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

You wrote "idiots on here"

On here as in on MN.

Lol 😆 saw this all the time

Do you think that Carl Heneghan or Dr Sunetra Gupta are charlatans or grifters?

On the other hand do you think that Devi Shridar, who was never off our tvs and was (quite extraordinarily) a top advisor to Nicola Sturgeon, is qualified? She has no science background whatsoever. Her background is social science, not science. Yet she was given an unquestioning platform to push vaccines for example which she has no expertise in at all.

Anyone who questioned any of the measures was shouted down. That's not science. Science is all about questioning. Covid became political.

For exactly that reason I refused to take the vaccines despite being threatened with losing my job. Being told I couldn't question them and they were 'safe and effective' despite there being no medium or long term data was not reassuring. Two years later, I am still content that I didn't.

@TimandGinger

On the other hand do you think that Devi Shridar, who was never off our tvs and was (quite extraordinarily) a top advisor to Nicola Sturgeon, is qualified? She has no science background whatsoever. Her background is social science, not science. Yet she was given an unquestioning platform to push vaccines for example which she has no expertise in at all.

She does. She is a professor of Global Public Health - exactly the specialty required for pandemic control. HTH. This is exactly the sort of attitude that is so problematic.

I'm not 'problematic' and you're very patronising- as though I'm not allowed to question anything.
Look at her CV - freely available.
She may have been given a fancy title by Edinburgh Uni, but she is not a scientist in any way. I am fairly sure most people assume she is a medical doctor which she is not. Her background is anthropology which is not a science. She was constantly giving 'official' opinions on subjects which she can't possibly know about. I find that pretty concerning.
HTH.

The problem is that the very small number of so called scientists that have supposedly questioned the opinion of the vast majority have misinterpreted a lot of the evidence and given that most of them have been making a lot of money out of it, you have to question whether it was deliberate.

I was looking at videos from a youtuber who claims to “follow the evidence” but actual spreads a lot of misinformation and given the number of views and the fact the videos are daily now, will probably have made several million out of it. I don’t know much about Carl Heneghan but I remember him publishing a paper published denying the role of airborne transmission in spreading COVID-19 and not declaring conflicts of interest so don’t think I would trust his opinions. bylinetimes.com/2021/04/21/scientist-linked-to-great-barrington-declaration-embroiled-in-world-health-organization-conflict-of-interest/

What there was no viable alternative to a lockdown that went on for months and months and pushed the second wave to Autumn/winter? And you call me the thick one…

Yes I will criticise what I don’t agree with..

I’m fully vaccinated and followed all the rules. You don’t half make some incorrect assumptions (which is unsurprising as you sound completely unhinged).

We did know three years ago that a second wave was guaranteed, that it was likely to be more dangerous and that winter is generally harder on the health service than summer. Yet we carried on restrictions in 2020 well past the point at which cases had dropped and the first wave wasn't going to overwhelm the health service. I do wonder what people think the scientific rationale was for that. One could be completely in favour of the first lockdown and also understand that it went on for too long.

This is amusing me too.

I was always a little surprised when your average Joe announced they were going “do some research on it first” when discussing the licensed covid vaccines.

I’m politely ignoring the Vaccination gauntlet thrown down on here.
I could write the script for how that pans out on here.

Why do people who are at peace with their anti jab stance want to convince everyone else?
Persuading the whole herd to copy you isn’t the smartest move, for obvious reasons.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, then.

@GoldenAye Elderly/disabled people are not one big homogenous mass to be patronized and patted on the head. DH is now 73 Parents are 87 All three thought the lockdowns were ridiculous. DH (and myself) were bloody angry about disabled people like himself being used YES USED as a tool to emotionally blackmail bully and berate others into following nonsensical rules, when they couldnt give a damn about him the rest of the time when it came to non Covid stuff. e,g i posted on here about the HA threatening to destroy his mobiilty scooter , got told tough shit and even laughed at. So HOW FUCKING DARE people pretend to care when it suits their agenda when they want to use him as a tool to use against others.

And while im on it i saw a lot of pro lockdowners moaning at people for not having room to self isolate. And yet strangely they didnt and havent followed this up with a new campaign against the bedroom tax!!!!!

