Shielders, when do you think you'll feel happy to venture out into the world?

[SistemaAddict]

I'm shielded until late July. My GP told me that I should continue to shield after then until the pandemic is over.
So many are talking about things getting back to normal but i just can't imagine it and have started to feel slightly anxious about being back in the outside world. I've been in for 10 weeks already and with no end in sight I don't even know how I feel about the whole situation.
How are you feeling about things being back to normal whenever that might be?

We’ve decided that having people in the garden when restrictions are lifted we can manage. They don’t have to walk in the shore and we can sit 2m away from them. But we couldn’t guarantee that in a park that others wouldn’t walk near us etc and we wouldn’t relax, but we would trust the people that are close enough to us to understand the risk and help us manage it.

I probably won’t feel truly comfortable until either levels are very low, or an effective treatment is found.

I expect that there will be further weeks of shielding in the form we know and love now.

But I am hoping that it won’t be too long before we are permitted to move to ‘lockdown’ rules and be permitted daily exercise outdoors with rigid social distancing.

As my DMum is also living in pretty strict isolation because of her age, we were considering going for a well-distanced garden party. But we’ll probably give it a few more weeks

I'm shielding until at least the end of June like the letter says and I can see them extending beyond June. I can't go back to work while under shielding notice and I've family who do shopping etc I think once the numbers come down I'll start going for walks as being cooped up indoors is beginning to affect my mental health
I won't be suddenly shopping or anything though

@PowerslidePanda : You sound like the very person we need to devise the algorithm, as described, up thread.

I came back to add that another feature which could be included, could be a postcode, so that vulnerable folk could check in every day to see what the "R rate" is, in their location. So, some days, we could venture out while other days, we'd choose to stay in as the risk would be too much.

We're shielding Dh who has multiple conditions. Dd and ds are with us and are in their early 20s. They are currently doing really well with staying in but I can't imagine it will go on forever.

Because I was going out to pick up prescriptions (they're delivered now) and still go out to pick up food bags from relatives doorsteps I've been sleeping on a blow up bed in the living room and Dh has been eating separately from us. We've kept two metres apart. Kind of belt and braces. I've kind of trained myself to not think of there being an end date to this. When I finally get back to sharing a bed with Dh I shall probably feel like first date territory!

Dh is going quite stir crazy at home, he usually likes to walk for miles and miles. It's come to something when his thrice weekly in centre dialysis sessions are an exciting change of scene for him!

@Zog14: I'd read about the sticky blood thing too. The Doc quoted said that, though people think of this as a respiratory illness, it may not, in fact, be those with underlying respiratory problems who are most at risk, but rather, those with vascular problems.
Problem is, it's new and they are learning all the time.
I haven't heard about moving type 1 diabetics to shielded group though.

I have just seen the feature on BBC news about the Royal London Hospital. I cant understand why people aren't taking this seriously still. I am shielding and will only feel safe when I have been vaccinated.

I think before deciding never to go out ever again (not on this thread, but some folk seem to be positively relishing this idea), people really do have to understand the relative risk and their personal risk. Which presumably, is dropping every day (certainly at the moment). That risk isn't only about this virus, it's also about mental health and the impact your decisions have on others.

My DH had his letter in March (in partial remission from a blood cancer) as did my very elderly mother 200 miles away, and we will all take a view at the end of June. My mum refuses to spend what's left of her time like this and I don't blame her. So if things are going well then, we will decide what to do by looking at the scientific evidence and perhaps talking with health professionals.

In the meantime, my poor old dad and I are doing the things that need to be done outside the home because someone has to. And being careful. But we are not "shielding" (goodness I've come to loathe that bloody word!) ... And very soon DH and me will be going out for walks. Because at some point everyone has to get back out there to work and school and life.

Part of me thinks we're going to have to get back to something like normality but part of me is scared. I am in until 30th June but I do think our teenager needs to see her friends even if they are socially distanced. She can't do it independently - too far.

I am torn between wanting shielding to end as I’m going stir crazy at home (have broken shielding twice in last and got up super early to sit on a deserted beach and walk in an empty park because I was getting really depressed 😔) and not wanting it to end because I’m so worried of returning to work. I am a Reception Class Teacher, socially distancing in a tiny classroom of four year with no PPE terrifies me. I am hoping at the end of this initial shielding period GPS will be able to offer specific advice to individuals (and that mine agrees that due to my job role I am not safe to be at work)

I love your ideas ^WingedHarpy* !

