#isstill

Like 500k other people in the UK, (Google) I am still living in part isolation/shielding with no end in sight. For people like me, lockdown never really ended because society dropped all precautionary measures.

Immunocompromised means that, due to a specific health condition, or because they receive certain treatments, they have a weakened (compromised) or impaired (suppressed) immune system. (Google) With Cerebral Palsy, (a health condition) my day-to-day immunity functioning is difficult.

Thousands are struggling with Covid, with Long-Covid

It’s not right or fair that we are being singled out in this way. There are thousands of people struggling and/or suffering with Covid, with long-covid or indirectly because they are high risk. What is disconcerting is that it was allowed to happened on such a large scale, it's still out there and it's still being ignored by the UK Government.

I manage walks, and if the weather is okay, I'll mask up and head over to a local coffee shop, but won't sit inside. It is no life, but without small concessions, I would be permanently locked in my home.

The WHO is still tracking Covid (new variants)

So, Covid is still out there. The WHO is closely tracking with interest one variant (VO1), XBB.1.5 and six other variants, BQ.1, BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16. (Source: https://www.business-standard.com/)

Charities and individuals continue to campaign

Charities and individuals have campaigned for over three years to get the UK government to change their stance on lifting all precautionary measures. There are also no precautionary measures in hospitals. It should be mandatory for patients and medical staff alike to mask up, so that the clinically vulnerable are protected. In care homes also.

There are still many high risk and vulnerable people out there who need the wider population to protect them. People are still dying from Covid because people are following policies that are causing harm.

Although the restrictions have been lifted in the UK, Covid is still a force to be reckoned with, because although it is massively reduced, it hasn’t gone and is now continuing to spread, according to new stats coming out in the UK. There are 3,264 new cases in Bristol. (Source: Twitter.com)

Trying to navigate my own life with restrictions that have been lifted, continues to be a work in progress for me. Going for walks makes for less anxious times thankfully, I have managed to go to two shops, but it’s still a ‘no’ to restaurants, coffee shops, bars, theatres, or cinemas.

It would be foolhardy to think the virus doesn’t exist, or to think we don’t need to wear masks in public spaces. Whilst I understand some of us are done with the precautionary measures, you have to remember, the virus isn’t done with ‘you.’

While the consensus is we don’t care if we catch the virus, so long as we get our lives back, there are still those people who are vulnerable and high risk, and who have more to lose if they were to catch the virus.

For those of us who are vulnerable, life is very different now. It’s got to the point, where wearing a mask out, means getting some of our ‘normal’ back. I am now in a drip, drip, situation which is giving me time to figure things out, without feeling pressured, or living with fear induced anxiety.

It is important to start making different choices about how we life our lives moving forward, so that we can all stay safe. This is different from what has been the ‘norm,’ but it’s one that helps us all get back into our lives comfortably.

Into the third year of Covid-19, I now feel I can tackle the grocery store with a mask and visor on, but I need to think about timing, when I go.