Is this *ever* going to end?

[Mybobowler]

I think I've handled 2020 fairly well up until now, but it's suddenly really wearing me down. Is this shit ever going to end?? I miss everything and everyone, I'm sad and anxious and exhausted. If it wasn't for my two year old daughter and the joy she brings me, I think this would be overwhelming me completely.

We've started TTC our second baby, in the (misguided?) belief that, by next autumn, things would be pretty much back to normal. Am I deluded? Please, someone make me feel better!

I wouldn’t ttc if your worried about having a baby in the pandemic. I really hope it’s all over by then but it may not be.

I couldn’t even read this thread once I’d read
cases and deaths will peak in summer 2021

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4116607-Marked-increase-in-children#prettyPhoto

We're expecting our second in June,so I guess we're hopefully,and thankful,but even so,yes,can be tough at moment,and think January and February will be, but then the vaccines should be starting to really get this most at risk

I disagree, I wouldn’t put your life/family plans on hold just because of Covid

They’ve already vaccinated 250,000 people. Within a few months, enough people will have had the vaccine so that there are not enough potential hosts for it to survive.

In the meantime, loads of anti-vaxers will have died off in a kind of Darwinesque suicide mission, so hopefully by the summer, all will be well.

I was reading up on the influenza pandemic of 1918. Obviously much different circumstances back then, but you can draw some comparisons. They had 4 waves, over 2 years. My prediction for us is another shitty year, but 2022 will be brighter. :)

It is already better than it was back in April - virus worse, the weather makes it worse.

People are able to be tested so we have a much better idea of prevalence, there is a vaccine which has been approved and is being rolled out, there are treatments so more people are surviving iCU.

The next couple of months will be pretty tough but it will get better.

I just think we've been buying time for a vaccine and now there is one. I am hopeful the Oxford vaccine gets approval and we can hit the ground running. Summer will see much lower levels of transmission anyway. Life like this isn't sustainable it just isn't, even if everyone was to continue staying away from loved ones, we can't keep having people on furlough. We can't have businesses folding and even more unemployment. The NHS needs a healthy economy to function. Without one, it would collapse anyway so what's the point in carrying on with restrictions. From experience, conceiving my second child took a very long time. Life goes on.

It suddenly hit me too, I cried a lot on Christmas Eve watching Christmas films and tv because people were hugging and it just sent me over the edge.

I think it will end eventually but I don’t think it’s going to be over anytime soon. This is just based on my own observations of the rollout for the vaccine programme but it looks like we are vaccinating 250,000-300,000 people a week. The brexit press conference on Monday, a figure of 800,000 people had been vaccinated and that was our third week of the rollout. The second dose of the vaccine has to be administered after 21 days, so they will be doing the second dose for some of those people. Now presumably as those who are currently receiving the vaccine now, some of those will also be administering the vaccine and we’d be able to get through more than 300,000. However, we do have the second doses to take into account which will keep new numbers down. If we can average 500,000 new vaccines administered per week, it will take us 40 weeks to get through the 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that we have available to us. If we can average 1 million vaccines a week, that is still 20 weeks just to get through the first set of the vaccine. So realistically, I don’t see how restrictions could be lifted by the summer and therefore things back to normal by the autumn.

I’m not scare mongering or relishing in lockdown life as posters like to state when you try to check reality. I’m not happy about my realisation and I’m not enjoying being back in lockdown. If that’s in doubt - I don’t usually spend Christmas Eve in floods of tears because people on the tv are hugging.

All that to say, it’s not impacted our decision to TTC and we’re going ahead. If this continues on until this next time next year (or even longer) would you be happy postponing TTC indefinitely? What if then also takes you some time to conceive? Even if you conceived your first easily enough, there’s no guarantee you won’t have problems next time. It’s a big decision continuing or starting to TTC in the current climate. We questioned our choices a lot but the idea that we’d have to put our lives even more on hold until this has gone away just wasn’t something we were prepared to do.

@getmeacupoftea ‘2022 will be brighter’

No it won’t - not if we have another year like this. Economy would be irreparable. Sorry to rain on your doom parade.

1918 pandemic ended with no vaccine - key difference there.

OP, next few months will be tough but things will start to improve.

@RaspberryToupee have you factored in the Oxford vaccine to that too, which is very very likely to be approved on 28th/29th December? Much easier to administer - plenty of people on here who are signed up to do so. Think football stadiums set up as vaccine hubs and people out very quickly to do care homes, which has been very very difficult with Pfizer.

