Do you ever feel this will never be over?

I doubt we'll ever know the true numbers worldwide, Ellan.

I do hope people don't behave stupidly this weekend but I fear they will.

That's even worse Callistemon because the area will be nearly as big as this country, just one area of the States.

It's all it takes is a group of people for it to spread like wildfire. Surely the law will be out in full force.

It will end - Spanish flu ended - but it will not be quick. I think we have to resign ourselves to that. If we are going to get on top of this with the minimum death toll, we have to stick by the rules and accept that a return to normal life will have to be achieved gradually, and that for many at risk people it may meaning waiting for a vaccine before full normality is restored.

I am finding it very hard too - as I know many others are. But I keep having to remind myself of those things that are good - my OH is gone (and he would have found this more than distressing as he suffered from anxiety) and he is spared all this; my children are all well so far; my GC are also well; the sun has been out and all the family have been in their gardens, or walking in a safe place; I am still well; there is lots to do that might not have got done if I had been out and about; two of my friends have had the virus and are recovering well; I have been in the garden all day taking it easy as my back is grumbling at the gardening I have been doing - I know it is a bit Pollyanna, but I find that looking for positives is all I can do. Without that we are sunk.

It will be over one day - but not yet.

When I feel down in mood, I recognise that I am mourning what I had and something I felt secure about, because it's suddenly changed forever - and this often makes me sad, or angry by turns.

The whole world has been and will continue to be affected by this murderous virus, long after we are all set free again, and we can't escape from it or run away to somewhere better. So I fear this is always going to make me uneasy; in a similar way to how terrorism has changed so much of the certainties that we had in our lives, a way of living that we embraced and accepted, a life that we know could just be snuffed out, on the whim of a fanatic.

I don't like waiting for any decision to be made for me or my family, unless it's a decision on which we are consulted or that we are able to make ourselves. I do worry that others might just make the wrong decision. However, for this I have to wait patiently and observe all the rules because we live in a society and if we can't think of others in a global emergency like this, then we may as well give up.

And after the figures have stopped rising and life starts up again? I fear that society and the business world as it was will have been so flattened world-wide, that it will possibly be a struggle for many to earn any living and that this may be how life will be for many years to come.

However, for now it is truly a very uncomfortable and surreal experience and anyone who takes the threat seriously must surely feel the same way. Like Harrigran and Callistemon say, we really need that vaccine !

No wonder I look for every opportunity to read something light-hearted or to talk to friends and family who I know will always manage to find something small or ridiculous to laugh about! There's often comfort on this forum - lovely English humour which shines light into days which are destined to be wobbly. We mustn't forget what Winston said - when you're going through hell, you just keep on going !

Starblaze - I hope very much that you feel better tomorrow - take care of yourself and please let us know how you are doing.

Luckygirl thank you I will, I'm probably daft and worrying for nothing but we have children still working so anxiety overload.

Germany's death total of around 2,700 is a fraction of the UK death total of around 9000. I saw a news item last night about the German Air Ambulance Service and their equipment looked like something from the future. Our NHS has been starved of funding for so long.

I've had a few wobbles because one son has an underlying health condition and another is frontline NHS. I've never prayed so much in my life.

Some mornings I say to myself,
'I think I'll have a day in the house today',
as if it's an option and not my new reality.

I hope and pray we'll get through this, one day at a time.

I read that in Germany they are often putting othe death down to the underlying condition, not COVID19. That person had stolen days/months/years in my opinion

Thanks, Starblaze, I hadn't heard that.

Grannmarie I can't find the source so please take that with a fist full of salt

Everyday I have moments when I feel like I’m going completely mad. I can feel a panic rising. I want to cry or drink alcohol until I’m oblivious. I feel as if there’s an impeding doom about to engulf me. I can’t motivate myself to do anything useful. So I listen to music, watch a dvd anything to stop me thinking. I’ve got a husband who comes home and who deserves a clean comfortable home and a decent meal and my love so I focus on that and the fact that my adult children, family and my grandchildren do and will need my support in the future. It’s hard but it’s shoulders to the wheel and keep pushing in the sure knowledge that things will get better in time. The sun still rises, the birds still sing. It’s a beautiful world and one day soon we can all enjoy it again.

morethan2

I think that is actually true but can't find the source. However, even taking that into account they are still doing much better than we are and have sent us 60 ventilators. And remember that we are only counting the numbers dying in hospital also.

I don't think I'll ever feel safe again.

I think none of us will be quite the same ever again honestly but let's hope we can all come out of it a little better

Germany are only reporting people who were fit and well as COVID deaths. Anyone who had underlying conditions had the initial illness put down as the cause of death so the figures are not remotely comparable. Making sense of it all afterwards is going to be a devilish job and I am not sure how it can be done.

The number of deaths in the U.K. is worrying but they said earlier that the number of new cases has dropped which is encouraging but too early to call yet.

It’s not easy for any of us having to obey the isolating rules and obviously more so for those filled with bitterness and anger against the current government eating them up. Such a destructive emotion to live with.

morethan, I was going through what you are going through this time last year. DH and I often say, 'How on earth would we cope if it was now??'

The better may be a long time coming. I wish you strength to shoulder your burden and send love xx

I’m on a specialist family history website, which has insights into the lives of our ancestors. This current situation mirrors what our forbears experienced in days gone by. I’ve read of families losing four, five or more children in as little as a week to diphtheria, and the terrors of scarlet fever, typhoid and all the rest cutting swathes through communities.

I wondered how they bore it, not imagining we would soon be in a similar place. Many more people then had the comfort of religion, I suppose, which not so many of us have now.

forebears

It's quite a sobering thought SueDonim and I agree with you. I used to be a family history buff until I just hit too many brick walls. I have whole family branches which were just snuffed out.

I wonder if we've all become a little too complacent and arrogant to think that somehow we've overcome nature. I think there will be a profound thinking about priorities.

Sussexborn The UK isn't reporting all the deaths of people with comordities either. Some of those highly suspected of having Covid-19 weren't even tested if they died at home or in a care home, so there's underreporting in the UK too.

We won't know until the excess deaths compared with previous years for the same weeks/months are compared and assumptions can be made.

BTW Some of those flouting the rules and making pathetic excuses and rationalisations seem to be staunch supporters of this government, which is a bit weird.

I wonder if that's because some people don't really care about the common good or understand the concept of public health and whether there's a correlation with political leanings.

morethan Be grateful you don't live in South Africa, where the sale of cigarettes and alcohol has effectively been banned.

BTW It would be downright foolish to deny that Germany has better treatment than the UK and to accuse its figures of looking good because it doesn't include certain deaths. The UK doesn't include certain deaths either. I was appalled that nobody would give the number of deaths of NHS workers at yesterday's briefing.

The main reason Germany has a lower death rate then most other countries is that it carries out more tests and detects more cases. Therefore, the percentage of those who die is lower. The overall number of deaths is, at the moment, lower because Germany has better facilities. Even Germany acknowledges this could rise and is nervous.

The truth is that Germany has been more pro-active, started testing earlier, tests more, enforces a strict lockdown and has more ICU facilities.