To think some people are ‘enjoying’ the pandemic

[Flynnqwer]

I’ve noticed an attitude amongst some people where they’re nothing short of praying for a new, more lethal, variant.

I’ve noticed it amongst people I work with and people I do a hobby with. Any discussion about going back to our workplace (we can work from home but not easily or particularly effectively) once the Government ends the restrictions on waiting from home, or back to our hobby in real life instead of on Zoom (the hobby is controlled by a central board who are following the WFH advice until it is lifted) are met with cries of ‘No! We can’t do that! It’s dangerous!’ and it anyone points out that, thankfully, it looks like the vaccination programme is working and Omicron is less severe, they come back with ‘but what if there’s a more lethal strain that appears and kills millions?’

My workplace has one element which has legally got to be done in person. I have had emails today from managers begging us to cancel said work thing and do it online. We cannot do it on line lawfully (it’s along the lines of witnessing signatures). We have told them no, we must go into the building for an hour to fulfil this function. They are saying that that is breaking the working from home directive, that it’s unsafe, and what if a deadly variant is discovered? Then we’d have to find a way around the law.

AIBU that some people are actively hoping that the situation worsens and we are locked back down? Why would anyone want this to happen?

Why does it bother you though? Are you this restrictive about every topic or just covid?

I'm on a thread discussing this topic. I do ignore it elsewhere on MN. It doesn't stop me rolling my eyes every time I read it though. If you're posting on a thread about bath salts I'll assume you're not deathly ill so not sure why you'd need to mention it other than "oo look at me I've got THE illness". I don't mention after every post when I have a cold/sick bug/cough/diarrhea. Some people who have Covid just love to inform everyone.

But if this topic bothers you so much why don't you ignore this thread?

"I dont want the pandemic to continue, but we could get an even worse variant next"

That's the sort of comment I see on here that makes me because we could get a more serious version of a virus at any stage of any virus. Look at flu in 2017/18! But we cant keep up "mitigations" forever.

I mean, wear your mask till the end of time if you want. But dont get pissed off if others dont, they're not being selfish they're being normal. Going about their normal business..

I've never worried about infecting the CEV with something, ever. Not because I'm selfish, because I'm not. But because I have 55 million other things in my life to worry about and I dont have anyone personally to me who are CEV so it's never been a concern and yet the world continues to turn. I cannot be held responsible for the survival of every other human being, the idea that I could accidentally infect someone in Tescos who goes on to die somehow making my culpable for their death is bonkers.

The other thing I note from covid lovers is the mental gymnastics..

"Case numbers are coming down" says the govt

No they're not, the government are lying and people arent testing

"Case numbers are really high" says the govt

Oh my god, look at that. We need to lockdown because the govt say so.

You mean that govt you just accused of lying you now believe??? It's like people can only believe and get behind the bad news, but wont believe any good news.

Recently I saw a great thread where the OP was declaring case numbers were coming down as no one was logging LFTs now. A PP pointed out that more tests than ever had been logged, ergo this would suggest cases are coming down. Oh no, that's not true because no one can get hold of LFTS, except no one can get them because everyone is testing!!

It made my head hurt.

And saying it annoys me is not being restrictive people are not restricted from posting about anything.

It's evident that things people say about Covid and cracking on etc.. annoys you too. Does that make you "restrictive"?

@Nidan2Sandan

"I dont want the pandemic to continue, but we could get an even worse variant next"

That's the sort of comment I see on here that makes me because we could get a more serious version of a virus at any stage of any virus. Look at flu in 2017/18! But we cant keep up "mitigations" forever.

I mean, wear your mask till the end of time if you want. But dont get pissed off if others dont, they're not being selfish they're being normal. Going about their normal business..

I've never worried about infecting the CEV with something, ever. Not because I'm selfish, because I'm not. But because I have 55 million other things in my life to worry about and I dont have anyone personally to me who are CEV so it's never been a concern and yet the world continues to turn. I cannot be held responsible for the survival of every other human being, the idea that I could accidentally infect someone in Tescos who goes on to die somehow making my culpable for their death is bonkers.

The other thing I note from covid lovers is the mental gymnastics..

"Case numbers are coming down" says the govt

No they're not, the government are lying and people arent testing

"Case numbers are really high" says the govt

Oh my god, look at that. We need to lockdown because the govt say so.

You mean that govt you just accused of lying you now believe??? It's like people can only believe and get behind the bad news, but wont believe any good news.

Recently I saw a great thread where the OP was declaring case numbers were coming down as no one was logging LFTs now. A PP pointed out that more tests than ever had been logged, ergo this would suggest cases are coming down. Oh no, that's not true because no one can get hold of LFTS, except no one can get them because everyone is testing!!

