Sunday 9th March 2025 is Covid Day of Reflection.

But the saddest thing is still those who got seriously ill and could not be visited and the grief of those left behind to mourn in isolation. It seems unbelievable now - but it was real

Indeed Grandmarderby10.
A friend in Yorkshire (early 80’s) had cause to ring for an ambulance for her very poorly husband of 60 years. As the paramedics put him onto the gurney, strapped him up and walked him down their path, she walked beside him, holding his dear hand, knowing this was the last she would ever see of him.
That was cruel. Not being allowed to sit with him in his final day.
She cries about it still on occasion. “Nothing to be done about it now”.

harrigran this thread is best ‘not for you’.
💐

Redcar So sorry to hear about your loss. Loss during the lockdowns when we couldn't get together to comfort each other was so much harder to bear. .

Lockdown has sadly produced a wave of dogs who were bought in haste when people had time for them and were never socialised properly because people had to walk them alone.

Rescues are full of dogs that have been cast aside now people have gone back to their normal working patterns. Many of these poor animals are hard to rehome as they have behavioural problems.

But the saddest thing is still those who got seriously ill and could not be visited and the grief of those left behind to mourn in isolation.

When I had my heart attack, my husband was advised to say his goodbyes, as he would not be allowed to accompany me to hospital, nor visit me. I went in that ambulance, not knowing if I would ever see him or my family again. I was terrified of catching Covid in hospital.😪

However, I went in such a hurry, that I had nothing. I was in a ground floor room awaiting for a bed and realised I had my phone, but no charger. A kindly nurse phoned DH and gave him directions to the room from outside. She managed to prise open the window enough for him to pass the charger through. I was to far away to talk to him, but could see him through the glass. 😪

We had to protect the vulnerable. Who knows how many more would have died. If nothing else, it highlighted how very important hand hygiene is in helping to prevent the spread of viral diseases. Unfortunately, this seems to have been forgotten by a lot of people.

Oh yes, washing our hands to 2 verses of ‘Happy Birthday’. I’d forgotten that. Probably the best advice at the time.

In fact my dear stepfather goes straight to the kitchen sink to wash his hands every time he arrives home. He’s 92y. As he said ‘touching outdoor door handles etc’ he likes to wash the germs off.

I should think nail biters should heed their actions when away from home! Even now.

Fingers in mouths.
I remember being in Málaga at the 6th week of lockdown and early May a birthday card arrived for Himself from our daughter. Cesar the gardener brought it up. I opened the door took the card and thanked him for it, putting it to one side for the birthday 5 days later.

Then, in the wee small hours I remember I panicked. “Did I wash my hands after handling that paper envelope?”.

Daft in hindsight but I was truly terrified. Had I put my fingers to my lips at all after holding that envelope or did I wash my hands? I couldn’t remember but I do remember lying there in the dark, scared.

I don’t think we need a special day to reflect on those times. Many carry the effects in their minds and hearts every day.

I know that psychologically the whole experience had an effect on me and I’m a resilient person, or was.
I felt ‘safe’ to just stay at home with my husband- when we were finally ‘released’ in 2021 it took me a long time to regain any confidence to go anywhere.

I recall at the start of it all standing in my kitchen and crying through fear of the unknown and fear of how it might affect my family and others.

I have relatives in the northwest and at 1 point my brother was literally locked down ( tier 4, remember the tiers?) with my mum who had Alzheimer’s. He rang me to say he wasn’t sure he’d cope for much longer.
All the support systems had been withdrawn like day care, and he cancelled the carers going in to help as-he was home from work and didn’t think it fair when they were overstretched as it was. He asked me to go up to help-but all the government advice at the time said I couldn’t because we were tier 1 and I would have had to drive through various counties in different tiers to get there. My name wasn’t Cummings and I abided by the rules, that was stupid, in hindsight. So I didn’t go.
Thankfully the weather was good so he could get out for a short walk every day, leaving mum with the tv on for company. Doing this saved his mental health I’m sure.We too have friends, relatives grandchildren who were affected by it all one way or another.

FGT I recall your walking up and down your apartment balcony daily as your only permitted exercise and your husband going to the shop across the road for provisions.

I found Gransnet at the time to be like a collective hug, we all posted when we could and ‘virtually’ looked out for one another- supporting and consoling in equal measure as the need arose and I’m grateful for that. We were in it together and didn’t feel as alone as we might have done without the forum.

We were only allowed to travel 5 kms from home. Too bad if the shops were further away. At night helicopters would fly overhead watching for curfew breakers - you weren’t allowed out at night. The Handmaid’s Tale only worse.

The website says

“An opportunity to come together to remember those who lost their lives since the pandemic and to honour the tireless work and acts of kindness showman…..”

Perhaps we were silly and ill advised and governed. Myself I’ll take a moment to miss those I lost and those who who helped me through at risk to themselves.

