It's been a year since we've chatted about the pandemic. We've seen way too many people die. We've seen way too many people have their lives upended. And hopefully, we've learned some things.

I don't know anyone personally who died. I know of 2 people in my circle who had family who died, and one person who spent 3 weeks in the hospital. And I think about a third of my family and friends have tested positive at some point on the path, including my parents. I have 2 friends who lost their businesses. I have another 3 who were close. I also have 3 who have seen their businesses flourish. And I have one friend who got into the covid cleaning business and made a good living. Most of the people I know who lost jobs or got temp furloughed got their jobs back with one exception. And personally, I got the stupid bug on a trip to NYC back in Feb 2020. It gave me the sniffles for a day.

So it's been a tough teacher in some ways. But has society learned anything? Have you learned anything? Has science/medicine impressed you? Did the use of the pandemic as a political weapon bother you? Is your life the same? Better? There's so many interesting topics about it.

And before we get going, there's no right or wrong here. We may all have different opinions, and most likely do. I hope we can all respect that. I'll ask a Vike to close the thread if it gets anywhere close to what it became when we tried this last year.

It's been interesting to see how many businesses scrambled to allow remote work and how many people would prefer to stay working remotely even after the pandemic ends. I hope this paves way for many new remote/work-at-home opportunities for those who enjoy the benefits of a stronger life-work balance and for those who are new moms or have social anxiety like me.

Not much changed for me personally when the pandemic hit. I've always been reclusive. I missed the chance to go to Canada last year which sucked but I'm not gonna complain because I know some people had it a lot worse than I ever did. I had COVID. It wasn't a pleasant experience. But I'm glad I'm still here and that no one I care about got seriously ill from it.

Science/medicine always impresses me.

When the pandemic first hurt and we were all quarantined for the first time, there was a big discussion concerning mental health and the effect that quarantine would have on it. I hope no one's condition worsened during this pandemic. I had depression for years and self isolation was pretty much the biggest trigger for me. Staying home and doing nothing left me too much time to overthink and cause me to spiral. My thoughts go out to everyone who struggled with their mental health during this pandemic.

MsPhantom (129173078) wrote:When the pandemic first hurt and we were all quarantined for the first time, there was a big discussion concerning mental health and the effect that quarantine would have on it. I hope no one's condition worsened during this pandemic. I had depression for years and self isolation was pretty much the biggest trigger for me. Staying home and doing nothing left me too much time to overthink and cause me to spiral. My thoughts go out to everyone who struggled with their mental health during this pandemic.

Yeah, that's true. I deal with mental health issues a lot but luckily the quarantine didn't make it any worse. I know not everyone is so lucky.

I know the stress of dealing with the news cycle can't be easy on the mental state of anyone. I have watched the media feed fear to people with a shovel. It's one thing to deliver 30 seconds of facts. It's an entirely different animal to spread those facts across 3 days of wall-to-wall coverage interspersed between video images of people in hospitals or in morgues every 30 minutes. Even my local media went out of it's way to make sure to show every fatal covid case in our area for anyone under the age of 35 who was thought to be "healthy". And social media was definitely not any better. So many lies and politically motivated jab pieces from both sides were spammed to the world. No wonder people can't find truth any more? And no wonder people suffer from anxiety and shun society. When we are shown a world that is nothing but lies and fear, it makes a person a lot a bit cray cray.

But I will also say this.........I have seen countless stories about people who went out of their way to help others during this year. Good people. Kind people. The ones that give us all hope. Taking care of neighbors while someone was in the hospital. Or feeding a family missing someone. Hell, I saw a business owner that paid his people out if his own pocket while they were shut down. I know of landlords who said "pay me when you can". I watched a group of cops surround a family in prayer as their grandfather died inside a hospital. Kindness is not dead!

It's been though.

I know a couple of people who died, others who got the bug, but they're okay, and I've learned a lot about myself, mostly thanks to anxiety, which is getting higher every day.

I finally took a huge step towards the future and bought some land in a far, isolated place, but very close to the beach. I'll start building my dream house little by little and I set myself a 5-year deadline to move there. That makes me really happy, but also gives me hope.

Many of my friends, relatives and colleagues have got sick. Some got through it easily, some spent weeks in hospital and some were literary fighting for their lives. And around dozen people in my surrounding lost the fight. I've dodged the bug so far, or at least I think so, can't be 100% sure since I've never been tested.

