PM Press Conference. Anyone else feeling despair?

Listen to Dr John on YouTube he seems to be right most of the time. We don't know enough about this particular variant. If its more transmissible but doesn't make people sicker then it will be just like flu or a bad cold. The immuno compromised might have to be careful but most of them are careful during the flu season anyway. Don't despair yet, until we have more information.

I did cry for a while a few days ago and realised that when I have had a weep it's usually been connected with singing (or rather the lack of it). I had just got a phone call from someone in my U3A singing group saying that she wasn't going to rejoin because of her age and her vulnerability to Covid. What made me cry was that she said how much it had meant to her to sing with us. The Community Choir we run is struggling to survive at the moment because people either have Covid or are recovering or are not coming because they are protecting themselves or their partners. We sing together for the joyful experience it gives us but also for the friendships which we value so much. I'm so sad for the fracture of these relationships.

I have just come home from hospital after an oupatient procedure and really struggled wearing a mask for the whole day - I have nothing but admiration for the cheeful staff who have to wear masks all day, every day. It does seem a bit depressing that another strain is doing the rounds, but some people are suffering more. I overheard another patient saying ‘At least we are not in a war torn country’ and it does rather put things in perspective.

MayBee70 I hope your son in law recovers well. What a worry for you.
Carnival queen, I’m CEV and getting fed up but we have to get on with it as positively as poss. Me rheumatology consultant says we should wear masks and if meeting friends/family ask them to LFTest the previous day. Keep a distance, wash hands and keep rooms well ventilated.

f77ms

Yes I am despairing too. I was diagnosed with incurable cancer in February. This has been the worst time to have be diagnosed because there have been literally no services for cancer sufferers. I have seen the oncologist twice, the other times have been phone calls. All the support which would have been there are not due to covid. I can't even get financial support to employ someone to help because you cannot apply for carers allowance for yourself! Its all very drpressing, saying that i am still able to do my voluntary job part time and have wonderful family support. Thank goodness!

Am so sorry to hear of your terminal illness f77ms I can only imagine how hard life is for you at the present time, and am glad that you have wonderful family support. You can always
Rely on your GN family too, whenever you need to let off steam on here.?

It does seem all doom and gloom, but most of the news is . Good news doesn't sell newspapers. In Wales we've never stopped wearing masks and as I work in a school, I wear one all day anyway. Put some Christmas music on and make a few plans to cheer yourself up, even if it's just going to a local cafe for a coffee. Hope your spirits lift soon.

I am feeling very down about it all. My grandchildren (12 and 9) were coming to visit with their parents last week. I haven’t seen the children for almost two years. Then at the last moment my granddaughter (the 9 year old) went down with Covid.

Mask has been firmly on, N.Ireland we were supposed to anyway, although some seem to of misplaced theirs....it does get you down, watching the news is depressing. Hospitals are full, winter pressures, poor NHS staff are exhausted and ignorant or just stupid sods refuse to put a bit of cloth over their faces to try to help. I despair at times.

Yes, total despair. Running around buying Christmas presents and ordering food but not knowing for sure whether family will be able to join us. I'm classed as 'vulnerable' due to immuno suppressant medication so have to be extra careful and with grandchildren of middle school age their classes are rife with infection. If only they had left rules re distancing and masks in place we may not be in this situation now with a new variant which may be resistant to our vaccinations. The virus is now a fact of life, we are going to have to live with it or die by it, we need to have safety precautions permanently in place even during periods when stats are falling. One more thing! If schools could break up for Christmas a few days earlier, we could have a better idea of which children may be infectious in advance of Christmas day.

My SIL is in America on business and I’ve just heard that he’s got covid ….

I can see that any of us could feel sad or despairing about yet more challenges from this pandemic. I’m hoping that the new variant won’t cause too many problems but realise that it could. New variant or not, I wear a mask in busy places or inside, use ventilation, take advantage of every vaccine and use hand sanitizer. I am so worried about a friend not being able to have extremely urgent open heart surgery due to lack of ICU beds that I really hope the new variant doesn’t block hospital beds. There are loads of worries arriving from this news. We all have experience of what happened last time. Let’s hope things improve in the not too distant future

Sorry NOT infecting those we love or anyone else!

