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Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

chellie said:
I don't understand this. The gym I go to is safer than a supermarket. You have to prebook a slot. These are limited in number. It is cleaned every one and a half hours. They also use a fogging machine on it. Equipment has to be wiped down before and after use. I've only seen one couple not do this and I complained about them. Golf is outside in the fresh air with no close contact of anyone not in my household.
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I never mentioned supermarkets or said gyms weren't safe. My simple point is IMO, not enough people are cutting back enough to avoid the rate of spread being too high to necessitate the various lockdowns/tiers etc. we are being subjected to.

And for the record, I don't go to supermarkets either. I do play golf once a week so I haven't cut out everything non-essential myself so everyone needs to make their own choices but as I said, I feel that too many people are still going out and about too much and so the rates continue to be too high and the restrictions continue to be necessary.
 
The thread title asked how it's affected me, I gave my opinion.
If people want to help their mental health by going to the pub/gym/supermarket/church/hill climbing/holidays/golf etc, carry on, all I've asked is to spare a thought for the doctors and nurses mental health because anyone going out after lockdown is lifted and get a bad case of the killer virus could well end up in ICU just in time for Christmas.
 
Swinglowandslow said:
If it was thus, you wouldn't have lockdowns or tiers.
Are you in favour of "each person to decide....?
Really?
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Not really, but I’m also not in favour of a small number of people who have the wherewithal and the mentality making the decision for everyone either.
My personal preference is for a series of rules/guidelines, based on strong science and an understanding of economic effects, that we can all work within to minimise the risks of overburdening the NHS.
 
bobmac said:
The thread title asked how it's affected me, I gave my opinion.
If people want to help their mental health by going to the pub/gym/supermarket/church/hill climbing/holidays/golf etc, carry on, all I've asked is to spare a thought for the doctors and nurses mental health because anyone going out after lockdown is lifted and get a bad case of the killer virus could well end up in ICU just in time for Christmas.
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But do you expect everyone to just sit inside and only go out when absolutely necessary- you appeared in the inital post to dismiss “people sitting there earning money” and going out using mental health as an excuse


Nurses and Doctors are constantly under stress throughout the year because of many different issues we face , there are many illnesses and issues that increase during the winter.

People are going to catch it - there is a risk with anything.
 
I have to go to work in a Covid related area. Risk
I have to commute back from work
Once I get off the train I am faced with the choice of walking (50 minutes), cab (£8.00 and about 7-10 minutes) but a risk or a bus for twenty minutes potentially very high risk

The option isn't there to work from home so I have to take my chances. Mask on all the time, hands washed when I get to Reading station and then as soon as I get through the front door. It is a calculated risk but what options are there
 
Without taking sides, we are now in the unfortunate position of having to make the best of a bad job. There are no really good options. There probably was a window, a small one, back in Feb/March to change the course of the pandemic in the UK, by imposing immigration controls and enforced quarantine for arriving passengers. We missed that and the virus got in to the country in larger quantities than we hoped. Then the challenge becomes stopping it moving around, i.e. transmitting. We kinda blew that one too.

From that point, we were always going to be on the back foot. Rates dropped in summer with decent adherence to the rules, but there was still too much virus in the background. Michael Give described it on Today as running bath, with cases filling the bath. I see it more as a wildfire across a large forest. If it gets too big, there are always areas where you fail to suppress it enough and it will reactivate.

Many people saw the second wave coming - it was inevitable really. Then there was a need for rapid and string action, but that didn't happen soon enough, so the problem got pushed closer to Christmas than anyone would have liked.

In the period between now and vaccines become available, there is great danger. That danger is complacency, where people think it is more or less all over, him straight. It really isn't. This Christmas period is likely to cause a rise in cases. It remains to be seen if that is a blip or a massive rise. It could be OK, or it could be very ugly indeed.

My family will be having a quiet Christmas, meeting rellies only on Zoom. If it all works out OK and we get the vacc in time (wife is an NHS doctor, so she is probably covered), then maybe we will do something at Easter. I am confident in the review processes of the EMA and MHRA and will happily accept the first approved vaccine I am offered.

In the meantime, I would advise people to take care. You don't want a nasty bout of Covid over Christmas and the New Year and you definitely don't want Homer trying to find you a hospital bed (Berkshire members only).
 
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ger147 said:
I was gonna ask if there is a linear method of Covid?
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I fear it’s feeling more circular than linear - that we’ve been here before and we’ll be back here again in the new year - and we are feeling very weary of this, very fed up and disappointed - but will just stick with it as best we can as we feel we must ☹️
 
Kaz said:
Really powerful piece on on CH4 news just now. A succession of people, wide variety, who've lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic just speaking openly and honestly to a camera about what they did and what they're doing now and the effect on them. I was gradually drawn in and captivated by it - realise just how fortunate we've been to both have our work unaffected.
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I heard Michael Gove, somebody I rarely agree with, say that the damage to the economy is not due to lockdown, it is due to the virus. I agree with him. The two go hand in hand, fixing the economy requires dealing effectively with the virus. Half hearted measures do not deal effectively with the virus, just lets it go quiet for a bit, but it will bite back later.
 
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I got a letter from the NHS today that I should be shielding until the 2nd of December ;-)
It's dated from the 20th of November, so it took a while to get here.

So I got out for my flue shot, which is allowed, and I postponed my weekly shopping drip to tomorrow.

I had a brief conversation with the practice pharmacist about Covid vaccine and he said they are unlikely to do it at the GP practice, it's very likely that there will be centres. But he didn't let on to anything else. Either he doesn't know, or he can't say.
 
The increased risk due to being over 60 and overweight were I to contract the virus caused me to decide to lose weight (I have known for over 20yrs that I needed to lose some weight but have never bothered and it has just slowly piled on).

Started 5:2 diet on 3rd August and today the scales tell me that there is exactly 2 stone less of me than there was 4 months ago. Just over 15 to just over 13. Aiming for under 13 by Christmas. Is that weight loss a silver lining in the gloom and pain of the pandemic...hmm. But it is something, and I feel a bit better for it - and for the first time in many years a 36” waist fits pretty easy and medium t-shirts don‘t make me feel like a trussed up turkey.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
The increased risk due to being over 60 and overweight were I to contract the virus caused me to decide to lose weight (I have known for over 20yrs that I needed to lose some weight but have never bothered and the weight has just slowly piled on).

Started 5:2 diet on 3rd August and today the scales tell me that there is exactly 2 stone less of me. Just over 15 to just over 13. Aiming for under 13 by Christmas. Is that weight loss a silver lining in the gloom and pain of the pandemic...hmm. But it is something, and I feel a bit better for it.
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That is an excellent result with multiple health benefits for you. Well done. Make sure there is some strength training in there, press ups, planks, weights, whatever.
 
Ethan said:
That is an excellent result with multiple health benefits for you. Well done. Make sure there is some strength training in there, press ups, planks, weights, whatever.
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That’s the next thing...for after Christmas. Up the exercise as all I do at the moment is aim for average over a week of 10,000 steps a day - excluding golf - and my wife drives that, not me. The weight is one thing but I need to work on my waist as I still have a bit too much of a paunch.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
That’s the next thing...for after Christmas. Up the exercise as all I do at the moment is aim for average over a week of 10,000 steps a day - excluding golf - and my wife drives that, not me. The weight is one thing but I need to work on my waist as I still have a bit too much of a paunch.
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Sounds good. I am not a huge fan of the 10k steps thing, no real evidence that the number has any significance, but a lot of people find it quite motivating to have the target.
 
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