The Covid era has changed our lives dramatically, not in a good way. But it's always up to us how we cope with bad things in our lives.
The social aspect of life is huge and very important part of my culture. Most of my friends took the first lockdown and curfew really hard. I myself am pretty adaptable, I can stay at home for months without seeing a living soul, and I can go out every day and party every weekend. Most of people in my surrounding can't function like that, and after the first period of being cautious and disciplined, they went back to the old way of living.

Working from home was a revelation for me. It meant much more work. But, on the other hand, I got to not see some people every day who usually give me soothing mental images of banging their heads against a wall. Unlike many people in my surrounding, I could easily work from home till retirement. We've been going back and forth, going to work, working form home, for months. When going to work, beside finishing job easier and faster, the upside is seeing some really great people and having coffee and chatting with them. So, I'm fine either way.

This situation has lasted very long and sometimes it seems like it will never end. But I am optimistic and patiently wait for our lives to get back to normal. More than often I annoy my friends with my unjustified optimism and being cool with any situation. But with all the crap life's been throwing at me, hadn't I been able to persuade myself that every sh*t has to come to an end and to find bright sides of every crappy situation, I would have been institutionalized a long time ago. And God knows I cherish my freedom way too much.

Interestin. In Texas things are starting to feel normal again. Our 7 day moving average for positive cases is around 3-4K now (22K at its peak) and the same average for deaths is at 55 a day (342 at it's peak). We've learned a lot - some of it the hardest of ways. We've had 50K people die in Texas (29M population) - an ENTIRE CITY. 92% of that 50K was people over 50 years old. And across the board, already being unhealthy was the common highest risk.

I love numbers. The more data we have the more we can see into the reality. Texas allowed covid to spread because we weren't as stringent with our rules. Other states/countries who were more stringent are having issues now, but not all of them. I can't wait to see the data on the sociology in those regions. Did the people finally say "enough"?

About 2/3rds of the people here are no longer masked when I go out. That number gets higher every day. The movie theater was packed last Saturday. Business is back up and running here. We'll see what the numbers look like next month.....

I am in Illinois and we still have partial shutdown here. Masks are still mandatory as is social distancing...restaurants are opening, but not to capacity. Still can't sit at a bar.

Movie theatres and entertainment venues are slowly opening with online ticketed admission for certain time slots in the day, to avoid overcrowding. Churches are still at about a third capacity.

I am semi-retired and work from home so the isolation wasnt as difficult for me. It was AWFUL for my High School Junior/Senior. Her last two years of 'fun' have been ruined. She was able to keep her grades up despite remote learning (thankfully!) but the social isolation was horrid. They did pull together a Prom this year...with masks. No slow dancing.

I am grateful that noone I know personally lost a loved one, although quite a few 'caught' the virus, with various degrees of sickness. No hospitalizations, PTL. I have been able to avoid it..so far.

Wishing ALL my YoFriends a safe and healthy 2021!

We lost my boyfriend/hubby’s uncle to Covid in March of 2020. That’s the only one I know of who died, but I have a couple friends MIA from Facebook. I’m hoping they’re just taking a social media break and that they’re ok.

I have a few friends who have had Covid and were lucky enough to survive. I have one friend who just tested positive the other day. I’m really worried about him because he has Celiac and people with autoimmune diseases are at higher risk. He presented with hives, and he doesn’t have allergies. He just found out, upon testing positive, that itchy bumps can be indicative of early Covid. He works in bioscience and when he was in college 20 something years ago was working on breast cancer research/treatments/cures. I’m freaking out a bit and just hope he doesn’t get anything worse than the itchy bumps.

We don’t yet know what the long-term effects will be. I have a long-hauler acqaintance and I don’t know what she’s currently suffering from. There are still so many unknowns, and unknowns are scary.

I’m glad to see people are getting vaccinated, but there are still far too many who are refusing to. There’s also the crowd that are jumping the line to get a vaccine for the sole purpose of being able to go to packed bars, parties, etc. And the ones who will have fake vaccination cards when they become mandatory for travel, concerts, etc. This makes me feel sick. I’m betting some people who have been calling the virus a hoax the whole time are quick to jump the line for a vaccine so they can continue doing whatever they please, despite the advice from the science community to keep distancing, wearing masks, etc. I’ve already seen a couple news articles about fake vaccine cards. People will stoop so low for their own perceived benefits. I mean, if they don’t care about their own health, that’s ok. The problem is that the “me first” attitude affects everyone else, unfortunately. And it’s STILL disturbing to me that, both after the 1918 (not Spanish, but KANSAS) flu, people have learned nothing. And the worst part is a lot of it is willful ignorance.

