Is anyone else more scared now than they were in March?

[Swearlikemalcolmtucker]

Everything just seems so dark, and even with the vaccines it’s got to get worse before it gets better.
I don’t recall feeling like this in March but I’m genuinely scared now. I’m hoping my health anxiety is at the root of most of it as I’ve been able to stay pretty upbeat and positive until now, I kept thinking vaccine, warmer weather, things will get better but now it seems harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Seeing the celebrations in NZ is like looking into another world

Yes that’s my main worry too. I do not want my children going to school. I have four at school and we have a social worker which means that I may be pressured to send them in. I want them at home. The schools are both closed now due to so many Covid cases. The children have all had to isolate at different times. I’m going to have to lie and say they are not well if it comes to being sent back on the 18th. It’s unfair and I don’t feel safe. I’ve lost an old friend to Covid. He was healthy before that. I’m a single mum to 6 and they need me. I cannot be ill.

I’m worried about ds starting school again next week.
I wish we were able to keep children at home without the risk of a fine, not particularly because I feel at risk, more that I think that right now it’s irresponsible to fill schools up again, especially when so many hospitals are overwhelmed, understaffed and (in some cases) running low of oxygen.

I am increasingly angry at the manipulation of statistics that feed deniers, and equally angry at the incompetent government who are currently providing very little in the way of leadership and reassurance.

I am not more scared of the virus but more scared of my children's future due to damages the virus has caused.

No because back in March it was pretty apparent that we would be exactly where we are now. One parent asked how i was the day the schools closed and i said not ok and she was glad i said it. And we cried because we both realised what was about to happen and how long it was going to last and realised that most people didn't.

I wouldn't go back to then. Every new day is one closer to hugs. And we've already come a long way even if things are so bleak at the same time.

Ive had real low points throughout but i think I've now reached a place where i can deal with the Tier stuff and i know ive got support around me i can count on, because the last few months has brought our group of friends closer together.

The next couple of months are going to be shit. Its going to be cold and miserable. And pretty lonely.

But we've also done this a few times now and im getting used to it.

Its one day at a time and the knowledge that the days are getting longer now.

I’m not more scared of Covid.

I am, however, scared that the government is going to balls up the vaccine program, and/or be idiotic and tell all under 50s to drop all social distancing and resume normal life in a month or two, thereby causing a wildfire of cases in my age group that may not need lead to many deaths, but will lead to many, many hospitalisations.

I'm more scared than in March because our local hospitals are actually overwhelmed this time and if anything else happens to us, it's unlikely we will receive the best care possible. Schools are absolutely not safe, we have been repeatedly lied to about this. I have no faith in the government whatsoever. It does feel scarier this time. I'd happily pull them all out of school, but eldest son has gcses this yr, so there's that panic too. I despise this government for letting us end up here (again).

I've emailed in to say we will be keeping youngest home (eldest is in secondary so off anyway) for the first 2 weeks and said why.

I am aware we might get a fine. I cant come this close to a vaccine and risk my child thinking they killed me by bringing it home from schoo lthough.

I think in march i shielded and was terrifiedbbut felt the govt would do the right thing.

Now I know they wont and its a different sense of unease. Knowing they're lying about schools being safe and stuffing schools up left right and centre.

I believe the situation is far worse here now than it was last March. We were on high alert then and the cases were high and deaths too. I think now too many people are fed up with the situation and following their own rules and the situation now compared to last March is far, far worse. The hospitals this time are truly overwhelmed and the NHS is really struggling but this time round the general public do not care as much as they are either fed up of the duration or just can't relate or don't want to relate to reality. The information from the government is appalling, completely inconsistent and the general public either don't find the guidance to be clear or it is so badly written that it is open to interpretation and people are choosing to interpret it however it suits their situation best.

My youngest will not be returning to primary school for at least the next two weeks as we are in a tier 4 area. I'm dreading having to homeschool again whilst trying to keep my full-time job going (which is busier than ever). The lack of development over the last six months or so in my youngest is quite clear to see but I can't see how to reverse this whilst trying to hold down my job. I'm not a teacher, do not have the qualities to be a teacher and can fully emphasise with the role they do. I can't imagine how they are feeling knowing they have to return after the Christmas break with a new term looming, COVID cases growing and testing being thrown into the mix as well.

Most of us have lost faith in this government, haven’t we? It’s been one debacle after another, so much deceit, and so much recklessness.

Supposedly the big lesson from the Spanish flu was that societies where authorities were most transparent with the public fared the best in mortality rates/outcomes. It’s very clear to me now why that is.

The amount of times the government has said this will be over by ‘Christmas, spring’ and now summer apparently, nobody believes them any more.
I understand it’s an evolving situation and things change but it’s been handled so so poorly I’m not surprised that people are thinking fuck it and breaking the rules.
I just hope this is the worst of it now and that we don’t see another worse wave after this one. If we manage to cope with this one (and I mean the hospitals when I say that).

I’ve come to the conclusion that deniers are just frantically trying to hold on to the hope that it’s not actually that bad and burying their head in the sand about it

I have ups and downs. Right now I am suffering with anxiety. Being in lockdown during the cold winter isn't helping either.

We have had a tough year. My husband has had anger issues so the first lockdown was hell. He is doing a lot better now so that is something that's not weighing on me as much. My husband and I had covid in April. We think we suffered so bad because we were already so run down. Being home with two small children and both having a bad case of "the flu" was utter hell.