The thought of going back into a secondary school in January with no mitigations except shitty lateral flow tests is very bleak indeed. I expect to be ill and the only consolation is that I will be paid to stay home while I recuperate (and stay home I will, without streaming lessons or possibly even setting work).

Well they didn’t have a vaccine for the Spanish flu so why do we think this will last as long?
2022 is ridiculous.

We’ll have a tough few months ahead but I think by Easter things will be improving.

@scruffy20

I was actually trying to be optimistic. Just offering my opinion. Any need for that tone? Be nicer.

How is 2022 with a smug smile optimistic? We have a vaccine. On what basis will this be going on another year? Nobody thinks that.

Meh nothing you can do tbh except get on with life the way it is

My first baby is due in 8weeks - got that to look forward to! Obviously sad I may not be able to introduce the baby to everyone for a while - but il get over it

Tbh I feel like life in general may just get more and more like this in the future with climate change and possible more pandemics - sure who knows.

I just make the most of it and hope maybe next year will be a bit better and if not then 2022

We aren’t living in War zone are we - so I think count yourself lucky tbh

@Delatron

Yes I did mention there were obvious differences. I'm trying to be optimistic and also realistic. My prediction is maybe another tricky year, but certainly we shall have some normality back by this time next year. Once again, just an opinion.

Honestly I think we’ll normalise it once the vaccine is in place.

Older more vulnerable people will be vacccinated, the rest of us - like with regular flu - will just crack on. It’ll be like colds and stuff, people will start threads in 2030 ‘is it just me or is the Covid particularly bad this year?’

The point is that while Covid will continue to kill, life will go back to normal, because it has to.

(And I say this with a Covid baby conceived in Nov 2019 and born Aug 2020! Life goes on x)

@Delatron

The OP invited some opinions so I offered mine. I'm not trying to be smug at all. I'm feeling hopeful. Im glad that the general consensus is that things will be better soon. I haven't seen my family since March. That would be lovely. I was just trying to reiterate that it won't last forever, even back in 1918 with NO VACCINE things died down after two years. Things are bleak right now for me. Please be gentle.

Sorry @getmeacupoftea I didn't mean to seem unkind. I'm much more optimistic than you so let's hope I'm right!

I have no idea how many people can be vaccinated per week with the Oxford trial and I have taken that into account, as that’s the one most people will be getting. With a population of 67 million and if we vaccinate 80% of the population, that is 53.6 million people that need to be vaccinated. 20 weeks from now takes us to mid-May. To vaccinate 80% of the population, with one vaccine or another by mid-May so we can start living normally in summer, we would need to average 2.68 million doses administered each week. The Oxford vaccine is easier to deal with logistically but if you set up stadiums as vaccine hubs, you still have the issue of ensuring social distancing as people won’t be protected until they have the vaccine. Not to mention the staff needed to administer that many vaccines per week.

The vaccination programme, like the lockdowns, isn’t just about protecting the vulnerable. It is about ensuring that enough people don’t get sick and overrun the healthcare system. Restrictions of some description will need to stay in place until the majority of the country have been vaccinated, with restrictions being lessened as cases drop.

I’m not saying I don’t expect life to be back to normal eventually but I’m not expecting a summer with no restrictions at all.

Well yes that’s my point. Without a vaccine a pandemic will take two years ish to burn out.

We have a vaccine and it’s being rolled out. So I think 2022 is pessimistic. Sorry if I offended you @getmeacupoftea. I honestly think by Easter things will be on the up. I do think Jan and Feb will be pretty bad though.

I hope you get to see your family soon.

Thanks everyone for your replies. The vaccine is the bright spot on the horizon, for sure. I'm in an area where cases are rapidly accelerating, having had very low numbers so far (SW). This is all feeling much closer to home.

@Dollywilde the scenario you've suggested is what I'm hoping for, a sort of blended best/worst case option. I guess we just wait and see, and if 2020 has taught me anything, it's patience

As for TTC. One minute it feels like madness - what sort of world would I bring another child into? I work in a climate change related field, so that doesn't help! On the other hand, the prospect of being pregnant and having a new baby feels like such an act of hopefulness, that it feels ok. Either way, as many of you have said, life goes on!

And anyway, as someone has already said, baby #2 might take months or even years to come along. Who can even imagine where we might be?!