COVID-19: A Year on...

[MatskiMonk]

Hello. As we (roughly) reach the end of the first year of a global pandemic, a year in which most of us have seen an unprecedented influence on our day to day lives, I thought it would be interesting to gauge how the virus, the pandemic and the restrictions have affected people here on GTPlanet.

It’s multiple choice so please select only ONE answer for each of the 7 questions above, and by all means go into further detail in the thread...

You don't have to answer any that don't apply.

If more than one option for each questions applies, go for the one you feel has had more impact or is important. Please feel free to detail anything else you feel has affected you, or that you'll take from this pandemic within the thread.

Please note, this thread is not intended to be a place to sound off about lock-down measures or policies in general - more about how they've directly affected you.

 

[HenrySwanson]

Very thorough poll although the only one I couldn't answer was 4 as there was no option for it not changing the strength of any of my relationships.

I also see I'm the only one so far that said my work was busier but I guess that's because of the nature of the jobs I was in during that period (healthcare/undertaking).

 

[Blitz24]

If possible, I'd suggest questions 3 and 6 be expanded to include all choices as all are definitely possible and one answer doesn't always eliminate the other (especially for question 6).

 

[MatskiMonk]

Very thorough poll although the only one I couldn't answer was 4 as there was no option for it not changing the strength of any of my relationships.

I also see I'm the only one so far that said my work was busier but I guess that's because of the nature of the jobs I was in during that period (healthcare/undertaking).

Yeah, it's fine to miss any that don't apply.

My work has been busier, but I cannot class it as a positive. It's been one of the main reasons for the deterioration in my mental health, but also moral within the business, and dramatically reduced customer satisfaction, as through last year we lost considerable staff resource to cope with the demand.

If possible, I'd suggest questions 3 and 6 be expanded to include all choices as all are definitely possible and one answer doesn't always eliminate the other (especially for question 6).

Yup, it's not ideal, I'm hoping/suggesting people go with the one they feel is most representative of their experiences and what they take from it... what's been the most important factor.

edit: I didn't want the poll to end up being this long already!

 

[kikie]

I personally know someone who got severely sick last year in March for 5 weeks but she got better. It took her at least 4 months to get back to her former health. She's self employed, as a matter of fact she's my physical therapist.

A 63 y.o. marathon runner, who lives less than 1 km from me needs a lung transplant. He's only able to walk instead of run. Specialists have given him about 5 years to life if he decides not to get a lung transplant. His sister died of a lung transplant, not Covid related, so he doesn't know what to do, get a lung transplant or life for another 5 years and probably die.

It has come to my intention that marathon runners and extreme sporters have a very weak immune system.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that an almost 80 y.o. acquaintance (lives about 400 m from my place) had only mild Covid symptoms and got better fairly quickly. He didn't get vaccinated before getting slightly sick.

 

[ImaRobot]

While I personally don't know anyone that has died from Covid, I did have a couple pretty close friends lose some relatives, one being my best friend. That one hit hard for me, to see someone very close to me so distraught. It was her grandpa, and the things that sucks about it is that the reason he caught it is because he refused to leave the household when his wife caught it, he wanted to be there for her. The only reason I can think is because they were both up there with age, so I guess he didn't know what the outcome was going to be. She ended up recovering, slowly, and he ended up catching it, but unfortunately it went the other direction. Not too long after his death, vaccines started being rolled out, so it really makes it bittersweet.

This was actually the first person that I knew that has been actually affected. It really put it in perspective for me just how serious it can be, not that I didn't think this was something to worry about from the get go.

I myself have not been diagnosed, yet(and hopefully ever), and I've been an "essential worker" since this started, so I really haven't missed a day at work at all because of this. I consider myself lucky that I live across the street from work, as I'm currently carless right now, so I never have to deal with public transportation. Work itself is actually booming, as well. We've been steadily increasing in sales, and even having trouble keeping up with some manufacturing because of it - making it both good and bad for similar reasons you mentioned @MatskiMonk. This year in particular have been record months Jan-Mar, topping 2020's sales for the same months, and even selling more than our usual busy seasons on our off seasons. Really, we've sold more than we ever have in these given months all the while having a massive back log of orders to catch up on, so that's promising. That said, by December I was given a nice 15% raise, and this month is going to be bringing another 20% raise/promotion hopefully. Mental health down, but money is picking up now more than ever.

