Do you feel less risk averse if you've been going out to work everyday?

[headachehair]

Just curious really. If you've been going to the house and working all through lockdown, are you more comfortable with lockdown gradually lifting (in whatever form that is) or has it made you more risk averse?

I've been at work everyday (full time NHS, not frontline but with patients) and I feel very comfortable. We were ALL bricking it when lockdown happened and we had to carry on but I've seen each problem that arise (PPE, redeployment, implementing social distancing etc) be dealt with. It's been fine. We were ALL terrified that there would be major outbreaks (there weren't) but when small outbreaks happened, they were dealt with well and didn't spread, not many people affected and everything carried on.

I'm quite comfortable with getting out and about if we're allowed and doing what I need to do to reduce my risk and this that of others. I think as things open up, people will find ways to work around challenges and the idea of it is definitely more scary than the reality.

How do others feel?

I also tend to avoid the supermarkets and shops. Partly because I've had my fill of going out to work but also because it's one of my risk reducing strategies. I know I may hold a bigger risk despite all my showering, hand washing, temp checking etc so I'll reduce contact again by not going. But I will go out for exercise as it's lower risk.

Basically, the only way I see moving forward is for everyone to look at their own risks and be responsible....something that wasn't happening as we entered into the pandemic but we are all a lot more educated now.

Yes, completely agree. Before lockdown was enforced, we had all the advice and adherence was low. The other side of it will be very different.

I've gone out to work throughout and have zero anxiety about it ending. Colleagues who have been working from home want it to continue, even though no one is going to force them back to the office.

Different lived experienceds have brought different perspectives.

Yes totally, I've been at work every day in a hospital and am totally cool with lockdown easing a bit. The absence of the usual patients is getting worrying....

It's interesting, I work from an office most of the time but am self employed so can work from home too. In Winter when the weather is bad I get into the habit of not making the effort to go into the office.

I really notice when that happens I become more isolated, shyer and more anxious. I find it harder to motivate myself to get back to the office and I over think things.

As soon as I'm back at the office I feel so much better and tell myself I won't be doing it again.

I think that people being isolated at home combined with the government's messaging is the perfect storm for anxiety and fear.

I've felt a lot better anytime I've ventured outside and seen civilisation, even from a safe distance.

I've still been going to work in a supermarket although in a different role to what I normally do. I was terrified to start with but became used to the new normal quite quickly. My biggest worry about coming out of lockdown - if you can really call it that - is other people's behaviour. People are becoming much less vigilant and seem to just not care anymore,the last few days have been the busiest since the start of 'lockdown' for us. People are clogging up aisles chatting to their friends,family or whoever making it impossible for other people to do their shopping.
I think people who haven't been out for weeks will struggle with this because they will be trying to practice social distancing whilst many people who have been going out more have started to give up.
As for me,I will carry on doing my best to social distance whilst I'm out but I'm more than happy to go straight home after work,as much I'm I would love things to go back to how they were I don't feel comfortable to do those things just yet.

Ha! Take back my last post then 🤦🏽‍♀️ Granted I've not been doing the food shop so apart from one (when DH was still isolating but I wasn't) I've not stepped foot into a supermarket. Happy to stand corrected but disappointed to hear Whatevernext1's experience. Easing restrictions doesn't have to mean releasing everything.

I'm going to work, but driving there alone, with a very small team, social distancing.
No one else coming into the building (we've cancelled the cleaners & deliveries are being left outside).
We can't work from home because of the equipment we need.
Perfectly happy and grateful to be at work, particularly as I live alone.
I would be going crazy at home and would have gained 4 stone by now!
I'm worried about lockdown being lifted because I haven't got life/income insurance.
I am not so worried about the possibility of dying as I am not in a risk group, but I am worried about getting ill and losing my income or having long term health problems.
I also don't know who will look after me if I am ill, as I said I live alone. My cupboards are fully stocked but I'm worried about being too ill to look after myself.

