Virus reaction and worry

[cvjw]

Georgia’s cases are up today, but that is to be expected.

Governor Kemp wants to test everyone and has opened testing to people without symptoms - basically anyone who wants a test can get one. With more testing, comes more positive results. Positive results don't matter as much as people who need hospital beds and ventilators - which are at the lowest level since early April. Things are moving in the right direction.

 

[pearlieq]

 

[ronandannette]

I'm not a worrier and I'm not worried, per se. This is a very sorrowful situation and one none of us ever dreamed of finding ourselves in. It's surreal. There are health risks to ourselves and those we care about, even though I can honestly say I don't know one single person who has contracted Covid. I do know many who have undergone job loss and my own household has had significant income reduction - these things will not resolve when the restrictions are lifted. The economic implications for our city, region and country have the potential to stir political and societal unrest previously unimagined. Practically everyone is experiencing stress at home and in their relationships that wouldn't ever have occurred in any other scenario.

I am resolute towards it, as I have been through many other losses and times of extreme personal difficulty. Life is unpredictable and suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience. I'll cope with this or whatever else may come with as much grace as possible and bring comfort to others where I can. We are devoutly religious and I am at peace.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I have reasonable concerns about some things in my life, and have been anxious a few times in the past when under a lot of stress, but in general, I am not a worrier.

I have lived a challenging life and already had to deal with hard and frightening things. Probably that has inoculated me from the contagious panic about this virus. A full reopening (aside from the hardest hit places like NYC & New Jersey) couldn't have happened fast enough for me if it had happened yesterday. I think it is very wrong, for our government to force people to restrict their lives to such a degree for months, with no clear end in sight. That should be a matter of personal choice. There have been pandemics before, but never before, did much of the world try to force so many people to completely stop living a normal life for an extended period. That's more scary than the virus, to me.

 

[dznygrl70]

I have reasonable concerns about some things in my life, and have been anxious a few times in the past when under a lot of stress, but in general, I am not a worrier.

I have lived a challenging life and already had to deal with hard and frightening things. Probably that has inoculated me from the contagious panic about this virus. A full reopening (aside from the hardest hit places like NYC & New Jersey) couldn't have happened fast enough for me if it had happened yesterday. I think it is very wrong, for our government to force people to restrict their lives to such a degree for months, with no clear end in sight. That should be a matter of personal choice. There have been pandemics before, but never before, did much of the world try to force so many people to completely stop living a normal life for an extended period. That's more scary than the virus, to me.

I agree. We have postponed our trip this year and are waiting for 2021. Not due to the virus. That worries me about as much as any severe virus would. But its my distrust of people and their behavior that is keeping us home. People have gone off the rails over this. Seems like it has given people license for poor behavior and unwanted opinions and judgements. I don't feel like being around people right now.

 

[dznygrl70]

I'm not a worrier and I'm not worried, per se. This is a very sorrowful situation and one none of us ever dreamed of finding ourselves in. It's surreal. There are health risks to ourselves and those we care about, even though I can honestly say I don't know one single person who has contracted Covid. I do know many who have undergone job loss and my own household has had significant income reduction - these things will not resolve when the restrictions are lifted. The economic implications for our city, region and country have the potential to stir political and societal unrest previously unimagined. Practically everyone is experiencing stress at home and in their relationships that wouldn't ever have occurred in any other scenario.

I am resolute towards it, as I have been through many other losses and times of extreme personal difficulty. Life is unpredictable and suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience. I'll cope with this or whatever else may come with as much grace as possible and bring comfort to others where I can. We are devoutly religious and I am at peace.

He will have His way in all this. Good will come of it somehow somewhere. If anything. Its brought many to Him. Blessings to you and your family.

 

[superme80]

I'm not worried. I am annoyed. I am so tired of being cooped up. I do understand why some people are still worried. My area is so low, so I am ready to get back into the world.

 

[choirfarm]

I was not a worrier before this. I've graduated and sent off two boys to college. ( Now 23 and 25) I did not cry. I was SO happy for them. I don't micromanage my kids. They have thanked me for that. I barely washed my hands before all of this. I don't get sick much.

But this virus scares me to death-mainly because it is so unpredictable and we do not have a handle on it. I'm not scared of the flu. We get vaccines every year. Chicken pox didn't really scare me. This virus scares me because it attacks so many people in so many different ways...oh lungs not your weakness, then we will attack your heart..or your clotting mechanism...or neurologically. Now with children new complications. And the asymptomatic carriers are a HUGE problem.