My son, his wife and 2 grandchildren live in Japan, and yes Covid stats are now very low there, but the whole nation obeys the ‘rules’. They are mask wearers against germs on normal times, and my son ( Welsh) says the only people’s not wearing masks and acting out are ‘foreigners’ . He has worked there for over 6 years and was working from home through most of the pandemic, now he goes into Tokyo for work on a rota system, but still mainly works from home.
I do so wish us Brits/Europeans were as sensible. I haven’t seen any of them for over 2 years now, mainly due to these selfish idiots of anti- vaxxers, anti mask wearing peoples...don't they have families of their own whom they should care for, etc, etc, surely their first concern should be infecting others they love and not some mis-guided idea of ‘personal freedom’ even if they don’t believe in it for some weird reason! It is enough to make you despair!

A sensible post Thisismyname
My sentiments too.

I had yet another birthday yesterday, I turned 66, without my family, as they all live in U.S and Oz.
I agree, that are thousands of parents/grandparents out there separated from families since this pandemic started, But it doesn't make me feel any better, when I have a down day and miss them on my birthday or any other time.
I just wish it would end

It was said at the start of the pandemic that we could be living with covid for years. We have to learn to live with it and Boris is trying to help us .
I refuse to worry about it and will just live my life as I am doing . I had covid and was in hospital this time last year . I am triple jabbed and if I need a booster every 4 to 6 months then I will have them .

Yes I am despairing too. I was diagnosed with incurable cancer in February. This has been the worst time to have be diagnosed because there have been literally no services for cancer sufferers. I have seen the oncologist twice, the other times have been phone calls. All the support which would have been there are not due to covid. I can't even get financial support to employ someone to help because you cannot apply for carers allowance for yourself! Its all very drpressing, saying that i am still able to do my voluntary job part time and have wonderful family support. Thank goodness!

I haven’t seen any family now for close on two years, my only trips out in that time have been to hospital appointments which if I’m honest scared me witless at the time.
My Doctor was quite honest with me and said if you get it you’ll probably die vaccine or no vaccine as you have so many comorbidities. So I was resolved to it.

My first taste of Covid was my cruise March 2019 which I couldn’t cancel as no insurer would cover it as a good reason, even though I was insured as it was ‘going to be nothing to worry about’. I got to Poole went on board and stayed there for two days before being sent home. The ship never sailed. I spent that year trying to get my money back as the company went bust. Finally after some 60 letters I did.

I should have known then it was the shape of things to come!

I’d actually applied through Heritage Lottery late 2018 to do a presentation and a series of living history displays on the First World War called a Land Fit for Heroes, including the Spanish Flu, Suffragettes, Trade Unions and Disability, Equality and Diversity.
I was brought up by my grandmother who lost half her family through the Spanish Flu, so I had some knowledge of it first hand from her accounts on how they wore scarves around their faces and ‘Stoved’ children’s books to try and hamper the infection. I researched it thoroughly, and what she said was true.

Obviously, due to lockdowns and lack of venues and audiences, our projects didn’t go ahead, it’s just sitting here waiting.
Was I Psychic or what?

Am I totally disillusioned by all the ‘bad luck ‘ and isolation, not entirely but Im not far off that point.

The whole world has a dose of madness and it’s catching!

As a very dear friend said to me recently, ‘We are living in the ‘Last Days’…and she could very well be right.

Who knows and even more worrying is …..who cares?

