How are you all dealing with coronavirus and the restrictions many of us have to live

I've done it, too, twice now over the last few months. Being pre-occupied is the number one cause of forgetting things. And I have been VERY pre-occupied.

I've been unusually anxious about going out again, too, for two reasons:

1.) Infection rates are up in our area, even though most people seem to be behaving themselves in public (so I assume they're getting sick at private gatherings). It could easily mean long lines outside of stores again, along with the inconvenience and anxiety that go with that; as well as the possibility of husband's job vanishing, too, if we are forced into a new alert level.

2.) Ever since the announcement that a vaccine is "coming soon", I am worried people will drop their guard and begin adopting less safe measures, mostly by being less considerate of other people's needs in public. (And some people, like the so-called 'gentleman' I encountered this evening, don't behave all that well, now!) (((Sigh.))) That's just human nature for you. But it could still be a full 5-6 months before we receive a dose in the area where I live, and for my age group. Plus, nothing is written in stone---these are new vaccines, for a new virus. It's going to be some time before we're certain it covers what we hope it covers, and does its job.

I REALLY understand how it's making you feel, Jennifer! I put off going out to get some basics for 2 days in a row. I haven't been this anxious in months.

Yeah, the meeting outside thing.... I work in customer service and have had to deal with a lot of disappointed or angry customers this week because most of our patio heaters are sold out suddenly everyone wants one for Christmas.

I try to put myself in people’s shoes. For example, people who are extrovert and have a big social net and I can understand that they need to meet their friends and these friends are many.

For me it’s easy to keep distance and avoid crowed meetings but I won’t be able to cope again with a total lockdown or more restrictions than the necessary ones. I don’t want to pay while others take their time to relax.

I want to go to a concert, want to visit new cities and mainly, enjoy next Spring outside and I don’t want even to think for a single second than this Spring we will have to suffer again the same restrictions as last year. It was a totally lockdown for two months and my depression and anxiety triggered so badly.

This, so much! I miss concerts and traveling. But I understand that now is just not the time. We have to miss out for a while so we can enjoy all these things again later. But I guess some people's brains never progressed from toddler age. They need instant gratification.

It's the same as if you were saving for a big trip or a house or a wedding or whatever. You have to cut down your spendings for some time. Now we have to scale down our contacts.

A stricter lockdown was announced starting Wednesday. Only essential stores are allowed to stay open, school are closing.
Christmas in smaller circles but like I said before, I'd be happy if I even had 1 person to spend it with.

The supermarket in my street has a sign outside saying to spread out the holiday shopping. Which is nice in theory but I know it'll be super crowded in the days before Christmas anyway. We live in a big city, lots of people don't have a car and can't just do a huge shop a week before Christmas.

P.s. To me, being an introvert means that it costs energy to interact with people, whereas extroverts get their energy from being around others. It doesn't mean that I don't need anyone else around or don't get lonely. I'm still human. I still suffer from touch deprivation.

Oh wow, my state has decided on a FIVE person max. for Christmas! From no more than 2 separate households.

Still wishing I had just one person. I don't even care about Christmas that much but the isolation will be tough. I feel it every weekend. Saturday is not as bad as I work some overtime and go grocery shopping, but on Sundays it really hits me.

Here, a 10 people meeting is gonna be possible and nothing has been said about if they may come from two or more households.

It seems the main restrictions are being addressed to restaurants for example, they are going crazy for the changes in opening and closing time.
In my community, they will have a first time opening phase until 6 pm. Then, a second phase, when they will have to close at 6 pm, open at 8 to offer dinners and then close at 10:30. A totally madness.
The Community president says that it has been well studied it, to avoid those hours during a day where more relaxation may exist in the population but I’m not strange that so many demonstrations on people who works on restaurants are taking place, to protest against this madness.

I have some medical tests scheduled for the end of the month, right after Christmas. But I think I will postpone them. I want to wait until after the surge. I'm sure people won't heed the warnings by the CDC about holidays. I want to isolate as much as possible. I am starting remote physical therapy on my wrist. I prefer to get an injection, but I don't want to go to a medical facility right now. I'm hoping exercises will help until things calm down. ICU beds are scarce. Hospitals are at near capacity. I want to protect myself as much as possible. I have to do blood work today, but I won't be at the doctor's office that long. So I'm not too worried.

Another stupid thing about the restrictions is the plant nurseries here are closed down on weekends since they are considered non-essential. Our area has a lot of them and my husband and I had planned to go this past weekend to look at "natural fence" bushes, basically bushes that can grow to about 2 meters. Our neighbor put up an eyesore extension of the wall between our properties. We figure the plants will make it a lot less noticeable. The guy did ask my husband, who said yes just to keep the peace, but we had no idea how ugly it would be. Of course, we weren't able to go.

The thing is that we went to 2 nurseries to get some other plants for the yard a few weeks ago when we were in phase 4 (much less restrictive). We bought the house from the builder and nothing was done with the yard, so we are slowly working on getting it to our liking. The nurseries seem to be about the least likely place to get Covid you can imagine. First of all, they are outdoors. In each case, there were around 6-8 customers besides us, all wearing masks and keeping a good distance. Besides that there were 2-3 employees tending to the plants and helping customers. Each had one manager in the office. In both cases, the offices were ventilated with the door and windows open, and they let one person in at at time to pay.

There’s being a lack of common sense along the pandemic. I totally hear you.
I’m silently laughing now because I know it’s easy to blame others and vent but if we had any doubt that the planet was full of assholes, we have now our answer. And I don’t consider myself more intelligent than most of people.

So frustrating and confusing too.

In the UK plant nurseries were reclassified as essential shops. This means even in full lockdown they are open like supermarkets are.

