Is anyone else feeling like COVID is circling them like a vulture?

[Yellownotblue]

We’ve been extremely careful throughout. Obeying rules. Doing lockdown. Wearing masks, even outdoors. Isolating when pinged by NHS app even when it made no sense.

But in the last week, we’ve had lots of close contacts who tested positives. DC’s classmates, then school bus driver, then my walking buddy. It feels like the circle is tightening around us, and it’s just a matter of time before we get sick.

I’m finding this very stressful as DH is abroad for work for several months. We have no relatives here. So if I get sick I’m completely on my own with DCs. They’re not tiny, but they are too young to look after themselves.

I know it’s not entirely rational but I’m very anxious about it. It’s almost like the tension you get from a horror movie. Every new WhatsApp from friends telling us they got the virus, is like a turning of the screw. It’s like the soundtrack to my life is ominous double bass, playing the Jaws theme.

Am I alone feeling like this?

I feel like this, but not about actually catching it (although I am obese). More just the isolating. My son's had one spell of isolating. My DH works in the community for NHS, one child at nursery and one at school. I wfh but still take the kids out for days out etc as refuse to bow down to fear. I do everything in a covid secure way and follow the restrictions. One Friday night I sat in a marquee outside a bar with a group of 5 friends - it was cold and wet!. Inside I could see several groups of friends who were quite clearly not from the same household. Cases are quite low where I am but anecdotally I feel like I know more and more people with it. My next door neighbours have it currently. They were shielding for months and brought it back from nursery when they allowed their daughter to return. I'm not overly worried about the virus itself, but the disruption to normal life which is does feel is constantly hanging over us.

@ZenNudist

Do you actually know anyone younger who got it and was really ill? Probably need to put this in perspective.

Yes. A family friend in his late 40s with no risk factors died from it.

And now it looks inevitable that we’re going to have it anyway.

Well yes, most people will. The lockdowns were to slow the spread and prevent the nhs getting overwhelmed, not stop anyone from ever getting it. I think people have totally lost perspective of this. The vast majority of people will have cv with no or very mild symptoms. You may have already had it without even knowing.

TBH I accepted way back in March that Covid would probably be uncontainable longterm and that we as family were bound to get it at some point and that we as a family would also almost certainly be fine (the stats from Italy were already out there and it was obvious even then which demographies were at genuine risk). The issue for me has always been the risk of passing it on to vulnerable people, not myself. So its not something I worry about for me or my family. And though we're reasonably rule observant we've also always been out and about doing as much as we could at any given time. This is just one of those aspects of life that we have limited control over & where we can't eliminate risk completely, and there's something really liberating about accepting that

@JacobReesMogadishu yes there are outliers and it’s pretty much luck of the draw if one gets it in that sense. I’m 39 female and not knowingly have any underlying conditions and not overweight but I’m BAME and pretty sure my vitamin D levels are low, have been taking supplements but it takes months for the kicked yo build up..if I get it come Jan when we all are being forced back into our offices who is to say if it’s a ‘sniffle’ or a ventilator?

Felt this way since my children returned to school. They don't have the safety measures we have at work. Just a matter of time before my family gets it. All I can hope is we all get it mildly.

OP. Are you spending a lot of time on mumsnet? When it comes to covid I find it doesnt reflect real life. Sometimes it feels like the worried well gather here to stoke their fears. (Disclaimer, not everyone on every thread, but generally)

In RL people are cautious but not ridiculous. Want schools to stay open. They are generally not desperately anxious.

Also, most people I know who've tested positive have had a very mild illness and fully recovered. 1 had a short stay in hospital. Also, not everyone will catch it.

I'm not worried about it at all, I know about 30 odd people who have had it including my partner and none of them have been even remotely seriously unwell. Glorified sniffles in fact. Wide age range.

@ZenNudist

Do you actually know anyone younger who got it and was really ill? Probably need to put this in perspective.

Until last weekend I didn't know anyone first hand who'd had it. Then four people at work tested positive, one of whom, in her 30s, is very poorly indeed. Yesterday I heard my next door neighbour has it. I'm self-isolating as a result of the work outbreak (received notification on the app). For the first time I'm really quite worried and don't want to go back to the office and I'm hoping they'll let me stay wfh for the duration. Yes, vultures is exactly what it feels like.

yes, in London, my colleagues are all succumbing - though they have all been careful, they say. The link is schools. My DDs whole year group is now in self isolation - along with a lot of the other year groups and schools round here.
I had rotten headache last two days.....wondering if I have it now. I am going to ramp up my precautions, if I don't - as I was getting a little bit lax in terms of going into shops getting xmas presents. But when schools are open - DS still going in - what can you do?

and I know people with long covid, suffering since March. But might it be that the first wave was worse??? I have not heard of others since with months long duration of illness.

Its horrendous. We followed every precaution. Ive notvseen any one outside of my household since march. My eldest son is in a very small class, he caught it from someone at school. Now I've got it too.

This is why it will be endless, when even ‘responsible’ people like us (I’m responsible, DH isn’t) and my neighbours next door who work in a doctors and a care home yet continued to have visitors round during the original lockdown....

This is so depressing. Our neighbour who has it has two adult (well 18 and 21) children living at home who have flouted (no other word for it) the rules from Day 1. This morning the son's girlfriend's car is out front. Neighbour is a paramedic. Sigh.

