The handling of this pandemic is psychological torture

[Redbrickwall]

Who agrees? I have never ever felt so continuously anxious in my whole life. It feels like psychological torture to live this way. There is no leadership, it feels like anarchy.

Literally we are told that test and trace will make life normal again, it doesn’t. Told it was 3 weeks to flatten the curve, told they’ll never lock down again, then told that they will, told that the tier system will stop full lockdowns, then told a November lockdown will save Christmas, then it won’t, told schools will open, told they might not, told they aren’t opening today at 5pm last night. Various MPs saying more restrictions coming, others saying tier 5. How many tiers can there be? Media leaks and drip feeding, terrified constantly incase we can’t work again and our home is lost. Told a vaccination will save the day, and then told it won’t...

Now hinting at more lockdowns but not actually telling us what it will be.

This is hell. This is torture. It can’t just be me? I will never forgive this government for the handling of this pandemic.

It is hell but nowhere else in Europe is exactly a roaring success at handling it so not just us

I agree op. It makes me so cross at how they are playing with peoples mental Health like this.
It couldn’t be handled any worse.

I only concern myself with things I can do something about
This pandemic is not one of them what will be will be

I am watching my friends and family’s mental health getting worse and worse too. It’s hell. Total hell

Yes there seems to be no joined up plan. Everything is reactive not proactive. It is very stressful.

I blame the government in some parts, as they should be communicating their long term strategy more clearly, but I also think others are not helping.

The media is awful and just wanting to stir things up, ditto the unions. Then people who refuse to follow the rules and do what they like, thus all of us ending up with more and more restrictions.

I agree it is infuriating! Why tell people the day before you're going to announce new measures, so that they can enjoy a FULL 24h of uncertainty?! I mean FFS.

Though if you have a look across the boards everyone is very angry and very divided, and consequently not blaming the government as much as they should. It's working to their benefit.

@Grandtheft

It is hell but nowhere else in Europe is exactly a roaring success at handling it so not just us

I disagree. I haven't seen such continuous back-tracking, mixed messages, drip feeding of information, last minute decisions, back and forth of announcements from other European countries. From what I have seen, announcements are made and then reviewed when they say they will be reviewed.

This drip feed of information is cruel, unnecessary and shambolic.

I’ve taken a position of expecting no consistency or logic, and trusting nothing they say. That’s all I can do or it will send me mad.

I am constantly crying my friend is too...... I don't see the point anymore I am an anxious mess

@TammyHullfigure agreed

Oh and the mixed messages of being in lockdown but still letting people travel abroad. And then not enforcing quarantine when they return.

And letting all and sundry mix on Christmas Day. And different tiers, so if shops are shut in tier 4, and pubs in tier 3, stupid people just travel to the nearest lower tier area, with no repercussions at all.

No other country is doing much better - if you can bring yourself to discount dictatorships and New Zealand!

I have friends and relatives in a coupe of countries and they are getting the same sort of issues. Like me they attribute the vacillations to the ever changing nature of a virus and human compliance!

I can't control the virus, nor what others do. So I get on with my life as best I can... try looking for the joy of small things rather then looking for all of this to be over!

Today my small things include:

I managed to get to the shop that sells the dog's food and they were fully stocked

SIL has had her vaccination - she works in a care home

A couple of jobs have dropped into my work diary - I am self employed

Things to be dealt with include DH going away with work for the next week or two

Yearly bill for work insurances just came in

The boiler needs a repair!

Hardly anywhere is doing better

Exceptions are remote islands with low population densities and highly authoritarian regimes

Nations which are attempting to balance normal freedoms with pandemic restrictions, and their economy with public health closures, are having the hardest time of it.

Complete hyperbole to call it torture.

www.jurist.org/news/2020/02/un-rights-expert-defines-psychological-torture-in-new-report/

I completely agree op. It’s an awful situation made a hundred times worse by the government. It’s unbelievably stressful.

Oh yes, they've very much lost the trust of the public - I'm not sure they can get it back really, so things don't look very bright.

Completely agree OP

[quote BuffaloCauliflower]@TammyHullfigure agreed[/quote]
Me too. The virus is one thing, the awful shambles of the government handling and messaging is another.

OP - you are not alone

It is hell but nowhere else in Europe is exactly a roaring success at handling it so not just us

I'm over in Australia and I can tell you now, to us and the rest of the world it looks like the UK government has handled everything much, much worse than anywhere else in the developed world. Hands down.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that in a smug way. I'm originally from the UK and a lot of people I care about are still there. Two of my relatives there have died of covid. Another is suffering long covid since fucking July of last year. I'm extremely angry at the UK government right now. They could not have made a bigger mess out of this if they tried.

On the other side of things, CEV, told to shield and then kids sent into school with no mitigation and told we will be fined/ potentially lose school places if we don't send them in.

Torture is a very accurate description.

Useless bastards.

My aunt and a few cousins, also in Australia, report much the same. But that the Brit Bashing is par for the course in Australian journalism - more than likely to increase of the beach party news we saw is wholly accurate!

[quote iVampire]Hardly anywhere is doing better

Exceptions are remote islands with low population densities and highly authoritarian regimes

Nations which are attempting to balance normal freedoms with pandemic restrictions, and their economy with public health closures, are having the hardest time of it.

Complete hyperbole to call it torture.

www.jurist.org/news/2020/02/un-rights-expert-defines-psychological-torture-in-new-report/[/quote]
Developing countries in Africa with far fewer resources than us are doing it better.

Countries in Africa are following the WHO guidelines for opening schools and we are not.

South Korea did very well following OUR recommendations for infection control in a pandemic. Recommendations WE did NOT follow.

Our government are utterly crap.

They do not listen to their own advisors on SAGE.

They make it up as they go along, they lie and they bluster

And they do EVERYTHING too LATE and kills tens of thousands in the process.

Almost too angry to type. But not quite.

I don't think it's only uk, it's everywhere. I was watching the news from my native country this morning, and they are considering state of emergency in major cities.

I think this thread has got way off topic...to you - original poster ...@Redbrickwall
I hope you are ok. It is very difficult. Try to remember you are not alone and think about how far you have come and not how far you have to go.
There will be positive things to come after this.

I completely agree.
Of course noone is asking for them to have all the answers, as all this is new.
But they say something on Saturday morning TV.
Then something else happens Sunday 5 pm.
When SAGE had, apparently, said closures will be needed at this point, before Christmas.
BJ did not denied this. He just said that there are a collection of opinions. Of course.
But it is also logic. Something we could have planned.
The planning for child care is very important. Otherwise people are going to improvise, mix households, including grandparents.
All, after their nerves have gone through the grinder.
All seems to be done last minute. For things that can be planned.
It is easy to say stop watching the news. But if we do not follow them, then we risk to miss on some of these last minute changes, with the consequences of this (imaging turning up at school gates today, to find it close!). If you read the data and news, some can take anxiety levels up the roof! So have to read everything with a critical eye, a very critical eye.

herecomesthesun

Spot on, the incompetence of the handling of this pandemic is unbelievable.