I totally agree, who wants to hear who has it worse, there will always be someone who is better or worse off than you...being a little selfish and finally thinking about yourself for once is not such a terrible thing...it's okay to have down feelings we are human

Oldnproud

Pammie1

I appreciate that this may sound a little bit ‘conspiracy theory’ but does anyone feel that there’s something we’re not being told about Omicron ? I don’t remember this amount of caution centred around the emergence of Delta. With Omicron we’re being told to ‘wait and see’ when all the data is in, but in the meantime the booster campaign is being stepped up, masks have been reintroduced, travel restrictions imposed and self isolating mandatory on return to the UK, even if vaccinated. Now there’s reports of people cancelling plans based on a comment from a medic, about mixing not being sensible until things are clearer. I just get the feeling that something is different.

I know what you mean about it sounding 'a little bit conspiracy theory', but my own theory is that the government was already quite scared about the rising covid numbers before Omicron was detected, starting to fear that the hospitals (already struggling if reports on ambulance waiting times are anything to go by) might well be totally overwhelmed by Christmas.

The trouble is, they've said so many times that they don't intend to reintroduce the restrictions on what we can do, that they desperately didn't want to lose face by backtracking on that

I think that they might have pounced on Omicron as a get-out-of-jail-free card that gives them the perfect excuse to reintroduce measures that were already needed!

I thought maybe there was something we weren’t being told, but I think this makes more sense. It’s not that they’re keeping something from us, it’s that they’re using Omicron to reintroduce measures that are needed but they know will be unpopular. Just hoping at this stage, that Christmas won’t be cancelled again.

Call me selfish but I fell very cheated with this whole pandemic thing. I've spent my entire adult life working and was finally able (well I just opted out and ran from stressful corporate world) to retire late 2019. Then all heck breaks loose, after raising 4 children alone and suffering a lot of mental and some physical heartaches darn right I feel despair, cheated etc etc etc. Yes, I pray for the world and everyone in it but the only life I can think about now that I'm older is my own. Over the years I've donated to every charity I could afford, done every PTA, you name it I've always been a giver and still am. I don't watch the news much, it's just too depressing, I believe feeling despair right now is normal for anyone. Sure I have my "life is great, this too shall pass, blah blah blah" moments but I feel cheated and despair without watching the news. I don't want to hear how much worse it could be and about all others far worse off than me, I want a break, just for maybe a year, I'm a good person, neighbor and friend to the friendless Yada Yada Yada....yes I'm pretty mad about the state of everything too. Work and struggle all my adult life now living in a screwed up hateful world...yikes! This forum is designed to get it off your chest not social media to voice your opinion on someone else's comment, so keep your thoughts to yourself, let folks say what they're going through and leave them alone. If your life is so great get off this platform, let people get it off their chest...yepper I'm feeling despair how can you get away from it...

It’s never going away, short of a miracle of science. It’s always going to be with us now in some form. How the Chinese haven’t been brought to task over it I just don’t know. So I think we need to look for the positives, such as our family and friends being safe and well. Think long and hard about what is important now and focus on that. It’s a brave new world. We’re here so let’s look to the future and take time to appreciate what we do have, and not wallow in unhappiness. Life is too short for that xxx

I agree that cancellation of a carol concert is of little consequence compared to a poor soul crossing the channel in a dinghy, but I can have sympathy for the asylum seeker, feel anger at those who demonise said asylum seeker, and still feel sympathy for friends who are no unable to attend their GC's carol concert.

... I've just come off Facebook after arguing with a bunch of hateful racists blathering on about the RNLI being a "migrant taxi service"... the "let 'em all drown" brigade. Appalling and depressing.

But I can still feel sympathy for annie61 We live our lives and we are sometimes low and sad. Doesn't mean we don't feel and hurt for those suffering more severe problems.

I agree with you, Happysexagenarian. It is what it is.
I do not despair.

Surely the reality for most of us is somewhere between the dismissal of our concerns by Growstuff as first world problems and the pollyannaish attitude of Urmstongran with her everything will be ok folks ?

I agree that cancellation of a carol concert is of little consequence compared to a poor soul crossing the channel in a dinghy, but I can have sympathy for the asylum seeker, feel anger at those who demonise said asylum seeker, and still feel sympathy for friends who are no unable to attend their GC's carol concert.