And ive had the vaccines before anyone starts

I agree @JenniferBooth there was a Hell of a lot of hypocritical nonsense and sanctimony spouted online.

However when decisions are being made for the populace of a nation, the entire population is treated as one homogenous mass.
Thats further divided into smaller homogeneous groups based broadly on age groups, disabilities and vulnerabilities.

Decisions on population level don’t treat people as individuals.

On a different note, I agree that disabled people are treated appallingly with regards to state help. Sorry you received some vile comments about your dh online.

And while im on it i saw a lot of pro lockdowners moaning at people for not having room to self isolate

I was told that I should isolate in the living room, the sofa is fine. No one seemed to care that to get to any room in our flat you have to go through the living room and we have no door on the kitchen! My fault for living in a one bedroom hovel I suppose! I was also told that if I loved DH I would wear a mask in the house to protect him. I have no idea what from as I didn't actually have covid! I was also called a liar when I said my garden is only 8' wide (that was the context of not getting too close to the neighbours).

However when decisions are being made for the populace of a nation, the entire population is treated as one homogenous mass.

This. DH was 65 at the beginning of the first lockdown and at one point it was discussed whether or not over 65s should be shielding. He understood why age was a good way to make a cut off but he made it clear he wouldn't be shielding, he would make his own choice. It would have been hard anyway especially once I was back in the office - I'm younger than him and wouldn't have been in the shielding category.

And yet they are raising the state pension age AGAIN which the majority on here are all for. So yet again another group being used to emotionally blackmail and bully others when it suits but when it comes to pensions .............nah let them work through all the ailments that come when you are older

I think the point about emotional blackmail is very true - basically throughout the lockdowns the press conference and the slogan emphasised how you were protecting the vulnerable. I fully understand that many believed they were following a policy they genuinely believed was right. I was willing to go along with it at the start as we did not know what was happening - it was very scary, however after lockdown one I really feel the government lost its way. I genuinely feel that the emphasis upon what was viewed as the vulnerable ie the older generation was wrong - in my view we created a new vulnerable group those children and young people who were locked in awful pressure cooker homes, children and young people who became isolated and withdrawn missing months of face to face schooling and contact.

Now the pandemic is over we do need to move on I agree. The whole experience has made me less tolerant of the older generation who were very critical of the young and who felt entitled and who still do. I do not lump any demographic together as an homogeneous group and therefore in real life am quite careful to treat people differently.

I'm truly lost now as to what the links are between pension age and the OP post . Also who "you lot" are that are apparently in favour of it.

I was anti extended lockdown and fairly ambivalent on masks. Heck I was even an anti dementor until it moved off Talk to laugh at those who were a bit enthusiastic in their anti Covid antics.

Doesn't mean I agree with OP or her approach and strangely has no link to my thoughts on the pension age.

I genuinely feel that the emphasis upon what was viewed as the vulnerable ie the older generation was wrong - in my view we created a new vulnerable group those children and young people who were locked in awful pressure cooker homes, children and young people who became isolated and withdrawn missing months of face to face schooling and contact.

It was and remains a problem how many people conflate vulnerable and vulnerable to covid. They don't mean the same thing at all and some people, including groups you mention here, were made vulnerable/more so specifically because of restrictions. It's important to be precise on our language here because otherwise we risk obscuring the fact that all available choices in March 2020 made some people more vulnerable.

Not a fan of the idea that people who were in covid vulnerable groups such as the elderly were entitled though. They're not a monolithic bloc and they didn't all experience lockdown and restrictions as protective either.

Well bully for you. The fact that there was such a huge uptake on the vaccine protected you!!

Still waiting for your "viable alternative"... genius??

I'm not sure where the pensions thing came from but as it seems that longevity is no longer on the rise it was predicted, so in terms of pension age, the government to think ago. I'm not sure why "the majority on here are all for" because presumably sooner or later, it's a trajectory we are all on?

I think starting the lockdown earlier would have been a good idea. That weekend with the Cheltenham Festival, big pop concerts etc was madness, the lockdown would have been shorter if they'd started it sooner in my opinion. Not hingsight as I said it at the time.