At a covid crossroads

[ErinKC]

I am really struggling this month with how to deal with Covid at this point. My family and I have been careful the whole time, done everything advised - remote school, masks, grocery pick up, vaccines, etc... and we've stayed healthy so far. My daughter and I both went back to in person school this fall, with masks (and mine mandated vaccines, too), and everything went fine. I had so much hope that life would keep churning along, we'd all learned to accept and live with Covid, and we were marching in the right direction. Then, of course, Omicron. My daughter's school reopened like normal on Jan 3 but I haven't yet sent her back (they had 3 snow days the first week and two days off the second week so she's actually only missed 5 days total so far). My school decided to go remote at least until Jan 24, at which point they will reevaluate.

I feel like I'm at some kind of fork in the road now. One half of me is ready to give up completely and just stop caring at all about getting Covid. I honestly don't know how much more I can take. I feel like I've been running for two years and I'm just ready stop. The other half can't relent control like that. Even though we're not high risk, every day I hear about more people my age (30s) with long covid symptoms - no taste or smell for months, weeks and weeks of muscle pain and fatigue, headaches, mental fog, etc... I know I'm extremely low risk for severe disease or long covid, but this virus is so unpredictable and I don't know that I'm willing to risk getting it right now when I know that the guidance being put out is more about the economy and what's politically feasible than the actual risk.

I'm so tired. How can we keep going on like this?

[Pamplemousse]

I do know how you feel.

Here in the UK some of the trashier newspapers are claiming that 'we' (read: England) will be ending all restrictions in ten days' time. Chances are, this is a purely political thing to try and prop up the dead man walking that is our PM.

If you look at the maps provided by the Government the black shading is receding rapidly - black indicates the highest rate of infection of >1600 cases per 100,000 population. We are still waiting to hear officially that Omicron is a less potent variant yet it is still killing people - one case was a 51 year old game software author in Scotland who wasn't vaccinated due to his fear of needles. I still think it'd be worth waiting a little longer but again, this smacks of political expedience.

You've probably also heard about what effect mass sackings due to vaccine non-compliance will have on the English health service and that vaccination is an issue that is dividing families - not just over vaccines, but also over potential transmission and the fear of what it may bring; today I chose to stay away from my great-nephew's birthday party and even his paternal grandfather (my brother) did. I can't speak for my brother but a house full of under-tens just sounds like a recipe to get sick.

In some respect, I'm 'lucky' in that I live alone, work erratically, prefer my own company for the most part and at this time of year especially, prefer to stay indoors under a blanket and almost hibernate so what we are all enduring now makes little difference to me - in fact, I almost like it. But what would I be like if I was working full-time? No idea. I know it has taken its toll on some family members who are in full-time employment and are sociable individuals who like travelling.

Nobody I know personally who has contracted Covid has developed "long Covid" so I'd consider that possibility as remote.

How can we go on like this? The short answer is "I don't know". We have no idea how long it will be before Covid becomes an endemic disease we have to live with that will take people prematurely from us - like an all-year flu. I hope that is something that doesn't happen because personally, I'd prefer not to live the rest of my days "on edge" every time someone coughs near me...

[NancyW]

I'm a firm believer that we all are going to get it, we have to. We are not going vaccinate our way out, we need to build immunity and possibly layers of immunity so that our immune systems stop the spread.

Did you know that the 1918 Spanish flu was H1N1? We still have it now.. yes it can still kill but its low levels and cases spike from time to time.

Covid is going to be the same thing.

Hopefully omicron will help us quickly build immunity so that even if we are exposed not everyone in the room will get it.

I think its happening already, my younger son and his girlfriend exposed the whole family on Christmas eve and Christmas day, no one got sick. O. Nada.

[davey2k17]

We all had it recently and for us at least it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be my father is 70 I’m 38 a smoker snd slightly overweight and my friend is in his 50’s with high blood pressure issues and it was nothing more than a bad cold for us with the added luxury of a tight chest which of course sets my panic alarm bells ringing. My point is that after the two years I spent avoiding it and then actually having it I can honestly wholeheartedly say now looking back that the anxiety was absolutely positively the worst part about any of it. I’m still going to be careful and I’m still going to do all the right things of course I’ll be sensible but I’m going to try to not let take over my life anymore. I hope you’re ok Nancy take care 😊

[Lencoboy]

I do know how you feel.

Here in the UK some of the trashier newspapers are claiming that 'we' (read: England) will be ending all restrictions in ten days' time. Chances are, this is a purely political thing to try and prop up the dead man walking that is our PM.

If you look at the maps provided by the Government the black shading is receding rapidly - black indicates the highest rate of infection of >1600 cases per 100,000 population. We are still waiting to hear officially that Omicron is a less potent variant yet it is still killing people - one case was a 51 year old game software author in Scotland who wasn't vaccinated due to his fear of needles. I still think it'd be worth waiting a little longer but again, this smacks of political expedience.

What I'm struggling to make sense of is the fact that daily cases have suddenly started rising again this week (back above 100k again today for the first time since last Thursday), but none of the major news outlets (including the BBC and Sky News) seem to be making a big deal of it, so I'm now starting to wonder if actual infections really have been declining over the past week or two?

I'm now also starting to wonder if Boris and Co have been 'massaging' the stats as a kind of 'smokescreen' for their current state of disarray?

I could be wrong but there does seem to be something rather fishy going on right now.

[Pamplemousse]

Hopefully omicron will help us quickly build immunity so that even if we are exposed not everyone in the room will get it.

I think its happening already, my younger son and his girlfriend exposed the whole family on Christmas eve and Christmas day, no one got sick. O. Nada.

Anybody clinically vulnerable in that group?

[NancyW]

Anybody clinically vulnerable in that group?

Not that I know of, my brother and sister in law are 70 if that counts