I can only hope that when we have the next pandemic we as a country/world will be better prepared. The gov wont lie about our stores of PPE. We wont have a clown at the helm. The gov wont wont millions/billions on ineffective stuff marketed by greedy cronies.

Hopefully the hospitals and AE wont be already overcrowded with with current waiting lists. We wont be encouraged to clap and bang pots. We will know to protect the vulnerable. I could go on and on but its depressing.
Sympathies to those who are sad today including my previosuly active and vibrant DD who still struggles with long covid.
I expect many on here don't think that exists.

Hindsight is brilliant and I'm grateful I was never in a position having to make decisions that affected so many, I'm sure nobody ‘in power’ was waking up thinking how am I going to damage more people today.
It was an awful time and I struggled, my GP was very supportive even though I was one of many, I was glad my Mum died in September 2019 before it all happened.
If today brings comfort to some that’s a good thing.

Probably a good way of putting this thread to bed Jax.
Thank you. Sensibly said and I’ve got my annoyance off my chest now. It was a good space to vent on this anniversary date for me anyway.

Thanks all who posted.
It’s made interesting (and at times poignant) reading.
x

I thought the daftest thing was eat out to help out. My town had very few cases till that stupid initiative but almost immediately the numbers started to climb and it was months before it was back down to previous levels.

Rula

Oh I know all about it. My brother in law was in hospital due to a kidney issue when it all started. He contracted covid and died. He was 57. Friend of mine, early 60s, dreadfully ill in hospital with it. She survived but has lung scarring which has caused breathing issues and she still ends up in hospital when it flares up.

I was making the point that had we not had the Internet then we wouldn't have reacted in the same way .

The use of ventilators wasn't the way to treat this but at the time it was obviously the right way of treatment. This was only discovered months later.

But there has been a huge impact on so many areas of life post lockdowns. Which weren't all necessary.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing

I'm not sure, there was a lot of hysteria about AIDS, did we have the internet then? I think it existed but wasn't widespread. Same with mad cow disease, I remember predictions of millions of us were incubating it and would have horrible deahts.

It was a grim time as there were so many restrictions and I recall when some of the restrictions were lifted in the summer of 2020, you had things like table service introduced in pubs, where you could wait half an hour to get a drink. Then came all the tiered areas in the autumn of that year, where you could do one thing in one part of the contry and not the other, and then back to square one in the winter of 2020/21.
Some of the regulations did see people like Mark Drakeford behave like petty little dictators. There was one ridiculous rule in Wales in the winter of 2020/21 where only the supermarkets and corner shops remained open, but you couldn't buy anything else but food and drink. Suppose your shoes wore out, sorry the supermarket can't sell you a new pair, even though there waa an entire rack of shoes. Then seemingly people who lived on the English border and could buy these things in places like Chester were often turned back by the police.

Crazy eh CumbrianMale.
I think they made up these daft rules on the hoof at times.

“Some of the regulations did see people like Mark Drakeford behave like petty little dictators. “ CumbrianMale

The worst thing about him was he was very South and Cardiff centric - when their infection/death figures were atrocious he shut down the whole of Wales, saying we were all in it together, even though many rural areas in north Wales had very few cases.

When S Wales had fewer cases and North Wales soared up the scale he shut down only the north…so much for that eh!

is it 5 years since we locked down today?

Hindsight is wonderful. They were very scary times all over the world. The Nhs were working flat out and doing their best. The GP’s went to ground.

Pantglas2

“Some of the regulations did see people like Mark Drakeford behave like petty little dictators. “ CumbrianMale

The worst thing about him was he was very South and Cardiff centric - when their infection/death figures were atrocious he shut down the whole of Wales, saying we were all in it together, even though many rural areas in north Wales had very few cases.

When S Wales had fewer cases and North Wales soared up the scale he shut down only the north…so much for that eh!

You couldn't drive two miles along a country road to take your dogs for a walk in fresh air in practically deserted woods. If you did, you'd find police waiting for you in the car park threatening to fine you.

JaneJudge

is it 5 years since we locked down today?

No that was 23rd March

Have any lessons been learned, though? My grandchildren continued going to school because their parents were key workers. Their school was quite safe because it was an old building built after lessons had been learned from the Spanish flu epidemic. I thought that, because of long covid, more would now be done to help people with ME but that hasn’t happened. Are we more prepared for another epidemic in the future? I doubt it. We still don’t really know how this one started

Such an interesting thread, of course it is all subjective, everyone's experiences differed according to their own circumstances.

I remember being scared, so scared...my DH is/was CEV and I managed to convince myself that he would die if we couldn't keep him safe. That was probably true before vaccines.

Unlike lots on this thread I actually thoroughly enjoyed the 'clapping for the NHS', of course it didn't achieve anything really. One evening someone in my village played 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' on saxophone during the clapping it was beautiful, so moving.

I lost so much time with my youngest grandson, time that can never be recovered, but acknowledge that it probably just had to be in order to keep my DH safe and well.

My condolences to those here that lost loved ones without the chance for proper goodbyes, that is so sad.