Pandemic Stress, Pandemic Continuous Traumatic Stress, Tribalism Coping, & More!

I think it is because I'm house-bound, need a home visit, live alone and live rurally. Also the fact I can't take the standard one given out and they have to stay a bit longer to make sure I don't get a life threatening allergic reaction to it. (means they don't get as many others done that day!)


Most of the big 'walk-in' vaccination centres are in the cities and because our PM opened it up to younger ones too all the young and more able are able to go, queue for hours and get jabbed (there's pressure on parents to get kids jabbed in the holidays before they return to school too 'so schools can stay open') and it makes gov't look good that so many have been done!...despite the fact many in care homes or needing home visits who are still stuck in shielding..have still not had theirs!

Basically we're been left to fend for ourselves now..the gov't have decided the CEV groups don't officially exist then they don't have to provide extra services any more!


They don't want to tell us we have to shield because evidence shows it impacts MH so if we decide ourselves to continue with shielding then it's our own personal decision/responsibility and the Govt is not 'legally responsible' for making vulnerable people's MH worse!


They give out half hearted advice but don't make anything legal so consequently not many follow the advice!

The devolved nations (Scotland,Wales and NI) have their own stricter rules. Unfortunately I come under the part ruled by 'Bumbling Boris' whose more interested in making money than saving lives!

I am so sorry you are put in that position.

Do you have any friends or family to help you? There's got to be some advocate-based organization to help people in your position.

I don't know much about that area or your country, and how it is connected with Scotland, Wales, and Norther Ireland, but it sounds like your government has failed you at worst, overlooked you at best. It's sad when governments prioritize money over health and public safety.

Do you know your neighbors? Are you friends with them? Can they help in any way?

Do you do Zoom meetings or safe outside meets standing six feet or more apart in masks? Sometimes human connection in any safe way possible can really help with depression and this thing that we go through while shielding.

I've been shielding on my own for nearly 2 years. No one told me to do that, but I knew it was too dangerous for me to leave my apartment. I do what I can, and I am fortunate to have a booster. But I didn't use the booster as a tool to get me to go outside more. It's simply to help me not die from any possible shared air space affecting me in this apartment building.

I'm literally waiting for this pandemic to be over - whether in a year or 5 years.

I'm hoping I survive that long. I'm hoping I don't go so crazy that I forget who I am completely.

If I were your neighbor, I would encourage us to meet outside once a month or more frequently, and for us to just walk and talk about anything. I'd probably be researching ways you can find a safe booster, and a safe treatment team to administer it to you. I'd probably try to advocate online for your behalf.

But that's my wish. My energy levels prevent me from doing that which I would love to do to help others. The problem is my execution. I really jumble up my thoughts and words, which are riddled with mixed emotions. So I am in no position to help anyone. All I can do is say some things I know and react - sometimes concurrently. My responses confuse people sometimes - not all the time.

I hope you are able to find all the help you need.

Forgive me, but I forgot if you said you had a therapist or not. A therapist would be a huge help.

What is your country like with healthcare? Do you have universal healthcare? What do you see are the pros and cons to your healthcare system?

So many of us in the US take our healthcare system for granted. There are many disparities here, and it costs us a fortune. The less affluent barely get their healthcare needs met, whereas people like me can get more than the average healthcare. Still, my physical health is deteriorating, but I'm getting good mental healthcare, for now. It wasn't always this way for me, especially when I was living in poverty.

Are you financially secure? Do you have enough money to live on? How are you getting by?

Hey @InkyTinks are you considered a "vunerable person" by UK standards?

yeah..my vaccine has been due since the end of November! (6 months before they changed it to 3).


I guess the housebound aren't a priority as we don't go anywhere so unlikely to catch it!

I saw family xmas day they are my bubble, but they have had to go back to work and there's more danger of me getting it sitting at walk in centre for hours suddenly having contact with many strangers than staying at home and waiting for one nurse to come and do mine (who has hopefully already been vaccinated or tested negative that day!)

It doesn't help that the last one brought the wrong one with them and I had to email GP surgery again they've been closed for the bank holiday so hopefully I'll hear from someone in the new year about when they can return with the right vaccine!!


I may have mentioned on another post I can't speak under pressure so neighbours think I'm 'deaf and dumb' so other than waving and saying 'morning' when I pass(I nod to acknowledge them) we don't really have conversation.


