the Seikens Board

Hey... How did you guys handle the situation?
What happened for you the last six months?
Are you guys okay?

Here in The Netherlands COVID-19 is real. But somehow not in my family, relatives or colleagues at work.
It seems like something is out there, but just not for me.
So we follow the guidelines and nothing happens.

I was sent home by my colleagues from work, overstrained in the first week of March of this year to get some rest.
Then the schools closed due to COVID-19 and instead of needed rest I got to take care of three kids and homeschool them.
This caused a severe burn-out.

Then my mother-in-law passed away unexpectedly after a sickbed of only 3 weeks (cancer), I had to take place in conversations about euthanasia of my own father (dementia), my brother had a fire at his place and lived with my family for 2 weeks with his dogs (and we already live with 2 adults and 3 young kids), our 2 week holiday consisted of remodelling the attic into a bedroom, and we had euthanize our cat due to complications.
So I got depressed.

Things are starting to get better now since two weeks, but this has been the worst period of my life.

How are things for you guys?

Nothing good has happened this year. The hysteria around this virus has caused more damage than the actual illness ever could. Your year sounds absolutely horrific and you have my sympathies.

Thank you kind sir.
And again, although I think we must take this international pandemic serious, the hysteria around it has caused more damage than the illness itself.

But hey, you can tell us about your (bad) experiences from this year as well!

I'm not much of a social person to begin with, I never really thought getting smashed at a bar in a vain attempt to pick up women was my idea of a good time, so I somehow managed to avoid getting infected or even exposed. So I was with all the introverts and gamers when "lockdowns" (1) were announced: I'm staying home anyway, so I'm cool with it.

I'm not sure what pisses me off more: people who post conspiracy theories on Facebook/4chan/Parler/whatever, people who protest public health measures because of said conspiracy theories, law enforcement and businesses who openly refuse to do anything remotely useful, or political leaders who actively make things worse. The amount of "F*** you, I got mine" in the US, 75 million voters' worth, is enough for me to seriously consider emigrating as soon as this country is no longer on "do not allow visitors" lists. A handful of brown people kill 3000 people in about a day and we bomb 2 countries into the 19th century; at least that many people die within a week in this country alone, and millions decide to travel the holidays and potentially spread the cause to millions more.

I probably seem angry and bitter, and it's because there's a little of that in me since March. You see, I live with my mom who is almost 80 years old, so she is high risk. The last thing I want is to bring this damn virus home to her and in all likelihood getting her killed. Heck, a severe flu or pneumonia could be a death sentence for either of us because this winter spike is leading to even more reduction in hospital capacity than the spike earlier this year. There are people in my community who think this is all a hoax somehow designed to bring down their new god, our sheriff says he won't do any enforcement of public health orders from the governor, it's like there are a lot of people who want people like me and my mom to die so they can have a running economy complete with restaurants, gyms, and hair salons. So I hope you'll forgive me if I look at someone who says wearing a piece of cloth over his/her face is an infringement of their "freedom", and I think, "Yeah, your 'freedom' to spray potentially infectious particles on me".

We'll probably have to do what public health workers did in Africa during the worst of the ebola epidemic: State as a matter of fact that this thing is real, that it doesn't care who you are or how good a person you are, and that we're doing the best we can to keep it from killing us. With a guy desperate to stay out of prison and in power leading us, we will never get that, let alone so much of the things we need to actually get this under control. I mean, the FDA will probably approve the Pfizer vaccine, but are we actually ready to deploy it? I'll believe it when I see it.

On the brighter side, I now have bona fide additive manufacturing experience from cranking out over a hundred face shield frames on 2 3D printers. Maybe I can talk my way into Prusa or E3D if they'll take me.

(1) "Lockdowns" in quotes because no one bothered to enforce them-- no community in the US ever issued a general lockdown order the way the Taiwanese did to great effect.

Kefka wrote: ↑Thu Dec 10, 2020 1:26 amBut hey, you can tell us about your (bad) experiences from this year as well!

As far as personal experiences go there's not much to say, in all honesty. Been working from home and social distancing sensibly. All my older relatives are already dead so I have no concerns about that. I have little reason to worry about getting sick myself. I worry for for the economic and emotional toll that the social situation is having on everyone else.