I guess I’m still in the same place I was in a year ago, except that the anxiety has morphed into depression, hopelessness and anger. A year ago I was working on fixing some personal stuff, making progress, then BOOM. The pandemic. Then several other events. I’m just worn out now. REALLY worn out. Every day is another sh!t show. One step forward, 3 steps back.

As for science, while like any field has quacks, the science field does, too. However, I don’t think the majority of them are quacks. People also fail to understand that research takes time and answers, cures, treatments, etc. aren’t going to come overnight. It IS known, however that variants happen with viruses. It’s known that if the virus doesn’t have hosts, it can be eradicated. It’s known that polio, smallpox, measles, rubella, etc. have disappeared for the most part. Science and vaccines should be thanked for that. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories and late stage capitalism are impeding progress at this point.

I won’t delve into the politicism of the virus, but I will say there are people across the political spectrum that are careless, reckless, selfish and willfully ignorant. Politics and education do play a huge role, but that’s a whole other book and I’ve already written one here.

In essence and TLDR: People suck.

Addendum: I’m all for space and planet exploration for the purpose of science, but there are some people out there who just want to colonize and destroy everything else now that we’ve wrecked Earth. Because people suck.

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:We don’t yet know what the long-term effects will be. I have a long-hauler acqaintance and I don’t know what she’s currently suffering from. There are still so many unknowns, and unknowns are scary.

One of my mom's friends has lost a noticeable amount of hair after having covid. She's not being treated for cancer. She found a FB group that talks about post-covid symptoms and losing hair is one of those weird ones.

Whisper (126579776) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:We don’t yet know what the long-term effects will be. I have a long-hauler acqaintance and I don’t know what she’s currently suffering from. There are still so many unknowns, and unknowns are scary.

One of my mom's friends has lost a noticeable amount of hair after having covid. She's not being treated for cancer. She found a FB group that talks about post-covid symptoms and losing hair is one of those weird ones.

That’s entirely possible, but it’s also possible that stress/trauma alone can cause your hair to fall out. Thyroid, too. I’ve had thinning hair on and off for years due to thyroid stuff, but when I was hospitalized for a month 2 years ago and almost died, the post-trauma stress really messed with everything. My hair was coming out in huge clumps. They’ve found that the stress alone from the pandemic’s causing cracked teeth (from grinding them), hair loss . . . you name it. And there are also weird covid symptoms. It can be hard to differentiate between covid and stress symptoms, as well as undiagnosed underlying conditions (been through that more times than anyone should ever have to because of the healthcare system). Viruses and extreme stress can kick an autoimmune disease into gear or make existing ones worse. And tests for those autoimmune diseases often have false negatives; more than doctors are aware of. I’ve been through that with 2 of them. It’s crazy stuff.

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Whisper (126579776) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:We don’t yet know what the long-term effects will be. I have a long-hauler acqaintance and I don’t know what she’s currently suffering from. There are still so many unknowns, and unknowns are scary.

One of my mom's friends has lost a noticeable amount of hair after having covid. She's not being treated for cancer. She found a FB group that talks about post-covid symptoms and losing hair is one of those weird ones.

That’s entirely possible, but it’s also possible that stress/trauma alone can cause your hair to fall out. Thyroid, too. I’ve had thinning hair on and off for years due to thyroid stuff, but when I was hospitalized for a month 2 years ago and almost died, the post-trauma stress really messed with everything. My hair was coming out in huge clumps. They’ve found that the stress alone from the pandemic’s causing cracked teeth (from grinding them), hair loss . . . you name it. And there are also weird covid symptoms. It can be hard to differentiate between covid and stress symptoms, as well as undiagnosed underlying conditions (been through that more times than anyone should ever have to because of the healthcare system). Viruses and extreme stress can kick an autoimmune disease into gear or make existing ones worse. And tests for those autoimmune diseases often have false negatives; more than doctors are aware of. I’ve been through that with 2 of them. It’s crazy stuff.

Great point about the stress being a possible cause. All the unknowns and the countless information sources streaming info about it create a highly toxic brew for a mind and heart to process. Anxiety about all of it - pandemic, jobs, family, the public, etc - has been off the charts.

I recall when you recovered from your scare, and I'm very glad you made it back here. Your insight into Yo has always been special and we need it. I hope that your anxiety diminishes as the world continues to wrestle through this pandemic.

PS - I've also taken your comments about my passive aggressive posting to heart. It only causes trouble and is entirely unnecessary. I can be direct and kind if I choose, and so I choose that now. I hope you see and continue to see a difference. Thanks for reminding me about a being better dude.

