Sat crying. This isn’t ending or getting better

[Napqueen1234]

So sick of this. Back into tier 3. We have followed all the rules. No one in the house since March. I can’t do this all winter. I have two small children and I’m going insane with no family help. People say it’s going to get better but it isn’t. Or it’s months and months away. I can’t stop crying I just want to see my family.

@MrsJBaptiste

For those of you who haven't met up with friends for months or not had anyone in your house since March, why not? A genuine question!

We haven't all been in the Tier 3 restrictions for months (although I know some people have) so has there not been a time where you coukd have had a walk with friends? Family over for a coffee? Drinks in the garden over the summer?

I must admit it's all a bit hazy as to when lockdowns have been and when we've been 'allowed' to do certain things but I haven't been stuck in the house since March. I had to shield for the first 12 weeks and that was bad enough?

We've not had anyone in our home since March because indoor household interaction is how the virus spreads.

We live in a flat so no outdoor entertaining space.

I'm so sick of going to the same park everyday too OP. 2020 with toddlers has been insanely difficult.

I have been working from home since 9th March, same four walls all day every day. So I hear you OP.

But we just have to keep going people. A vaccine is coming. Continue to protect your families and elderly, don't put them at risk. It will be spring soon and we will be on our way out of this. Have hope.

Hugs to you, you aren’t alone, so many people feel the same. I think we all knew winter would be tough. But we are getting through it. Try to enjoy Christmas, spring will soon arrive & hopefully things will improve. It won’t last be forever.

It’s bloody shit isn’t it

@MrsJBaptiste

For those of you who haven't met up with friends for months or not had anyone in your house since March, why not? A genuine question!

We haven't all been in the Tier 3 restrictions for months (although I know some people have) so has there not been a time where you coukd have had a walk with friends? Family over for a coffee? Drinks in the garden over the summer?

I must admit it's all a bit hazy as to when lockdowns have been and when we've been 'allowed' to do certain things but I haven't been stuck in the house since March. I had to shield for the first 12 weeks and that was bad enough?

To be fair no-one knew in March we would still be in this mess in Nov/Dec. We said we would keep away from elderly family in March and expected lockdown to work (it did) - but didn't anticipate the government reopening everything so widely and recklessly that the case numbers by Nov/Dec would be this high again. We also were hopeful for a vaccine in August/Sept, which obviously is going to be a few months delayed now too. So no-one planned in March not to see their for 9 month, or 12 months as it now looks. It just carried on due to the circumstances the government created (vaccine development separate issue of course).

Just do what's right for you. My parents and I still see each other. They don't care and aren't getting the vaccine and we are the same so we make our own choices.

@Poppynit I don't think the whole of Devon should be put into Tier 2. I understand it'd be a pain in the arse to tier each district but it's still what a little part of me was expecting. It is hard, I'm in Devon, right on the border of South Hams, very low, and Torbay which has been high since half term but is going down. I think Torbay, Exeter and Plymouth are falling so maybe we will be tier 1 in a fortnight. I'm trying to think positive.

Hacked off here. That's my 5 year old sent home from school for 14 days due to a positive test in his class and a 2 year old to entertain.

Really struggling to motivate myself to do anything.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and feel no guilt when your granny gets covid.

My granny died in 2007 so Covid would be going some to get her.

Or, to remove the blame from humans, circumstances the virus created, if that makes some people happier

@Dinosauratemydaffodils - I think this is one of the most over riding feelings.

Mass apathy. My creative friends have lost any desire to create, my sports based friends, now sit on the sofa an watch Netflix.

It has driven the desire out of people.

@fedup2017 I'm 36 and a year is a long time. Must feel like DECADES for teenagers. I really feel sympathy for them.

Oh it's so hard for people .

My son is home as he tested positve.

I tested positive a few days later. I only went for the test because I am part of a pilot study which asked me to have a test as DS was positive. I have no symptoms.

