The handling of this pandemic is psychological torture

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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.

@Orf1abc

Full national lockdown that will affect people’s mental health and jobs even more

A short term full national lockdown would cause less harm than many more months of half measures. Didn't your 'scientist' tell you that?

Yeah, tell that to South Wales!

“If they'd funded schools to be safer from Sept I don't think it's a given that they would have had to shut. And the government were told this over and over again by the scientists. “

Yes I said this all along. It would have cost a lot and taken a bit of thinking outside of the box but in the long run would have been less detrimental and probably a better learning experience.

When select year groups went back in the summer, distanced, with classes of 10-15 it felt safe and the atmosphere was more conducive to leaning. More staff and space would have been needed, or having shifts eg one week in, one week on line.

Even offering the option to parents who want to, or are able to to keep their children at home and access the curriculum remotely could have been considered to free up space.

Ultimately though, I’m not sure schools were the main spreaders of the old strain at least. Our high school only had 3 asymptomatic cases since September and the primary had none. Surely there would have been more if this was the main area of risk? We are tier 4 too.

There's been a lot of gaslighting from the government, which is harmful in general but especially for victims of abuse. It's like they try to rewrite history.

"Stay at home? Yes, but travelling 200 miles when you're contagious is fine too. You didn't think that was allowed? Of course it was, the guidelines allowed for it. You don't think they did? Oh yes, they definitely did, go and reread again. No, I won't tell you specifically where it said it, find it for yourself. You can't find it? Oh dear, maybe you're looking in the wrong part... "

And it goes on. Now we're being told that the government might be seen to be moving too quickly (compared to a sloth), that they're ahead of the curve (that's now a vertical line), schools are safe (the buildings, not the people in them).

So many lies. But if you say them often enough, the lies between truth and BS become very very blurred.

The constant contradictory instructions and U turns are so at odds with our human need for consistency, routine and some form of structure.

Over the last century, we have developed the NHS to meet our health needs, state education to guide and safeguard our children, welfare state to provide a safety net during economic and employment fluctuations, and technology has been developing to improve opportunity. Obviously none of these things have been perfect (far from it quite often), but psychologically we have been conditioned to accept that the state will support us to a degree and the contract is that we contribute to that via taxes, which seems fair, also in principal. It has helped keep body and soul together and prevent mass civil disruption. So far.

Now accessing anything other than Covid related health care is becoming more and more difficult, and those who provide it at the front line are in crisis situation. Education is being decimated, work places are collapsing, whole industry sectors are floundering and people can't meet their financial commitments on which our entire infrastructure depends. It's a very slow burning perfect storm of chaos.

Our mate Boris has just given the definition if cognitive dissonance by saying that schools are safe, it's just what goes on inside is the problem.

This is why I loathe the jingoistic comparisons with the war and the calls for Blitz spirit. This is nothing like that. We have the division both physical and psychological of our communities, and we have the encouragement to report each other and police each other. We have continuous rolling coverage of the whole shebang due to technology. We are immersed in the whole thing whether we like it or not because if we miss a vital update we may break a fresh new law and be criminalised. I have seen precious little reporting of the negative impacts of the measures taken so far because for example the escalation of DV and other abuse is quickly over ridden by the clarion call to put up and shut up for the greater good, which is getting less good every minute despite everything being done.

Many people are doing their very best, but the fall out of the situations where people less noble, or less able to be noble taking advantage of the opportunity to exercise their perceived power over other people has huge consequences.

At the rate we're going in my darkest hours I see a futurecwgere the whole world is modelled on a Coronavirus industry, and all Hope's and dreams are consigned to history and nostalgia. Then I have another vodka and go about what daily business I can, gritting my teeth and chastising myself for lack of resilience.

It is psychological torture and no amount of raising my vibrations and practising gratitude is helping.

To be honest his girlfriend has swayed his hand in the past, she probably is the one screwing up the country here as much as he is

Thanks for that reassuring note of normality, @Ladydowntheroad.
It's a woman's fault.

I think I have a totally different mindset to most people on here tbh.

I look and think imagine if I lived 100 years ago, and this happened. Or even 40.
The world would be a completely different place.

We are so lucky we are able to have access to the technology we do. Accurate tests within 5 days.

I’m grateful we have vaccines that are able to prevent death and reduce to a manageable illness, and rather than being angry we don’t have enough I’m grateful that we do have them.

I’m grateful that Oxford had produced a vaccine. I’m not angry that it’s a ‘poor relation’ vaccine, or slagging it off because it can be transported easily.
I’m thanking our lucky stars we have it and thinking what a difference it could make.

I think people expect too much, some people seem to think that the government should handle the virus without a single death and no adverse economical effects.

It’s not realistic. I think it scares people that we are not as ‘safe’ and advanced as we believed we were.
People expect too much IMO, never have we been as safe as we are today, if this virus had come during any prior era, we would be in a much much worse position than we are now.
I think some people will just use any excuse to criticise the government, and it’s tiresome to me now.

