How much longer are we meant to do this?

[Creamteaincornwall]

I have so many friends who are at the end of their tether. Some suicidal, many almost.
I attend a zoom support group for my mental health and emotional well being as I have BPD and ASD. The last few weeks have been horrendous, every person is at the lowest they’ve been since the beginning of all this.
The amount of posts I’ve read on various Facebook groups of people saying they don’t want to get up in the morning anymore, they just stay in bed. Surely this isn’t doing anyone any good physically or mentally?
Surely this will put most in a weaker position if they were to catch covid?

How much more are we all suppose to take of this? With no end in sight?

Is there any other way out other than lock down as per New Zealand and Australia or vaccine

I’m in Australia. We aren’t locked down. Everything is open, including restaurants, cinemas, kids’ sport clubs and schools.

@speaksofty

Groups 5-9 are very vulnerable too & won't all be vaccinated until may (+22 days)

These groups are not VERY vulnerable at all! The over 50s are mostly fine. The truly vulnerable and shielding people of that age will already have been vaccinated. So you are just left with healthy and fit people in the main. Seriously you are being hysterical if you think that the over 50s in general are very vulnerable, they are not.

Do you not think the 65 to 70 groups are not vulnerable then you have people with underlying health conditions ? My daughter is 33 but with type 1diabetes this make her vulnerable I had seen good old fashion pneumonia land her in intensive care twice At the moment there are many needing hospital care in this age range. Unfortunately it is not all about what the individual needs are we have to get rates down before we lift restrictions or we be back at square one

If people are struggling mentally to the point that some are suicidal then you go and see them, hug them and let them know you are there for them.

Covid is not the only thing which matters.

It will pass OP. I work in MH and it is shocking at the moment. . I have never seen so much unhappiness and avoidable trauma. I think we will look back at this experiment of lock down and realise it was not the right road, but who knows.

Try not to believe some of the more negative posters on this thread, I truly think they try to upset people when they are down. Take care, reach out, you re not alone.

@Delatron obviously it's just another theory, but it's certainly interesting. I'm not sure we'll ever have answers as to what was the best approach.

@ElliFAntspoo

I suspect we will have a bit of freedom in the summer, a firebreak lockdown over the October break, another firebreak lockdown at the end of November, freedom for more than just one day at Christmas, and then really harsh lockdown from 30th November through to mid March 2022.

Are you Mother Shipton?

@Delatron absolutely agree. There was so much resistance to schools going back last year but somehow September (after an extra long break) was fine.

[quote lunapeace]@ElliFAntspoo I saw a post where you mentioned you were obese? Do you want everyone to stay locked down so you don't catch the virus and suffer badly (which even if you are obese you are still more than likely to be ok). Why should the majority of the nation continue to stay locked down when those that need the vaccine have had it? A year of our lives, how much longer do you want this to continue for? [/quote]
Nope.
If I catch Covid I may die.
It is my choice to be obese. I eat shit and do not exercise.
I order my food online, so I have absolute control over what I buy, and I still buy chocolate and cola.

In regards to both Covid and vaccinations, there is a difference between what you believe to be the case, what you are told is actually the case by scientists, what the government will tell you is the case, what doctors and nurses are saying is the case on the ground, and what is actually the truth.

You will not be told the truth because all parties only see one side of any situation, and do so through the lenses of their own experience and their own agendas. It would be prudent to gather information and ask, 'why am I being told this by this individual now?' Aggregate the information, extrapolate and project forward, and keep your projections fluid because information comes in constantly that changes the picture.

Are you Mother Shipton?
Who the F is Mother Shipton. Did she have a son who became a doctor?

oh ffs - until things improve and it's safe to do so!

You can go and see who ever you want - break the rules if you want - but if everyone does that then it will just go on longer!

I'm actually so fed up hearing people demanding an end date - there isn't one - we can't predict the future

I think some people need to go back and work out their personal risk of death with this disease.

Even without a vaccine, an 80 year old would more likely have survived than died.

Sense of perspective has completely been lost. So many people are petrified. Which is fine. Hide away for year just stop projecting your fears and doom like predictions based on no evidence...