I'm sending my last one to college this fall. Heck last January I was jumping up and down as we have been clashing. I'm ready for her to spread her wings. Yet, she is a musical theater gal and I do not see how they do musical theater with people singing so close together and NOT get it. I want her to have a normal dorm and college experience like I did. I LOVED college. So much fun. Work, but fun work. Her college will be 12-14 hours away. So if she gets Covid....

So yeah, I'm a mess. Just came off a week Covid news/disboard fast. Breaking it today because our choir director wants to know if we can resume choir and I need to have up to date info. But am I normally... no. Not at all.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I am not very worried right now because we are staying home and taking appropriate precautions. I will be more worried when kids get sent back to school, if case numbers are not declining, if widespread testing and contact tracing are still not in place, and if we see large movements of people from the hot zones into other areas.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

...

I am resolute towards it, as I have been through many other losses and times of extreme personal difficulty. Life is unpredictable and suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience. I'll cope with this or whatever else may come with as much grace as possible and bring comfort to others where I can. We are devoutly religious and I am at peace.

Reminds me of this, which has come to mind often lately, "... Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, It is well, With my soul...'"

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm not a worrier, but with DH in a higher risk category we're still being cautious. Our hope is that if we can stave off getting the virus for a longer period of time there may be some proven treatment for it or a vaccine by the time we get it. Of course, it may be that it has already run through our house as DS and DH both had a very bad upper respiratory illness at the end of February. No way for us to tell until antibody testing is available.

Our state is starting to reopen, but we have no plans to go to a restaurant for eat-in dining (we'll still do take-out to help support our local places) or to do any retail shopping that isn't absolutely necessary.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm guessing that a lot of it is regional. Those of us in the Northeast, which was one of the first areas to be slammed, have first-hand experience with it. I know people who've had it, and I know what it did to them (and in some cases, is still doing, months later). I know people who've lost loved ones to it. I used to live in NY and still have relatives and friends there, so I had a front-row seat to the horror that happened in NYC. Everyone I know is taking the precautions *very* seriously.

There are still large areas of the country that haven't had that experience. Yet. They will. Viruses don't respect state borders. I think if there have been only a few cases in your area, it's hard to understand just how bad things can get.

I agree 100%. If you don't actually live in the epicenter areas...it just doesn't feel as 'real'. I live in the tristate area,and have many friends who work in the medical field,and the town halls. This is SERIOUS. I hope it gets better and not worse for the rest of the country... but I just don't know. I've seen the effects of this with my own eyes, not thru media coverage.

 

[Colleen27]

I am also worrying about the rise in anger as a result of the virus. In some things, such as whether or not to wear a mask, people are literally killing each other over differing viewpoints. I don’t want to have to fear being attacked and possibly killed by someone over whether or not I am wearing a mask. In some areas, there have been reports of people being harassed for being out in their own yard, or being out in public while they are maintaining social distancing. I have stopped working in my yard so I don’t attract any attention. I am just trying to follow the rules for where I live and work (different counties, so that alone is confusing), and not offend someone by doing so. I am much less fearful of the virus itself than I am about how people are reacting to it, and whether those feelings will go away when all the restrictions are gone.

I think that's been the most disturbing part of this whole thing. In my area, masks are required but most retailers have told employees not to push the issue with customers who aren't wearing them because of the threats and violence that have been directed toward retail workers in other parts of our state over the requirement. Which is beyond stupid in light of how successful mask-wearing has been elsewhere and how many of the same people that refuse to wear masks are the ones protesting to reopen, which could be done a lot more quickly and safely if masks were widely accepted.

I am resolute towards it, as I have been through many other losses and times of extreme personal difficulty. Life is unpredictable and suffering is an unavoidable part of the human experience. I'll cope with this or whatever else may come with as much grace as possible and bring comfort to others where I can. We are devoutly religious and I am at peace.

I wonder if it is that, rather than a tendency to worry or not worry, that makes a difference. The ability to accept uncertainty and have confidence in one's ability to adapt is no small thing, particularly in a society where we're raised up to believe almost every facet of our lives can be directed by good choices and adequate planning.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think the association between worry people may be more of an individual nature.

The person in my family, my aunt, who is such a worry wart, always concerned that everything turn out great is one who was going out very frequently, angering her husband (who is more at risk), and getting my mom to harp on her to stop going out as much, she's also the one who wanted a haircut quickly (similar to my mom in that respect). My aunt is one of the sweetest kindest people too but she tends to drive us all crazy with how much she tends to worry and she's one of the most lax about this.

