What a terrible day

[TotallyHadEnoughNow]

I've tried to remain positive but today is it for me. Just awful. Why did I bring a child into this shitty world? According to WHO, the effects of this pandemic will be felt for decades to come. I can't begin to describe how sad I am.

Yes - all my days are normal-ish. What are you doing that makes them not so?

Sat on my settee in the conservatory working, whilst telling people that I know they are having difficulties but I can't come and see them. And tonight I went to the shops in a mask and then went to do eye drops for my MIL that had it not been for covid her eye infection would probably not got to the point that she required a hospital admission.

So yeah, not normal by a long stretch.

@LastTrainEast

It was important to take the virus seriously or things would have been a lot worse, but the reality is that most people will not catch it and most of those who do will be just fine. There will be a vaccine soon and already there are treatments so if someone gets it now they are much safer than they would have been a few months back.

Take the precautions and do the social distancing, but we're past the worst now and we're going to be ok.

It was important to be concerned for the economy and treat that as an emergency too, but still the reality is that most will be ok there too. There will be some tough times perhaps, but we'll get past that.

Yes some things will be changed by this, but not in the sense that we won't be able to live normal lives. I hope we don't go back to having to touch or kiss every person we meet though. I never liked that anyway.

And I hope that we'll keep systems in place to deal with a future virus so we're not caught by surprise next time.

Fab post

"...most people will not catch it and most of those who do will be just fine. "
Every indication is that those who recover will not be just fine. Which is why medical experts say the consequences will be with us for many years.

@uniglowooljumper

Been in the States lately? It appears to be chuntering along. The sky is not falling there despite what Sky news is trying to tell you.

I live in the States.

The sky isn't falling, but the numbers are terrible. We had over 68,000 new cases today. The UK had under 850. That's 80x the number of new cases the UK had. Meanwhile, the US population is about 5x the UK's. The UK was hit harder at first, but it's far more under control at home than it is here.*

Politically, the nation is on a tear. In the past three days: the president has suggested not holding the election on election day for the sake of "fairness"; has recently retweeted and repeatedly defended a doctor who believes that demon sex causes infertility and that alien DNA is being used in medicine, because he likes her policy on masks and a drug that doesn't work; talked about keeping "low income" (read: Black) people out of midwestern suburbs and of embracing the Confederate flag; and has publicly complained about the popularity of America's top health official compared to his own. In the past three days.

Meanwhile, the postal service is crumbling. Federal unemployment benefits are about to run out (like, tonight) because the Republican Senate won't agree to extend them. We had the worst Q2 on record. Eviction protection is about to expire.

That's not to mention questions of civil rights and equal rights that's sweeping the country, nor the fact that baseball is going to crumble because players keep getting sick (not a worry on the same order of magnitude, but it was this tiny glimpse of reality), nor the report out today that plans for nationwide Covid testing and tracing were scrapped when it looked like it would help Trump's political opponents, because blue states were being hit hardest at the time. www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-jared-kushners-secret-testing-plan-went-poof-into-thin-air

So, yeah, it's chuntering along alright, and the sky is still firmly affixed in the heavens, but, you know, I stand by the shitshow madness comment I made.

*Home for me will always be the UK, but I'm living in America at the moment.

@RollercoasterRaver

Do you think schools will go back, full time, anyone?

Yes

Do you think there will be normal-ish days anytime soon?

Yes - all my days are normal-ish. What are you doing that makes them not so?

Today has been so bleak. Thought things were getting better, virus wise.

Please follow Professor Karolina Sikora on Twitter

Feel so sorry for young people, slammed with all this and no job prospects.

It will get better, it already has! it will get better still.

There is so much doom and gloom on this thread, it makes me so sad for everyone on here who has this outlook. I may be too optimistic but it's a far better way to be with this. To me this is temporary, even if we always have this virus, we will learn more about it as time goes on, different treatments etc. Life might be a little different but it alway is after a major situation (9/11 fo example). 'Second wave' and 'the new normal'....I dispise those terms now.

The media have a LOT to answer for, turn it all off, avoid these threads on here and try as hard as you can to out your positive pants on :-)

Sikora is not a good person to follow, FFS.

www.farrightwatch.net/2020/06/the-right-wings-favourite-crazy.html?m=1

@SummerHouse

Something I learned very early in this. Can you do today? If today is doable, you can get through it, children fed and everyone ok, then that's all you need to do for now. Today.

This is very wise advice. Thank you.

I have an impending sense of doom.

If trump gets it, or a vaccine fails, I think the faint blanket of hope covering us will fail, and I don't think the world will be a pretty place for a while.

I feel we are in a very precarious position. This could go either way. I'm stocking up on beans.

I think there are reasons to feel positive about Covid. We need to keep infections at a lowish rate until we have a vaccine. Rates are I think low in London at the moment, but it has moved onto other parts of the country and so local flare ups need to be managed.

Treatment for covid is getting more effective all the time and there will almost definitely be a vaccine next year.

Agree with PP a no deal Brexit is likely to be more damaging to the UK long term

CoVID is a distraction for something much bigger.

@TotallyHadEnoughNow
Hope today is a little better for you and am sure that for your DC as long as Mum is there for them the world is right side up.

Every indication is that those who recover will not be just fine

Nonsense. You're implying that there's solid evidence everyone who recovers will not be fine when actually there is some evidence that some people will have lasting effects, the long term implications of which we don't know, because it hasn't been around long enough to look at long term.
I'm not saying there aren't long term effects, but your statement is hyperbole.

@Newjez

I have an impending sense of doom.

If trump gets it, or a vaccine fails, I think the faint blanket of hope covering us will fail, and I don't think the world will be a pretty place for a while.

I feel we are in a very precarious position. This could go either way. I'm stocking up on beans.

