I feel like crying I've had enough

[LifesTooShortYOLO]

I made a conscious decision to try and switch off from the media stories and coronavirus news and just try and get in with our lives.
I had been feeling mentally a lot better and almost forgot about covid in the sense of not seeing it in your face every where you turn on social media etc.
Now it's everywhere again 'Plans for plan c' 'lockdown imminent' 'data suggests this wave will be the worst one yet' 'modelling shows new strain could cause 75,000 feather in 5 months'
Are just some of the headlines I've seen today and I just feel so fed up.
Why are we still talking about lockdowns 2 years on?
I'm just so done with it all, it feels like there never will be a normal again, just when we start to get back to doing normal things you get taken back to square one again and told we may have to lockdown or have further restrictions brought back in. It's just so draining 😩

I know what you mean OP the news is just so pessimistic and they seem to like to wind everyone up into a state of fear. I don’t really trust what I hear in the news anymore, it’s just what they choose to present.

I mean they’re on their knees, short staffed, not enough beds…etc but it’s not to do with covid. Makes me a bit cross at having to wear face masks tbh.

I think there should maybe be a “yet” in that sentence.

Boris did fuck all about delta til it was too late and he was rightly berated for that. He acted immediately on Omicron and people are saying it’s not a problem, why are we doing this.

Nothing really constructive to add OP but I'm sat here blubbing my eyes out too and that's something I rarely do.

Just the thought of my DS special school potentially shutting when we fought for his place so hard is making me feel physically sick, amongst all the other restrictions. DH and I have worked so hard to get our MH back and we were just starting to feel optimistic about the future. Got to hold it together. Sending love to all

We could well be at around half the country triple jabbed by Christmas at the rate they're vaccinating

I mean over-40s are being told there are no slots until Christmas eve, so at this point I am struggling to believe that.

@BoredZelda

Lockdowns will be shown to have killed more people than they have saved. OP keep calm and carry on. Ignore the media and restrictions

Until this is anywhere near proven, it is wrong to state this as a fact.

People have claimed suicides were higher. They weren’t. That the lack of screening or treatment will lead to higher rates of cancer or heart problems. This may be the case, but without lockdown, the services which opened and treatments available would have been even less available as hospitals would have been overwhelmed for longer.

The pandemic will inevitably have been shown to be more responsible for more than just covid deaths, but to say that is as a direct result of lockdown is unlikely to have been the case.

It's just the typical nonsense spouted by uninformed people who don't understand anything.

If the virus had been able to let rip, thing would have been much, much worse. As in people dying from a burst appendix because there was simply no capacity to treat them. People bleeding to death because there was no space in A&E. Premature babies just being left to die because there were no staff to treat them. It would have been absolutely horrifying.

People in this country really have no concept of what 'bad' looks like because the NHS works so hard to stay afloat and your average Joe is so cushioned from reality. Services being reduced during lockdowns is far, far better than the alternative.

@Lussekatt

We could well be at around half the country triple jabbed by Christmas at the rate they're vaccinating

I mean over-40s are being told there are no slots until Christmas eve, so at this point I am struggling to believe that.

I’m late 40s and went to a walk in the other day

Hardly any wait, London

It's not about stopping it for now, it's about slowing it.

The trouble is, the population has heard that before. Many times. We heard it in March 2020 - squash the sombrero and all that, and then life didn't remotely resume until July, and so many children didn't even set foot in school until September.

In retrospect it was clear that everything should have been open throughout the summer. There was far less covid around in summer 2020 than there has been since and yet people were agonising about the number of people allowed in gardens.

@Lussekatt

We could well be at around half the country triple jabbed by Christmas at the rate they're vaccinating

I mean over-40s are being told there are no slots until Christmas eve, so at this point I am struggling to believe that.

If only there were walk-in centres where you could get jabbed right now if you wanted to.

It's amazing how many people just go 'oh well, then' if something isn't given to them on a plate.

It's not about stopping it for now, it's about slowing it.

What are you suggesting is done?

I think it's complex partly because someone can fall into several categories at once. I am still shielding (doctors' advice), which obviously isn't great - I'm aware of how CEV people with ongoing major medical issues haven't been able to resume even quasi-normal life.

But then I'm also, in other ways, really lucky to have the things that make a pandemic easier: nice house, stable relationship, lots of support, not too worried about money. So if you looked at just that part of my life, I seem incredibly fortunate and as if I have nothing Covid-related to be upset about... Yet it still has, of course, had a massive impact (especially medically). And I'm aware there are many people shielding who don't have these things to make it easier to cope with, less unpleasant day by day.

I saw it explained as “we’re all in the same storm, we just have different boats”

Like you, I’m lucky to have some things which make dealing with it all a little easier. But that is true of life in general, not sure why I’m supposed to feel extra bad about it during a pandemic, nor why I should feel embarrassed about it.

I make sure I do plenty to help others where I can, but beyond that and feeling for people who have had it worse, I’m not exactly sure what I am supposed to do about it.

It is rubbish. It's just the reality of living through a pandemic I think.

In my living memory, we've never been affected by war, disease (until now), famine, drought etc the way some people live their entire lives.

