Covid anxiety is here to stay, for many ...

I wonder if it's not just about safety for some but also about re evaluating what they want to do and what's important. I cant imagine I will ever go back to supermarket shopping in store again for example.

That's a good point Galaxy. Maybe some of us have learned new things about ourselves and our lifestyles during covid. I too will stick with online shopping, so much easier.
I will also be more careful about hygiene in general in public places.
I will also continue to walk for over 30 minutes every day.
Good things can come out of bad and I am not going to let fear overpower me. Life's too short, another thing I've learnt.

Who is Mimi?

I think FC is referring to this Urms

youtu.be/a-x3sUpFJHo

Hi, no, I've got no idea what that Mimi is!
I was referring to a poster called Mimi22 who in the past few weeks has posted lots of links to Covid related articles; many of which have had dubious content

Everything is back to normal here and we only have to wear masks on public transport, doctor’s surgeries and airports but I still feel wary because they have mucked up the vaccine rollout big time. Also there seems to be more and more news coming out that the astra Zeneca vaccine isn’t very effective and that is the only one available to most of us lucky enough to have actually had it. Having said that we have had some great Probus dine outs at local restaurants in our local area, mostly with around 40-50 people attending.

nanna8 all the information I have read about the AZ vaccine suggest that it is very effective and that there is little to choose between the effectiveness of any of the main vaccines now in use. There have been reports out this week reiterating that following the recent ONS surveys in the UK.

While the blood clotting issue is slightly unsettling, it is a problem being found with one of the other vaccines as well and the risks of it happening are many times lower that the chance of death or long term disability from getting COVID.

I don’t know anyone who’s still very anxious about the risks.*
All the adults in my immediate family have now had one or both AZ jabs, and are very grateful for them.

*Dh still wants our daily paper ‘cooked’ at 100 dg for 10 minutes in the oven before he reads it, though. If it were just me I don’t think I’d bother.

The one thing that I really want to get back to is singing in a big choir, yet that is probably one of the potentially most risky things. This virus is spread more by aerosols than by germ laden surfaces.
I started going to a smallish supermarket last July, twice a week at times when it is not busy, and I enjoy seeing what I am buying and what is new. We are still keeping our online delivery for the bulky items, and from our independent butcher and greengrocer. I am avoiding crowded places and am certainly not ready to go to a pub or cinema. I was glad to get my hair cut and buy some new underwear last week. There are few cases in this area and I have had both vaccinations, so what’s the point of being ultra cautious now?

Witzend As we say of so many stories, no smoke without fire. He must be smouldering when he takes it out of the oven to read it.

I go to a local library but I don’t cook the books! Wonder about it though, I have to say.??

dh still wants our daily paper’cooked’ for 10 minutes in the oven before he reads it.

Well, I have continued, throughout, with my weekly Supermarket shop. I enjoy that weekly outing, enjoy picking my own food thing, enjoy the mental maths involved. Never felt in any danger in doing this. Would only, ever, have food shopping by computer if I was totally physically unable to make that trip.

I love the fact that most of the small shops (that have managed to survive) have re-opened. Really enjoyed,yesterday, my trundle (on mobility scooter) down to the promenade in the warm sun yesterday, and seeing so many people enjoying sun, sea and sand.

Yes, Corona is a virus we will all have to learn to live with for some years to come, along with so many other illnesses.

I am concerned at how many people seem to live their lives in fear - if more money was available for mental health then perhaps there would be more people being able to be helped to overcome these fears and live in the real world. The amount of bleach being poured into our waste water over the past year concerns me.

To me, one of the best bit of news yesterday was the development of a vaccine for Malaria, which has for so long been the major killer disease in the world.

I hope that the sanitising, distancing from strangers etc. continues in public places. I like the fact that we're far less likely to catch the next person's cold or any virus than we used to be.

Oh dear, the site, or internet is playing up. I didn’t mean to post just that one sentence, I wrote a whole post, but it wouldn’t post.

Like Franbern I have done a weekly supermarket shop - couldn’t get delivery slots at the beginning and gave up, and prefer to choose my own produce and see what’s new. And it’s an hour and a half out of the house! I haven’t disinfected my shopping before putting it away either.

We will have to learn to live with the threat of COVID and modify our behaviour though I will rejoice to see the end of mask wearing. I want my grandchildren to live a normal life so accept some level of risk. And at least we the elderly have the choice of staying at home if we are really nervous - the young don’t have that luxury.

