To think things are feeling a lot more negative this past week

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... Just that really.

Maybe it's just me but I was starting to feel really hopeful and positive but something has shifted in the past week (delays / local lockdowns) and the future is feeling a lot bleaker!

Just me?

Talking with family members yesterday we realized that none of us know what is meant by a second wave. What is the definition?

Has the government defined it in some way, is it Number of cases or hospital admissions? I've gone along with using the phrase and only now realise I don't know what exactly we're looking at to be able to say that it has or hasn't happened.

What does everyone mean by it?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/29/one-big-wave-why-the-covid-19-second-wave-may-not-exist-coronavirus

Amid continued debates over what constitutes a second wave, a resurgence or seasonal return of the disease, Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson, insisted that these discussions are not a helpful way to understand the spread of the disease.

She also warned against thinking in terms of virus waves, saying: “It’s going to be one big wave. It’s going to go up and down a bit. The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet.”
...
The reality is that the issue of second waves has been a contentious one, much talked about by politicians – including Boris Johnson – and the media, but often very ill-defined.

...
With no agreed-upon scientific definition, the term “second wave” has been used to mean anything from localised spikes in infection to full-blown national crises, leading some experts to avoid it.

A whole article with experts saying there's no generally agreed definition and it's not clear what's meant by it.

I’m feeling quite despondent. I’ve worked through it, after recovering from an operation just before lockdown (I was lucky to have it). I’ve just booked a camping trip with extended family, and I’m thinking it might not be wise.

The blitz type spirit has dwindled to a worry that this is it from now on.

I’m definitely feeling my anxiety levels rising again. I was feeling happier and more relaxed about things, even with having to wear a mask but now things seem to be looking bleak again. It’s all very worrying 😢

Agreed. I think reality is hitting. People have gone bonkers, which really is just back to normal. But normal doesn’t work anymore.

It's not going awa6until we have mass vaccination. Another year at least but the vaccine will save us.

I felt a bit more positive when the numbers were coming down, but now they're not, it's worrying me. I hoped that by winter our numbers would be quite low, so we could weather the winter without exponential covid growth on top of the usual winter ills.

I'm disappointed that so many people are being so stupid & selfish (loads of house parties around here & masses of teenagers mixing and sharing saliva) and the annual fair has come to town, thousands there over a few days, no social distancing or sanitising.

I don't understand how people can be so selfish & stupid. Then they'll all blame the Govt for numbers rising & whinge on about wanting the kids in school.🙇🏻‍♀️

I'm pretty much staying home.(except for exercising on my own - I don't have a garden so walk or cycle) & delivering shopping to an elderly relative). I'm trying to get a balance between enjoying the sun when I can & preparing the flat as best I can for winter. (I was doing lots of work on it which had to come to a halt, so I'm just trying to make it as nice/cosy as I can for this winter).

Too many unknown job wise etc I'll probably be made redundant come Sept (my job relies on boarding schools being open) and if not I might need to resign anyway (health issues that made me very unlikely to have a good outcome if I get covid). I'm trying to think of what I could do from home, but not been inspired by anything so far).

Haven't seen DP since mid March (i/we chose to lockdown separately because of his job& kids. It was the right decision for me & he supported the decision, but he's not coping well with lots of things and not being together to share the issues & feel loved isn't helping

No one else around here seems to be more negative. Everyone seems to be out partying, having large groups around for BBQ's etc.

YANBU- 😔
After all the sacrifices most of us had to make, this government managed to screw up everything!
They still don’t have testing, there is no track & trace and they randomly keep coming up with the weirdest and most misogynists ideas!
(Not going to forgive them for stopping the beauticians opening yesterday! 😡)

There is no light at the end of the tunnel, most of my friends think that we are the laughing stock of Europe! 😔😔😔

@Chicchicchicchiclana

Any reason you couldn't post this in the coronavirus topic?

When this was all starting up, a lot of people wanted it kept off the main boards as they didn't really believe the 'hype' so the coronavirus topic was started. I'd say that ship has pretty much sailed now tbh.

I think some people have thought 'sod it, I'm getting out there and enjoying myself before the inevitable long winter ahead'

YANBU I am so down this week. I'm sick of living like this. I was really enjoying being able to see loved ones again and have the odd drink in the pub and now... not to mention ds is really looking forward to going back to school in September.

It's all very bleak and depressing ..

@Grottyfeet

I'm wondering at what point we say a life lived like this is not worth living?

Can we really go a year or more where we never meet anyone new, where people living alone don't see anyone from one week to the next, where people's lives are effectively on hold?

Why would you not meet anyone new or not see anyone from one week to the next? Unless you are single and shielding?

I live alone and have met quite a few new people and since the restrictions relaxed I have met up with friends regularly in a SD way.

My heart goes out to any of you who really feel life is not worth living - can you speak to GP or get some help?

Some days I feel like I'm suffocating from all the worry I have right now. I cry most nights after putting my dc to bed wondering how this is going to affect their futures.

Life is very bleak at the moment.

It's very depressing.

A major international event I was meant to attend was obviously cancelled. We rebooked flights and hotels for next year. I woke up yesterday and realised it probably won't go ahead next year either.

Holiday cancelled of course. Nothing to look forward to. I've been working all the way through but I am just so bored now.

You're right it's got very bleak this week. I guess I suspected it was coming but my anxiety levels are higher now and my impulse to "stock up for winter" is strong again. I'm realistic logically though and keep telling myself I am prepared as much as I can for an awfully long winter and am concentrating on what i can do to make it less depressing. It eases my anxiety (coz prepared) and gives me a distraction.

