging, conforming, being part of something exciting almost, into it.

On a virus few understood

If a few understood it we’d have been okay. The problem is no one did and there is still a lot now that actually no one knows whether they are ‘experts’ or not.

In terms of taking opinions seriously I guess most people are actually just desperate for good news and so some people predicting Armageddon starts to drive everyone mad. Where we are now I can take the true nonsense with a pinch of salt but in March the whole thing was so so uncertain that anything was possible really.

They've ruined MN
Mumsnet always has been a bit shit in places, it's a website not a cult. No need to take it so seriously.

The country cannot afford another lockdown

Here is an example - thread about someone worried they won't see their parents for 18 months and some joyful soul chips in with a statement that it will be at least a year IF EVER. Just why?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3871787-Am-I-going-to-be-unable-to-see-my-parents-for-18months-or-longer

I suspect the OP is like this pp.
The thread given as example is nothing like the pp described.

Covid will probably stay with us forever or a long time until smallpox style eradication is possible.
And containment measures will last some time. The threat of covid will probably be important enough for the next couple of years, depending on a vaccine. Certainly until next year.
The 18 months mark was the estimate for a vaccine, which would help us get back to normal.

I really wish people would educate themselves about the issues through experts reported in the news. And did read posts properly.

I would be very surprised if the OP was able to find a post that said that lockdown would last 18 months.

I really wish people would educate themselves about the issues through experts reported in the news.

Just so patronising.

Who thinks Covid has gone away?

Nobody knew, everyone just had their own thoughts. Just like their’s now differing opinions on a second wave.

Why you would consider any posts anything other than individual opinion baffles me.