Coronavirus entry 40: Fed up!

Ok so there’s no other way to start today’s blog that to get straight to the point. 

I am FED UP! 

I’m fed up of Covid now! I’m fed of how it is affecting my friends and family; I’m fed up of feeling exhausted even though I’m exercising regularly and actually sleeping quite well at the moment. I’m fed up of having to stay indoors, I’m fed up of the eye infection that is preventing me from wearing any makeup and contributing to me looking like an ugly duckling on Zoom, and I’m fed up that I have run out of dry shampoo and paracetamol!

I was texting my Slimming World leader this morning and we got onto the conversation of the dry shampoo situation and I told her I can’t even get any on Amazon because it’s all sold out. Next thing I know, she’s sending me a link to buy some…on Amazon. Bless her heart! Why couldn’t I see that? I tell you why, it’s because I’M FED UP!

I’m fed up of the dry, flaky skin on my face too. Why have I got that? It’s not like I don’t use moisturiser – in fact I’m using that as much as I’m washing my bloody hands at the moment. And why the hell does my face look so red all the time? Even when I do put foundation on, my face still looks like a beetroot. WHY DAMMIT, WHY? 

I’m fed up of the weather. It’s been raining again today and its bloody miserable outside. I realised last night I haven’t been on a holiday since October 2018 so that’s something else that has added to my misery today! Oh look, it's actually snowing now - i seriously can't make this up!

I know I sound like a selfish madam right now and if I am offending anyone with this post, then feel free to tell me and I will apologise. I don’t want to upset or anger anyone, but if I don’t get these feelings out of me somehow, I’m worried they will fester and that’s when the anxiety will rear its ugly head, and quite frankly, I’ve put my family and friends through enough of that over the last couple of years. 

So here I am, using the skills learnt during my CBT therapy and writing a convoluted entry trying to explain how I feel in the hope that once I have finished getting it out of my system, I will be able read back and find a better way to deal with it. 

By lunchtime today I was so wound up that I decided to have another shower during my break and I did what I should have done this morning and washed my hair in the hope it would make me feel better. It was only after I had dried my hair that I started thinking it was actually doing the job and if I wasn’t being so bloody lazy this morning, maybe all of this could have been prevented. Cue the tears...honestly, I’m not even joking, I bloody well started crying didn’t I. FFS, it’s not even like I’m hormonal either!

Anyway, my working day has finished now, I've got my feelings out and I'm off to do some stretching in the hope that it will make me feel a bit more relaxed. Maybe I should remind myself how bloody lucky I am too and stop being so selfish with these “I’m fed up” statements. 

Coronavirus entry 39: A lockdown New Year!

We are now four days into 2021 and Boris Johnson this evening addressed the country to confirm that as of tomorrow, we will once again be going into a National lockdown and it is expected to last until the middle of February. 

In all honesty, his speech was somewhat disconcerting given the numbers he used to back up his decision. Scientists have confirmed the new variant of the virus is 50-70% more transmissible which means it is much more likely to catch and pass it on. Hospitals are under more pressure than when they were hit with this back in March last year, and in England alone, the number of Covid patients in hospital has increased by nearly a third in the last week to almost 27,000 which is 40% higher than the first peak in April. 

A new record of positive Covid cases was made on 29th December where more than 80,000 people tested positive across the UK. The number of deaths have also increased by 27% over the last week and it's looking to rise further.

Boris believes the only way we can get this under control while the vaccine is rolled out, is to put us back into a National lockdown. We are only allowed to leave our homes to shop for essentials, to go to work but only if there is no other option to work from home, to exercise, for medical assistance or to escape domestic abuse. Clinically and extremely vulnerable people must start to shield again too. 

Primary and secondary schools and colleges across England have to go back to remote learning but vulnerable children, and those of key workers can still attend. Although children are at less risk of catching it, they are prone to be carriers and so to reduce the risk of them bringing the virus home, it has been decided that it will be safer to keep as many children at home as possible. Free school meals will still be available to those who need them while schools are closed and more devices will be distributed to support remote learning. 

The Government also recognises it will not be fair for all exams to go ahead this summer because of all the disruption, and so the Education Secretary will work with OFQUAL (The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) to put alternative arrangements in place. 

There wasn't any mention of Universities though and already there has been a big outcry from students on social media about the lack of support they have received and a demand for fees to be refunded. 

The United Kingdom of Chief Medical Officers advised the Prime Minister that the country should move to alert level 5 which means if action is not taken, the NHS capacity will be overwhelmed within 21 days.

Despite this all sounding scary once more, there is something positive already coming out of this and that is the approval of the vaccines. So far, the UK has vaccinated more people than the rest of Europe combined and today we woke up to news that a second vaccine has now been approved which is going to speed up the need to get the most vulnerable protected. 

If everyone adheres to these rules, the NHS are hopeful that by the middle of February, those people who fall under the four top priority groups will all have received their injections which means restrictions can start to be lifted and we can start to go back to a tiered system and have more freedom in living again. 

The four categories include:

1) All residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2) Everyone over the age of 70
3) All frontline health and social care workers
4) Everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable.

Boris is quite adamant that although we have a tough few weeks ahead, this is the last phase of the struggle we have been going through. Let's just hope he's correct! 

So for now, we just have to do everything we can to look after ourselves and hope that these awful covid numbers come back down and we can find our way out of this for good!