It made my head hurt.

The negative twisting at every turn is there on here I agree, many examples like this.

I think also that anyone with school aged kids or who works in a school has had Covid by now, in many cases very mildly. Which is a huge anticlimax after all the fear and fear mongering.

Not to make light of it as like all people in that situation I also know people who have been seriously ill with it (one former colleague died).

But of course people I know have died of cancer, heart disease and even asthma - all diseases where patients are having to wait longer for treatment now.

We do need perspective.

The negative twisting at every turn is there on here I agree, many examples like this

Yes, no positive news is ever actually positive news. There will always been one or two poster's who make it like a sport to ensure we all know it's still doom and gloom. (Thinking of a certain PP).

@Wandda

Yep, some people are positively frothing with excitement every time there’s even a hint of a new variant

FFS - this is the word I’m most fed up of seeing over the past 22 months. FROTHING.

I swear, its annoyed me more than any other word on this site. It’s a lazy giant hand swipe. And no, I don’t want more lockdowns - I’d guess that 99% of the population really don’t want more restrictions. But, for some reason, there are people here who continually use that word to try to show how “edgy” they are.

@ilovesooty

This is ridiculous. Surely the number of people who wouldn't happily roll back to before 2019 must be miniscule.

The idea of people positively frothing over new variants is sick.

This - who on earth wouldn’t want to rewind to, say, summer 2019?

Sadly, there is a proportion of society for whom Covid hasn’t made a huge difference. They will likely be happy for everyone when life gets back to normal - but I they will still be forgotten. Because it’s human nature to quickly adapt back to your new normal. And so it’s easy to forget that there will be others out there where the return to normal makes no difference.

Totally agree.

Some are almost giddy in their wish for more lockdowns, want schools to close. Suggest any form of social gathering will be a 'super spreader event'

Mostly it's about the freedom to toxically judge everything. E.g Gasp - you don't NEED to go in holiday, is that essential shopping? And so on.

@Mermaidwaves

I have a friend like this who has been competitive social distancing. I find it perplexing as she has some health issues so was already quite limited in her lifestyle. She was very smug during the lockdowns as "now other people have to suffer like me". Even now she never goes out and is pretty much housebound but seems very proud to how she's managed it and no one else she knows has. That's because everyone else wants to get on with their lives though.

Blimey! So you’re dissing your friend, who is pretty much housebound? I agree, it’s not nice to wish her situation on everyone else. But is there not a TINY part of you that kind of understands where she’s coming from?

When your (everyone’s) life goes back to normal - will you acknowledge that her life won’t change?

@BrightYellowDaffodil

YANBU. Some people seemed to really enjoy lockdowns because they didn’t like to socialise but didn’t like to feel left out, so they were happy to see everyone stopped from socialising.

I get that there’s an element of some people genuinely still being scared but there’s also others who just seem to like the endless drama of it all, presumably because it gives them some focus in their little lives.

I’d add to this couldn’t socialise because they had no friends, but constantly felt they were missing out.

YANBU although I would say they’re a small minority. Mainly hypochondriacs, the work shy and Facebook community busybodies. I was torn to shreds for saying that on another thread though.

@rrhuth

No one cares I think the pandemic has legitimised a pretty grim 'I don't give a shit about anyone who is not me' vibe too.

There has also been an epidemic of wilful stupidity. I have heard/read people saying so often 'we don't lock down for flu' etc. - are these people really that ill-informed that they can not read a single proper article explaining why covid has caused so much illness and disruption?

I have no doubt I have got blind spots and distorted thinking at times, but the certainty from some that they are completely rational makes me .

The whole premise of this thread is superior and unpleasant - sneering at people who think covid is a concern. Yet governments across the world continue to take covid very seriously, as do scientists and medics (i.e. those who know most about it).

I think the fact the UK government (operating in England) has mishandled covid has probably contrbuted to the general polarisation.

I agree with this.

I'm always very skeptical when people start acting with absolute certainty they are right when they are talking about complex issues from a lay perspective. It usually means that either don't fully understand it or have taken an ideological position.

We are also shit, as a species, at understanding risk and this shows in the comments on here.

The glimmer of hope I have is that we clearly have brilliant people in the world who are capable of developing vaccines that work in record time, without which the loss of life would be much higher.

@Flynnqwer

then you have to manage them. I don't understand why you are whining about this when legally you can make someone come into the office to do tasks that can not be done from home.

I am not a manager. I told them we would be going into the building and that is that.

What I cannot abide is the ‘but what if there’s a new variant and we die? We’ll have to never go back to work just in case.’ Particularly grating from one who was on holiday abroad in November and August 2020 (which I fully support). She isn’t scared of the virus. She just wants to stop having to commute to work to do the job. She can work from home some of the time, but must come in for certain things. She doesn’t want to, so is hiding behind Covid. She is always pleased when numbers begin to rise and the exciting prospect of more restrictions is back on the table.