I have kept myself busy throughout this and it has definitely helped, although my OH looks at me with this face when he sees me with my colouring book and gel pens

Yanbu. I start back to work soon (in a school) and while, as a PP said, I very much want schools to be open, the reality of how we're going to manage is really worrying me. In some ways I miss the height of lockdown when although it was boring and horrid at times, it felt easier to stay home. Now I can't, and I worry about what that will mean for my family. Also I'm dreading winter with a toddler, and I'm selfishly sad that a precious year with my child has been overshadowed by this- I'm one of those saddos who genuinely love baby and toddler groups!

I've felt this sense of dread about the winter since the start (working in the nhs) it was obvious how things will go looking at other countries. How on earth the nhs will manage covid and the backlog of other medical conditions is anyone's guess. Those nightingale hospitals will be back. I almost spat my tea out at Boris Johnson saying it will be back to normal by Christmas. That's insane!

Until we get a realible vaccine things will have to stay as they are.

I don't like this exsistance much ( masks/ social distancing) but we don't have a lot of choice. There are better days ahead and I want to be around to see them!

It's not great, is it. My cousin is getting married in Leeds soon, which is obviously adjacent to some of the areas that have had measures reintroduced. I don't think she is allowed to postpone by the venue. I'm in the SW and right now we can't go as we were supposed to be staying with my family in Greater Manchester! It's a small thing but she has very little family as my aunt and uncle died recently. Even local lockdowns have ripple effects to surrounding areas.

I've just started a new job and I live in fear of nursery closing again.

It is awful. This latest "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the brakes" by Boris feels like a massive backwards step. What are they aiming for, total eradication of the virus, without a vaccine? And do we have any authority other than Boris's word that there is a "slight uptick?" Figures are very easily manipulated. If Saint Boris told us that cases had doubled overnight, along with the population of flying pigs, some people would believe him.

Let's remind ourselves that with the scary death figures which are thrown at us all the time, the government have as good as admitted they inflated them, and that people who died with Covid have been recorded as dying of Covid, because it suits Boris's Project Scare the Public into Cowering Submission.

And, lots of people are going to die. From the lockdown. The suicides, the deaths caused by recession, and the deaths because of delayed treatment are going to go through the roof. Boris won't care about those, because he'll be out of office by the time that reality hits.

And, what I think is still far more terrifying than the virus is the way members of the public were so quick to turn on each other, and Boris keeps on and on throwing these vigilantes more and more reasons to do so. He knows that Easter eggs and clapping for the NHS are old news, so he threw in masks (having previously declared them useless), and then decided on a whim to cancel Eid, and he may be saying "tell me if anyone invites you to Christmas dinner, so I can prosecute them". It was no coincidence that he declared "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the brakes" just before Eid.

@Lifeispassingby yy, it never really got that better from the first wave. It was never going to be even sort of ok until next spring at the earliest.

YANBU. I'm one of the doom-mongers/preppers who saw covid coming back in January, was well ready for lockdown, and have always feared a second wave. But I was hopeful I was wrong. I wanted to believe Boris, and that August would see numbers dwindle even though things got reopened. This week has been a real blow. I felt completely crushed this weekend.
I hope we find a balance, but the constant readjusting of rules, and crushed hopes, is emotionally exhausting. For me it's less tiring to just prepare for the worst, than hope for the best.

Thank you @LadyOfTheImprovisedBath I'll have a look at thay srticle

I think the money off in restaurants deal seems very out of place now. As does Boris's insistence that those who cam wfh should get into the office to prop up the local sandwich shop sales.

We will be eating out during August primarily because a) we might as well before restaurants and bars are shut again and b) we're likely to be paying for this in taxes and reduction in pension value so we should take advantage of what we can.

I read somewhere that the increase in positive tests is because they're adding in positive antibody tests - but I don't know if that's true. Also although positive tests are rising I don't think hospital admissions are - and that would be the early indicator for deaths. But again nobody is talking about that.

Yes agreed OP. No sign of kids activities re opening and got a very altered teen who won't go out. I'm sat in the house bored every day, desperate for some time alone and can't see an end to all this

I thought I’d add my tuppence worth.

Up to this week I’ve been incredibly skeptical about the gravity of coronavirus.

I believe it’s real, aggressive, and in some cases deadly however I’ve not known anyone who’s died as a direct consequence of it and that of the few people I know who’ve had it they range from “what a nasty cold” to “ten weeks on and I’m not quite right”.

I resent wearing face masks (but I do), I hate hate hate the way it’s ripped through my children’s lives (no nursery, no playgrounds, no school, start of school in doubt).

Until this week I’ve thought that this will go down as history’s biggest overreaction of all time.

However i’ve stopped kicking against it and have had to accept (for my sanity) that where we are at (or worse if you live in Leicester etc) is going to be the reality for the foreseeable and my real and present fear of a localised lockdown (and we have a spike of cases where I live just today) has made me wise up a bit and eke out some gratitude for the status quo.

My mental health is at a turning point: continue to believe it’s hysteria and OTTness and fall into a true depression. Get to grips with reality and realise that it’s true that wearing a mask and distancing etc really does make a difference, and plan life around what we can do instead of kicking against what we can’t - it’s now essential for me to believe I can get to the end of the year without a breakdown.

Anyway, that’s my mega tuppence worth. Just thought I’d share, as bleak as it is x

Yes it’s bleak. We haven’t had the worst of it yet. Furlough is still in place and many businesses are open and trying to make a go of it. Lots of them will inevitably close. And then we’ve got Brexit to look forward to!