On the third anniversary this month of the2020 Covid shutdown, what do you remember?

[anna.]

Have your opinions changed on how the shutdown was managed?

I remember:
The first time I wore a mask
The new lexicon (especially for people outside the medical field): social distancing, flatten the curve, PPE, R0, N95...
The taped Xs or squares for lining up outside businesses
The absolute quiet in the city
The aerial photograph of the deserted freeways in Los Angeles


Hindsight being so much easier than the uncertainty of how to keep a country safe in the light of what was happening in Italy and then in NYC, all I can say is I'm glad I wasn't in charge of trying to keep as many citizens alive as possible. I didn't and don't subscribe to the idea that herd immunity was the only way, and recall one person actually coming out and saying in essence (I can't remember word for word) that he was old, and to let the old people die so the young could live a normal life.

 

[metis]

Have your opinions changed on how the shutdown was managed?

Not really as we had to do that which was more on the safe side at first as it took a while for the researchers and medical personnel to try and deal with this because it was so unusual.

 

[anna.]

Not really as we had to do that which was more on the safe side at first as it took a while for the researchers and medical personnel to try and deal with this because it was so unusual.

Same, pretty much. Where I might see more options in hindsight, they're more differences of degree than kind.

 

[exchemist]

Have your opinions changed on how the shutdown was managed?

I remember:
The first time I wore a mask
The new lexicon (especially for people outside the medical field): social distancing, flatten the curve, PPE, R0, N95...
The taped Xs or squares for lining up outside businesses
The absolute quiet in the city
The aerial photograph of the deserted freeways in Los Angeles


Hindsight being so much easier than the uncertainty of how to keep a country safe in the light of what was happening in Italy and then in NYC, all I can say is I'm glad I wasn't in charge of trying to keep as many citizens alive as possible. I didn't and don't subscribe to the idea that herd immunity was the only way, and recall one person actually coming out and saying in essence (I can't remember word for word) that he was old, and to let the old people die so the young could live a normal life.

Not really, no. We were all learning as we went, so the countermeasures still seem to me to have been prudent. Now that we have all been vaccinated multiple times it is easy to look back complacently and think we overdid it. But I got the disease when it first arrived, long before the vaccines were available, and that was an eerie experience. I got off lightly, as it happens, but others I knew did not, and the medical people I know went through hell for about 12 months.

I remain deeply impressed by the speed with which vaccines were developed and made available to everyone: an unprecedented cooperation between the state, the academic world and private enterprise.

My other abiding impression of the pandemic was the atrocious way Donald Trump seized on it to further divide the USA and set everyone at one another's throats, instead of getting them all pulling together in a crisis. What a contrast with other countries.

 

[Revoltingest]

I remember being able to walk to my mailbox without having to dodge cars.

 

[anna.]

Not really, no. We were all learning as we went, so the countermeasures still seem to me to have been prudent. Now that we have all been vaccinated multiple times it is easy to look back complacently and think we overdid it. But I got the disease when it first arrived, long before the vaccines were available, and that was an eerie experience. I got off lightly, as it happens, but others I knew did not, and the medical people I know went through hell for about 12 months.

I remain deeply impressed by the speed with which vaccines were developed and made available to everyone: an unprecedented cooperation between the state, the academic world and private enterprise.

My other abiding impression of the pandemic was the atrocious way Donald Trump seized on it to further divide the USA and set everyone at one another's throats, instead of getting them all pulling together in a crisis. What a contrast with other countries.

I knew someone, a younger adult, no mitigating health factors, who was hospitalized for two weeks and it was very much touch and go for a while there. This person definitely regretted not getting the vaccine, and still suffers from long Covid to this day. Those who got it in the early days - it was deadly for so many.

I also remember how the divisiveness grew and was fostered by Trump for political purposes, Jared Kushner too. Then there came the conspiracy theorists and the medical quacks.

 

[Revoltingest]

I also remember how the divisiveness grew and was fostered by Trump for political purposes, Jared Kushner too. Then there came the conspiracy theorists and the medical quacks.

It wasn't just Trump. In MI, Governor Whitmer (D) introduced
extremely restrictive, yet inconsistent measures, eg, you could
buy state lottery tickets & booze, but not paint & caulk.
You could go to a state park, but not to a 2nd home.
That caused much unnecessary grief & resistance.

 

[ChristineM]

I remember the french huddle disappeared.

It was a feature of living here that in the mornings when the french went to the bakers, local grocers, cafe or pmu to stand outside and pass the time of day with others. The huddle was dynamic, people joined, people left. It was a great time of social interaction.

Covid hit, with social distancing the huddle died instantly to be replaced by a line of people standing 2 metres apart along the pavement outside the shop, not talking but shouting so people at both extremes of the line could hear. It just didn't have the same dynamic and over a few months just disappeared. The huddle has not really returned, disappointing but it means ones daily shop is around 30 minutes faster. I do miss it though.