Whisper (126579776) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Whisper (126579776) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:We don’t yet know what the long-term effects will be. I have a long-hauler acqaintance and I don’t know what she’s currently suffering from. There are still so many unknowns, and unknowns are scary.

One of my mom's friends has lost a noticeable amount of hair after having covid. She's not being treated for cancer. She found a FB group that talks about post-covid symptoms and losing hair is one of those weird ones.

That’s entirely possible, but it’s also possible that stress/trauma alone can cause your hair to fall out. Thyroid, too. I’ve had thinning hair on and off for years due to thyroid stuff, but when I was hospitalized for a month 2 years ago and almost died, the post-trauma stress really messed with everything. My hair was coming out in huge clumps. They’ve found that the stress alone from the pandemic’s causing cracked teeth (from grinding them), hair loss . . . you name it. And there are also weird covid symptoms. It can be hard to differentiate between covid and stress symptoms, as well as undiagnosed underlying conditions (been through that more times than anyone should ever have to because of the healthcare system). Viruses and extreme stress can kick an autoimmune disease into gear or make existing ones worse. And tests for those autoimmune diseases often have false negatives; more than doctors are aware of. I’ve been through that with 2 of them. It’s crazy stuff.

Great point about the stress being a possible cause. All the unknowns and the countless information sources streaming info about it create a highly toxic brew for a mind and heart to process. Anxiety about all of it - pandemic, jobs, family, the public, etc - has been off the charts.

I recall when you recovered from your scare, and I'm very glad you made it back here. Your insight into Yo has always been special and we need it. I hope that your anxiety diminishes as the world continues to wrestle through this pandemic.

PS - I've also taken your comments about my passive aggressive posting to heart. It only causes trouble and is entirely unnecessary. I can be direct and kind if I choose, and so I choose that now. I hope you see and continue to see a difference. Thanks for reminding me about a being better dude.

I’m stuck with anxiety most likely for the remainder of my life. It’s horrible and I wouldn’t wish it on most people. There are some real sociopaths out there who I wouldn’t mind seeing suffer from it because of the pain and suffering they’ve caused to countless humans, animals and the planet at large. But for the most part, I don’t wish it on anyone.

I’ve had anxiety for so long due both to so many traumas and a thyroid condition that causes anxiety. I’ve had drugs tossed at me to treat depression when depression wasn’t the root of the problem and they made the anxiety worse with the side effects. I’ve taken anti-anxiety meds and while they help to some degree (like no more 27 hour long PANIC attacks), the side effects just increase the anxiety and also make me dysfunctional (can’t sleep, can’t eat, do nothing but sleep, etc). Not to mention the nightmare of trying to get off the life-ruining, addictive ones like Ativan. Some of them basically stop being effective after a certain point, but you get horrible withdrawal symptoms when weaning off them as instructed. It’s hellish.

I get passionate and angry when I see people just ignoring the science because shutdowns, social distancing, masks, etc. are an inconvenience and because the economy and money and material things take priority over people’s lives. That’s why I got angry with you a year ago. But just so you know, it’s not personal. I’ve ALWAYS been this way. ALWAYS. I will call certain behaviors and attitudes out (even though it’s often fruitless) regardless of my relationship to the person. This applies to social behavior, politics, religion, and anything else. I’ve taken lots of backlash for standing up for bullied kids in school when I was a kid, standing up for the sick, the elderly, immigrants, people of color, etc. I know damn well when I speak out against things I will be met with all sorts of unpleasant things. I don’t even believe in an afterlife or even a deity (agnostic but I lean atheist), so being a decent human isn’t dependent on the idea of going to heaven or hell. I don’t know and can’t know what happens when my life ends, but I know that whenever or however I die, I’ve done my best to be a caring and decent human. I’m not saying I’m perfect; I’m human. I’ve spent the better part of 2 decades trying to connect the dots that sum up why I am the way I am, and have figured SO much out. That’s part of life; you learn from your mistakes, grow, etc. I’ve had the luxury (and torture) of time to do a lot of self-reflection.

Sorry for my second book here. Anyway, I don’t like arguing no matter how much it looks like I do. My intention is never to instigate or argue but just to get people to look at things from a different angle. I do this with my family, close friends and strangers. It’s who I’ve always been and always will be. So again, it’s not personal.

Im hoping humanity learns a lesson from all this, but my skeptical nature has its doubts.

CountryDude89 (11877186) wrote:Im hoping humanity learns a lesson from all this, but my skeptical nature has its doubts.