Initially criticising them for inaction, and how they were slow to act in comparison to other countries, to now criticising them for trying to be active in getting vaccines rolled out and accusing them of being ‘Britain first’ and not ‘waiting and watching’ like other governments. I’ve lost respect for a lot of people over how hypocritical they’re being, and how their opinions change like the weather depending on which government they’re referring to.

I know this isn’t a popular opinion though, but I’m grateful for our scientific advancements and don’t believe our government are trying to kill or cull us.

I do think a lot of mistakes have been made, but ultimately I’m glad for what we do have and grateful I don’t have the responsibility of making those kinds of decisions.

It is bad because people allow fear (or whatever hidden agenda of some people) to take over. We lose sight of the fact that the actual risk of the virus is very small, instead being fixated on infection rate. All these lockdown, tiers and school closures are unnecessary, as we have seen, we simply end up with endless series of lockdowns. Although this government is too spineless to say so, we should have to courage to recognise that life can and should go on as normal.

The trouble is we're not allowed, by law, to over-ride our fears by carrying on as normal by official decree.

Exactly. Covid is a challenge across Europe and no one is perfect but the messaging here is so muddled it makes it even more stressful.

@2020quelhorreur

Well, exactly. My point is that unless you've been a front line medic/carer, or you or your loved ones have lost their lives/job/suffered considerable ill health, the pandemic as experienced by the average British person has not been that bad. Yes, very anxiety inducing and boring, but not 'psychological torture'.

I wasn't comparing covid with the experience of losing an elderly loved one- which is sad but a part of life. I'm comparing covid with the experience of those who have experienced the horror of losing children or siblings suddenly. Those whose friends or family have been murdered. Those who have been left severely disabled following a car accident or stroke. Many people suffer such misfortune and those are the people who- in my opinion- have suffered psychological torture.

Losing an elderly loved one is sad but it's not unexpected. Many of us have experienced far, far worse things than the experience that most people (ie not front line medics/carers, those who have lost their jobs or been severely ill) have had of Covid-19 in the U.K.

@MistressoftheDarkSide

The trouble is we're not allowed, by law, to over-ride our fears by carrying on as normal by official decree.

Despite what we read on Mumsnet where 90% of people want a lockdown, sensible people do exist in real life. I think people are intelligent enough to see through the abitrary tiers and meaningless rules, and we have gotten to a stage where no one pays attention to the rules anymore.

Visit a London park and you will see a sense of normality - just normal people enjoying the outdoor, with a bit of mixing and a healthy dose of precaution. Don't believe everything you read on Mumsnet is representative of what is happening on the ground.

This comment in the Guardian describes Boris well. Power without leadership. I think we need a coalition government for the rest of the pandemic.

At some point it is likely that directly or indirectly the handling of this pandemic by our government will have a negative outcome for the vast majority of the population. Suggestions that it's not that bad are rather at odds with recent developments and minimising and dismissing realistic concerns for the future because others have had it worse are a teeny bit insulting.

@Tammyhullfigure some other countries have had to make last minute notices As well or change plans , bring in more measures
And as we don't all have access to every countries policies and announcements we can't say
With the new varianf measures had to be brought in quickly hence why france first reaction was to close borders as well
Its a shame the newspapers here seem to leak things 24hrs before though
I think at the beginning we had daily updates and were kept informed and these went on for too long
The dilly dallying of the last few weeks has not been great and we did have tier review dates but as numbers went up drastically they had to introduce earlier , I can't see they had another choice there
Think its time we go back to updates , not daily but maybe every 3/4 dates as then they can let is know , what is happening where etc

@StopSquirtingBleachOnCaneToads do you get news from italy and spain though , look up numbers lots of europe haven't fared much better up to recently
The new variant has meant uk is getting more cases but also are conducting more tesrs than some
All this info can be found on worldometer site

The virus has also evolved ao measures change to reflect that
But OP there are vaccines now so there is light at the end of the tunnel is how I am looking at it
I personally would like to see another lockdown like march for a month to see if we can get numbers down and the rules are standard across england then
Also with shut borders though other than freight and goods

This is why I loathe the jingoistic comparisons with the war and the calls for Blitz spirit. This is nothing like that. We have the division both physical and psychological of our communities, and we have the encouragement to report each other and police each other. We have continuous rolling coverage of the whole shebang due to technology. We are immersed in the whole thing whether we like it or not because if we miss a vital update we may break a fresh new law and be criminalised

Great post Mistress

LouiseBelchersBunnyEars, I think I have similar mind set to you, and I totally agree with your opinion.

@MrsMiaWallis

This is why I loathe the jingoistic comparisons with the war and the calls for Blitz spirit. This is nothing like that. We have the division both physical and psychological of our communities, and we have the encouragement to report each other and police each other. We have continuous rolling coverage of the whole shebang due to technology. We are immersed in the whole thing whether we like it or not because if we miss a vital update we may break a fresh new law and be criminalised

Great post Mistress

Fuck it we are going to watch Only Connect tonight. I'm sure we can glean the content of Boris' rambling from the media, and the journalists who piece together the contents of his scrambled alases will probably be far more coherent and to the point.