 

[ChristineM]

I knew someone, a younger adult, no mitigating health factors, who was hospitalized for two weeks and it was very much touch and go for a while there. This person definitely regretted not getting the vaccine, and still suffers from long Covid to this day. Those who got it in the early days - it was deadly for so many.

I know of 3 people who have died of covid. All elderly with minor health problems, each had several years of life in them before covid hit
One of the council workers got covid early on, he wound up with long covid and has only recently (within the last 2 weeks) returned to work

 

[AnnaCzereda]

My opinion on the lockdown hasn't changed. I still think it was too restrictive and unreasonable to the point of absurdity. It also harmed a lot of people who lost not only their jobs but also health and lives due to the cynical "safety" measures taken by my country government. And I mean here not only closing down businesses but above all depriving chronically sick people of the access to the public health system. These were the dark times when people, including those suffering from cancer and other serious diseases, couldn't contact their doctor, except by phone. Treatments were halted, rehabilitation was banned. Many of those people died because they couldn't afford private treatment. Those responsible for such inhuman policy should rot in prison. I'm still triggered when I think of it.

 

[JustGeorge]

What sticks out the most for me was the day it entered my state of Iowa...

The buying rush had started, and my husband had gone to the store. This wasn't really in response to the pandemic at this point; we're known for hitting the store pretty frequently. He sent a picture of my then kindergarten son, standing in awe at rows of empty toilet paper shelves. He was non verbal then, and used his communication book to indicate the store was out of toilet paper over and over again.

My husband went off to work the next day, and didn't make it back for his second shift(restaurant works often work split shifts). Things were being shut down. The kids came home from school for the last time that year(and for two more years for the older, permanently for the middle). I remember being terrified. How would we pay our mortgage with my husband out of work? But even more so, how would I manage to provide around the clock care for a very difficult child(middle son is on the spectrum, had major behavior issues)? Being without any kind of support system, sending the middle son off to school had been my only respite, the only time to do anything that didn't directly relate to that child. With an infant under a year old, what would I do?

I remember later that night, feeling selfish for even thinking about such things. I was curled up next to my husband in the dark, hearing him sleep, wondering if this would be the end. If we'd catch it, and that would be the end of one or all of us... Perhaps I should be treasuring the time we have left instead of focusing on the negativity surrounding it all...

The uncertainty was what I remember the most.

 

[stvdv]

Have your opinions changed on how the shutdown was managed?

Definitely. My view doesn't match the view imposed by main stream media

 

[Debater Slayer]

My opinion on the lockdown hasn't changed. I still think it was too restrictive and unreasonable to the point of absurdity.

What do you think should have been done instead? Was it unreasonable of governments to follow the advice of the vast majority of medical organizations, which recommended lockdowns to slow down the spread of the virus and avoid overwhelming the medical infrastructure?

It also harmed a lot of people who lost not only their jobs but also health and lives due to the cynical "safety" measures taken by my country government. And I mean here not only closing down businesses but above all depriving chronically sick people of the access to the public health system. These were the dark times when people, including those suffering from cancer and other serious diseases, couldn't contact their doctor, except by phone. Treatments were halted, rehabilitation was banned. Many of those people died because they couldn't afford private treatment.

I don't know about the details of how your country handled the pandemic, but people in many countries, including mine, also lost their health (e.g., due to long COVID) or lives due to the pandemic. There were many severely sick people, including non-COVID patients, who couldn't access hospital beds because hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID, and medical staff were overworked to top it off. I have a relative who had a stroke months before the pandemic and needed to stay in the hospital for over a week. If they had suffered the stroke during the pandemic, they wouldn't have found a hospital bed and would have most likely died.

I don't think there was any easy decision in that situation, so it seems to me that acting based on advice from medical organizations and experts was the approach that minimized the most harm. I'm sure some countries could have and should have handled lockdowns more effectively in terms of minimizing harm, but I definitely wasn't against the idea of lockdowns in general. The only questions I had were about whether the implementation in certain countries was done as reasonably as possible.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Not much to add, apart from the fact that the possibility of people passing on the infection whilst not showing any symptoms should have been taken more seriously at the time and acknowledging this might have saved more lives.

 

[Vee]

Have your opinions changed on how the shutdown was managed?

I remember:
The first time I wore a mask
The new lexicon (especially for people outside the medical field): social distancing, flatten the curve, PPE, R0, N95...
The taped Xs or squares for lining up outside businesses
The absolute quiet in the city
The aerial photograph of the deserted freeways in Los Angeles


Hindsight being so much easier than the uncertainty of how to keep a country safe in the light of what was happening in Italy and then in NYC, all I can say is I'm glad I wasn't in charge of trying to keep as many citizens alive as possible. I didn't and don't subscribe to the idea that herd immunity was the only way, and recall one person actually coming out and saying in essence (I can't remember word for word) that he was old, and to let the old people die so the young could live a normal life.

I remember thinking there was too much panic and not enought rationality. I remember people buying all the toilet paper and pasta they could find in the supermarket leaving nothing for others. I also remember thinking that we would end up with insane amounts of inflation when central banks started creating tons of currency so that people would be paid to stay home, and here we are now, precisely in that situation. I still wonder to this day, if the mesures to fight the ilness won't end up being worse that the ilness itself. We'll see.

