I have very mixed feelings about the pandemic at the moment. We’re supposed to be on an ‘irreversible’ roadmap out of lockdown. But cases are just starting to rise again thanks to a new variant so it’s hard to feel completely confident in the relaxation, especially the most recent one on 17th May where you’re allowed to meet people inside. It reminds me of July last year when the pubs opened, or September last year where cases started to ride again, or December where some places were in Tier 2 despite cases rising – and those all went well didn’t they? Its sad because I felt very hopeful in April and being able to do things outside made me feel much better. I really struggled with my mental health in the January lockdown so being able to travel and see my family was euphoric. I would have been quite happy to stay in that stage of reopening for a bit longer until it was definitely safe. But now we seem to be going back to ‘common sense’, with people in some areas being ‘advised’ not to travel – it’s so frustrating. I wish the government had some guts and did things earlier instead of waiting for everything to get awful and then having to do a full lockdown. I’m not sure I could cope with a full lockdown again. All my medical care and normal mental health coping mechanisms stopped and it was awful. I can’t go there again.

Submitted 28 May 2021