Within my small group of friends, I think the pandemic has actually strengthened the bonds. for the first half of the year since it started, we would Zoom call each other often, all of us just having a beer and chitchatting as if we were in person. We were doing that more than we used to actually hang out, which was nice. Even more so with my best friend who I mentioned earlier; maybe about 5-6 months in we decided to take a chance and start hanging out again. Since than we have made every Friday a stay in night of movies, dinner making, and drinking - bonding a lot in between all of that. We kept it small, just me her and her boyfriend, who happens to be my best friend as well(we all grew up together.) I think it's one of the main reasons I'm not crazy yet. I can't really say if my mood has changed.. I think its better than it was at the beginning, but I also started this year pretty rough just out of a 13 year relationship so its hard to say if what I was feeling is that, or the mental effects of the pandemic. Either way, I'm doing a ton better now.

With the restrictions on vaccinations lifting, I set myself up for an appointment. Tomorrow at 11:20AM I should be getting my first Pfizer dose.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I knew a few people personally who got Covid, but thankfully nobody seriously. Relatives of friends and friends of friends have died from it though, sadly.

 

[MaxAttack]

Great poll. Probably my most interesting answer is E for 3, and A for 6, as I landed a temp job in lockdown last year that's turned into a permanent post as a result of my own graft, so I'm lucky to be able to have taken something positive from these strange times.

Personally I hope the pandemic will impart many lessons about how we report and spread news, how we work and communicate and also how we treat others and collaborate as nations, populaces etc.

 

[Joey D]

I've had friends, relatives, and people close to me die or get incredibly ill from COVID. My dad got very sick when he was infected and I was afraid I'd lose him. Months on, he's better but still suffering from long-term effects including shortness of breath and tiredness. The guy that infected him is one of those COVID-denying jackasses that thought it was no big deal.

With work, I'm busier than I've ever been, but that's healthcare for you. Thankfully, I was able to actually contribute to battling COVID even though I'm not clinical. Due to my job, I was able to get on various taskforces that looked at getting as many people tested as we possibly could and now I've moved onto vaccines. The small team I'm with was so effective at this, we were even recognized by the governor for our efforts, which felt pretty good. For some reason, we all won a "Best in State" award for our COVID test scheduling, which might be the most morbid award I've ever been a part of, but I'll take what I can get.

As for society, I've never hated people more than I do now. I always knew that society had its fair share of terrible people, but Christ on a bike, I never realized we had this many people. I even have co-workers, you know who actually work in healthcare, that continue to this day to think COVID is nothing more than the flu. I just nod and smile because punching them in the face would be against HR policy.

 

[ToyGTone]

Well for one thing, this whole virus thing taught me that i could (and will) probably die at any moment. Be it right now as I'm writing this or in the far future. Nobody knows how, when and where but it's a granted thing for everyone. I might not necessarily be afraid of death as much as what comes after death, that unless you aren't religious but let's put faith aside.

That being said, I don't think i lost someone close to me due to the diesese. I know someone far, far away within my family that passed away but I don't even know them well and they were pretty old. I know a "friend" or two who were infected but they recovered and somehow in better shape than me.

As for my mental health? Eh, it's been the same for the last 5 years or so. Some days are pretty good while others are borderline depressing. It's like a rollercoaster except...it isn't exactly fun. I honestly got desensitized to anything corona related, it's like "eh, some people been through worse". Not trying to sound like someone that lacks empathy but hearing the same old news everyday gets...well, old. It's like if you live in the Japan or States and you keep hearing news about some air strike going on in Syria or Palestine, will you honestly care that much?

Family wise, it's mostly the same as i live with my siblings and parents anyways. Economically it gotten much worse for us as if it weren't bad already for most people.

My views of society have somewhat changed but mostly due to other reasons that happened last year. Additionally, I'm been waiting for a Sinopharm/Pfizer vaccine since January. I was supposed to receive a dose back in March but i missed the date due to stupid reasons so I'm now waiting for them to set another date.

 

[Daz555]

I was counting up the number of people I know who have had Covid the other day. Here is my personal experience:

4 or 5 people have had it with moderate symptoms needing time off work.
3 have had it with no symptoms (tested because of contact tracing or family members with Covid)
2 have long Covid - with one person now still unable to work 8 months after first becoming ill.
2 are dead. One about 45, one over 70.

It's relatively sobering to be honest. Still I'm vaccinated now so party on people! ;-)

Financially I have been largely unaffected by Covid. I can work 100% from home and my wife is a teacher. I am however a landlord also (one of those evil buy-to-let types) and have reduced rent by 50% for 6 months in our rental property due to tenants being out of work or furloughed.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Well, I hope it’s not a problem bringing this thread back up. I know it says “a year on”, but this is a subject I have dwelled on for quite some time now and this is the one thread I found where I can discuss how it’s affected me.

