Will this ever end? Dark thoughts today

[Lissy23]

I’ve just read an article stating that this South African variant may be able to be caught again, by people who have already had and recovered from the virus...so where does that leave us if true? And that it also may evade vaccination.

I was feeling more optimistic the last few days with the excellent and efficient vaccine roll out and the infections coming down...however I’m now having some very dark thoughts, my DP and I are in a long distance relationship, I haven’t seen him since December due to our individual living and work situations meaning we cannot form a bubble. I’m missing him desperately and we were going to see each other end of March (he has provisionally booked an air b&b to stay in near to where I live) I have no idea if that’ll go ahead now, if lockdown is still in place and travel restrictions still an issue. I also haven’t seen my parents in 7 months and counting, due to the distance between us (200 miles) and the fact my parents are frightened of catching it, despite not having any co-morbidities or anything, but convinced they’ll end up on a ventilator if they catch it.

I have a 2 year old and it’s very difficult being stuck in the majority of the day with him. I miss playgroups.

I’m starting to feel like there’s no point in going on...there will be new variants coming up all the time surely? How will we ever get out of this mess? Lockdown will never end and there will always need to be a trade off between schools returning and other things opening.
I just really miss going to the cinema on a whim, popping into a cafe to escape the rain to read my book and have a coffee & piece of cake...playgroups, soft play, seeing people in person opposed to on a screen

Don’t know how to go on much longer...if it wasn’t for my DS.

@vegas888

I just don’t understand why we can’t close all our borders for one month, nobody in and nobody out. Even today there’s flights landing from many parts of Africa. Every time they give us hope the next headline snatches it away. It’s awful feeling trapped at home, the weather is grim and we can’t even book a holiday to cheer ourselves up. 🥺

What's going to magically change after 1 month?

Complete border closure might be the best policy for NZ or Oz but it just isn't practical in the UK. I think people really need to drop the 'close the borders!' thing because it simply isn't going to happen.

They’re calling it the SA variant but no one knows if it truly came from there or it so happens that it mutated here as well.

That’s what viruses do, they mutate so even closing all the borders, won’t stop mutations occurring here. (I do think closing the borders is a good idea though as it’s a double whammy)

It’s like flu in that every year they adapt the vaccine. I get they don’t fully know how different covid strains will react in the vaccines, but new variations and mutations are going to happen so I get a bit miffed when it’s on the national news as a new concern and they seen a bit shocked - well, it’s nothing new is it. Viruses mutate and there’s nothing we can do about that.

I think it frightens people as like you say, people feel the road becomes longer. I think this catastrophising is making a shit situation worse. * Newsflash - there’s a new mutations* yessss this is what the virus does ffs 🤦‍♀️

Oof, your description of just going to the cinema and to a cafe on a whim really hit me. I miss those normal things so much. The pain of being apart from friends and family is one I feel we are dealing with all the time and consciously managing but remembering a slice of everyday pleasure is such a sucker punch. I too feel very hopeless about the South African variant. I am worried it just pushes us back further again.

Also, I’ve had covid and it was hideous. I never, ever want to go through that again. When they say it’s a mild illness for most, it can still be a terrible experience even without being hospitalised. So I am afraid of the spectre of it looming over us and the inevitability of catching it again like a cold except so much worse.

@vegas888

I just don’t understand why we can’t close all our borders for one month, nobody in and nobody out. Even today there’s flights landing from many parts of Africa. Every time they give us hope the next headline snatches it away. It’s awful feeling trapped at home, the weather is grim and we can’t even book a holiday to cheer ourselves up. 🥺

I agree that would be the best thing to do, and apply it properly, including stopping the hundreds of illegal immigrants sailing over from France. It must STOP. In tandem with that, though, we really need to look at what we actually produce in this country so that we could be more self-sufficient. We need to kick start manufacturing again, produce steel, encourage farmers to produce more home grown food, encourage everybody who has even a couple of feet of space on their windowsill or garden or front door step to grow tomatoes and salad stuff.