We are terrible as a species about remembering anything. Lisa's already pointed out how so many have forgotten the prior 2 pandemics. This thing has proven to be highly contagious, deadly for 1-2% of the population, caused immeasurable suffering, and stressed out the world. And yet we still have people who believe it is a hoax, see their inconveniences as attacks, see it as a scheme to subvert their rights, and created countless other conspiracy theories. Now granted, this group is relatively small, but they are so damn vocal.

I did read an amazing piece in the NY Times about fear. It talked about how we are psychologically predisposed to have more fear about new risks than existing ones. It used the fact that 100 Americans will die in car crashes today. We've got a better chance of dying in a car crash than we do of getting blood clots from the J&J vaccine. So why is anyone still driving? Where is the outrage? We've baked in these deaths as an acceptable risk because we enjoy the car, we enjoy it's benefits, and we don't know the people - usually.

All the fears - disease, family, friends, money, life, etc - the world is permeated in them. And for some reason we are conditioned to continue feeding them into our minds. I take 100% media breaks now. I'll go a week at a time if needed. No news. No reading FB. I'll even watch sports without the sound and just leave music on. It's the most detoxing experience for me. And I usually tie it to a fishing/camping excursion. I may be ignorant about what's going on for that period, but as the Matrix has taught us, sometimes "ignorance is bliss".....

CountryDude89 (11877186) wrote:Im hoping humanity learns a lesson from all this, but my skeptical nature has its doubts.

You’re not wrong for being skeptical, CD. If history has taught us anything besides actual history, it’s also taught us how susceptible we are to repeating it. We need a massive overhaul. It’s certainly possible, but too many people are content to watch the world burn. We have a LOT of work to do. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t expect to see much improvement in my lifetime. I’m not negative, just a realist.

Good to see you here, CD. Hope you’re doing as well as is possible.

Didn’t read everything because I’m procrastinating getting ready for the evening.

I’m in the “People Suck” camp. My only mental illness, if it’s considered that, is trouble coping with how selfish society is. I had to avoid Facebook, the news, and half my family to stay calm for the past year.

Mask is uncomfortable? Try it with glasses, hearing aids, and breathing trouble left over from chemo. I managed; you can, too.

You’re going crazy after 6-8-10-12 months quarantine? I’ve been quarantined since fall 2018. I’m managing; you can, too.

I avoid any discussion of it that leads to politics or hoarding toilet paper or I’d have lost half my friends and loved ones.

This was a test on society, and we failed hugely. Even on a curve, maybe we got a D.

I’m a happy person because I learned years ago to ignore a lot of society and focus on my bubble. The past year validated my position 10-fold.

Most people are greedy and selfish. I love life and hate people. It isn’t going to get any better, either. We’re very slowly drifting away from civilization and back to our animal tendencies. Read Lord of the Flies if you haven’t. If you still don’t get it, let me know if you’d like my 6-week syllabus on it from my days of teaching sixth grade.

Off to have fun now. Have a great evening!

Chris (4327680) wrote:Didn’t read everything because I’m procrastinating getting ready for the evening.

I’m in the “People Suck” camp. My only mental illness, if it’s considered that, is trouble coping with how selfish society is. I had to avoid Facebook, the news, and half my family to stay calm for the past year.

Mask is uncomfortable? Try it with glasses, hearing aids, and breathing trouble left over from chemo. I managed; you can, too.

You’re going crazy after 6-8-10-12 months quarantine? I’ve been quarantined since fall 2018. I’m managing; you can, too.

I avoid any discussion of it that leads to politics or hoarding toilet paper or I’d have lost half my friends and loved ones.

This was a test on society, and we failed hugely. Even on a curve, maybe we got a D.

I’m a happy person because I learned years ago to ignore a lot of society and focus on my bubble. The past year validated my position 10-fold.

Most people are greedy and selfish. I love life and hate people. It isn’t going to get any better, either. We’re very slowly drifting away from civilization and back to our animal tendencies. Read Lord of the Flies if you haven’t. If you still don’t get it, let me know if you’d like my 6-week syllabus on it from my days of teaching sixth grade.

Off to have fun now. Have a great evening!

I have so much respect for you, Chris. I hope you have fun doing whatever you're doing!

Vivica (13404458) wrote:I have so much respect for you, Chris. I hope you have fun doing whatever you're doing!

Aw, thanks. I don't think I deserve it after spewing negativity, though. I usually have more self-control. Just too much going on IRL life now that can't even be escaped in a game anymore because it's the same here, too.

But some of you are aces.