As far as how COVID has affected me, I don’t know anyone close to me who has died from it, but despite everyone in my family catching it, I haven’t surprisingly, and hopefully never will. I don’t really have a lot to say about that or having to wear masks in public, but my life at college, however, is where it hit me the hardest and it’s something that still affects me to this very day. In order to understand how it affected me at college, let me explain what it was like before the pandemic.

Spoiler: How an average day went before the pandemic

Just prior to the pandemic, an average day at college went like this:
7:45 a.m. - I arrive there and since my class doesn’t start until 8:30, I go to the cafe area and get on my personal computer to relax a bit before class and take advantage of the fast wifi. I also had some friends I knew outside of class there I would talk to as well, but this became much less relevant by 2020 since most of them had graduated by then.
8:30 a.m. - I go to my class, which was in a building extremely close to the cafe, and if I had time, I would say hey to any of my high school friends along the way since they took classes within the same building as me. One half of the class would go to the greenhouse at this time while the other stayed.
10:00 a.m. - We go on break at the aforementioned cafe, which gives me time to talk to my classmates about stuff, have more time to get on my computer, and since a lot of people go on break at this time, I get to talk to my friends outside of class some more.
10:30-10:40 a.m. - Our break is supposed to end at 10:30, but we for some reason wouldn’t leave until like 10 minutes later or somewhere in between. Once we go back to class, one of 5 things would happen at this time each day:

• Monday. We stayed in class unless greenhouse time got rescheduled.
• Tuesday. We go to the computer lab in the library just across the cafe to do an assignment on whatever we’re currently studying.
• Wednesday. Nothing in particular, just more class time unless something occasionally changes that.
• Thursday. The other group in the class goes to the greenhouse while the other stays.
• Friday. We go to the library and have some time to ourselves in there to get on the computers.

11:30 - 12:00 a.m. - Because of my dad's work schedule, I often had to leave at one of these times and it varied between the 2 depending on the day.
12:15-12:20 p.m. - On the off day that I get to stay full time, we usually came back from whatever we were doing to get ready to leave and pass out anything we may need to take home.
12:30 p.m. - I leave, provided I get to stay the whole day, which didn’t happen often.

So yea, that’s how life was for me before the pandemic started. Being able to relax a bit before class started and talk to my friends outside of class had been a morning routine I did for years that I really enjoyed. I liked the building we were in because not only did I have friends outside of class there, but it was very convenient since we were in very close proximity to the greenhouse, cafe, and library. I had spent almost 8 years there, and had a lot of good memories associated with the place and I never took it for granted because I knew I’d miss it if something changed. Although my classmates drove me crazy sometimes and the temperature in the building was either too hot or too cold depending on the season, I generally was pretty happy with how things were there.

So now that you know how things were for me before it started, what changed when the pandemic started and we came back later? Well, pretty much everything, unfortunately.

Spoiler: How an average day goes now

8:10-8:20 a.m. - I arrive at my class and I get some time to talk to my classmates.
8:30 a.m. - Class starts.
10:30 a.m. - We go on a 20-minute break which is either in our own classroom or in a small area next to it.
10:50 a.m. - We go back to class.
11:30 a.m. - We go on another break, but this time for only 10 minutes.
11:40 a.m. - We go back to class.
12:30 p.m. - We leave.

The fact we have class and go on a break is literally all that’s left these days. We don’t even have class on Fridays anymore. Because of COVID, we had to move from the building we were in since it had a lot of people there, to a small building on the far side of the campus, pretty far from where we were. We no longer go to the cafe, library, and greenhouse anymore and I don’t get to see my friends outside of class since it’s all so far away now.

Spoiler: What happened to all the places I used to go

• My classroom in the old building is now occupied by the early college classes and we can’t have class there anymore.
• The greenhouse is no longer ours. While COVID I think was a small part of why, somebody bought it and remodeled it a bit. We now have a new one right beside the building we're at now, but it's small and doesn't get used much anymore.
• Don’t know about the library since I am never around it enough to find out. Fortunately, theirs a chance we might get back to this eventually because theirs been some talk about it, and my director even told me this personally not too long ago
• The cafe was closed for a long time. I think it recently reopened, but since it’s so far away now and we just have a break in our classroom, there is little reason to go to it anymore.

Since it all started in March of 2020, to date I have only been to the old building 3 times (but not my old classroom), the greenhouse twice, the library once and I haven’t been back to the cafe at all. And to think I used to go to these places regularly!

While there are worse things that can happen, being moved away from where I used to attend was easily the worst thing to happen for me. While I understand why they did this, I just hate it had to be done because again, I was pretty attached to the place we were at before and I don’t even get to do a majority of what I used to do anymore. Don’t get me wrong though, life at college isn’t bad for me, it’s still enjoyable and I am glad to be there. I have handled the move better than I thought I would, but still, it just isn’t the same.