I wish the government would just admit it’s a nightmare, and go for zero Covid. It will be hard in the short term, but then everything would open up again.

I see other parts of the world and l just think why?

And yes, they should shut all the borders. It’s not going to go away without significant change.

"Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said that he is confident the company’s vaccine should still be protective against the newly detected variants, but that “it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves.” To that end, Moderna’s scientists are retooling the company’s mRNA sequence to more closely mimic the most significant mutations and plan to test it as an additional booster shot in clinical studies later this year."

We'll be fine. We moving in the right direction. Until December 2020 we had no vaccine - now there are several with others imminent. All are thought to be effective against the South African virus - not as effective granted, but still useful in the battle to contain serious disease. Scientists can also genome sequence and modify the vaccine relatively quickly (as referenced in the quote above).

I don't think there is any hope that they'll ever let us out. If the choice is between living like this forever and death, I choose death.

Firstly, I don't know where you read this article, but if it was in a newspaper feel free to ignore it. I've noticed during the last year just how bad the reporting of science and medicine is in the news media. Wait until the story is confirmed by people who a) know what they're talking about and b) aren't motivated by a need to get readers/listeners/viewers.

It's understandable you feel down at the moment, January is grim at the best of times, and January 2021 was a whole order of magnitude worse. But we're in February now, it's still grey and cold, and we're not out of the woods, but the days are getting longer, Spring is around the corner, and the number of vaccinated people is increasing day after day while the numbers of case, hospitalisations and deaths are falling.

This is awful, but it will end. And I'm not saying out of a sense of misplaced optimism, I'm a historian and I'm telling you pandemics always end.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I wish the government would just admit it’s a nightmare, and go for zero Covid. It will be hard in the short term, but then everything would open up again.

I see other parts of the world and l just think why?

What, and accept that we'll never be able to travel again? (Even then it's not achievable, we can't feed our own population so there has to be some cross-border travel, so we'd never keep it out even if we eradicated it domestically.)

@NefretForth

I don't think there is any hope that they'll ever let us out. If the choice is between living like this forever and death, I choose death.

This can’t go on forever, money will run out if nothing else.

@NefretForth

I don't think there is any hope that they'll ever let us out. If the choice is between living like this forever and death, I choose death.

I'm really sorry to hear you feel like that. You should give your GP a ring!

"I don't think there is any hope that they'll ever let us out"

This is 'catastrophizing' thought patterns - I am not trying to invalidate what you say NefretForth but you are misreading the situation. I know it seems bleak but it really isn't as bad as they will never let us out again.

This can’t go on forever, money will run out if nothing else.

it's a good job it won't then, isn't it.

I agree with Saskia - you should chat to your GP

Just as I read NefretForth's post, and agreed, the sun shone through my window and I immediately felt a bit better.
We must all be fed up with this rubbish weather, on top of this sh*te.

I know what you mean OP. I am stressed all the time, every little thing feels like a huge mountain at the moment. I keep worrying about stupid things.

It will end and we will get all the good things back, but we are in a hard place right now and there is no shame in feeling despair.

I don't see what my GP could possibly do. This grey existence isn't life, and nothing they could do would make it any better.

@NefretForth

I don't see what my GP could possibly do. This grey existence isn't life, and nothing they could do would make it any better.

Feeling like that is a symptom of depression, your GP can help with that.

@NefretForth

I don't think there is any hope that they'll ever let us out. If the choice is between living like this forever and death, I choose death.

I feel the same as you.

I think a poster described people who feel like I do as "selfish weaklings" on another thread. That pretty much tipped me over.

Well, he or she could medicate you if he or she thinks you are showing signs of depression or anxiety, or point you in the direction of CBT

SaskiaRembrandt that's a good post, thank you.

"selfish weaklings" is pretty horrible and unnecessary! Ignore the name callers

@SaskiaRembrandt

This can’t go on forever, money will run out if nothing else.

it's a good job it won't then, isn't it.

I wasn’t suggesting it would.

Whoever said that is a cunt @LucilleTheVampireBat