I feel very relaxed going to work in a school at the moment because its quiet and im just admin and first aid. The staff and parents are all being sensible. I have to admit the last 2-3 weeks before schools closed i was nervous - there was a really nasty cough and high temp going round! We had parents so short of breath i had to put chairs out for them in the playground and a child got pneumonia. But noone was tested at this point so who knows what it was.
So I am nervous if we go back too soon it will be like that again within 3 weeks of opening. My office is the sick room so i spent 3 weeks taking temps and sitting with coughing children until their coughing parents could come get them.

Yep working and no anxiety about going out of lock down ending at all.

DH and I have worked throughout. We certainly are not complacent, in fact we are very cautious. I shop once every 10 days in one shop and that's it, no topups. I have not set foot in any shop other than the supermarket since this started. I am not prepared to risk passing this thing on to anyone else should I be unknowingly infected We are keen for lockdown to ease but will take our time rejoining civilisation, given the high risk nature of our jobs.

A little bit, I work on a Covid ward and I haven’t caught it yet so I tend to think if I catch it anywhere else I’d be the unluckiest person in the world. I won’t allow myself to become complacent though.

I’ve been in school a day a week plus some extra admin time.
Initially very worried, hand held every few minutes, strip and shower when I got in. Now I change clothes and wash my hands. I’ve got more relaxed about supermarkets too- I’m careful in there and wash my hands after plus wipe my shopping- but I’m not anxious about it any more.
I have found the adults at school are not really distancing- it’s hard when you are with children and you slip into “normal”.
I’m ok about relaxation of lockdown - it’s a marathon not sprint and we will need an economy too. Hard balance I suspect.

I work in a hospital too, but not directly with patients. I sometimes forget about social distancing and the 2m especially when I'm at the shops say. That's mainly because staff at work don't seem to be paying a blind bit of attention, chatting in the corridors blocking it etc and it just feels normal.

I am struggling with lockdown because of where I live despite working and at one stage I did want lockdown to end. But actually now, despite struggling with lockdown, I'm worried for it to be over.

I guess going to work a few times a week and my partner working full time in the NHS too, we do feel okay going out. But going out for a walk is different I guess to when the lockdown is over

I am zero anxious Abt lockdown lift but forced to work from home. Since March. Just personality. I am anxious about other things, but stoic about the sickness.

Both myself and my husband have been working throughout. (Tube drivers) and we have no anxieties about lockdown ending. Nor do most of my colleagues it seems, yet the people I know who are not working are all very panicky about even leaving the house at all. I think the fact we’re forced to be out there everyday helps keep things in perspective.

I'm WFH and my anxiety about the virus is basically zero - I'm sure that would change if someone close to me was seriously ill with it. I work in a school though (not a teacher) so i'm quite used to having long periods off work anyway, so in some ways this situation doesn't feel as weird to me as I'm sure it does to most people. Not sure whether that makes a difference. I'm also dying to go back to work so that probably helps too.

Thinking about the people I know, the ones who are at home all the time are definitely the more anxious ones. The people who aren't working but are less anxious are doing a lot of other things outside the house like regular exercise and going to the shops relatively often. I don't know which way round that goes though - whether they're less anxious because they're going out more, or whether they're going out more because they're less anxious.

Thinking about the people I know, the ones who are at home all the time are definitely the more anxious ones.

Yep, same. If you work any job outside the home you just get used to it. I work front line nhs and I'm feel exactly the same as OP. What's the point of being worried about someone passing me 1.5m (instead of 2m) in the supermarket, or sitting on a park bench - when I'm spending 8 hours a day literally touching people, some of them who actually have it! I can't socially distance from patients (obviously) or colleagues (impossible as we work together to lift patients, share one computer, etc). I'm sure care home workers and nursery staff feel the same way.

I feel a bit sorry for the people on MN who start threads about how they are so scared of going for a walk or for food shopping. But really, how do they think we have all been surviving?

