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

Ok, no worries What I meant was that smoking and panic attacks (where breathing is hard) don't really mix well.

Well, at least I can be relieved about something. My national ID expired on my birthday. Because of the pandemic, they extended the validity of IDs that were expiring in 2020 to the year's end. Initially, this year, no announcement was made about those expiring in 2021 or another extension for those that expired in 2020. Today the government finally issued a new decree extending the validity of all IDs that expire in 2020 and 2021 to the end of this year. I am so happy. Having to deal with the crowds at the civil registry was giving me serious anxiety.

I wish that my home felt like I am on vacation..

I am back to being really frustrated with the situation. I don't see where the lockdowns and semi-lockdowns are helping. It just hurts us that are already being cautious. This constant moving around between phases is just stupid. Areas that have the same number of active cases per 100,000 people as here are transitioning to phase 3, while we are stuck in phase 2, locked down over the weekends - the only time I have to leave the house. They sometimes move an area to a more open phase for a week and then back the next.


The Health Ministry justifies it by saying we have a similar number of active cases as we did last winter, but they are testing 4 times more people per day. It feels like a control tactic, keeping us unsure day to day what will happen, with the risk of full lockdown always looming.


The clandestine parties continue despite all this.

I am mentally drained and don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Been feeling like a prisoner on limited work release but stay in my cell in the evening. It's a frustrating routine but as a supposed essential worker it kills the value of working while those getting extra money from unemployment and have a car are more valuable than me somehow.

If you are an essential worker then I thank you for going out and keeping society functioning.

I do think key workers are now taken for granted by some people, but they have kept everything running at some personal risk.

I am glad my friend is now recovering from covid, she was quite unwell for a time.

The lockdown is now showing signs of driving infection rates down, maybe vaccination too, it's hard to tell. I don't dare be too optimistic yet, we aren't out of these woods.

I am so desperate for any human contact

It’s being so hard. 524 people died yesterday in Spain. And Economy seems to be more important.
We are paying now the relaxation on safety measures at Christmas time and about relaxing mesures again are already being contemplate for Easter.

I predict a new wave-sunami after Easter if we come back to do things as bad again.

Essential workers often don't seem to get the appreciation they deserve Things wouldn't function without people like you.

Here, weekends feel like house arrest since we can only go out for 2 hours (once, not both days). I really needed to buy new shorts, but I can't buy them in town on the weekend since clothes is classified as non-essential. I don't have time during the week, since I am busy with work. I was trying to figure out the logistics to go to a city to the north that has a mall that is allowed to open during the weekend since they are in phase three, so I could try them on. In the end, we weren't sure if we could get there an back in time between driving, parking and potential lines to get into stores due to capacity restrictions.


In the end I had no choice but to order online and hope they fit. I found a size chart from the manufacturer but somehow it said I'd need an XL when I am usually S or M. I went with two pairs of size M, and fortunately they fit. It's just annoying that you can't do something similar like try on clothes before you buy them.

And, here, the economic problem is that there has been very little government support. A few emergency payments that can be hard to apply for and some food boxes.

Chile likes to pretend it's a developed country, but it isn't. I think the quarantines aren't having the desired effect because an important percentage of the population lives day to day, working as nannies or gardeners, selling stuff at markets, etc. A lot of people risk going out even in quarantine areas because they need to eat. It's impossible to detain and fine everyone. In my area when we were under the strict lockdown all week, you'd normally see only 2 police checkpoints. I think if the government really wants people to stay at home, they are going to have to provide more assistance. They took out a line of credit from the IMF, but it doesn't appear they are using it.

The vaccination campaign with the crap vaccines started today with much fanfare. The health subsecretary was on the news yesterday, basically evading questions such as how long protection supposedly lasts and why a week ago they said the vaccine wasn't approved for people over 60, but now they are starting today by vaccinating people who are 90+. Anyone over 60 was initially told they were getting Pfizer/Biontech, but now the government did a switch on them. I hope it goes okay considering many seniors have pre-existing conditions and their immune systems may not be as strong. The whole reason they didn't want to give the vaccine to older people is that there weren't many included in the trials. I wouldn't want to be a guinea pig like that, especially with an inferior vaccine.

My neighbor has the virus.