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

I remember loving the silence and hoping that people would use their time in lockdown as a rare opportunity to reconnect with their inner selves and those they shared their space with.

I also remember feeling concerned for those stuck in destructive households (though this is so, also beyond times in lockdown!) and for the young and restless, to whom 3 years would seem too long a break from their dreams and ambitions. I hope that in hindsight, the later may view their time-out differently.

Humbly,
Hermit

 

[AnnaCzereda]

What do you think should have been done instead?

The measures should have been less restrictive and more appropriate to the danger. It has never been the disease with 30% or more mortality rate. During the first wave of Covid-19, which was dangerous mainly to the old and chronically sick people, the following safety measures would be sufficient:

- masks in crowded enclosed spaces,
- limit on customers in shops and audience in cinemas, theatres, museums, restaurants etc,
- quarantine imposed on sick people and those who had contact with them,
- regular testing of vulnerable people

That would be sufficient without the need to close everything down and making a large number of people unemployed. For medical experts health care could be a priority. The government should have other priorities as well, that is avoiding the economic crisis. It's extremely hard to care for your health if you remain without the means to live.

I don't know about the details of how your country handled the pandemic, but people in many countries, including mine, also lost their health (e.g., due to long COVID) or lives due to the pandemic. There were many severely sick people, including non-COVID patients, who couldn't access hospital beds because hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID, and medical staff were overworked to top it off. I have a relative who had a stroke months before the pandemic and needed to stay in the hospital for over a week. If they had suffered the stroke during the pandemic, they wouldn't have found a hospital bed and would have most likely died.

No, that wasn't my point. My government passed the law which allowed doctors to replace face to face visits with phone sessions. The result was that nobody, even seriously sick people, could consult a doctor, except for phone calls. The examinations and therapy sessions were cancelled, even for the patients with cancer. Mind it didn't apply specifically to quarantined people (such approach could be justified) but to everybody. And it looked like that only in the public health care. The private clinics functioned normally. I had to visit an allergologist because I had chronic and advanced hives. Without the access to the doctor, I remained without meds. So I went to the private clinic, paid cash and I could forget about covid. Hell, I didn't even have to wear a mask.

 

[Debater Slayer]

The measures should have been less restrictive and more appropriate to the danger. It has never been the disease with 30% or more mortality rate. During the first wave of Covid-19, which was dangerous mainly to the old and chronically sick people, the following safety measures would be sufficient:

- masks in crowded enclosed spaces,
- limit on customers in shops and audience in cinemas, theatres, museums, restaurants etc,
- quarantine imposed on sick people and those who had contact with them,
- regular testing of vulnerable people

That would be sufficient without the need to close everything down and making a large number of people unemployed. For medical experts health care could be a priority. The government should have other priorities as well, that is avoiding the economic crisis. It's extremely hard to care for your health if you remain without the means to live.

I don't know that the above would have been sufficient given that even a 1% fatality rate with such a contagious disease was enough to overwhelm hospitals in many countries. There are also many who didn't die but got sick enough to need hospitalization, placing stress on the medical system.

We now have the benefit of hindsight, but at the time, it was a novel disease whose characteristics, likelihood of long-term side effects, and fatality rate were not well-known. It's understandable that a lot of the responses to it at the beginning of the pandemic were particularly cautious.

It was also not easy to trace an infected person's contact with others at the start of the pandemic. I agree that the economic hit was extremely difficult, but I don't see this as a choice between the economic issues and a lack thereof. It was only a choice between two options that would have both been economically and medically difficult in different ways.

No, that wasn't my point. My government passed the law which allowed doctors to replace face to face visits with phone sessions. The result was that nobody, even seriously sick people, could consult a doctor, except for phone calls. The examinations and therapy sessions were cancelled, even for the patients with cancer. Mind it didn't apply specifically to quarantined people (such approach could be justified) but to everybody. And it looked like that only in the public health care. The private clinics functioned normally. I had to visit an allergologist because I had chronic and advanced hives. Without the access to the doctor, I remained without meds. So I went to the private clinic, paid cash and I could forget about covid. Hell, I didn't even have to wear a mask.

That sounds unfortunate and inconsistent, because they should have either made an exception for emergency care—which I believe would have been the most reasonable and humane approach—or imposed the restrictions on emergency care at private clinics too (which I would be against both for private and public clinics).

This is the kind of thing I meant when I said that I only had questions about specific implementations of lockdowns in some countries rather than the idea of lockdowns per se. There could have been a better way to implement them in some countries. I don't think governments should have entirely opened up as if nothing were happening, but I also don't remotely agree with the overly heavy-handed approaches that were taken by countries like China and, it seems, yours too.

 

[Vinayaka]

I remember life getting much quieter. I snuck out of the house once a week to get groceries.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The taped Xs or squares for lining up outside businesses

I remember...