COVID Anxiety

If you mean it'll never go away...well that depends on the definitions of "never" and "go away"....they'll develop better vaccines, but I don't think it'll ever truly disappear. Shrink to an inconvenience, probably...Enough people haven't died yet...CQ mentioned the Spanish Flu of 1918...there was a TV show on it a few months back...despite the millions yes millions who died of it, its like it never happened..

Soon it will be decided that we will all have to live with this virus in our daily lives with the necessary precautions and health advisories. How this will look, well that is another matter

My hat's off to you CruiseQueenNH! Thanks for what you and your Mom do and know that those of us with loved ones in your care (or in similar care elsewhere) appreciate every precaution you take.

I will say I miss the early parts of the pandemic where people were only leaving the house for essential things, leaving the roads nice and empty for those of us that work out here to do our thing.

Main stress right now is from the minority screaming that cruises need to stop. I need a vacation.

I have enjoyed the social spacing... But can do without the rest of the crap.

The pandemic have different effects on us. I do think that majority of the people here experience some kind of mental health issue because of what's currently happening.

Thanks! I figured if I have to be stuck in masks, I minus well have some fun with it! I also have masks that match movies, my favorite being a "Hocus Pocus" inspired mask. I work in a town near where the movie was filmed, so last year for Halloween, I dressed as Binx, the talking cat from the movie and wore a mask that said "I Put A Spell On You", which is sung by Bette Midler in the movie.

I have a Snoopy mask that I wear for Halloween too. It's black with different colored skulls and skeletons on it, all in the shape of Snoopy, so that I don't scare our Memory Care folks. I also have one that has spider webs on it.

I love Paris (and it's my dream to go there) so I have one mask of Fleur De Lis and another of the Eiffel Tower.

I also dressed as the Easter Bunny and drew a bunny nose and whiskers on my mask. When this whole thing started, we had a "Superheroes" week, so I dressed as "Supergirl" (complete with cape) and drew the "Superman" symbol on my mask!

For our patriotic holidays, I have one that I got a Walmart that says "We The People" with the American Flag in the background. It was made by veterans and all the proceeds go towards an organization to help veterans.

I just think the Memory Care folks might be a little scared not seeing smiling faces, so I took a selfie one day and scanned the photo into my computer. I made myself a badge with the picture on it and underneath, it says "I'm smiling under my mask". That way, the residents can see a smile, even if it's just a picture.

Thats incredible CQ...it makes me ashamed to admit I gripe about merely having to go back to mask wearing...when you read what some folks have to go thru just to get from one day to the next well...God bless.....

Because I'm on the front lines in a nursing home, it's caused me more stress than anything. I'm the Assistant Director of Recreation, and there's all kinds of ever-changing rules to abide by. I'm also scared that I could contract it and give it to the residents: if I get it, I'll probably be fine since I'm young with no underlying conditions. If I give it to the residents, someone will die.

I'm also scared of bringing it home. My mom is a fellow frontliner in a hospital who has an immunocompromised boss. If I catch COVID and pass it to her, she can pass it to him and he may die. My dad is also immunocompromised and if I pass it to him, he could die.

Luckily, we have a plan in place, should someone be exposed to or diagnosed with COVID. We all had our shots, but every time we have a positive at work and we get sent back to lockdown, I text my mom and see how she feels about me having to isolate. If she says she's comfortable, I don't isolate, but if she says that she would feel more comfortable with me in isolation, I go to my room and binge watch Disney+ (hello, "Hamilton"!). She then brings me my food and beverages and leaves them at my door, just like a dog! And I will keep doing that until I get my test results back from work.

Even though my entire house is vaccinated, we still wear our masks. I've even started to have fun with it and have one to match every special even at work, every holiday, and even my passions. Since I can't wear them at work, I take selfies of myself in my mask and show the residents. Examples of what I've done:

"Star Wars Day" (May 4th): I dressed as Baby Yoda (complete with Yoda ears) and wore a Baby Yoda mask that says "Stay back you must!". I even incorporated this into a trivia I was working on for the event, I asked the residents "Who is featured on my shirt?" (Answer: Baby Yoda)

"Anniversary of Disneyland": I got a mask with "Cinderella's Castle" on it and dressed as Annette Funicello when she was a Mouseketeer. I even wrote a trivia to go along with this event.

"Mickey's Birthday": TBD, but I have a mask with Mickey on the front.

Halloween: I have a Minnie Mouse costume complete with a matching Minnie mask.

Ukulele: I have a mask in the mail that has a picture of a guitar and a ukulele on it. The guitar says to the ukulele "Uke, I am your father!" and the ukulele says "NOOOO!"

Cruising: I have one that has a ship on it and looks like a cell phone. On the bottom are the "Answer" and "Decline" buttons. On top it says "Cruise ship calling and I must go!"

Sign Language: I have a mask on right now that says *in fingerspelling* "Say hi" and *in English* "I'm learning and I need to practice!" It goes with my shirt that says "*in English* What part of *in fingerspelling* "Sign Language" *in English* don't you understand?"

I even got all the sports teams involved: my Mom sews masks and I had her make one for me with all the local sports teams on it. I'm from the Boston area, so it has the "B" on it, but hidden on it are the logos for the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox". I even made an activity out of it: the residents have to identify all the logos they see on the mask. I asked her to make a matching shirt that has all the mascots of all the teams, and the residents not only have to identify the mascot, but they have to tell me what they all have in common (they're all wearing their championship rings)

Yes dear heart...THAT is something quite real to get anxious about. makes some of the other stuff merely annoyances.....