@BreakForTheLight - I wonder if there are strategies you can plan now to help you cope both with Sundays and the Christmas period?

Are there people you can talk to on the phone? Do you like to chat to people online? My adult son does video gaming online and he has this year it saved his sanity, there was always someone to talk to online.

If nothing else the chat rooms here on PC are very likely to have people to talk with on Christmas day. Or you can come post here, we will always be here to listen.

@Discombobulated - that's good that the nurseries are considered essential. Too bad it's not like that here. I'd prefer to support our small local businesses than go to the big box home improvement store chains, which are allowed to open on weekends.

The rush to the malls during the week started yesterday, since most mall stores couldn't open on weekends either. One has already been fined for not keeping track of the number of people coming in and exceeding the limit. Everyone was wondering what the government was thinking?!?! IT was pretty clear that would happen. I will be ordering everything I can online to avoid that mess.

I am confined to home anyway because of back and knee injury, so not too much different. I'm getting my groceries delivered, texting people instead of seeing them. Mostly i've been cooking so I'm getting fat! Even that doesn't bother me too much because I know the weight will come off in the spring. I'm resigned to it all.

Oh, no, our government is going to tinker again with the different phases, making up different rules for each region and their "reality". Another thing that is likely to be a failure. I think it is just going to cause a lot of confusion. Plus, as part of the Metropolitan Region, we will be lumped in with all those crowded, urban areas that are so different from where we live. I think it means the restrictions will be stricter in this region than elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Punta Arenas down south is in the same phase as us (phase 2), having just been let out of quarantine. Basically, people there just stopped paying attention to the rules. For example, some restaurants started opening for dine-in service which is not allowed, and the government gave up and let them move to phase 2. Punta Arenas has over 6 TIMES the number of active cases per 100,000 than here (close to 300 per 100,000). I sort of feel like that is going to set an example and areas that get tired of quarantine will just start doing whatever they want. If enough of that happens, any type of enforcement will be impossible. This could get interesting - and possibly very bad.

I really need a wrist injection for my carpal tunnel. It's impossible for me to do my art on the computer right now. So I scheduled an appointment for tomorrow. I feel worried because of Covid. I will take all safety precautions. I hope things go well at the medical facility. Things are really bad right now. My step-dad just tested positive for Covid-19. I am worried for my mom. They live in separate quarters, so hopefully, my mom will be protected. She said if she gets symptoms, she will go for a test. The doctors gave my step-dad an inhaler and some meds. I hope he does well.

Deilla, what Discombobulated told you made a lot of sense, in places as hospitals or clinics, the safety measures are accomplished as the most.
So, calm you down. Everything is gonna be alright.

Rechu, I understand the confusion people may have. Here, it’s happening the same. The only difference is that my country is divided into Communities and at this point in time, the Central Government let each Community to establish their own measures.

I hope all is okay with your step dad and mum, it's good they have the option to live in separate quarters.

Hugs to you for that appointment, I think hospitals are very safe now unlike early in the pandemic. Our local ones have air lock doors on the covid wards, my friend's dad works on the covid ward and their PPE procedure is so strict he has never caught it.

Things are strange right now, we have falling cases in our area and many thought we'd be downgraded to Tier 2 but we are told to stay in Tier 3. I think this is hospital capacity. There is always a lag from infections, so the people who are hospitalised are probably results of the high infection rates of several weeks ago. It's horrible to think about. I am glad rates have mostly lowered though.

The government are continuing with the Christmas relaxation of rules despite a high national rate. I think this is mostly a populist move but also pragmatic in that they know people are going to see people anyway so giving them guidance. Just hoping people will mostly be sensible (although the guidance sounds not a recipe for a fun time to me).

Thank you! My step-dad just has a really bad cough right now. He's been sick for about a week. I'm not sure how long the virus will linger, but hopefully soon, he'll start feeling better. Everyone in my family that was in close contact with him, except for my mom, got tested. I'm not sure why my mom won't go get tested. She could be asymptomatic. But she is isolating. So that is good.

I'm not so worried about the safety measures at the doctor's office. I'm more worried about asymptomatic people being in the same air space. Sure, the office checks temperature, but 50% of covid carriers don't have a fever. I will just get up and move if someone gets too close. I've had to do that recently. Even though I am worried, I'm still going. I'm unable to function without this procedure. I'll just take things one step at a time and focus on the positives. That's all I can do.

There was just a segment on TV about how to have safer holiday celebrations. Now, our case numbers are nowhere as bad as the US or Europe, but they have been over 2,000 new cases a day lately. I don't think they really should be encouraging people to have get-togethers at all. You just know the types of people that will be having celebrations are probably the same types that won't worry about taking precautions.

I disagree a little in the sense that the majority of people have common sense. This is why is qualified as common. So, it’s up to the people who know about the pandemic and our “responsible” politicians to make people now the gravity of the situation.

Of course, there will gonna be irresponsible people who only think about themselves but this stupidity of passing the ball onto the population and also treat as scholars stinks so badly.

So in this I agree, your government is behaving as irresponsible and cowardly as many others, mine one, of course, included.

I’m sorry. I’m venting again. I’m so angry on how we are handling the situation.

Well everything changed since my last post. Christmas lifting of restrictions is now just one day (instead of 5), and limited to 2 households only and now we have tier 4 which is very like a lockdown and they can't meet other households at all.

It doesn't really personally affect me, we weren't going to meet up indoors anyway. All our meeting has been done outdoors and distanced.

I agree Azul, I feel our government has been irresponsible. My personal feeling was that this was such a public health matter that it should have been handed to the experts. Sadly our government have ignored the experts several times.

Now we have this new mutant strain and I am trying not to think too much about that, not enough is understood about it.

My mum gets her first vaccine tomorrow- for that I am extremely grateful.