Since then my children have been in and out of hospital with bad asthma that only started in august. I have had 12 hospital stays in 3 months. I'm lucky I still have a job with the amount of time I have had off work. My husband is on stronger anti depressants thank god. My mental health is a mess. I usually exercise to help my mood but since having covid most forms of exercise give me bad chest pains and breathing issues. Docs won't prescribe me an inhaler, I just have breathing exercises to do, however we have so many in the house now because of the kids that I occasionally use theirs and it helps massively.

A positive for us is this is the longest my youngest has gone without being in hospital- 2 months. I am so pleased we made it through Christmas without them being in hospital although is it bad of me to wish if it was going to happen that it happened while I was off work?!

With all of this that has gone on and the fact that even if we had antibodies, they've most likely gone now I have great concerns that we will catch this new strain. I am scared because we still haven't recovered from April.

All this being said I am glad they're both going back to school which is 11th Jan where I live. Where I live the numbers have stayed low despite schools staying open...

Sorry to jump on your post and whinge about my year.

Yes much more worried because:

• The government appears to be determined to infect school pupils and their families
• The UK mutation is worse in terms of spread
• The vaccine shortages will last for months (Times front page today)
• The NHS is now overwhelmed in some areas
• The Christmas mixing deaths won't emerge for another two weeks

But mostly I'm scared by how accepting people are of 950+ deaths per day when we could have had far fewer.

The PM and government chose this course. They chose a high covid instead of a low covid course.

Every high risk person I love has now died since March so in many ways I'm less scared. But I'm now pregnant so I feel more of a "duty" to avoid contracting it. I know both these reasons are selfish but that's where my head is at.

@stressedsloth whinge away, you sound like you need to! What a rough year for you :( I’m sorry you’re still suffering - this is the other thing a lot of people forget or don’t want to hear about, that long Covid is very real and a lot of people require hospital care for effects of Covid after they’ve actually had it. I do hope things get better for you.

Mixed

I was pretty worried in March especially week before lock down

I don’t feel that way now I’d I’m not wanting a lock down I probably did welcome it back then

The NHS situation is very concerning though and I feel for everyone trying to work through it in hospitals

I know a few people who have had covid19 this year, some in their seventies (with underlying health issues), some in their sixties and some families with children. All have recovered, some took a bit longer than others, some were harder hit but none required treatment and all are back to normal now.

We hear and read so much to worry us but there is normality too.

People seem to think they just shut down the NHS and if they’d just got on with it then cancer etc would be treated (the non treatment is awful and I have HUGE sympathies for anyone whose management is being delayed) Covid is survivable BECAUSE of treatment like oxygen in hospitals. I am entirely confused by the anger for the hospitals having to stop elective procedures. The alternative is leaving all these people at home dying for want of some oxygen. If you didn’t admit anyone it WOULDN’T have such a high survival rate. There seems to be limited logic from some people

Really scared. I felt like I'd got it sorted, like I knew what to do to stay safe. This new variant and the huge numbers fill me with an awful sense of doom and terror.

Yes

Yes, the hospitals seem even more overwhelmed than in March. I’m glad we’ve gone into tier 4, think we need to be. I’ll leave the house for outside exercise but apart from that I’m not going out.

I veer between okay and nervous. I’m lucky to be working from home but homeschooling was incredibly difficult with a teen and two primary aged kids. Both primary aged kids have significant difficulties and one attends a specialist school. They both miss the routine in school but I’m worried about my youngest as he’s non verbal and wouldn’t be able to tell me if he was poorly, let alone let me do a covid test on him.

My parents are our only support and once kids return to school, I wonder if we ought to stop seeing them. I don’t trust the government to give clear information anymore. We’re still complying but I wish they’d be more transparent. Our local hospitals are full and the county has declared a major incident in hospitals. Even if covid is mild, if you need a hospital and oxygen they could be too full.

I'm scared in a different way to the way i was in March. This time round I'm scared about how out of control things seem to be compared to the tightness of lockdown regulations. In march / april London was deathly silent. It's not now, which makes me feel like this wave won't be bought into control.

I'm scared for my mum and I'm scared for my job. I don't think it's at risk but you just can't know for sure plus I'm now going to have to do it with 3 dcs around me for the foreseeable future. I work in a global team and no one else is in a country where this is happening right now and even when they were they have wives who don't work and so did the home schooling etc.

Trying to keep positive for the children and am relieved school has been closed. My dd gave her teacher covid in November. It's not right that teachers are exposed to this so I'm happy they are getting a bit of respite from facing 30 kids a day with my ppe.

More worried now as the new variant has me feeling like a sitting duck waiting to catch it. In wave 1, we were totally locked down and I felt protected. This time round, I'm classed as vulnerable due to now being pregnant and I have DC at primary school due back next week and DH working as a teacher in primary too. I'm lucky enough to WFH but feel its inevitable I'll catch it from household members as schools are just not safe now. I often fantasise about going to stay at parents until this wave is over so I can keep away from the school germs, but obviously the reality is I need to be here for DC and can't just escape to protect myself and the baby.

WFH and home schooling is a bitch. But I'd feel so much happier if I could do that instead of sending Dc in.... last time I worked v early morning hours and logged on again late evening once Dc in bed. I was shattered. But felt safe.

Yes, not so much because of getting it but because of what these lockdowns are doing to the mental health of so many people. I feel scared for those suicidal and their families, likewise for everyone who can't make their rent and mortgage repayments, the kids who aren't developing properly because of missed school time, and those in abusive relationships who're trapped. And 2021 will be the year where we'll see the full horrifying implications of these ludicrous restrictions.

It isn’t just covid which worries me either. It’s the thought about having a different acute illness or an accident which needs hospital treatment and the hospital not having beds,etc.