I hope they will do okay and recover soon. Some people seem to get not much more than a cold others can get worse. Most people do make a good recovery fortunately. My friend is now out of isolation and doing much better although it left her with a chest infection.

I had a lovely phone chat yesterday with a friend, she is very similar in her outlook about the pandemic to me and her husband nurses covid patients so they always took it seriously. Things are easing a little with new infections in the UK (nationally they are half what they were a few weeks back) but we are still seeing the higher deaths from the previously high infection rate. In our area they are sending patients from the other end of the country because those hospitals are overwhelmed. So the people he nurses are far from home.

Are people finding their friendships have been affected by this whole pandemic? I have a friend who early on in first lockdown didn't follow guidance fully and voiced admiration for his friends who didn't follow it at all. I feel petty for saying this but my opinion of him changed. On the other hand overwhelmingly most of my friends took it very seriously like me and although we haven't been able to meet much texts and calls with them have been a great comfort.

This other friend does seem to have changed his mind since the 2nd wave and is taking it seriously now but I am left feeling the friendship is not the same, I do think less of him than I did and to be fair maybe he feels the same. It's sad but maybe this uncovered a fundamental difference between us (he seems to value freedom of the individual whereas I felt it should be temporarily sacrificed for the good of the whole population).

It is good that at least this friend finally changed his mind. IMO, during the Spring of last year when we were first learning about this virus--many, many people (including experts!) changed their stances on some of these issues like mask wearing, etc. IMO, many of us just didn't understand and were still learning about a new virus which is not still fully understood and has mutated as well. I was disappointed that our former president never fully acknowledged that mask wearing is an important tool for controlling the virus (it is not perfect which I know is quite scary for some). It also seemed like he emphasized his quick recovery from the virus (which was good) but he had the best medical care, something many do not have in the US. Also, however, the former president did point out that shutting everything down puts others at risk as well (suicide rates are spiking; the homeless have no where to go (when my son was homeless, he depended on the gym for his showers and the coffee shop to get out of the bad weather for a while); many in the US who are unemployed, do not qualify for unemployment (they are suffering greatly with few good options); and the list goes on!

There are hard choices to be made regarding this issue. For a while, I was registered as a Libertarian and do believe in individual freedom but I believe that individual freedom stops (or at least should be regulated) when it effects others freedom, safety and happiness. So, since the virus is obviously killing so many and is spread through the air, my POV is the the anti-maskers look a little ridiculous--though I must admit that I would like to be able to continue to take my outdoor walks mask free--I live in a neighborhood where I can easily social distance from other walkers. I want to add, that I think we should all try to respect the authority and position of our elected officials, police, etc--if too many people do not follow the rules--it causes chaos and worsens the crisis. The whole world is in a very serious crisis right now. I know I need to stay informed in order to protect myself but I also need to limit how much I dwell on all the bad news. It is causing a whole lot of anxiety for all of us.

Obviously some restrictions are necessary. What I think here, is that they are excessive for the number of cases in most areas, like these weekend lockdowns. Yesterday we had 2,616 new cases for a population of 19 million, but most of the country is in full lockdown or phase 2, which is still very strict. I'm fully behind other public health measures like masks, distancing, etc. and I think we need to close the border again. There are imported cases from travelers and while they are supposed to quarantine, there's no way to closely monitor them all. I also don't know why they initiated the permit for vacations either, which is contributing to spread. Shut down those things first before putting me in house arrest over the weekends.

My friends and family here and in the US are generally careful people, so there's little conflict as far as that goes. I have a MAGA cousin who kept traveling, going to bars and whining about masks, but she's only a contact on social media and I got sick of it and hid her posts.


TunedOut, yeah, I agree about the walks. I live in a small gated community and you never see too many people out and about at once. It's easy to keep distance and people are very respectful of that. Still, our municipality has a stricter mask ordinance than the national one, so I have to mask up just to go out for a walk, as annoying as it is. Municipal security and the police do pass through every so often and I would face a fine, so I do it.

They reopened restaurants for in-person dining at 25% capacity on Monday, but I still can't get past taking my mask off to eat. I miss going out to lunch or breakfast with friends. I can really relate to those of you feeling imprisoned these days.

With these new virus variants, I've been following health professional suggestions to double-mask, as I've known several people who were hit particularly hard with the virus, & my best friend's sister-in-law died from it. Given my age & the slow roll-out of vaccines here, I may not be able to break out of this cage until summer.