Well in fairness to the government, most countries have dealt with this pandemic through lockdowns to varying degrees and by border controls. Our government has been too slow in making decisions which is why our case and death rates are so awful. However I can’t see there were real,alternatives to restricting mixing and movement....it’s awful but what do people against these actions suggest should have been done?

@ElliFAntspoo

Are you Mother Shipton? Who the F is Mother Shipton. Did she have a son who became a doctor?

Mother Shipton! Bet no one has been to her overpriced place for ages.

Wonder if she foresaw all this?

Covid is not the only thing which matters.

Absolutely saving someone's life is worth a £200 fine. I'd argue that in front of a judge any day of the week.

One has to wonder what happens when the realities of mass unemployment and the world's slide into economic depression hit home though. Very few people seem to be looking at where we are headed with all the debt, bankruptcy, and money printing.

I hear you OP.
I’m living with this dread that restrictions will loosen over the summer and then by winter we’ll be in exactly the same position as we were in 2020. At the start of another wave.
The worst thing for me is seeing all the people who don’t comply with guidelines. That gets me down. My family included. I haven’t been inside any of their homes for more then 6 months and yet the rest of my family still do weekly. That’s what I find the hardest. Being excluded from life. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fit back in either because the resentment now is just too great.

The curve has been flattened and the NHS saved.

So now what? We wait until zero numbers? No new variants? Vaccines that work for all variants?

Meanwhile my children have fallen apart and we are in poverty.

Enough is enough

Forgive me dear MN's but I've only read page 1 of this thread. Suffice to say I feel for you OP and everyone. Damn this is bloody hard.
There are SO many differing opinions and theories re this pandemic.
One thing I know for sure is that yes, many people's MH is severely effected. And health (other that C19). Don't even get me started on the economy. And the fact that my dear friend's Mother refuses to get the vaccine as "God will take care of her". Which means she may not see her IRL again. Jesus

There is an end in sight, the infection numbers are going down. Vaccines numbers rising. Talk of schools going back in just a few weeks. Things will start to reopen. You can legally meet a person for a walk m, are you doing that?

@ElliFAntspoo

I've been pissed off that I've sunk into acceptance lately. We need to be angry to stay alert. This government is a pile of shit and we need them out next time we get a chance to vote.

ROFLMAO - Any government would have had the same issues and dealt with it similarly. Its a world wide pandemic. You could just as easily blame Labour for the world wide economic crash in 2008. Its swings and roundabouts. These people are no more or less competent than any of the rest of us. They all make decisions based on political expediency and advice from scientists.

Although we do have the one of the worst death rates in the world, so not every government has dealt with it similarly, or indeed has had the same issues.

@ElliFAntspoo are you this happy in real life? Do you have any friends? You would make the most positive person want to curl up and die.

I agree @Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow - am in a very similar position myself. Enough is enough.

@tatutata

Forever apparently. Because we've always destroyed everything for a pandemic which over 99% survive.

Couldn’t agree more. And of course kill far more in the process by not treating or diagnosing other things like cancers. Of course the nutters will shout that’s not true but when the real figures get produced country wide it will be full proof in itself. Plus don’t forget destroying businesses and jobs on mass and making the rich richer and the every day person poorer, many homeless,bankrupt,and many struggling just to exist. Makes you feel great that the wasters in government that dream up all this rubbish are sat happily on 82k a year minimum plus expenses of often more than that again. Nice of them to decide how to screw everyone’s lives up and in general ignore the rules themselves and keep raking in there money. Funnily there not on furrow and in fact are on more money as they voted a nice Covid Increase to themselves to do very very little.

@RaspberryCoulis

If people are struggling mentally to the point that some are suicidal then you go and see them, hug them and let them know you are there for them.

Covid is not the only thing which matters.

This.

I've always believed in leaving the house and going out every day, even when the dc were small. Maybe even moreso then. I think it's important to make the best of it, and do what you can. I go out every day either for a drive or a walk. I'm in a support bubble with a friend so I go to see him; and a childcare bubble with son, ddil and dgc, so I'm needed there. The only difference is no cinema, and no shops, bars or restaurants. It's a nuisance but that's all. And yes I think there will be more normality by Easter. The vaccination program is on target. Hooray!

Furlow