I have two teenagers behind my shield with me. One is a geeky gamer and extremely happy to be in all the time. But he has done the odd errand so I don’t have to

DD is much more social and has taken to going out with friends (they all know it should only be pairs, but usually one pair ‘accidentally’ bumps into another, but I don’t think they get bigger than foursomes. Her friends know why I’m shielding, and are usually a nice bunch, so I’m trusting them. She’s not in a year group that is likely to go in before the autumn term. So I don’t need to fret about how to manage that for a while

I do feel we have been forgotten about .DD age 17 immune deficient and lung disease and DS severe Astham and inherited metabolic disease who nearly 15 are why shielding as both clincally extremely vulnerable
I'm only in vulnerable

Eeryone seems to think it's only over 70

Amount people saying well if no online school then people will send them back and or well once kids in class no support for those out if school .Forgetting not a choice

Sorry to jump on this thread with an unrelated question but I wondered whether anyone has had a shielding text but not received the NHS letter that was supposed to follow? We received a text for our dd around 3 weeks ago, it stated that a letter would follow, but as yet we haven't received it. I have spoken to my GP but they weren't very helpful - just said the letter would not come from them so they didn't know how long it would take. I can't seem to find any way to directly contact the NHS shielding service to ask this question. At the moment I feel like we have a very small amount of info and could do with more! Thanks.

@Wingedharpy - Haha, I wish I was smart enough for that! You have some great ideas though - I'd love to see someone make them a reality!

My two children received shielding letters advising they shield until the end of June. I know everyone thinks that it may then be extended but what will the process be? Do we wait until another letter arrives? How do we plan for beyond June? At the moment, DH is luckily WFH because of the risk to our children but I can’t seem him or his employer wanting it to go on indefinitely. But as a mum, with disabled DCs, I know that the risk to their health will still be there after the end of June. No-one yet knows what the effect of easing lockdown will be on the virus and I feel anxious because of that uncertainty and potential risk to my family.

Pinkpip

Have you registered on goverment website

Sky bluepink

Am hoping be more info on Thursday but suspect be more mid June
Same ds be y11 September and not sure how going to be if is extended
DD ment be second year at collage can not see that as she can't have vaccine even is one (can't make antibodies )

Feeling be some conversations with specialists and school once know more .

@pinkpip100 my letter was delayed. It came from the hospital that deal with the condition that triggered it (eventually). If you have a consultant then start with their secretary maybe.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate - thank you. Dd has many consultants at 2 different hospitals so not sure which one - but maybe need to start calling around.

Ha, yes part of my problem was being seen in two different trusts. Good luck.

My mum got a shielding letter. She has an immune deficiency disorder, and is over 70. She has played tennis, and been to the beach and park most days. She thinks she’s invincible :/

My mum is very disappointed that I'm not keen to go out shopping when I'm able to do so. I've said I'll probably do my main food shop online and will venture to John Lewis when it's safe to do so and at quiet times.

I feel forgotten about. Many assume the shielding are old or disabled people. They don't realise that some of the extremely vulnerable are people who would usually be in a full time job supporting their children.

The financial support has been extremely poor and benefits do not replace a full time salary. I'm a single parent and my household income has taken a 65% drop.

This isn't sustainable as my savings will run out soon. If they ask us to shield further but don't give any financial help, I'll have no option but to ignore the shielding advice and return to work. I can't afford our essential living costs otherwise.

I feel forgotten about. Many assume the shielding are old or disabled people

This is all too true

Plus the expectation that you might well die this year. No realisation that projected lifespan (on treatment) is counted in decades, not weeks/months

Well, we've had our phone call from the shielding service today. Advising that we don't go out for distancing walks unless we have discussed this first with our hospital consultant, as it's not safe for everyone.

It really does feel that the government is planting the seed that shielding people are making excuses for not being at work. Telling the general public one thing, whilst telephoning people after the event to back track.

DH had already been furloughed when he received his shielding letter. With nowhere open that he wanted to go, he's shielded since mid-April. He's now been unfurloughed and gone back to work today. As he said, if he was that worried about dying, he'd have quit driving a truck a very long time ago.