To not be over what happened to me during covid/lockdowns

[ifyougochasingrabbits]

Just a few of the things I went through

Losing my cleaning business i had built up over years overnight due to everyone cancelling us

Being humiliated by the headteacher at DC school shouting at me in front of other parents because I refused to wear a mask outside . My little girl being made to start school late and finish late because I was unable to wear a mask to collect her (school run was all outside I may add and I had no problem wearing masks in shops etc but I drew the line at in the fresh air outside)

watching thousands of pounds of income disappear at an alarming rate. while wondering if we’d still have jobs and be able to keep the house we’d worked our arses off for for years to buy. Going through six months of trauma with H furloughed and depressed because his work could not guarantee he'd still have a job at the end of it. He was on half pay as furlough was only paid up to about 30k salary iirc and if you were on more it was employers discretion to pay the full salary which his work didn't. He was even applying for jobs at supermarkets and delivery driving etc and getting no where despite having a high level job at a major house builder.

Watching selfish morons stockpiling at the very beginning

“Friends” dumping me, one Cos I dared voice out loud that I wasn’t personally scared of covid and was struggling with restrictions and did not agree with them.

Having to deal with the fact that many of my (remaining) friends had views I completely don’t agree with and accepting they probably feel same about me.
And having to cope with the fact they supported restrictions that were destroying our lives and mental health

Having my business absolutely trashed all over social media and being called a dirty bitch and worse by local people. Fake bad reviews etc. The “reason” was they took exception to me saying on a local page post that I didn't believe in masks in school (this was due to my kids really struggling with them) My 14 year old said he agreed and some of them then found him on fb and messaged him insulted his looks and called him stupid and a fucking moron etc. This was actual grown adults.

a random person inboxed me on Facebook due to seeing my business ad and threatened to "smash my face in" because she thinks i was “endangering lives” by working

My neighbour reporting us to the police for having an illegal gathering. This "illegal gathering" was me, my H and our 3 dc having a bbq in the garden. Needless to say we all live together

Being put on medication for panic attacks and anxiety in fact I minimised it to the gp. I was actually suicidal and the only reason I am still here is because of my kids and the fact my husband and parents had the same views as me. But I would secretly hope to die in my sleep and almost every day I would wake up and cry because I was still here.

Watching my 3 Kids completely fall apart due to schools being closed. While not only having to deal with seeing posts all over fb about how well other kids were doing and coping doing all their work, managing great. And knowing some people I care about actually wanted schools shut. One of my kids is still very unwell mentally and it all started with lockdowns

Oh and to add final insult to injury, in November 2021 I had to pay £5700 (which was part credit card and part all of our savings) privately for an operation that should have been freely available on the nhs. But cos covid they could not give me a date and I was getting more and more poorly and could not wait.

I am still angry and maybe I should get over it. But I can't. And There's probably more but these are the stand out moments. I'm doing okay now and I have a new business and I'm doing well, H has a new job as he could not trust his old place after covid. but I've been very low again recently with the anniversary of it all

*so not to

I guess it takes a confident and smart government to admit this isn’t their area of expertise and get an expert in. The man has nerves of steel though. Very admirable.

This.

From memory, very few people objected to lockdown when it was first announced as ‘just 3 weeks’. We didn’t know enough about the virus but we knew it was killing people. We didn’t know if it was easily transportable through touching the same things and we didn’t know if it killed healthy people.

However after 3 weeks of being compliant, locking down, losing money, losing our minds etc…it was starting to wear thin. After 3 months when many of us had sacrificed so much for what turned out to be nothing like the virus we thought it could be, it had worn so thin it was practically invisible. And the fact that some people LOVED being the local police caller/granny killer accuser/COVID busybody/over anxious drama llama, made it 1000x worse.

I bet politicians were bowling with glee that those kind of fuckwits were doing the hard work for them in bullying people to accept give up basic liberties and people like being arrested for carrying a takeaway coffee. Well done to you all 👏🏼

Yes, he must have nerves of steel. Calm as anything, and admitted several times that he wasn’t sure about some things but this is the way we need to do it. Schools stayed open etc. He was basically gently saying that we would all get covid, but we would try not to all get it at the same time. And the elderly should be 100% protected. No point in shutting down and ruin the economy and children’s mental health.

I agree with you.

My DS was a pre schooler and he’s now 6 - it really shows amongst him and his peers that he didn’t get any interaction for such a long time. We allowed our children’s development to be stunted. It was even worse for poor teenagers who thrive from friendships. I cannot even imagine what it was like for abused children for whom school is a safe haven for being beaten, sexually assaulted and starved. Look at Arthur Labinjo-Hughes whose abuse went unnoticed because we were in lockdown and no authorities were properly involved. Awful. Sickening, shameful.

Bit hey as long as they aren’t dead ey it’s all ok and that makes it better

We should be ashamed that we did this to our young people for very little and very few people.

@TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl

I am Loving your work on this thread you're saying everything I want to but way more articulately is that a word 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@TheObstinateHeadstrongGirl

We should be ashamed that we did this to our young people for very little and very few people.

Before vaccines were available, children (anyone really) could catch and then transmit the virus to others. Those others might have been people less likely come out the other side of the virus unscathed - or alive.

Yes but there was never any need for a lot of the ridiculous restrictions.

Whatever people say, the chances of getting it outside were very small indeed. There was no need to ban people from meeting outside. Or exercising with a friend. Or buying "non-essentials" in supermarkets. Or indeed driving for exercise or being more than a certain distance from home (Scotland, Wales, Ireland).

And of course there could have been a rota for schools but the stupid government said no. The thing that absolutely amazed me was that most kids weren't back in school after May half term in England.

Yes but there was never any need for a lot of the ridiculous restrictions.

One I really disagreed with was not allowing single people to meet up with someone else. That was cruel

I don’t know if you wanted compassion or support but you don’t come across as compassionate to others. I appreciate it was a hard time for you but it seems like this thread was just an excuse to kick up an argument. Some of your woes are self inflicted. Losing a business is quite another matter and the economic impact of covid and the decisions made by our government will affect society for many years to come. I don’t think it should be ignored. I don’t think anyone should be struggling to “get over” arguments on social media. I managed not to have any arguments on social media even when I vehemently disagreed with various extreme views from both sides.

Exactly.

Made worse now we know the Matt Hancock was gleefully playing tonsil tennis with Gina whatserface the whole time

Yes children staying indoors for 6 weeks is what prevented the health system from collapsing. You think if they went outside to do some exercise then that would have spread Covid around? Wow. And that being inside ‘for only 6 weeks’ was fine? You do realise children here were allowed out to exercise? Do Spanish children spread Covid more? Don’t be so stupid.

Funny how the bodies didn’t pile up in Sweden.

The lack of critical thinking and blind acceptance on here is astounding.

And if keeping children indoors for 6 weeks was the key to preventing the Heath care system from collapsing then why did no other country (apart from China) do that then? Because the science did not support that and it’s very cruel and bad for physical and mental health. Especially for children.
The fact that many were in flats makes it worse not better! They didn’t even have a garden to play in. I don’t know anybody who thinks that was ok.

@GoldenAye Your response at 10.40 saying that plenty of people expressed that view and worse is very telling. You are saying its a bad view to be concerned about how this affected children and young people. On a parenting site! It hasnt aged well already and its only been a few hours.

I stand by my view that children and the young were neglected - I worry about the long term impact, we have only in my just begun to see the impact on therm. Both thier physical and mental health suffered.
I am also sceptical about some of the issues around health care. The covid wards and maternity wards were busy but the hospitals were in general not busy other than emergencies. Of course we did not know at the beginning what was or what could happen but as time wore on it was in my view obvious that the restrictions were excessive. The second and third lockdowns were just a massive overreaction and society will be living with the impact of that for years.

Defend it all you like. The Spanish government should hang their heads in shame. Thank goodness no other country adopted such an idiotic, damaging policy.

It wasn’t ‘a few weeks. It was 6 weeks. That’s a bloody long time to keep kids inside a flat. To mainly protect the elderly.

I know how bad it was in Italy. I’m disputing the fact that long, drawn out lockdowns were

necessary when other measures could have been deployed. See Sweden.

What death rates would people who thought lockdowns were excessive be happy with just out of interest?

Well we still had a huge death rate despite multiple lockdown. It’s almost as though we just delayed deaths…

I think people done the best they could with the information they had. I worked throughout (NHS) and I still can't quite believe some of the things I experienced were real. My mum died unexpectedly (early 50s) & I didn't see her for 3 months beforehand as she was classed as vulnerable due to her immunosuppressed status. When she died we couldn't go in to see her and her funeral had us sitting 2m apart- we picked a crematorium further away as it allowed 20 people instead of 10. I couldn't chat with her friends and colleagues after, we all went straight home a bit shell-shocked if I'm honest. People stood outside in the pouring rain listening to her service, which I'm incredibly grateful for. Seeing my friends when I came out was so lovely. My child struggled massively with grief and still does, we were allowed out for 1hr a day & then when I went back to work (after 2 weeks as I couldn't stand being locked inside any longer) I was calling families to tell them their loved one had died. It was truly, truly horrendous. I will never forgive Boris & Co for partying while so many peoples lives fell apart. Couldn't care less about my neighbour having a BBQ - but the people in charge, with all the information basically laughing at us makes my blood boil. I will never be the same person as before but I move forward, do the best I can and try to be mindful that some people are still genuinely terrified.

I don’t think keeping children indoors for 6 whole weeks was necessary. No other country did that whatever the state of the healthcare system. It’s shameful that you defend it and minimise it to ‘just a few weeks’.