When was the moment you realised covid was serious?

[namechanged984630]

For me I think it was when it hit Italy, so early
March. Until then I really believed it'd be a storm in a tea cup like swine flu.

I remember certain songs I was listening to as I refreshed the news in early March that still give me the heebie jeebies even now.

And I remember taking my dog for a walk at some lakes a few miles away (so drove there) and wondering, on about the fifteenth of March, if it might be the last time for a while. When I was there an elderly man said to me that it was nice to get out to forget the state of the world, I'll always remember that.

I remember seeing the Wuhan hospital be built and only paying the vaguest amount of attention. So arrogant to think it wasn't a problem for us!

When Dr Li died. He was only in his thirties. Just looked up the date and it was 7th February.

Although I still went on a train to London and a plane to Northern Ireland after that so must have felt it was far away. I remember lots of hand washing in London though and worrying about crowding on the Tube.

When the ICU I work on went from 5 ventilated patients to over 20 in the space of a few days. We felt like we were in the middle of Armageddon with not a clue as to how it would pan out. This was pre lock down. We were terrified and the patients just kept coming. They were so, so sick and whatever we did didn’t seem to work.

But oh my God. The team work was unbelievable and most people just got on with it. I am so proud to be part of that team.

We are dealing with the fallout now in terms of illness, exhaustion and PTSD

@Aposterhasnoname

When a minister, can’t remember which one, probably Hancock, appealed for companies to make ventilators and said the government would guarantee to buy as many as they could make.

God, I remember this so well. Like a weird "Britain needs you!" moment on the television. He turned to the camera and said, can you make ventilators? And I thought, we are fucked

I was working in a GP surgery last year so remember it being talking about in detail from day one. I remember the first Covid case in the UK, then the first death which then just kept increasing.

It really hit me hard in March, just before the lockdown when I was having my hair done to go to a funeral and hearing the adverts on the radio for holiday homes in Cornwall and Easter activities knowing that nothing would be happening. I realised the adverts were pre-scheduled but it was really eerie.

In I think mid December 2019. I read an article about this strange virus in Wuhan, I knew then it was going to be major. Remember being sat on the end of the bed and just knowing it was going to be huge. Told my family and friends and they all thought I was crazy I could tell.

March 2020.

1st - cousin was fine
3rd - cousin was a bit off colour
15th - cousin was dead
20th - family was told they could not attend funeral

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba just read your post about anxiety. This was very true for a friend of mine who has significant health and generalised anxiety to the point it affects her everyday life. I initially thought she would really spiral when covid hit but actually it was quite the reverse!

When I saw images in the news of people in full protective gear spraying the air in the street in Wuhan, followed by talk of school closures talk. Then got a text from school saying they were closed that very same day due to many cases, already!. First lockdown followed soon.
I had to go to work. I have to say I was scared! In a way, I wish I had never seen them spraying the air in the streets. I think this will haunt me forever. I was worried it would actually be much much worst that it has been, and that I would catch it just breathing at work! It lasted a few days. Then more info about the damn virus came in, and felt better.

When it was getting bad in Italy. I remember talking to my boss about Italians having to queue to get in the supermarket, & she was very dismissive, very it's all being blown out of proportion etc but I thought then if it can happen in Italy it can happen here.

@Xigris. That’s a powerful post that resonates . I wish your colleagues well

When the Norwegians cancelled an operation of 10,000 International military personnel in late January. DH was deployed on it, and it was a MASSIVE shock to everyone and clearly indicated an enormous concern I simply hadn't had at that point.

www.thedefensepost.com/2021/01/27/nato-arctic-manoeuvres-cancelled/

10th March 2020, the exact date we decided to lockdown, as I am one of the extremely vulnerable. We could see where it was going and made the decision that day after my mum had been to a family funeral (not covid related)

When I received an email from my professional body encouraging me to re-register and work on the wards. That 'all hands on deck' feeling hit home, and I went back into the NHS to help out-been back ever since

When a friend who works for a huge financial firm in London told me they were shutting down indefinitely and everything else would follow.

Beginning of March seeing someone in a mask in supermarket

When I went to the chemist and thought while I'm here maybe I'll get some hand sanitizer just in case. Everyone had had the same thought- the shops were cleared out and people were asking the shop assistants where they could get sanitizer. It was the first time I had seen the impact on my day to day life and I remember realising what was about to happen and feeling like a tsunami was about to crash over us.

@APurpleSquirrel

When it was getting bad in Italy. I remember talking to my boss about Italians having to queue to get in the supermarket, & she was very dismissive, very it's all being blown out of proportion etc but I thought then if it can happen in Italy it can happen here.

I remember that too.

and the week after the first person in the UK died I started feeling ill with all the symptoms.
that was just surreal

I don't mean this to sound as pathetic as it does but when McDonalds posted on social media to say they were closing. I don't why out of everything happening with schools, WFH etc that was the thing that stood out but there you go!

When someone at work came round and asked if anyone had any health conditions as they were to go home .
Getting a phone call from my husband to say that all the work had suddenly dropped off and his boss had asked if he could look for another job for six months until it was over ( if only ) thank god for furlough

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

when my DH started panicking. it was quite weird. I told him that feeling as if the world was on fire is how I feel constantly, every single day (I was dx with anxiety almost 15 y ago). it was quite bizarre, that for once I was the calm one because people everywhere were suddenly reacting in a way that was very familiar for me.

I felt understood and that never happened before so it had to be something big to cause that change

This is exactly how I am, the pandemic for me was probably easier because I’m always anxious. I always assume the worst.

My friend worked at a cinema and she was talking about how weird it was that they'd cancelled all the chines new year films, but they weren't allowed to discuss it when giving refunds and had to refer people to management if there were any complaints. It must have been some time in Jan and we were all wondering why a virus in China meant cinemas were cancelling films here.
Shopping as the shelves emptied.
My parents choosing to lockdown before the official lockdown was announced as they were high risk.
Going into town to buy DS school shoes, at the point when we'd been told not to do non-essential shopping, but before lockdown. I still thought he'd be needing school shoes and they couldn't wait as his current ones had holes in the soles. Town was empty and I remember coming home and telling DP how surprising it was how many people were in masks.
Schools closing, a y6 mum in tears as she knew her child wasn't ever going back. School was at less than 50% attendance when we did that last pick up, so only a few of us got to say a proper goodbye.

I can remember reading somewhere, quite early on - I don't think we were in lockdown yet, it being described as an 'extinction event' and that just made me realise we were up shit creek.

I was 22 weeks pregnant and went to tesco and couldn't get any meat or vegetables or fruit. It had taken years of infertility and two miscarriages to get to where we were and I was genuinely worried about how I was going to get food to keep growing my baby

Flew back into England from Asia just as the lockdown started, there were no cars or people on the roads, got to my house and went to the supermarket and the shelves were empty, it was so scary

My first and worst one was when I saw people in Wuhan being bundled against their will into vans and forcibly barricaded into their homes by the authorities. My blood ran cold watching that.

Other “oh fuuuuuck” moments for me:

When Hancock did a televised appeal for random companies who could make ventilators to get in touch.

When i saw a report that discussed repurposing ice skating rinks as morgues.

When they said people couldn’t attend funerals.