How are you all dealing with coronavirus and the restrictions... #2

Thank you for your kind words. I really do hate myself right now though

To be honest I wasn't excited before the previous concert either. I'd been looking forward to it but on the day I was just kind of meh about it. The first song everything still felt a little unusual..... But after that I enjoyed it so much. And I realized how much I'd missed this and immediately wanted to go to more. Which makes me even more sad now.

That was a different artist though. The ones from this weekend.... wouldn't feel the same

The flood risk is getting very serious now. We're lucky we haven't had any deaths yet (as far as I know), it's a tragedy in Belgium and Germany. Parts of my home town are now having to evacuate. They're expecting a huge flood around 2-3 AM tonight. We're fine, my parents house is safe, it's higher up and not near the river.

Let's hope this doesn't turn into a superspreader. Obviously people who can't stay with family and friends will need somewhere else to spend the night. Our numbers are bad and no one wears face masks anymore. Vaccination and test centre have been closed, because they are in the area likely to flood.

@BreakForTheLight. I saw some coverage of that earlier today. Very scary! Please stay safe and keep us posted.

My hometown seems to have escaped unscathed. The water didn't rise as high as feared. People can return to their homes this morning.
Surrounding villages have a lot of water damage, but no collapsed houses like in Germany and Belgium.

I'm not doing very well. Got a rejection after a job interview. Hopelessness is growing. This is not at all the relaxing holiday I had in mind. I haven't even gotten up yet and it's almost 11 AM. Even on holiday that is not normal for me. I don't enjoy staying in bed. I just don't see the point in/can't find the motivation to get up. First concert is tomorrow and no solution has magically appeared.

And it's weird how no one wears a mask anymore over here. Not even in stores. It does give me some anxiety. As much as I want things back to normal, I don't think an entire country putting their head in the sand regarding the delta variant is a good idea.

Here we go again.

Yesterday's daily infection rate was 51,870 so we're already past the 50,000 predicted by the end of July. The rate is 344.8 per 100,000 but in our area it's over 1,000 per 100,000.

Hospitalised is 4,141 this last week up 43% weekly.

Deaths per week are 277 up 57.4% weekly.

My company has stated from Monday face coverings and social distancing are no longer required by law! But back store we must observe social distancing in canteen with colleagues! Yet I know my colleagues are double vaccinated- I don't know the vaccine status of customers!

I feel upset and angry. Really angry. There I wrote it! Does anyone else feel like anger is almost taboo? Maybe more so as a woman? My husband can't bear it when I express anger. So I'm just quietly fuming about this disgrace of a government who have treated key workers appallingly throughout.

I just talked with someone (son's friend who had covid ) and his parents are pretty uwell with it despite both vaccines. It feels like we're all destined to get it and the government don't care.

I am sorry about your upset and anger. I think it is helpful to express it but unhealthy when we can't get rid of the feeling. I am guilty of sometimes finding it hard to bear my spouse's expression of anger but anger can be for the "right" reasons. You are on the "front" lines in regards to dealing with the virus. It has taken a toll on you.

Two weeks after my second vaccination, I stopped wearing a face mask in places that didn't require it (but always wear one when the sign on the door asks us to). However, because the Delta virus has gained a foothold in our community according to the news, I am planning to where a mask to church this morning. Deep down I don't worry about getting it but feel like wearing a mask is a caring thing to do for others.

@Discombobulated - That sounds terrible. It's like your employer is throwing you and your coworkers to the wolves.

I saw some videos from freedom day on the news. I don't get it? We've already shown how stupid it is to open everything so fast. And the UK is doing worse than NL was when they made that idiotic decision.

People have already proven you can't count on individual responsibility.

This resurgence is very disppointing. I'm vaccinated fully since mid-May. With loosening restrictions, I was really looking forward to going back to normal living. I thought everything would be opening up by end of summer. That's not quite happening.

2020 was a bad year for me. I'm really starting to break down from life continuing to be abnormal. I support the restrictions. But there are things I really need that are not accessible, and it's affecting me badly.

Yes exactly.

So we now have nightclubs open, apparently by the end of September they hope to have vaccine certificates for entry. Yes you read that right despite having months in the planning there is no vaccine certificate scheme in place at the time of them opening.

I can't get my head around any of It, and I really feel there is a 'swagger' about our prime minister. I mean the label 'freedom day' urgh, no one I know used this term at all, it was made up either by the government or right wing press. It's actually imprisonment day for many people with medical vulnerability as they feel more unsafe than ever.

