Feels surreal reading old threads on here from March

[Ozzie9523]

I’ve just clicked the ‘last’ key and read some threads from early March. Seems so weird reading those threads, how we were worrying about a few cases and thinking it might all be over in a couple of months, or wouldn’t affect us like it had China and Italy. Little did we know what was coming 😔 If someone had told us back then where we’d be 9 months later, and all that had gone on in between, we probably wouldn’t have believed them. Just thinking out loud really!

I could see what was going to happen but didn't say because I would have just been strafed. Some did try and speak up and were roundly ridiculed/disbelieved.
I so wanted to be wrong as well

Yes, so weird.

You can also type a number of your choice into the 'this topic has 888 pages' box (or whatever it is) and read a random selection from the oldest (still only this year) to the latest. Amazing how much you can forget or blot out when there is knowledge or hindsight.

The delays and shaky arrival of PPE for care staff are quite shocking to me from 'real time' and also the eras of Cheltenham (Irish NHS staff typing posts where they see the direct results of Cheltenham as one sole event in the hospitals) and speeches from the various parliamentary podiums - and the names that receded very quickly.

Page 333 for example (going on that position today) - a 'How long do you think this will last?' thread.

@RhubarbTea

I could see what was going to happen but didn't say because I would have just been strafed. Some did try and speak up and were roundly ridiculed/disbelieved. I so wanted to be wrong as well

I actually didn't as I remembers sars I remember my friend texting me in Feb asking if I was worried and I was not 😬

The very first mention of coronavirus on a thread is interesting

The poster was quite astute- asking if travel should stop from Wuhan

Very early on - maybe end of Jan!

@Ozzie9523

I’ve just clicked the ‘last’ key and read some threads from early March. Seems so weird reading those threads, how we were worrying about a few cases and thinking it might all be over in a couple of months, or wouldn’t affect us like it had China and Italy. Little did we know what was coming 😔 If someone had told us back then where we’d be 9 months later, and all that had gone on in between, we probably wouldn’t have believed them. Just thinking out loud really!

Speak for yourself...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a3813759-AIBU-to-ask-you-if-you-are-worried-about-the-new-Coronavirus

Have a read of the thread. Lots of people says theres a major problem here and vaccine unlikely til start of early 2021. Wasn't a bad prediction for first week of Feb.

There's plenty of posters who were well aware that a major issue was a likihood by that point.

Lots of people didn't want to listen to them. As usual its the same people paying attention to the news rather than burying their heads in the sand and the same people going on about how there won't be a problem.

Its kind of grating being told that 'no one would have believed people saying things in March', when some people were already concerned by the last week in January about what they were hearing and what the implications might be.

Being aware of the world around you just isn't something valued as much as it should be.

In the very early days, when posters didn't realise there was a dedicated board, I remember a few posters constantly snapping 'FFS post this in the Coronavirus board! We aren't all interested in this.'
As if it could be filed away neatly out of sight and not affect them.

@RedToothBrush

Agreed.
And there were similar threads in September accusing people who were talking about the second wave of scaremongering.

We were told at work (events business) last March (as was dh's work) to work on after Easter 2021 as a possibility for beginning to return to normal. That looks pretty accurate now.

I'm a member of several travel groups on FB. I did a search for some older coronavirus threads, and you can see that many people were in denial about the looming crisis. The many arguments that happened between people wanting to take themselves from places with high cases to unaffected corners of the world is quite selfish imo. Then, of course, once the borders closed there was the epic scramble for refunds, disgruntled would-be travellers, and endless 'when should I rebook?' posts

I've just seen a FB post from someone in the USA asking the rest of the (USA centric) group where they will all be travelling to after Christmas .... and people are actually still travelling around America! Over 3K people died in one day in America (yesterday or the day before)!

I was worrying then, but so grateful to find others who were too.

It's almost nostalgic to look back to that thread, thanks for posting it!

I was worried about this in January and so many friends told me I was being ridiculous, I wish they had been right. Never could have imagined it would be this bad though.