I've noticed that some of the people who have been using covid as an excuse for being lazy at work are quite happy to go to the pub. Yet many of those who are CV or have CV family members are cautious but still do their best as far as possible.

OP I completely get what you are saying.

It depends. For one person who is 'enjoying it' (as outlined in OP), there's many more crippled with crippling Covid/health anxiety.

I think the pandemic released the crazy in some people

I think this is very true, the conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers have had a field day and continue to do so.

The pandemic has also given some people the excuse to let loose their hatred of vulnerable and disabled people as demonstrated by posters on this thread and others.

I definitely think there's a group of people who basically don't get on with modern life very well who were somewhat radicalised and empowered by COVID and feel they are having their "moment".

A broad church of people including the very anxious, people who find working in an office very difficult, people with difficult childcare needs and the militant introverts who regard having to make smalltalk as a violation of their human rights.

All of these people breathed a collective sigh of relief when lockdowns happened as it gave them cover to duck out of a side of life which had previously been quite burdensome to them and which they don't believe was necessary. You saw this in all the "I'm loving lockdowns" threads.

An awful lot of this "but but but there may be another variant" is a primal scream from people who have got used to having rearranged their life in a way which suits them and are clutching at straws to justify not having to go "back out there".

To some extent we do need to listen to this. There are plenty of good reasons why people are pissed off with having to go into an office five days a week with an hour long commute etc. We should reflect on the the fact COVID showed us that this wasn't necessary.

But there's a dark side to this desperate anxiety to wanting to go back to "normal" in my view. A lot of people have embraced a sort of fear of having to interact with the outside world again. (Read the "People who don't like people" threat). An awful lot of people not only want to shut themselves off from the rest of the world but actually regard it as an intrusion when other people try to communicate with them. A lot of this is non-COVID related, its social, but COVID has allowed them to medicalise it. It is very understandable that this has happened but I don't think this is healthy at all. I think we have to try to get to the bottom of why a large number of people are so terrified of social contact they want to prolong a pandemic to avoid it.

@Broblem

I don’t think there are many people who wouldn’t like to see the back of the pandemic.

Even if there are some, so what? A bunch of people enjoying the pandemic and social restrictions will not prolong it (if anything, it’d be the opposite).

I suspect people who accuse others of enjoying the pandemic are just trying to find someone to lash out at, and (in some way) blame for it, to try to ease their own anxieties.

When I see posters accusing others of “frothing at the prospect of a new variant” or “revelling in being in the shielding category”, I just think they’re having a bit of a breakdown.

Yes, I agree.

@WorstXmasEver

I enjoyed the pandemic, it made very little difference to my life & it boosted my business to making 4 times what it ever did previously.

I actually had the ability to save & had hope for the future.

As much as I dislike the “frothing” posts, I dislike this too.

At least read the bloody room. Do you not realise that many people, across various industries, have really suffered?

It’s great, for you, that your business has thrived. But maybe try to not gloat on a thread like this.

Some people would rather work from home so I imagine yes you are right they would rather some restrictions continue. Working from home was a lot easier for us, I didn't need after school club and could pick the dcs up and bring them home myself. Lots of other advantages.

My MIL loves the misery of the whole pandemic, wearing masks, not going out, looking at the daily figures. Her friends are very similar, that I find rather sad!

I'm always very skeptical when people start acting with absolute certainty they are right when they are talking about complex issues from a lay perspective. It usually means that either don't fully understand it or have taken an ideological position.

Yes plenty of this from some re we will be in lockdown etc, no uncertainty even when scientists expressed it, probably a ideological drive.

Well, I hate socialising and I love antibacterialing things so in that sense it’s been great for me and also I’m not now the only random person getting strange looks for getting my dettol wipes and hand gel out BUT

I don’t like the constant worry about new variants and I’d much rather covid disappeared, dislike the disruption to dc education as well.

I enjoy life. Full stop.

So I enjoyed life during the pandemic and saw the many positives
And then embraced the changes and continued to enjoy life (more it has to be said!) post lockdown

I agree with op, it's not the preferring wfh or the preferring of social distancing, etc, which I do prefer myself, but it is the what-if over the more deadly strains that may happen. I have heard people say this myself, my husband has been guilty of it.
I think that pandemic has had its benefits, making people think about flexible ways of working, being more aware of personal space/hygiene, etc, which is never a bad thing at all but a what-if mentality is not healthy at all. People would become too cautious and too fearful just in case it might happen and its no way to live your life at all.