Not trying to say you're not entitled to feel how you do, but when I feel crap about it I just remind myself that it could be a lot worse, and pandemics don't last forever!

@BoredZelda I'm really sorry I made you feel worse. That definitely wasn't my intention at all, and I apologise.

@HesterShaw1

It's not about stopping it for now, it's about slowing it.

The trouble is, the population has heard that before. Many times. We heard it in March 2020 - squash the sombrero and all that, and then life didn't remotely resume until July, and so many children didn't even set foot in school until September.

In retrospect it was clear that everything should have been open throughout the summer. There was far less covid around in summer 2020 than there has been since and yet people were agonising about the number of people allowed in gardens.

If we had had higher case rates in summer 2020, when the vaccination rate was zero, we would have been in a right mess.

I love all this re-writing of history! As if pre-vaccine and post-vaccine are remotely comparable.

@HesterShaw1

It's not about stopping it for now, it's about slowing it.

The trouble is, the population has heard that before. Many times. We heard it in March 2020 - squash the sombrero and all that, and then life didn't remotely resume until July, and so many children didn't even set foot in school until September.

In retrospect it was clear that everything should have been open throughout the summer. There was far less covid around in summer 2020 than there has been since and yet people were agonising about the number of people allowed in gardens.

But it's true. It was true then and it's true now. We don't need to dramatically stop Omicron in its tracks as if it's some enemy on the approach. We need to take sensible measures to stop the NHS being overwhelmed, like getting jabbed at the first opportunity, wearing a mask and not acting like idiots.

Omicron will cause a big wave of infections. That's a certainty. The question is whether we can slow it enough to stop the NHS being overwhelmed and trigger another lockdown.

Herd immunity won't apply no - but that headline is designed to encourage individuals to get the booster - on an individual basis it is worth getting, because it will seriously improve your likely outcomes from Omicron.

How can they POSSIBLY know that 75,000 people will die by Spring 2022? (From this new wave!) THEY DON'T. It's stinking scaremongering and I am sick of it.

And I assume this (virtual/mythical) 75,000 will be unvaccinated? Otherwise, why the fuck are we getting triple jabbed?!

I'm fucked off to the nth degree with it all now, and just plain BORED of it!

@BoredZelda

I think it's complex partly because someone can fall into several categories at once. I am still shielding (doctors' advice), which obviously isn't great - I'm aware of how CEV people with ongoing major medical issues haven't been able to resume even quasi-normal life.

But then I'm also, in other ways, really lucky to have the things that make a pandemic easier: nice house, stable relationship, lots of support, not too worried about money. So if you looked at just that part of my life, I seem incredibly fortunate and as if I have nothing Covid-related to be upset about... Yet it still has, of course, had a massive impact (especially medically). And I'm aware there are many people shielding who don't have these things to make it easier to cope with, less unpleasant day by day.

I saw it explained as “we’re all in the same storm, we just have different boats”

Like you, I’m lucky to have some things which make dealing with it all a little easier. But that is true of life in general, not sure why I’m supposed to feel extra bad about it during a pandemic, nor why I should feel embarrassed about it.

I make sure I do plenty to help others where I can, but beyond that and feeling for people who have had it worse, I’m not exactly sure what I am supposed to do about it.

It's not about feeling bad about it, at all.

It's when you're the person on the cruise ship, not telling the people in the dingy next to you, about to drown and barely clinging on, that they should stop whingeing because the sea is rough for all of us, rather than dropping down a rope for them to climb up to safety.

@Waitwhatwhy Healthy children and adults have died of covid as well, not forgetting long covid.

it is worrying for christmas
but aside from that,
i continue to leave the house to work

There aren’t walk in centres everywhere. I’m in my 40s, it’s been 5.5 months since my last AZ jab, I can’t book a booster and I can’t walk in for one either (Wales).

rrhuth, you persist in misunderstanding the points I make.

I am talking about the communications issue. As I said, the population - who are so tired and cynical and weary - have heard all this before. Slow the spread, just a few more weeks.

When it was apparent that there was very little infection in summer 2020, restrictions should have been eased a lot more, because it was obvious they would need to return in the autumn.

Trust has vanished, and this is why compliance will be an issue this time.

as long as i can still see my family
i have no desire to go to the cinema particularly,
i am too skint to do much else

Dr John Campbell on YouTube is very reassuring about Omicron in his latest video.

Struggling with mental health but keep going as no other choice. Family connections damaged due to all this. My son hasn't seen his grandma since a 5 minute wave through a car window last Christmas Eve. She's very vulnerable. We were looking forward to getting together with my nephews and their young children who don't even know us but it's looking unlikely

If only there were walk-in centres where you could get jabbed right now if you wanted to

Not for me, I am very far from 40. Doesn't look like I will get it until the new year at this rate.

I know two people who have gone to queue up at the walk-in centres and not walked away with their boosters. One was told she couldn't have one even though it had been 5 or so months since her last. The computer just wasn't allowing it. The other one was turned away after hours of waiting because they ran out. Can't really blame people for wanting an actual booked slot so they know it will actually happen, especially this time of year when life is so busy.