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Original poster

Rising sense of panic

161 replies

ASchuylerSister · 22/01/2021 21:10

Does anyone else feel like this?

I was following the virus in China on Twitter from Jan 20 so I was glad to lockdown in March. I admit I was naive to the knock on effects on the economy and people’s mental health.

This third lockdown has knocked me for six. I’ve got a rising sense of panic. The affect on mental health, education, the economy. I just can’t see an end in sight anymore.

I feel so selfish and self centred as there’s plenty of people in a worse off position than me but I feel like I’m drowning.

I’m normally a half glass full kind of person and see the best in every situation but all I see is bleakness right now.

OP posts:
Whipituntilitpeaks · 22/01/2021 21:57

Yes 😒

Also have long covid from back in March and coping with all the weird after effects and just recently started having that panicked feeling again from back in those days..I really didn’t cope well.
Also had my parents texting me this week to say how fed up and down they are. I’m worried about them and can’t even get to them if something happened as am in a different country. It’s not like them to message me to tell me they feel fed up etc, they just wouldn’t want to worry me.

Spiratedaway · 22/01/2021 21:59

I feel the same keep crying I had a friend pass which is why I feel so low but not sure I can take much more .... I honesty am getting deprsssion

GingerAndTheBiscuits · 22/01/2021 22:01

Schools I think will take longer. Online learning is possible long term and really we need the economy open more than school.

At some point the next generation need a proper education (and socialisation) if they’re going to keep the economy going when their turn comes.

yearnewwhatever · 22/01/2021 22:05

@Hazelnutlatteplease

Things will get better.

Either the vaccine will wipe it out

Or the country's economics and society will change.
Government only makes provision for stuff that its economically sensible to do. So if this continues indefinitely the number of icu beds will increase and therefore there will be less risk to the NHS. Track and trace will get better, instant tests will be improved and those breaking quarantine will be more harshly punished.
The economy gyms, retail, zoos themeparks etc will reopen. Schools I think will take longer. Online learning is possible long term and really we need the economy open more than school.

Masks will become the norm.

This to me is not things getting better though. I don't want my 10 year old with SEN doing remote learning long term. I don't want to wear masks indefinitely. That isn't better, that's a variation on the shit.
Flaxmeadow · 22/01/2021 22:06

I think panic partly comes from loss of control. We feel as if there is nothing we can do and feel helpless, so we panic. But the good news, as pp have said, is that the science/scientist/sharing of science is amazing. Everything, science world wide, is being thrown at this but we don't see it happening but it is, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They know what they're doing, even if we don't. That they have recognised ways the new variants behave and at first it may not seem like it, but this is actually something good. We have to trust in THEM, and stick by the rules they advise

lunapeace · 22/01/2021 22:09

@GirlCrush

i dont feel it until i come onto Mumsnet!! then i get scared

and i work full time in retail but still feel fairly safe.....untill i'm here

Yep. This and MSM. There's probably quite a few people just 'riding this out' knowing it won't be forever (like my DH) but I can't stop looking for a way out.
Salome61 · 22/01/2021 22:11

I feel panicky now and again but then remember my late husband's saying, 'everything will be alright in the end, if it's not alright, it's not the end'. Keep going everyone, we are living through an unimaginable nightmare but we'll get through it.

argueifnecessary · 22/01/2021 22:12

I had a terribly anxious day yesterday reading about the new strains and how it can infect people that have already had Covid (especially the Brazilian one) and thinking surely this would make the vaccines less effective at least?!? if effective at all.

And I miss my family and my in-laws and I haven't seen them for over a year now. My 5 year old is crying because she misses her friends and grannies and grandpas and cousins.
I just feel there is no way out and the lockdown is just cancelled in the end and then people will just die at their homes because there is obviously no room in hospitals. Our local ICU is already full.

Or even a more morbid thought, the virus just keeps mutating and people are just getting infected again and again and then just die of exhaustion in the end and that is that for humanity.

santanddec · 22/01/2021 22:13

@Hazelnutlatteplease

Things will get better.

Either the vaccine will wipe it out

Or the country's economics and society will change.
Government only makes provision for stuff that its economically sensible to do. So if this continues indefinitely the number of icu beds will increase and therefore there will be less risk to the NHS. Track and trace will get better, instant tests will be improved and those breaking quarantine will be more harshly punished.
The economy gyms, retail, zoos themeparks etc will reopen. Schools I think will take longer. Online learning is possible long term and really we need the economy open more than school.

Masks will become the norm.

I'm starting to think that changing our way of life completely is the only way to co-exist with this virus. It's so depressing. But I think schools need to open at some point soon (but there will need to be online learning alongside that) and maybe we need to make the trade-offs in other parts of life to allow that e.g. very limited hospitality/leisure industry in the future. It doesn't seem like Covid is going to go away even with a vaccine (read a horrible article yesterday about how even v. high % vaccination of the population with the Oxford vaccine will still leave the R number at over 1) so our whole society needs to adapt and work out a way to move forwards instead of 'going back to normal'.
Original poster
ASchuylerSister · 22/01/2021 22:13

Flowers to those who are suffering from long Covid and have family/friends who are contacting them with their struggles.