The lady next door emails me occasionally but she's currently in hospital with a broken arm after a fall. (cos there's no home carers available to go and dress her etc) Think they have too many off sick as they tested positive, which is probably why our small surgery is struggling to stay running too


I won't be going out NYE anyway...hate it.. too overwhelming for me....but was hoping to see siblings partner on or near their birthday in a couple of weeks so can give them a card/gift. Hopefully the booster will have been done by then!

@InkyTinks I hope they give you the booster soon. It's been far too long for them to constantly ignore you like that. Can you try contacting them again to see if they can get you boosted any sooner?

well guess what happened today???



Another nurse knocked on door at lunch time...and she had....Pfizer...again!!!


I tried explaining everything to her (via text to speech on ipad) and she said she would go back to their base (she's not from my GP surgery but part of the national vaccination program) and see if they had any AZ left there and text me..so now waiting to see if this nurse will do what she said she would!


If there's any left it might get done today...if not hopefully she will order some more and come back after the bank holiday with it!!!


Still no reply to email from GP surgery... I really need to find another but they're so far and I can't drive..you also can't register with a new one virtually..has to be in person so they can give you an health check

if I didn't need a medication daily that was 'prescription only' in my country I would leave anyway!!!

UPDATE - well finally found a nurse that knows how to sort stuff! .

She returned with a AZ vaccine so finally I got my 3rd dose! .

no side effects yet, only really got a mild headache last time, she just told me to wait 4 hours before taking a paracetomol if I get an headache again.


Hopefully I won't have to go through all this every time they tell us we need a Booster!!

@InkyTinks - YAY! Congratulations! Long overdue, but finally! You are boosted with the safe AZ, yay! I'm so so happy for you! I was waiting for this post.

I hope you have a speedy recovery from the vaccine. Let us know how you're doing, if you're up for it.

Also, happy new year, too! I'm sure we'll talk before the new year though.

Thanks....well I don't have headache yet..its 21.45pm here ..last time I had headache by 8pm..maybe it will have kicked in tomorrow morning!



Hope I don't feel too rough as doggy will still need his walkies!

I wish they could vaccinate the doggies and cats. They can get the virus, too.

My dog has only had contact with me so as long as I don't get it he won't. He's a fit strong dog who doesn't have any immune issues so hopefully he would be ok if we did get it!

I didn't really get a bad headache but had really bad Tinnitus this time so took a flu capsule that makes you drowsy to help me get off to sleep and it wasn't so bad this morning ..only in the 'deaf ear' which can get relief from hearing aid on masking program

So we've been for our morning run to find a field I could get scooter on for doggy to charge round with his ball as our garden is horrible and muddy with all the rain we've had here!


Just have to organise a food shop now before the next lot of snow comes!

Glad you finally got your booster @InkyTinks!

well I'm still here...the Tinnitus did quieten down though it's taken a couple of days, but I didn't get the severe headache this time. so glad thats over for now!


Still have to put up the over bed table I got for xmas and take down the tree. I want to get back into art this year, learning to sketch better as well as just colouring in. ...but the tree is on my 'art desk' and I don't usually take down the tree until the 6th January in memory of my mum - who always put it up on the 12th Dec and took it down on the 6th Jan! ..so I have always done the same every xmas since she died when we were teens.


Guess I'll just have to play on the switch a few more days...still trying to unlock the same breed as my dog for the dog sledding game!

I'm glad the side-effects of your booster are tapering down now. I hope you feel better, and yay for being protected!

Your tradition with the tree sounds beautiful!

Dog sledding? Do you mean a board game or a real dog sledding thing where you interact with your doggie outside? Either way, that sounds like fun!

I'm still trying to wake up now. LOL. I need to eat something. I have to break out my ladder to get to my coffee machine and teapot.

I'm hoping that my creamers are still good (not expired). I'm craving coffee.

It's a video game on Nintendo Switch Console.


Here's a short clip from YT


Go Vacation - Dog Sled - YouTube



You can get different dog breeds though in different colours and I'm trying to unlock the one that looks like mine to complete the Intermediate and Advanced Levels with!!

That looks like a fun game, InkyTInks!