Yes, I got lost in them the other day

Witchend i was saying in mid August i was pretty sure there would be a major issue by half term.

It comes to me as no surprise now that theres angst over tier borders and London is stressing about T3 and the spread in schools which apparently wasn't happening in the North in September (unless you bothered to read the local press cos the national media was so bad).

Major issues ahead are:

Supply chain problems exacerbated by the end of transition (whether we deal or not). I'm already hearing numerous ominous sounds on that score from friends in various industries.

The time is going to take to establish vaccine centres and administer vaccines is scary. The sheer number of people in the priority categories is huge. I think its something like 10million before you get to the under 65s with or without a serious health condition. And we've currently got 400,000 doses which will take min of about 200 days to roll out at the current rate across 30 hubs. (to give you an idea of just how much this operation needs to be scaled up). Johnson is going to be disappointed by how slow it is. He needs things to get done yesterday...

Christmas. London and Kent are fucked already without that extra pressure. There's a real issue developing (following a not dissimilar pattern to the North). Its probably about 3 or 4 weeks to go before it starts to kick in. Without calculating the Christmas factor in.

Shit is going to be hitting the fan with two potential serious crisis hitting at the exact same time.

I think im going to hide under a rock and just sigh. With a large glass of gin.

Thanks for that analysis RTB. Sort of.....

And there were similar threads in September accusing people who were talking about the second wave of scaremongering.

Well, to be fair, a number of those same posters had been talking about how a second wave was imminent after picnics in parks were allowed again, after VE Day, after crowded Dorset beaches, after English schools going back in June...

Maybe as far as they were concerned, there was one eventually so they were right and the details are a mere quibble, but. Well.

(I thought this was going to be a very worrying big thing back in Jan/Feb, but I also thought swine flu would be and the 2005 bird flu would be, so I don’t feel I can really pat myself on the back for general pessimism.)

I remember sitting in a restaurant with 2 friends in February and saying that it would probably be the last time we met up for a long while. I was scoffed at. I had also stocked up on tinned food and a couple of extra packets of pasta at the beginning of Feb and my husband saying I was crazy. I'm not usually a pessimist or a prepper but had a really ominous feeling.

I stopped commuting to London end of feb.

However I was somewhat hopeful my holiday with friends in Europe would go ahead in the summer. Seems nuts now that I even considered it might be an option!

I’m looking at 2022 as next Europe break I think. Hope that’s realistic!!

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at some of the comments on that first are you worried thread - we’ll be ok because we have the resources to quarantine and a good healthcare system - posters worried about it getting into Africa.

There was a dynamite thread from late 2019 "anyone got this terrible cough" or something...the symptoms were so clearly covid. That one's a total eye opener.

And, yes, it was clear in Janiary that this was not contained on China and that it was probably already here and the level of denial in many people online and IRL was ridiculous.

We could have closed the borders in January, and locked down when Italy was hit, but instead we all went skiing, amirite?

Some very astute posters on that first worried about coronavirus thread

Yes, I did the same the other day, it was really odd reading them. Lots of sneering from some posters and acccusations of hysteria. I bet there were a few hasty name changes a few weeks later!

I wasn't on mumsnet at that point but find it surreal to look at my own photos from early March. I (and everyone else I know) had no idea things would get so bad and so quickly. I have a photo of my mum cuddling my 4 year old and reading her a story in early March. We had no idea that these would be the last hugs of 2020.

There were also people back in February confidently predicting riots or large civil unrest across the UK, Hyde Park being turned into a morgue, rationing of foods due to acute shortages, the Army on the streets patrolling, and all manner of other stuff which didn't happen.

So don't be patting yourselves on the back by getting some of the stuff right when a lot of the "predictions" were hugely wide of the mark.

I wasn't happy about it back then. I bought masks on the 1st Feb and started stocking the house up.
Without the borders being closed and massive testing I couldn't see how we were going to avoid it. I'm sure it was well and truly here by new year, it just took time to snowball.