• Replies 30 replies
  • Subscribers 41 subscribers
  • Views 3633 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Post pandemic ‘normality’

Kate Kestrel

I was talking with my family last night about the way the pandemic has impacted on us. Three of us have an autism diagnosis, and one of us is very likely autistic but not diagnosed. When the lockdown started we were all to some degree relieved to have an ‘excuse’ to withdraw from many aspects of life that we found stressful, such as going to work, seeing people, having face to face appointments with people etc etc. It meant that we could avoid a lot of stuff that we’d always found really difficult. We withdrew from society because we were being told to, and in some ways this was quite suited to our nature. However we are still finding it very hard to return to ‘normal’. My son’s social anxiety feels more entrenched than ever, and I find dealing with people and day to day problems much more stressful. It’s as if the pandemic got us into a more reclusive state of living and now we’re finding it harder to get out of our tendency to withdraw from life. Every problem feels like such a big deal now, we feel so easily overwhelmed by life. We find being around lots of people so stressful. However we also feel very isolated, despite the fact that in many ways we like being away from people. And the news is always so grim about everything falling apart - essential services like the nhs etc. The war in Ukraine. Everything feels so insecure. Everything is so expensive. When we do go out so many other people seem to look stressed and tired too. 
It all feel is so overwhelming sometimes. 
There’s this narrative that the pandemic is ‘over’, but we feel we are still really struggling to feel ‘normal’ again. It’s had a big impact on us and we’re finding it hard to mentally get back to where we were before it all happened. We were struggling even before it all though to be honest, but I think it’s made many of our problems even more difficult now. 
Does anyone else feel like this?

Parents

  • I was in the UK through the pandemic and it felt oddly artificial to me.

    The number of cases were pretty low overall and the death rate actually seemed better than usual, so the scare tactics weren't always backed up by the facts.

    Where we were seeing high death rates were amongst the most vulnerable where it seemed corporate greed and incompetence were most evident - care homes that woudn't pay the high price for proper PPE, staff who wouldn't follow procedures and breathtaking incompetence from the politicians.

    For any of you who have studied viruses of this nature, there is no effective way to block them with the controls we are willing to put in place - they will get through eventually. We saw this from when precaution fatigue set in, people let down their guard and the next varient took its toll.

    When I was in Brazil for a few months during the pandemic there had been an acceptance of this and the "herd immunity" approach was being taken. There was the initial high death toll but then, with the majority of the population exposed to the virus, it dropped off quickly and business returned to relatively normal.

    As a result of this Brazil is in strong shape now and looks to be weathering the international financial crisis very well.

    Life has changed little, masks are rarely found being used and covid has fallen into the same category as the flu in terms of its presence : something you get a vaccination for once a year but if you get it, take some sick leave, get better then get back to work.

    There is much less anxiety and fear around it here which leads to less stress,

    At the end of the day, the death toll per capita is less than the UK which caused tremendous social stress and economic damage.

    It is hard to place a value on the lives lost, but looking at the numbers and impact alone, it really looks like the UKs approach was ineffective.

Reply

  • I was in the UK through the pandemic and it felt oddly artificial to me.

    The number of cases were pretty low overall and the death rate actually seemed better than usual, so the scare tactics weren't always backed up by the facts.

    Where we were seeing high death rates were amongst the most vulnerable where it seemed corporate greed and incompetence were most evident - care homes that woudn't pay the high price for proper PPE, staff who wouldn't follow procedures and breathtaking incompetence from the politicians.

    For any of you who have studied viruses of this nature, there is no effective way to block them with the controls we are willing to put in place - they will get through eventually. We saw this from when precaution fatigue set in, people let down their guard and the next varient took its toll.

    When I was in Brazil for a few months during the pandemic there had been an acceptance of this and the "herd immunity" approach was being taken. There was the initial high death toll but then, with the majority of the population exposed to the virus, it dropped off quickly and business returned to relatively normal.

    As a result of this Brazil is in strong shape now and looks to be weathering the international financial crisis very well.

    Life has changed little, masks are rarely found being used and covid has fallen into the same category as the flu in terms of its presence : something you get a vaccination for once a year but if you get it, take some sick leave, get better then get back to work.

    There is much less anxiety and fear around it here which leads to less stress,

    At the end of the day, the death toll per capita is less than the UK which caused tremendous social stress and economic damage.

    It is hard to place a value on the lives lost, but looking at the numbers and impact alone, it really looks like the UKs approach was ineffective.

Children
No Data