@rechu yes I don't feel it's responsible of my company under health and safety for staff but on the upside many customers are still voluntarily masking up.

Mostly though I feel it's the government who have thrown many of us to the wolves.

Over in Germany people are freaking out over the rising numbers, a fourth wave is predicted in my city which has the highest numbers in the country, a whopping 21,8 per 100.000 in 7 days.

Meanwhile in my hometown, that number is at 523. But no need to wear a face mask or keep your distance or have any other restrictions! (Technically we still have the 1,5 m rule but apparently that is too difficult for people. Wherever you're in line at a store, some unmasked idiot will be breathing down your neck.)

I've gone without a mask because nobody wears them, I'm fully vaccinated and I've gone to the store at quiet times where there's plenty of space while you're doing your shopping.... but I'm going to mask up again from now on. The numbers are insane and people coming so close while in line makes me really uncomfortable. Honestly I'd like to keep the distance even after the pandemic is over.

Unfortunately I don't think my dad will wear a mask unless he has to, and he does most of the shopping :/ at least he's had his 2 Pfizer shots.

Break, tell your dad to wear the mask in crowds and indoor spaces. This is what we are doing excepting the irresponsible.
I had news that people like us, full vaccinated, got infected. Obviously, there is a low percentage but the risk still exist.

You say you are reaching the four wave, well, here, we are becoming expert surfers because we are already taking the fifth wave.

I have been seen the news today and all news were terrible. Gatherings without any senses, stupid manifestations, crowded beaches, high rate of new contagios, high risk of fires, an incredible increase in light consume cost, attacks among people without sense, floods...I know that I’m mixing up all together but I suffered such a breakdown watching the news that I can’t even find words to explained how I felt.

I’m so so so so fed up but SO fed up, as hell, with all that from now on I’m gonna take in all that has to do with the pandemia and whatever, no matter what, with humor.
At least, I’m gonna try it. I promise it.

I felt so bad that I had to do something. Phoned my best and only friend I have offline and went out to chat about our things. Of course, we are both vaccinated and we wore our masks but it was so refreshing.

I do understand you very well.

My anxiety is pretty bad right now too, my son is now working away from home and in a very busy public area, he's also using a lot of public transport - he's had 1 vaccine but here they still make you wait 8 weeks until the 2nd so he's got another month to go. I'm coping by keeping busy as possible from waking to sleeping.

Masks are not required here but because of this thread (and other PC threads I used to view) and because of what is happening in my community, I wore a mask when I went grocery shopping yesterday and at church on Sunday. Most of the people in church and most of the cashiers at the grocery stores I shopped at were not wearing a mask. Hopefully they were vaccinated or have natural antibodies. I don't want to go back to never going out of my house like before (online church and grocery deliveries) so I feel like masking is the best compromise. I pray that our communities make it through this new wave. When I attended a church across town (my son agreed to meet me there ), one of the members said that her brother and wife (in their 60s--never got vaccinated) recently died of COVID and their son (in his 40s) was hospitalized recently but survived. COVID is real.

I'm noticing that some retail workers are wearing masks again in my area. I really enjoy mask free life but it seems like it is time to go back to it.


I read that while case counts are as high or higher than they have ever been in some areas, deaths are way down due to vaccinations. In the UK, deaths are 10% of what they were during the last 50k peak. I've also read that we are all going to get Delta because it is so contagious.

@Discombobulated is there any way your son can get his appointment moved up? One shot is better than none. It does seem crazy that restrictions are being lifted in so many places just as cases ramp up again.

Here we have been under 1,000 new cases the last few days, but the mid-week numbers are always lower because they are reporting tests done over the weekend. We will see what they announce today. Positivity is below 3% and active cases are under 15,000 for the first time in a while.

When I lived in the US, I was sort of a honorary member of the Brazilian community in my city. I had lots of friends from Brazil. I traveled solo several times to Brazil and they put me in touch with friends and family there who took me in and showed me around. I am still in touch with many of them thanks to technology. I found out yesterday that one of the friends I made during my travels passed away. She's about my age. The mutual friend that told me didn't say what the cause was and I didn't want to be one of those "WAS IT COVID?" people. However, it seems likely. Very sad. She left behind a husband and a daughter who must be 11 or 12 by now.

@rechu that must have been shocking news for you to hear. I'm so sorry this woman died so young whatever the cause.