I must admit I thought this might be an article about me but even I can't be arsed to clean my house for hours with bleach

I am limiting what I do though and part from going to the village co-op and post office I really haven't done much else the year or so. BUT I have a school age child still, one at college and one at uni, my husband has to go into work, I have to meet clients etc and I see my daughters care staff - so that is quite a lot of mixing anyway - that is how I feel at the moment and I'm not sure it is fully rational.

My Mum and Dad have worked full time throughout and my Mum said she doesn't know how she will be able to pack a suitcase and go on holiday again as it feels overwhelming and I was quite surprised by that tbh as she has just 'got on with it' iykwim

Really good news about a malaria vaccine Franbern
I’m so pleased to hear that. Will the WHO roll it out worldwide?

People in malaria areas live with this anxiety all the time !

dh still wants our daily paper ‘cooked’ for 10 minutes in the oven before he reads it.’

This would concern me. Is he normally this anxious?

The theory of catching Covid from surfaces has been dismissed. From what I have read/seen it has been made clear that it was highly unlikely, if not totally impossible to get Covid from surfaces. The virus is airborne. It doesn’t survive in a viable form on surfaces, nor would there be sufficient viral load on the majority of surfaces to infect. The reason Covid was reduced in the population was obviously vaccination, but also because of social distancing and lockdown.

I know quite a few people on antidepressants since Covid mostly because of no communications with family. I had quite a few tearful days initially but it was the fear and the unknown about the virus.

Now things are slowly getting back to normal I think people with anxiety will improve I hope so for their sakes. Getting back to reality but still being a little cautious is the way forward.
We have been to our DC homes and sat with GC in their gardens. We went to friends sat in their garden had a few drinks and snacks it’s just nice to be in good company again.

Yesterday we walked through the local woods to a pub a mile away we sat outside with drinks. Everyone was complying to distancing rules masks etc. The staff couldn’t be praised enough very attentive and glad to be back at work. It was a lovely couple of hours watching people enjoy themselves in the sunshine.

I think throughout this we have to understand that people react differently to the unknown, which certainly at the beginning is what covid was. As I have said I am not frightened I have worked face to face with children throughout covid (except for the very first lockdown) but I dont want to return to supermarket shopping, or going into the office for admin tasks, because I have learnt that for me these are a waste of time. We just need to accept that people think differently to us, and offer support when needed.

I have stopped washing my shopping which I thought was a big thing for me. We were advised to at the beginning because my daughter is vulnerable but I also think it triggered some ptsd stuff about the death of one of my siblings. Anyway, I managed to stop.......

JaneJudge
We cleaned our shopping at first too, or let it quarantine for a couple of days, but we stopped all that a while ago. We were very, very careful during the whole of last year, but despite that I still caught Covid and was really ill and hospitalised. I caught it from the bubble I was in with my husband and elderly mother (mother was hospitalised after a fall and head injury, and picked up Covid in hospital) and unfortunately I was the most seriously ill out of the three of us. When I came home from hospital I reevaluated the situation. I realised that all the cleaning shopping, masks etc hadn’t stopped me getting Covid, it was the direct person to person contact (despite wearing a mark at the time. I still comply with all requirements completely, I wear a mask, sanitise, socially distance when out at the shops etc but I realise that none of this stopped me getting a serious dose of Covid. It changed my thinking. I don’t clean shopping anymore, or fret about surfaces. I know I won’t get Covid again from a surface. I’m also vaccinated and have had the virus and I think it unlikely I’ll get Covid again.

I think people have made a valid point on this thread that we need to be able to change our thinking about covid. It is probably here to stay so we need to re asses how we are going to live.
Maddyone and Galaxy are to say right that it will depend on whether you have had the virus, whether you have been vaccinated, whether you are fearful by nature, whether you are risk averse and so on.
personally I like to hear about posters sitting in pub gardens, meeting friends, booking holidays.
GrannySomerset you are right. Let the young get out there and carry on. Any older person who cannot face the outside world can remain at home and will have to find coping strategies like online interests to deal with their loneliness.
Everyone needs to be individually resourceful.

My son has OCD, and the covid has 'freaked him out' and he has the syndrome now described.Wont even entertain idea of a holiday in autumn, and we have 2nd vaccine next month! Other son was shielding so is reluctant to go back to outside world now..its NOT all the young ones who are out spreading it- some are living in fear of it still, thats true.?