2021 having low approval rating so far

Lindsay Green from Santa Monica says what’s going on with this pandemic and her inability to get EDD checks is frightening and scary.

When the New Year’s countdown began in LA’s Grand Park and the ball dropped In New York’s Times Square ushering in 2021, Green had high hopes.

She even went to the beach and then enjoyed some snow to get a fresh start, but this out-of-work travel agent’s optimism was quickly dashed. Green, who has struggled after losing her job at a travel agency, says "I haven’t received any of my unemployment benefits since December 13. And I’ve worked every day hours on end trying to rectify this."

Unemployment is now worse than in 2020. FOX 11 Viewer Debbie Thiess says "It’s rapidly becoming worse than 2020."

Another viewer Frank Sequal says, "This year is already sucking big time, just like 2020 and perhaps worse. Not being pessimistic but realistic."

So far in 2021, COVID-19 is worse. Hospitals are packed. ICU beds are few. Viewer Walter Munoz told us he got the coronavirus right after New Year's Day saying, "It has been a full week now and I miss hugging my kids, I miss hugging my wife... The first three days were hell."

COVID-19 has taken a turn for the worse in the homeless community. Andy Bales runs the Union Rescue Mission.

Bales says, "It has proven to be tougher than 2020. we are right now battling COVID-19 in our building. More than two-thirds of our Rescue Mission is under quarantine."

A new virulent strain of the virus showed up in 2020, affecting more kids. So far, no relief for restaurant owners, shop owners or business people up and down the spectrum.

Vaccine distribution has been slower than expected. We still can’t go to weddings or funerals without anxiety.

On top of that, we lost the Rose Parade!

"And, we haven’t found anything to replace those losses with," says psychotherapist Lynn Ianni. She says her clients are struggling worse in 2021.

Says Ianni, "The levels of anxiety and depression and grief have escalated beyond anything I’ve ever known in people I know, myself, family friends, my clients... it’s pervasive and it’s universal and that’s different."

Ianni goes on to say, "It’s more an escalation of any symptoms or experiences that people have struggled with in the past are now at an 11, so their coping strategies almost like their reserves of adrenal support... have been depleted over and over again and people are holding on by a thread and that’s different."

That’s not to say that some who took a tour down the rabbit hole in 2020 aren’t feeling somewhat better. Some are, according to Psychotherapist John Tsilimparis. He says, "I think they’ve developed a thicker skin after such a long year of adapting. Remember the survival of the fittest is not the smartest or the strongest but the ones who adapt well."

Meanwhile, FOX 11 Viewer Ronny Paredes says "I’m already waiting for 2022."

Meanwhile, Lindsay Green says she’s exhausted. Says the Santa Monica woman, "I hope things will rectify soon and 2021 will continue to be the year I wanted it to be. I just want to return to work."

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