I'm taking this more seriously than any of my family members, any of my in-laws, but I'm also in the camp of understanding we should all be acting like we have it now (and the premise that all of us may end up getting it). I'm not going to wait for a vaccine to get in close contact with my family but I am doing things on my own time and way. I'm half worrier half not it really depends on the situation.

I think the decisions people make can be either simple or quite complex but they vary based on the person. I don't think being in a hard hard hit area means by virtue of that you're the one taking it the upmost serious, doing all the preventative measures, steralizing your food and separating it out, etc any more than I think people in not hard hard hit areas are doing the opposite.

I've seen enough people discuss they have carefully considered the situation and have come up with their own opinion of risk factors and are acting accordingly. I've seen the opposite too. For many it's a balancing act.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I am also worrying about the rise in anger as a result of the virus. In some things, such as whether or not to wear a mask, people are literally killing each other over differing viewpoints. I don’t want to have to fear being attacked and possibly killed by someone over whether or not I am wearing a mask. In some areas, there have been reports of people being harassed for being out in their own yard, or being out in public while they are maintaining social distancing. I have stopped working in my yard so I don’t attract any attention. I am just trying to follow the rules for where I live and work (different counties, so that alone is confusing), and not offend someone by doing so. I am much less fearful of the virus itself than I am about how people are reacting to it, and whether those feelings will go away when all the restrictions are gone.

I will say I am having a lot of really vivid dreams through all this.

Your concerns are completely valid. I saw on the news a couple days ago they showed a video of a fight breaking out in the line to get into Walmart due to social distancing and I'm assuming it's because one of the parties involved wasn't maintaining it. I've seen the aggression in news stories related to mask wearing (or rather when someone doesn't wear a mask). I've seen on Nextdoor when people cried foul for kids playing in their own backyards saying they were the reason a man in his 70s passed away in my metro from coronavirus (connecting them with him contracting it). I've seen how ugly people can get when it comes to reporting individuals violating stay at home orders (businesses don't seem to be getting the brunt of that by individuals). And so many more.

Unfortunately I think a lot comes down to how social media and media goes about things in respects to things we should do to protect ourselves. The memes circulating around don't necessarily help they can cause more stirring up of people's emotions just as much as being used in a more positive way.

With respects to the masks in places that require them many are using the exception of medical reasons. By appearance alone you can't necessarily detect that a person may have a valid reason for not wearing a mask; it's a difficult position for all those involved really. I don't know how that's been working out with respects to businesses who are requiring masks though though that brings up that in states that aren't mandating it some are allowing individual communities make that decision. Some people would say that's wrong to allow communities to make decisions for their citizens simply because it's not a state mandate but honestly a lot goes into those decisions.

 

[VandVsmama]

It definitely varies a lot from one person to the next based on their particular circumstances within their family unit in their household and with their extended family.

I have one friend who's been so petrified that she didn't leave the house for 6 weeks and she'd wake up in a panic in the middle of the night every night...and would go check to see if her kids were still breathing.

My sister has a friend with OCD tendencies and this virus has sent the friend over the edge in a bad way in terms of her mental health. She's convinced that she or a family member will die if she leaves the house for any reason at all.

My immediate family calls me a germophobe, but I am pretty mild by comparison. I don't disinfect the mail, packages, or groceries that we bring into the house. I don't go around disinfecting surfaces in our home several times a day or even once a day. I do it once a week and I make everybody wash their hands upon arriving home from going out somewhere.

I have a couple of older family members who have enough serious health problems that they would likely die of the disease if they caught it. But I don't worry about it. Why? There's not much I can do about it. They are their own people and they can make their own choices. We haven't visited them since this began in order to ensure that we don't inadvertently pass something along to them. Eventually, the older family members WILL die of SOMETHING. It's part of life.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I am taking more precautions now than I would have when I was younger just because of my age. Although I realize it isn't a sure thing, I take the precautions I do because I assume I would die if I got the virus, (and be pleasantly surprised if I didn't.) I haven't even been to a grocery store since mid-March. We do a lot of curbside pickup.

 

[Kae]

I spoke to people I trusted, in the beginning, my brother is a Dr and I worked with some very brilliant chemists in my last job so that is who I ask my questions. I was told have things will be done to flatten the curve and get the hospitals ready and it won't just go away, that basically there is a great chance that we will get it. I did what my brother told me and our families to do. We early on canceled a cruise & WDW trip that was for April, I couldn't risk getting "stuck" on a ship we work for a family business and I also have my dad to think about. Our business never shut down. My biggest concern was getting DD home from college and her finishing her freshman year.

I am tired of the shaming of people. We need to get the economy back going and that does not make me a horrible person. this is not going to magically stop, disappear or just go away.