I have decided to write a weekly diary of our time through the Coronavirus pandemic. To keep for the future. It’s such an unprecedented time and full of so many mixed feelings and events we have never encountered before it is hard to process it all.
21st April
I haven’t written any daily content this week, I have to admit that towards the end of this week I’ve struggled a bit. We all knew lockdown was going to be extended and that it needed to be extended, our daily death counts are still so very high. But knowing it and the reality of it being announced are two very different things.
There doesn’t seem to be an end point and as a planner I find this hard. We don’t know how long we have to manage with life like this.
From last week’s press conference I think the words ‘at least’ were a warning to us all too, as in there’s a good chance it might be extended beyond that. There is so much speculation in the media and online about when schools are going to open again it’s stressful. Some people are adamant it has to be May, others think it’s more likely to be June or September. I know it’s such a fine balance between people’s lives and the economy, but I am also scared about the consequences on if it being too early.
For me, I think I would rather the government just say it probably will be September. I think then I can get my head around it, accept, plan and move on.
The government has said that there are 5 things that need to happen before they can ease lockdown. Which are:
- Confidence that the NHS can still provide sufficient critical care and specialist treatment across the UK
- The need to see a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate to be confident we are beyond the peak
- Reliable data from SAGE that the infection rate has decreased to manageable levels
- Testing capacity and PPE is in hand to meet supply for future demand
- Not risk a second peak of infection that overwhelms the NHS
We’re definitely not there at the moment. Will we be there in 3 weeks, who knows? Personally I don’t think sending the children back in May would be a good idea. It’s too soon and I think my husband and I would have a big discussion as to whether we would send out children to school at that point if that was what was announced. Especially as 3 of us are asthmatic. But it’s just a waiting game for us all.
Aria, my youngest who will be 6 next month has been quite emotional this past week. We’ve had tears at bedtime and in the night. My husband and I try not to talk too much about things in front of the children, but at the same time I also think it’s important for them to know what is going on at a basic level.
Today marks back to home schooling after the two week Easter holidays. We are also embarking on our 6th week at home. It’s been a tough start back into school work today, we were doing ok before the holidays, but the transition back again has been tricky. I am hoping it will get easier as we get back into it.
I’ve started planning for Aria’s birthday. It’s on the 21st May and I think there is a very good chance most places are still going to be closed. So I am arranging gifts online and planning a family based party at home. It will be what I can make of it I guess.
This week we have all got into friendship bracelet making. Learning to make them by hand which is something I used to do when I was a girl. It’s quite therapeutic. We’ve all been making them and making them to post and send to people too, to let them know we’re thinking of them. It’s actually been fun in a simple way. My husband and I also cleaned out some of the kitchen cupboards and rearranged Bo’s bedroom. Being productive like that is definitely helping to get through.
Life is bit hard for everyone right now. Yeah we don’t know how long we have to manage with life like this. How many days will this continue. Hope GOD help us and this will end soon.
I think we are best to plan ahead just now for things like birthdays, everything is taking that bit longer and we don’t really know what will happen going forward. Right now it is the little things and there are lots we can do to help ourselves and protect our families. I hope coming out of this, we remember the small things xx