A big thank you to those of you still working in jobs deemed "essential," but not "essential" enough to qualify for vaccines yet. I'm thinking about grocery workers, & others. When I go to shop, I always make it a point to thank the cashiers & other folks I cross paths with. One particular sore spot for me is the people in meat packing plants. Many people working there would probably be deported immediately if they weren't so "essential," but since they can be used as grist for the mill, they are expendable in the workplace. Even if Covid wasn't in play, that's dirty, stressful labor. Their work should be acknowledged, too.

@TunedOut I think the pandemic magnified inequalities, those who could work from home, those who had no choice but to work, those who had no home to stay home in. In our 1st lockdown the homeless were housed in hotels and that was the humane thing to do. Many cities have prioritised vaccinating the homeless but I don't think the hotel rehoming happened this time around. Lockdowns require huge state support and there's going to be a price to pay for the numerous ones the UK has had. That's something we'll have to be prepared for.

Yes I was relieved my friend is taking it more seriously. I do agree lockdowns are tough and emotionally hard but by ignoring them people were only prolonging the problem (no one needs to have parties/friends around) which is what his friends were doing. It was the whole 'It's just the flu' thing, people are saying that less now generally following the 100,000 death mark. The sad thing is that figure was avoidable.

It's good you can walk out, and plenty of space, masks are good indoor but outdoor there's enough dilution in the air. Although on very cold days some of us are choosing to wear outdoors to keep our faces warm.

Your restrictions have been very strict, masking up outdoors if you have space seems extreme and if it's hot it must be uncomfortable. Likewise the house arrest at weekends seems very harsh. Hoping that your figures get to the point where you can get back some freedom.

You, take care. Be careful!

It’s normal that people think in different ways in any topic. The important thing is to stand up by your beliefs and respecting others’ opinions. All at the same time, since we are only responsible for our actions.

I see you perfect in all what you say. You know you’re my crush because of your sensitivity, common sense and compassion.

Someone of you have thought about of countries like Australia or New Zealand. They knew to do things correctly. They closed borders and they were intelligent enough to avoid all the mess we are having in other countries.
It’s an example that things can be made well and with common sense. I know the population is not very large in these countries but they think to have more common sense.

Yes, I wish I lived in New Zealand! But it is much easier for them, living on a remote island. And already having strict rules for coming into the country.

Things are still a mess here. New cases are dropping but vaccination is going slowly. Doesn't look like there is an end in sight. I never thought I would miss going to the office but I kind of do. Back home they're opening schools again which I think is a really stupid move.

There definitely is a benefit to being an island (technically, I guess Australia is a continent, but it does benefit from no land borders). I think too, the people of New Zealand are very solidary, which comes from them being a small island quite isolated from the world. I have read, and it may be true, that the culture of rugby, which focuses on the team rather than the individual, helped in both countries. Culturally, there may be more of a willingness to do what is for the good of the country as a whole.

Here the government closed the borders 15 days after the first case was detected. By that time, community spread was already here and cases rose to the point they declared lockdowns. When we had low rates of 900-1,200 new cases a day was after lockdowns ended and with the borders still closed. We are almost like an island, set between the ocean, the world's driest desert and the Andes mountains. But, then there was the eclipse, so they decided to open us up to tourists in early December, giving them rights to travel while clamping back down on the little freedom that citizens/residents in many areas had been given. Well, then, Christmas and New Years hit, which caused more cases. 4,000 cases a day and they freaked out with new lockdowns and semi-lockdowns. I don't know, they say it's required because it's the same number of cases a day as June, but they are testing 4 times more people. Per capita it is way better than the US or UK still.

The last 2 days, we are back under 3,000 new cases. They moved a few high profile municipalities in the capital to phase 3, which is a more open phase. We are stuck in 2. I guess having a mayor who is head of the rural mayors' association doesn't carry much clout with he health minister haha! Despite that, there is no way I would want to live in Santiago again.

I guess it's another weekend of my husband and me staring at each others' faces. Basically, we end up doing some sort of project around the house then watching sports with a few beers. I guess this weekend will be fixing the curtain that is sort of crooked and might fall down. Exciting stuff. If I get up early enough I will be allowed to walk the dogs.

I feel like I am more depressed now then ever since the pandemic started.