@hvert it's really weird but once they discovered immunity seems to be boosted by leaving a longer gap (original trials were 3 weeks) they insisted everyone must wait for the longer gap. Added to that most key workers did not get priority for the vaccine it means many young key workers have been at risk for a long time now. Yes I agree one dose is better than none (although with Delta one dose is only 33% effective)

Yes you're right the death rate is now much lower than the January peak and the link to deaths and hospitalisations has been weakened. Not severed as our prime minister tried to claim however.

Unfortunately 50% of those in hospital have been vaccinated, it just doesn't seem to work as well on some people.

I think if we hadn't had the vaccine programme we would be looking at a horrendously high death toll similar to India.

@Discombobulated - Thanks. Yes, it is terrible news. I am still kind of shocked about it. I saw a message from M, the mutual friend and was happy to that she had gotten in touch. We had a conversation a little while back because her fiancé had completed his thesis and was thinking about coming here to teach at a university when the pandemic is over. She wanted to see what I thought. Anyways, I expected it was something to do with that. I never anticipated what the message actually contained.

I read that here about 1200 children have lost both parents to Covid, which is just heartbreaking.

Having my groceries delivered today and scheduled a delivery for Monday. Decided it is not a great time to go out shopping. Noticed they were completely out of every kind of fresh broccoli (one of my favorites which I cook nearly every day, I am not a fan of frozen broccoli)--highly unusual. When I was getting my groceries delivered during the previous Winter--the slots would fill up so you would have to plan ahead. Now all the slots are available. Apparently, people are not getting things delivered during this Covid resurgence--maybe because of the vaccinations?

@rechu that's awful about your friend and so sad that her daughter has lost her mother.


I think people are dying because of Covid even if they don't have it. Cancer diagnoses are delayed, clinical trials stopped. More drug overdoses due to isolation. This pandemic is awful in so many ways.

So true, @hvert. Here the backlog of surgeries, for example, is very long. There haven't been enough staff or post-surgical beds. I haven't seen statistics, but I am sure some of those who have had their surgeries postponed have died waiting. Just now that ICU admissions have been on the decline they are starting to address this.

Some municipalities here have done mobile cancer screenings and things like that since a lot of people don't want to go to a hospital right. I'm sure that doesn't come close to the numbers done when people can freely go to a hospital or clinic without worrying about Covid.

We are one of the countries that are seeing very good numbers lately. Maybe Sinocrap is helping somewhat, plus it is also a lower % of vaccines these days than at the start. We have more Pfizer and AstraZeneca these days too. Although Pfizer has cut its deliveries this past week. We haven't really seen community transmission of Delta. They have made it a bit easier for vaccinated people to leave, but have clamped down on people coming in. Quarantine hotel for all non-residents. Legal residents and citizens that live within five hours of the airport can go home to isolate. Everyone in the household has to quarantine regardless of vaccination status or if they traveled. From what I have read they are actually being more rigorous about checking in on people.

If you live more than five hours away, you have to do your quarantine in a hotel in the capital. I guess because five hours is a trip you can do without really stopping. So, now, on the forum for expats we have whining from foreign residents that went back to their home countries when things were bad here but before there were border restrictions. Now that things are good here, they want to come back and are whining about how the restrictions are not fair, etc. We went through all the sacrifices here that I have told you about and we now finally have things under control again. So, now, those that bailed now think they can just waltz in and potentially spread new variants without having to quarantine? I guess like @AzulOscuro has said, the pandemic has highlighted human selfishness.

Just an addition, I had some sympathy for the people who were stuck abroad back, say in March 2020. I even had a friend had to quickly cut a trip in Europe short to get back to the US, but he didn't complain. He was glad to return before things got bad soon after.

Knowing that we are still in a pandemic where things are constantly changing, choosing to travel, unless it is very essential, and then complaining when they get caught on the wrong side of the rules or wanting special treatment irritates me. Sorry, but the world's smallest violin is playing for you.

I'm fully vaccinated. All the same, I wear a mask when I go out in public, like to the grocery store. I feel very glad of the protection I have from my two Moderna shots. But I like to add another layer of protection over what the shots give me. I would prefer to not get even a "mild" case of COVID. Also, I go out to eat, but I won't go into a restaurant that looks crowded.

I fully support hositals mandating that all their employees get vaccinated. I recently had to be hositalized for a sudden, unexpected health issue. I received care and went through procedures that caused doctors and nursing staff to be close to me in a hands on way. I would hate to think that one of these staff members might be carrying and exposing me to COVID, especially during a time when my health status was compromised. I feel it is my right to expect hospital staff to be vaccinated.