Yes, definitely. Working in a hospital, doing my best with social distancing, although it isn’t always 100% possible, and have switched the way I work a bit to do as much as possible by phone or Teams. If I need food or toiletries etc I go to a shop for them, try to keep distance from other people and clean my hands after. I’m not that worried. I’m bemused by what some people are posting on here. We have to cope with this for a long time yet, they are not going to be able to lock themselves and their families away for the next year.

I’m WFH and feeling less anxious about the whole thing as the weeks go by. I hated supermarket shopping in the beginning, people were stockpiling, queuing around the car park and I wasn’t sure week on week what I’d be able to find once I was in the shop.
I’d creep around the aisles holding my breath looking at the supermarket workers who all looked so relaxed!
Then a couple of weeks ago I went to Tesco and there was no queues, fully stocked and with social distancing measures. For the first time I thought “I can do this, bring on the other shops/libraries/other places”
Perhaps the other thing op is that as the weeks go by we know more about the stats too. In my area of 11500 we’ve had 13 deaths, although each one is sad It’s out the whole thing into perspective for me.

I suppose its like driving a car. Once you do it regularly without incident, you stop worrying. People are injured and die daily, but you don't think of that getting in to your car. You think of the tens of thousands of trips you've made with zero incidents.

I've continued to work outside the home. My employer has provided hand sanitizer for all staff and there is cleaning spray available for use after touching the kettle/ photocopier etc. With shielded colleagues WFH we have enough space to maintain good SD. My colleague is super cautious and will antibac a piece of paper that is passed to her.

A couple of weeks ago, as PP, I was cleaning the steering wheel etc of my car when I got home. Now I just wash my hands.

I've never wiped down groceries or quarantined mail.

I've preferred to use the local shops for bread/milk as I can walk there and there is no queue but I needed to do a big supermarket shop for the third time since lockdown and for the first time I wasn't anxious doing so.

My current anxiety is the big fuck-off hairy spiders I'm finding in the house at the moment!

why do you believe we won't get a vaccine in a year or twos time?

I certainly don't believe there will be one. To date there has never been a successful vaccine to a coronavirus.

As far as going out is concerned, not in the least bit worried.

We had exactly the same conversation at work yesterday — totally agree with you OP.

The first week or two of lockdown were awful, working long hours in a very busy (essential, natch!) retail store. We were all anxious and stressed out, it was bloody hard work and we all wanted to stay at home like most of our customers (apart from when they were out shopping!).

However, as this has progressed, the social distancing and hygiene measures have become second nature and it’s now our new normal. None of us — or any other staff in the other busy shops in our town — have got sick, and the majority of the public are respectful and sensible. Some twats, obviously, but then they’ve always been twats and why think that’ll change just because of a virus? 😏

I certainly see/hear far more panic and fear in those who’ve been cloistered at home for the past couple of months, which is understandable. More time on their hands to endlessly consume the media barrage, when outside, for many people, the working world continues to turn and this new way of behaving has quickly become second nature.

I feel quite sorry for those soon returning to work in public-facing rôles because they’ll no doubt have the same worries and stresses that we did all those weeks ago (feels like forever!). All I can say is just stick to the guidelines as much as you can, and try not to let the fear overwhelm you otherwise you’ll end up going home in tears (not ashamed to admit I did this many times). It does get easier!

I have been working through the lockdown, NHS , lots of close patient contact in a non acute setting. We are doing everything we can to limit the risk to patients/relatives and each other and our families. I think after the initial heightened anxiety, this way of working has become our new normal and so most peoples anxiety has reduced. I have accepted there is a risk and just have to do what I can to reduce it.
I am still going to the supermarket, but go on my days off at the quieter times, choose one that cleans the trolley before giving it to you and has hand sanitiser at the entrance. I am tempted to buy a washable mask to wear just for these occasions ?