If anything it has made me think about the fact I could unknowingly pass the virus on,

We are Tier 2 but I am avoiding elderly relatives from now until they can have a vaccine...it's my parents who are in their 70s

What fucks me off is that restrictions are tightened or loosened based on all sorts of reasons that don't make a lot of sense, and promises made and broken on a whim. When we went into lockdown 2 it was clear that at the end of lockdown we'd come out of lockdown into something that looks quite a lot like lockdown, just with retail opportunities. Oh, and we'll have four days to infect great aunt Meryl before a totally surprising further lockdown in January. Just what is the fucking point?

In my area we were in tier, I’m still over the moon to be in tier 2, i’ve booked a restaurant once a week up until Christmas 😊 x

Really struggling to motivate myself to do anything.

God yes. It's a struggle.

We’ve gone from tier 1 to 2 despite our cases being pretty stable.

Even though I knew this would be the case it’s still utterly annoying.

And save me please from the folk determined to blame the situation on the ‘rule breakers’.
Numbers are what they are because of transmission in schools, work places and hospitals. Not because someone went for a fucking walk in the park without a mask.

And the reason ITU beds are full?
Basically we don’t have enough.
Too expensive.

@marriednotdead

I think my teacher DD summed it up pretty well for me. 'On the surface it looks ok. All the schools are open, we can go to work, get essentials and enjoy our homes. However all the fun/nice stuff that we work for is banned or closed. This pandemic has taken away all the joy so we are currently existing rather than living.'

Seems trite when my mother says 'everything passes' but she's right. Wish it would bloody hurry up though.

Your DD is spot on.

On a lighter note, a colleague just referred to her Christmas bubble as her Christmas Bublé which made me laugh

I haven't read the thread, but it'll get much better. But it won't be until at least Easter. Go and listen to what Chris Whitty says. And the other scientists. We have a few vaccines now and but they need to immunize enough people to make a difference. The Oxford one is 90% effective with 2 doses, is very cheap and needs only normal refrigeration. This is all very good (if the anti-vaxxers don't get their ways). The scientists predict we'll be in a very bad situation by Feb/March. But keep your hopes high. We are really turning a corner now. They are seeing that after summer 2021, coronavirus will be more like the seasonal flu with us having vaccines and cures and less need hospital treatments and less dying.

We were Tier 1. Now been told we are Tier 3. So lockdown has made the situation far worse here!!

Part of the reason why lockdown hasn't brought cases down as much as needed is because schools don't have the mitigations which work - masks, ventilation and small class sizes. (and of course rapid testing for all childhood symptoms of covid)

Two of those could be achieved with minimal spend.

We have to wear masks everywhere indoors in public now, except where the group with highest rates of infection mix freely indoors for hours at a time (secondary schools ).

Schools will only meaningfully stay open once these measures are in place to stop spread, and it's affecting everything else too.

Schools open with masks (in classrooms) and ventilation would really help but DfE says no.

This does feel unremittingly shit at the moment and I agree the effects will be long lasting.

HOWEVER - the news that there's more than one vaccine on the way is tremendously positive. Please take heart that there's an end to this on the cards.

And perhaps we can all vote the Tories out next time, they've done such a terrible job of managing this crisis, they've used it to profiteer, giving contracts worth millions to their mates and carving up our NHS. It's immoral what they've done.

Oh and OP you can use family for childcare so if they're willing then you can send kids to family to give you a break.

Just do you. I’ve been seeing family all year. I don’t mix with anyone who is silly and goes out mixing with loads of people or anyone who’d die from corona, it’s just a select bubble but we’ve been fine all year so far. touch wood Your mental health is more important.
None of this makes any sense. We went from a tier 2 before lockdown to a tier 3?! Even though our numbers have dramatically dropped, something isn’t right somehwhere.

I am done in with this. I've had to work from home since the first lockdown. It's my partner and I in a small flat. Honestly feel like I just live to work. I have to work in our bedroom and my partner in the living room or vice versa. Finish work and still am staring at the same walls. As the nights get darker and colder walks are less appealing, also the same routes are boring. It's literally Groundhog Day every single day now. Struggling to find comfort and joy in the simplest of things now as they have become everyday routine.