@InkyTinks. I'm so glad you were finally able to get the booster and that the side effects are subsiding.


My husband and I were watching some sporting events from England - rugby and soccer. We find it amazing that spectators are crowded into the stadiums and hardly a mask in sight. It seems like some people there have decided to just ignore that the virus is still here with us. My country is relatively open, but we still have a mask mandate most places and there are capacity limits places like stadiums.

I've always wanted to travel to England! I used to attend a church a few decades ago in Southern California, and many of the members there were from England (I think they had dual citizenship between the USA and England, but unsure). Later, when Harry Potter came out, I really wanted to visit England to see where they filmed that show. I think it was in England, if I'm not mistaken! And people from England are super brilliant with words and songwriting, IMHO! I've always admired the culture of England, even though I don't know much about it.

Part of my father's heritage is English. My father is Irish, Scottish, English, German, and French, or what some USA people call a "mutt." My mother is Japanese (but born and raised in Hawaii, with Hawaiian customs). My father identified as Caucasian, but my half-sister (from my dad's side) used to insist that we were more European than Caucasian. I had no idea what the difference was. But my dad used to call me Eurasian, which was somewhat accurate with the European and Asian mixture that I have. Hawaiians would call me "hapa" (half) for short, or hapa-howly (half-white) in the long version. I do NOT call myself "white" anymore, or as much as I can help it on forms, because I'm more aligned with being European and Asian American than I am with mainstream "white" culture. I certainly don't look white, nor do I follow the traditional customs of white culture (other than being somewhat of a patriot in my country, since I am a veteran and believe in the tenets of homeland security).

Anyway, the sports in England sound fun to watch! I've not really known much about Rugby, other than maybe a lesson in college on Nelson Mandela's peace-building suggestions.

Soccer and the World Cup - I think it's called - was always a famous thing to watch in the Americas (South and North America), and perhaps globally. I used to love watching the World Cup in sports bars because it was a global phenomenon, not just a local sport to the USA. I loved learning about cultures outside the USA, and still do. I just haven't been able to learn as much of it lately.

Anyway, I think many places have let down their guard on mask and vaccine compliance. That said, I just avoid going out anywhere, as I'm still isolating/shielding in place until this pandemic is over. The pandemic is said to be over in the future, even if it turns endemic, but the latest news on that reveals that omicron won't be the end as we hoped it would.

I get upset whenever I see many maskless persons at stadiums, rallies, protests, concerts, festivals, carnivals, and more! Masks do help reduce the dosage and spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that can lead to the disease, COVID-19, if the dosages are high enough. By reducing the dosages via masks alone, and even more via both masks and vaccines, this can also lead to reducing the disease, COVID-19, and, by extension, long-covid, deaths, losses, economic issues, relational losses, long-term disabilities, and more. I wished that more people would understand that the more we do to slow its spread, the quicker this pandemic will end. But the more we allow the excuse of pandemic fatigue to infiltrate our protections and decision-making, the more we prolong this pandemic and the economic and emotional tolls that ensue thereafter.

Your country obviously has more sense! ...I'm not really into sports, watching or playing so I don't even watch it on TV! ..but they are probably adding to the numbers...despite ours being really high now PM in his wisdom is still not adding further restrictions for England!


Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have tighter restrictions, but also cos of that many scots and welsh crossed the border for NYE as our nightclubs, restaurants and pubs weren't closed! ..so if they caught it off anyone that night they've taken it back over the border with them!


Although Omicron may be milder the problem is staff and employees of public & emergency services who get it still have to isolate if they test positive and we have had shortages of lateral flow tests , so they're stuck in isolation until they can get a test ..so staff shortages are getting worse and worse in hospitals, schools, public transport etc.


Some schools go back tomorrow and teachers are being told to mix classes if there are shortages of teachers and pupils (stick two or more different classes of pupils in one room to one teacher, depending how many kids turned up). There's also a severe shortage of supply teachers and agency carers to replace care staff in nursing homes and homecare.


Boris (PM) must have something he doesn't want cancelling which would have to be if we locked down again! or he's under pressure from business men not to close down places cos people are struggling to stay open. eg a small sandwich shop/bakery located near a large office block may get easily enough business when everyone is going into work daily, but when they're been told to work from home and only a few customers passing their shop, they may not be able to make enough to stay open.