Flax I agree that some of the panic comes from the loss of control.

OP posts:
Flaxmeadow · 22/01/2021 22:16

Or even a more morbid thought, the virus just keeps mutating and people are just getting infected again and again and then just die of exhaustion in the end and that is that for humanity

Vaccines can be modified, tweaked, for new strains and variants. This is what happens with the flu vaccine every year. It isn't like starting from scratch with a brand new vaccine, because vaccines we already have can be modified to deal with new strains

Spiratedaway · 22/01/2021 22:16

I can't hear the thought of not going back to how it was I can't do this anymore

likeamillpond · 22/01/2021 22:16

@abetterlife21

The scientists are still saying that vaccines and good science is the way out. That the tunnel is a bit longer and darker but that vaccinations are still seen as the light at the end.
Yes they usually say those things. But this time was different. There was NO talk about lights at the end of the tunnel or "We can beat this thing if we stick together:. I feel that tonight's press conference was more about what they DIDNT say.

People are more perceptive than they realise and will have picked up on the fact that they've stopped telling us
It'll be alright.

OwlWearingGlasses · 22/01/2021 22:16

Yes. I feel scared every morning when I go into work as a TA supervising a class of 24.
I realise my role is nothing like as risky as an ITU nurse but I am still frightened.
I have been moved into a new classroom and the window only opens a few centimetres. I am in there all day, sat right next to kids, helping them on their laptops, serving and clearing up lunch, performing first aid, comforting them, kids being kids they have their fingers up their noses half the time no matter how often we sanitise hands.
I am happy to do it for the vulnerable and critical workers where both parents are out but many parents are abusing the system I am scared I will get COVID and be really ill. Many of my TA colleagues are grandparents or have risk factors.

AcornAutumn · 22/01/2021 22:17

OP "I’m more scared now than I was in Jan 20."

Can I ask if you are scared of the same thing? You say you hadn't considered the effects of lockdown etc so I just wondered.

Hazelnutlatteplease · 22/01/2021 22:19

I don't want to wear masks indefinitely

At some point the greater good needs to prevail. Cultures where masks are more normalised really dont have the trauma and angst about wearing them.

At some point the next generation need a proper education (and socialisation)
We are very attached in the uk to our way of learning in schools but remote learning works fine for all sorts of people all over the globe. If it comes to schools or the economy the hardships involved in completely losing the economy completely outweigh the negatives of remote learning

Social people will always be social. but lockdown has made a lot of people realise socialising less actually works far best for them. The idea we somehow learn how to be social beings at schools is a bit of a fallacy I think.

covetingthepreciousthings · 22/01/2021 22:19

There was NO talk about lights at the end of the tunnel or
"We can beat this thing if we stick together:.
I feel that tonight's press conference was more about what they DIDNT say.

I agree with you, it does seem a change in tone. However could they just be doing this so that people don't get lax?

awishes · 22/01/2021 22:20

Yes I'm feeling very panicky tonight. I live on my own but my children were home throughout the 1st and 2nd lockdowns. This is hard despite the news of the vaccine.
Now I hear this new variant is proving more deadly and a higher mortality rate.
I see neighbours who I thought were intelligent ignoring lockdown rules, 2 now have Covid so it feels nearer and nearer every day.
I usually can count my blessings which I am still trying to do this is really affecting me.
I want to trust the science but tonight's news has scared me.

Flaxmeadow · 22/01/2021 22:21

Flax I agree that some of the panic comes from the loss of control.

Yes we see that we cant do things we used to and we have no control over that. It's all strange to us but to science it isn't strange, they are not panicking. They've devoted their lives to this, it's their vocation and so they plod along, in a backroom laboratory. We lose sight of that. Maybe should see more of them at work, in the news

Dorisdaydream2 · 22/01/2021 22:21

You are not alone. I have been reasonably ok until this week, I have been able to see a way out of this. Suddenly feel anxious and scared.

User133847 · 22/01/2021 22:23

People are unhappy at the moment because of the weather and it's January and dark.

StealthPolarBear · 22/01/2021 22:26

I was told on another thread that it's not true that previous pandemics have ended. Was made to feel a bit stupid for not understanding it so didn't bother to ask.

Pissedoff1234 · 22/01/2021 22:27

The government are banking on the vaccine and getting cases down right now. Lots of people are doing the wrong thing and lots are untrusting of the vaccine.

This is a tactic designed to scare people into doing the right thing. And it's working.

friendlycat · 22/01/2021 22:27

I’m scared of it and very fed up of it as well. It’s wall to wall media stories. Now the USA President has been sworn in it’s once again relentless.
But it’s true there have been other pandemics in history. This too will pass in time. We just have to dig deep and get through it and get through it we will in time. It’s hard and gruesome and not equal for many but we have no choice as neither does the rest of the world.
But things will not be like this forever. Just remember that every day is a day nearer that this ends.

HuggedTheRedwoods · 22/01/2021 22:27

@Whipituntilitpeaks Also had my parents texting me this week to say how fed up and down they are.

Even though you're in a different country could you arrange for a gift to be delivered? anything they're interested in e.g. some books or garden bird feeders or recipe kits, just something to give them a little surprise and a lift.