Lockdown ending could trigger anxiety for many, say UK charities

[Northerner]

The lifting of lockdown restrictions and the subsequent return to schools, workplaces and social events could trigger heightened levels of stress and anxiety for many people, UK mental health charities and experts have said.

They say some, particularly those with mental health concerns, will be worried or anxious about the readjustment required by the lifting of lockdown restrictions as set out in the government’s gradual roadmap for reopening England.

Dr Tine Van Bortel, a senior research associate in public health at the University of Cambridge, said: “Lockdown has given people with mental health conditions like anxiety and PTSD permission to stay at home, and knowing that at some point you’ll have to go out again can actually trigger stress and anxiety.”

Lockdown ending could trigger anxiety for many, say UK charities

Fears raised for people with mental health concerns over return to schools and workplaces

www.theguardian.com

 

[Ljc]

I don’t know how this will affect some folks, I guess some will be very worried and some will go partying
Dad and I well me really as dad us housebound will stay isolating till a couple of weeks after our second jab . Thank fully we are retired .

 

[nonethewiser]

Understandable, this pandemic has left mental scars, for many they will remain long after Covid.

 

[Ivostas66]

Well, if kids are anything to go by then yes, this is what is happening! I teach at a very good school with exemplary behaviour. Most students have loved the return and seem to be fine, but this week we have had to exclude a couple of older kids who started a fight (the last reported physical fight at the school was in 2011!), had students answering back and a few swearing at staff. One of the issues is that these are the students who submitted no/ very little work during lockdown and when spoken to said they spent lockdown on social media, games consoles or watching TV. Sadly, their parents have been very uncooperative ("I don't care if he's started a fight. I don't want him back here for two days, he's been a nightmare at home", "I don't know what you want me to do about it, he's 15 now and won't do a thing his Mum or I tell him" and to the mother of a girl who told a teacher to 'you can shove it up yer f*ing arse Miss' "What do you want me to do about it, she's your responsibility now she's back at school!"

Kids need a lot of PSHE and Citizenship work focusing upon mental health, coping strategies and responsibilities. Not sure what we can do about parents though!

 

[Ljc]

Understandable, this pandemic has left mental scars, for many they will remain long after Covid.

Sadly Very true

 

[mikeyB]

Many people? Don’t believe it. Most folk are champing at the bit to get back to normal. Most people I know, for sure.

OK, I’ll give you those who have had Covid, or have lost relatives- that’s normal. But the rest of us? Give us a break. It only seems to be in England that folk obsess with stories like this. I’m sure that most folk are more resilient than are given credit for.

We’ve got better things to worry about.The combined effect of Brexit and Covid has increased poverty and food bank use. You can’t cure that with anxiety treatment. That will persist for years, until we get a government that cares more about working people than bankers in their ivory towers.

 

[Amigo]

I absolutely believe this northerner and for the long term shielders who have had nearly a full year of this, anxieties have been created, personal confidence eroded and concerns remain about the efficacy of the vaccine, especially amongst those of us who are significantly immune compromised. Doesn’t mean we are not all desperate to get back to normal but it’s taken its toll on many, me included and I’m a tough cookie!

 

[trophywench]

Well I went to Tesco a few weeks ago and noticed I had become paranoid about other people being too close - just have not been in any company since Thursday 12th March 2020. Oh - except fully out of doors last September.

 

[Amity Island]

Many people have supported the use of lockdowns and restrictions.

Lockdowns have been the sole cause of the destruction of our country, our livelihoods and our way of life.

We all know what effect lockdowns and restrictions have had on containing the virus and saving lives. From the day lockdowns were brought in, we can see what affect they had on covid cases and hospital admissions - see graph for March 2020, cases soared shortly after lockdowns were brought in.

Death rates have been no worse in 2020, than just about every single year since records began and only marginally worse than in 2000, I don't remember any panic then? If that fact alone doesn't convince anyone that something isn't right, nothing will. We've had so many deaths counted (tested positive within 28 days) as covid deaths when in reality these deaths have not been caused by covid19. The dire effects of the lockdowns and restrictions have convinced many to get vaccinated just in the hope that we can all get back to normal, when in reality, we should never have been put into this situation to begin with.

3 weeks to "flatten the curve" and nearly 52 weeks later we're still in lockdown...

I just hope and pray that one day, these people will be brought to justice for the crimes against the the people of the country and I hope our children and our children's children will forgive us all for letting this happen.