My sister got Covid, when she told me I flippantly said “we’ll done! Congratulations “ , she has had massive anxiety about Covid and was sure 5 times already that she had it this year

Actually getting it is no fun but she is so relieved to be getting it over and done with

The constant feeling of dread was debilitating for her, and this is better

Weirdly

She has a bit of a cough, and loss of sense of smell but is otherwise fine. And the Covid anxiety has now melted away (her DH and DD also tested positive but have no symptoms)

It felt a bit like this for me in March - we had it, half my work colleagues had it, friends who work in hospitals were busy on COVID wards etc.

This time round it feels more schools based as obviously kids were at home last time.

I know q a few people who have had Covid, including myself and DS we think (couldn’t get tested at that point but GP reckons it was, I was working in an environment where I was likely exposed early on and I’ve had some symptoms that could be long covid or could just be the hell of this year playing out in my body).

I know 4 people who have died but all of them were 60+ with underlying conditions and half were hospital acquired cases of COVID-19, contracted whilst in for something else. Everyone else I know has had something between symptom free and flu like level of severity. One person had significant symptoms of long covid, but seems better now 6 months on.

So no, not really. I feel like the general mood of anxiety is encircling me more troublingly than covid.

I knew 5 people with it this morning but while reading this got a message and now know 6..

Most younger and not too ill but one has lost all sense of taste and smell.

In a very high ranking Tier 3 area so definitely do feel it’s circling. Almost wish I could just catch it and get it over with tbh.

OP, try not to worry about the parts of this you can't control.
Practically there are things you can do. Make sure you have some easy cook meals in the house. Make sure you have any medications you might need. Think about activities and things that keep the kids entertained.

I'm in North London and after a fairly quiet few months the number of people that I know and school bubbles closing with Covid is rapidly increasing, def starting to feel more prevalent again.

@Stationfork

Sorry you're feeling so anxious OP. But I genuinely can't relate with this at all. Don't know anyone who had had it, and I know a lot of people. Maybe just been lucky. But Leicester so apparently one of the bad places. But don't know anyone and everyone I ask doesn't either. Dd's school had some year bubble closures Sept time but she has never been off and myself, dd, and husband have never had to isolate as yet. Are we unusual?

I was thinking similar. I don’t know anyone who has definitely had it (ie tested positive, or even got ill after being in contact with a known positive). I know some people who know people eg my mum works in a secondary school and they’ve had a handful of cases, but most people I know don’t know anyone who’s had it. We live in the south east, pretty near London. DD has had to be tested a couple of times, but that’s just because she’s 18 months, this is her first winter at nursery, and so she’s picking things up. She’s always tested negative and her nursery have had no known cases despite it being on the same site as a secondary school and a lot of the parents are teachers there. That’s not to say I’m blasé about it, but I definitely don’t feel it circling in.

I do. I have a Bmi of 36 (though it was 39 in March) and an underlying disability (though wasn't shielded because of it) and I've been in a perpetual state of dread since March. I'm so tired of the constant fear. I don't know how much longer I can go on living this way .

@HighlyOptimistic

Yes you’ll probably get infected if you haven’t been already. We’ve had it. We know older people who’ve had it (in their 40s, and in their 60s). One half of the 40s couple didn’t catch it, the husband did but had no symptoms. He got it from his elderly father who died from pneumonia but Covid mentioned on death cert.

The older couple in their 60s he was very ill but survived it, his wife not ill at all with it.

Our son under 12 was positive. He had a high temp and bad headache first day of symptoms but was well enough to play on his Xbox and his normal chatty self during the 14 day isolation.
I was cuddly and breathing his breath in effectively day of symptoms starting as an idea of how tactile a typical mum and young son are, yet I tested neg a few days later.

A couple weeks later I feel under the weather, but Test & Trace said don’t re-test son after isolation as he’ll still show positive for 6 weeks after, but won’t be infectious after 2 weeks isolation.
So none of the rest of the family tested.
Husband continued to go to work, he didn’t isolate as required by law. That surprised me, but I’m furloughed on very low pay, and someone needs to pay the bills. So if he got it, he’s probably passed it on.

This is why it will be endless, when even ‘responsible’ people like us (I’m responsible, DH isn’t) and my neighbours next door who work in a doctors and a care home yet continued to have visitors round during the original lockdown....

Most people will get infected, some will die, most won’t, we’ll learn to live with it, it’s here forever probably like the common cold.

Live through this, Get used to it. It’s not World War Two. Get some backbone. It’s horrific but it’s doable. You might be ill, or made redundant because of Covid, or lose people you love, it’s all part of life. Just crack on. Must remember to namechange before posting. You know you’re all thinking the same way you just won’t admit it on a public forum.

We who are vulnerable certainly are not thinking the same way.

I feel like it is closing in. I'm not worried about it, except for the planning re isolating - I know lots of people who've had it (NHS) and they are all fine, but between work, commuting, living in a high Covid area and having DC at school.... I doubt we can dodge it until the vaccine reaches us.

Every email from the school my heart drops

Yes!!! I actually think they are just fucking with us now - I had a groupcall at 8:10am reminding everyone to pay £1 for Xmas jumper day. Took 5 minutes for the tachycardia to settle.

@TheYearOfSmallThings

Every email from the school my heart drops

Yes!!! I actually think they are just fucking with us now - I had a groupcall at 8:10am reminding everyone to pay £1 for Xmas jumper day. Took 5 minutes for the tachycardia to settle.

Ha.

This fuckwittery in London is producing similar annoyance.

Yes. In the last week we have had our first school case. I also know of a few people who've had it. It feels very close now. I am holding my breath until the end of term but also know January will be a shitshow.

All while nobody seems to give a damn and feel hard done to because I won't come to their home and pump out aerosols in the name of Christmas.