Why would Trump getting it make any difference to anything? I’m hoping he does get it actually personally.

@Rookie93 thank you.

Shite. I woke up. I guess let's just do today and see what happens.

For me that is a bollock load of work, as I am overwhelmed at the moment and need to catch up. Plus I need to do some exercise.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils are you okay? Do you have any support? Where are you? If you live within travelling distance I’ll happily bring ice cream to your door!

Massive hugs to those who are struggling.
The one thing we know is that this WILL end.
I was an adolescent in the eighties- we lived in terror of nuclear war, with the government publishing advice in papers and producing leaflets on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. When that calmed down, it was straight into AIDS and if-you-have-sex-you'll-die.

What I'm trying to say is that times move on and things change. My heart goes out to those living in fear of bankruptcy or illness or in depression because of the state of the world. But the pandemic won't go on forever.

I feel you OP, I really do 😫

But we really have to try and stay positive, even though I know that is really hard

People are always comparing this to the Spanish flu and life returned after that, with the roaring 20’s.

Italy was really hard hit in the beginning, but they’re doing really well now and everything has been open for a while there now. My family are in the south and they’re living as close to normal as possible, sensibly. We will get treatments that will help, we already have one that helps some people. Doctors are learning everyday how to treat patients better. Like other people have said it may get weaker as time goes on, we’ll develop some kind of immunity. We might even get some form of a vaccine soon.

Last week, it was full of positive news around vaccines and treatments x

This is one of my favourite quotations - am not sure if it's in the original text or just in the film but I love it:

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.

I have had countless doctors tell me that ds's (baby) whole generation will be used to seeing masks.

It's not great op but we are learning how to live with this pandemic. There have been worse periods in history and I say that genuinely.

There will also be some positives from this. I know that can be hard to see sometimes.

We need to bring people into the world so they can make a life of their own and improve it.

@lilylion yes, my days are 'normalish' but I've got a parent who's shielding, they're not exactly young and I sit in the garden with my parents and look at them both and wonder if me or my dc will ever get to hug them properly again?

I'm a very glass half full type of person but I'm also the mum of 2 older teens and I could just weep at how shitty their lives are right now. At their ages I was hoping on and off trains, going to gigs, festivals, in and out of friends houses, days were care free and often very spontaneous. So on 'down' days I do feel very sad about the world.

I'm also an early years teacher but that is whole other area of concern and worry....

@Frazzled13

Every indication is that those who recover will not be just fine

Nonsense. You're implying that there's solid evidence everyone who recovers will not be fine when actually there is some evidence that some people will have lasting effects, the long term implications of which we don't know, because it hasn't been around long enough to look at long term.
I'm not saying there aren't long term effects, but your statement is hyperbole.

Just anecdata, but I know several people who have had it. Only one had serious symptoms, but more to do with post viral infections, which she needed to get antibiotics for. It was a bad illness which she dealt with at home. She is fine now, no lasting effects.

Another one had it, for about a week. Her symptoms were mild SOB, loss of taste and she spiked a temperature once. Since then, no symptoms.

The other, a doctor who had to have the antibody test, literally didn't know she had had it! Nothing since.

The doctor guessed she must have had it in early March when she had a very mild cough, but didn't think anything much of it.

The other two were in mid March. So, at least for now, they have not had any serious complications, unless they are undetectable.

I also know a woman who was a healthy mother of four in her 40s, with no underlying conditions, who died of strep throat. She just wasn't able to fight it off. This was nothing to do with covid btw. Just pointing out that, illnesses can be serious for some, without them necessarily being dreadful illnesses for the majority.

And wasn't what we now call flu, the Spanish flu? Didn't it mutate into something which doesn't usually kill people? Because that is what viruses do isn't it? They don't want to kill their host, so I think they tend to mutate to be less lethal.

I do take CV seriously btw, despite all of this, but it doesn't help to fall into a total pit of doom. Difficult as it is to avoid sometimes.

Hopefully this will pass. Not this month and maybe not this year, but soon enough.

The economy worries me as well, but one thing at a time I suppose. There really isn't a lot any of us as individuals can do to make a significant difference to the economy, so, to a point, we have to roll with the punches a bit .

They don't want to kill their host, because obviously they cannot survive without a host. Viruses can live outside a host but they cannot reproduce. If they kill off their hosts, they cannot reproduce and will die off, so it is not in their interests to remain lethal - that's my understanding anyway.

I am trying hard not to be so sad and depressed about the situation. I can't honestly see things getting better for quite a while and doubt we will ever go back to how things were.

I am just happy that I am in my 60's and have, on the whole, had a pretty good life. I feel so sorry for youngsters and the future they will likely face.

I am also even more glad that me and DH chose not to have children. It must be a very worrying time for anyone with children. I am amazed that anyone would think about getting pregnant at the moment

@lilylion oh my gosh, what junk are you finding on the Internet?? I'd be reading his tweets over the sham link you sent me.....yikes. Are you a flat earther??

I almost forget the situation when I see friends for a social distanced picnic and walk in the fields, but one of the few times I've gone into town walking past the salons with everyone with visors and masks on, and people queuing in the streets with masks waiting to go into shops I'm reminded of the stark reality....I live five minutes from a town centre but avoid it at all costs...

Luckily myself and DH are able to WFH, I have felt throughout this I want to live somewhere remote in nature where I have minimal contact with the outside world but I couldn't uproot my family and best friends too so that's impossible...still I just can't help continually returning to this fantasy of a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, instead I'm in a built-up area near the city centre :( Does anyone else feel like they want to escape the city and go somewhere remote? I have so many friends who are desperate to enjoy the salons, restaurants, shops, even in their new form, but I've got zero desire to do that whatsoever