 

[Robin]

The elephant in the room, surely, is the statistics we don’t have, and never can have. We can never have graphs showing the number of cases and deaths that happened with no lockdown. Studying the results of one option that was taken, in isolation, doesn’t really tell us very much.

 

[Amity Island]

The elephant in the room, surely, is the statistics we don’t have, and never can have. We can never have graphs showing the number of cases and deaths that happened with no lockdown. Studying the results of one option that was taken, in isolation, doesn’t really tell us very much.

Hi Robin,

Although what you say is valid....there must surely be a better position to take than that, if the offical line is accurate? A whole pandemic lasting over a year can't surely all be simply discredited with the "elephant in the room"?

Can you find anything to show that large scale outdoor gatherings cause tranmission of the virus? If not, why have we been locked in our homes?

No Covid-19 outbreaks have been linked to crowded beaches, MPs told | ITV News

Government scientific adviser Professor Mark Woolhouse said that to the best of his knowledge, there has never been an outbreak linked to packed seafronts. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

Are you able to find any evidence to show, by refering to data and graphs for uk:

that the average age of death for covid 19 is any different from the average age of death of 82? If not, why have ALL age groups been locked in their homes rather than shielding the elderly and vulnerable?

that the death rates during the "pandemic" were any worse than say in 2000? or any year before that?

that covid19 cases dropped after the lockdown was brought in in March 2020?

that cases haven't been over counted as "covid19" instead of the actual cause of a death?

that making the wearing of masks mandatory (24th July 2020) helped reduce the number of covid19 cases?

Or why with an expected 500,000 deaths, they decided to retain the virus as a High Consequence Infectious Disease?

Can you provide any evidence that "anybody can catch the virus" even those who already have it?, those that are in isolation? or that "anyone can pass it on" even those that don't have the virus?

Or can you provide evidence to show these people didn't say this:

England’s chief medical officer has warned the public wearing face masks will do little to combat the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Professor Chris Whitty told Sky News on Wednesday that wearing a face mask had almost no effect on reducing the risk of contracting the illness.

Prof Whitty said: “In terms of wearing a mask, our advice is clear: that wearing a mask if you don’t have an infection reduces the risk almost not at all. So we do not advise that.”
“The only people we do sometimes use masks for are people who have got an infection and that is to help them to stop it spreading around," he added.

Robin the list goes on and on, just too many instances to remember and this is why I have come to the conclusion I have.

 

[Robin]

You miss my point. I'm not discrediting your statistics and I’m not commenting on the status quo of having had a lockdown. But all the statistics that you quote, all the statistics that we have, and all the imposed rules you cite, are from the situation that we have been in. Nobody can say what the statistics would have looked like if different decisions on lockdown had been taken. I don’t seem to be able to explain that to you
It is my personal view that the death toll would have been higher, with no lockdown, even if we had tried to shield the elderly and vulnerable ( and it is also my personal view that we wouldn’t have been able to, the elderly and vulnerable have to have interactions with younger carers, providers of food, healthcare etc). You may think differently. But we will never know what the outcome would have been in any other hypothetical case, whether it would have been better, worse, or no different.

 

[Amity Island]

You miss my point. I'm not discrediting your statistics and I’m not commenting on the status quo of having had a lockdown. But all the statistics that you quote, all the statistics that we have, and all the imposed rules you cite, are from the situation that we have been in. Nobody can say what the statistics would have looked like if different decisions on lockdown had been taken. I don’t seem to be able to explain that to you
It is my personal view that the death toll would have been higher, with no lockdown, even if we had tried to shield the elderly and vulnerable ( and it is also my personal view that we wouldn’t have been able to, the elderly and vulnerable have to have interactions with younger carers, providers of food, healthcare etc). You may think differently. But we will never know what the outcome would have been in any other hypothetical case, whether it would have been better, worse, or no different.

I do understand what you are saying Robin. What you are saying is you don't want to draw any conculsions from the numerous points I raised because you have nothing to compare then to if we "hadn't locked down".

We can use a known example of when we didn't "lock-down" to see what hapened.

Like the beach fest last year?

No outbreak of cases followed, what conclusions can we draw from that?

No Covid-19 outbreaks have been linked to crowded beaches, MPs told | ITV News

Government scientific adviser Professor Mark Woolhouse said that to the best of his knowledge, there has never been an outbreak linked to packed seafronts. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

 

[Robin]

Like the beach fest last year?

No outbreak of cases followed, what conclusions can we draw from that?

That the virus doesn’t transmit well outdoors in hot weather. Nothing more.
This thread started out about anxiety at the ending of lockdown. I think we’ve gone so far off topic now, we ought to call a halt.

 

[Amity Island]

That the virus doesn’t transmit well outdoors in hot weather. Nothing more.
This thread started out about anxiety at the ending of lockdown. I think we’ve gone so far off topic now, we ought to call a halt.

Robin, we haven't gone off thread, we're actually right on topic. The thread is about the anxiety people may suffer because of lockdowns.

My point is this lifting of lockdowns shouldn't even be happening. We shouldn't have locked down, and all the evidence I have found to date provides no evidence to support the case for lockdowns.

So in answer to your conclusion, which I wholeheartedly agree with, why then are people locked in their houses 52 weeks after the 3 weeks to "flatten the curve"?

As I said, I just hope and pray that one day, these people will be brought to justice for the crimes against the the people of the country and I hope our children and our children's children will forgive us all for letting this happen.

 

[Northerner]

My point is this lifting of lockdowns shouldn't even be happening. We shouldn't have locked down, and all the evidence I have found to date provides no evidence to support the case for lockdowns.

Without restricting the spread of the virus the hospitals would have become overwhelmed, as has been apparent when they very came close to this in the latest lockdown, due to the huge acceleration in infections in December, partly due to the new variant, and the dreadful mishandling of the Christmas period. Health services in some parts of the world are actually overwhelmed (Brazil, for example) where the virus has not been controlled well. It is a deadly virus, far deadlier than flu and much more transmissible The only way lockdowns might have been avoided would have been if we had had a highly efficient track, trace and isolate system in place to limit the spread in that way - we didn't even attempt to do this, and in any case we didn't know enough about the virus in the beginning.

 

[Amity Island]

Without restricting the spread of the virus the hospitals would have become overwhelmed, as has been apparent when they very came close to this in the latest lockdown, due to the huge acceleration in infections in December, partly due to the new variant, and the dreadful mishandling of the Christmas period. Health services in some parts of the world are actually overwhelmed (Brazil, for example) where the virus has not been controlled well. It is a deadly virus, far deadlier than flu and much more transmissible The only way lockdowns might have been avoided would have been if we had had a highly efficient track, trace and isolate system in place to limit the spread in that way - we didn't even attempt to do this, and in any case we didn't know enough about the virus in the beginning.

Hi Northerner,

I hear that and that seems to be the reason given. However the evidence suggests every measure that has been taken shows no sign that it worked, be that masks, lockdowns or social distancing. There is nothing there to clearly and convincingly convince anyone that any measures worked.

When did we see the spike in cases? After lockdown, not before the lockdown in the 10 weeks prior when the virus was in the population.

Where was the dip in cases when masks were brought in? There was no dip.

Where are the spike in cases following the huge mass outdoor gatherings? There were none.

Where is the huge increase in death rates for the pandemic compared to all the other preceding years?

And then we can go into the nightingale hospitals...harrogate closing down after seeing not a single patient! Again another example of where a strategy had failed to show it's purpose.

How many more examples can I give.

I'm sure there are other people besides me looking at all these facts and questioning the effectiveness of the lockdowns etc.

Yes to save the NHS but where is all the other evidence to show that the measures taken had some effect? That the measures succeeded? There must be something else.

 

[mikeyB]

The evidence is in this country when cases plummeted during the first lockdown. It always takes time for any such measure to have an effect

And look at countries like Brazil where no such measures have been imposed. And Australia and New Zealand, where even stricter lockdowns were imposed. More people died in this country from Covid last week than died in New Zealand in a year.

The measures have succeeded, to a degree. The complete failure of the much vaunted English test and trace system having an effect is the “something else” you are looking for. That is the key part of the system that is failing - nothing else works fully unless you have that, as New Zealand shows.

 

[Amity Island]

The evidence is in this country when cases plummeted during the first lockdown. It always takes time for any such measure to have an effect

Hi Mikey,

Plummeted??

The evidence shows there were no excess deaths before the lockdown, so how could cases or deaths have plummeted when there were so few to start with?

The virus had been in the UK for 3 months prior.

See graph when excess deaths started happening after lockdown on 23rd March 2020.

 

[Schrodinger]

I haunt Twitter and a fair few diabetics are being to get anxious about coming out of lock down, me I can't wait to go out and about again, mooching around record shops, sitting in the pub, eating in cafes and watching the world go by.