AIBU to think this can't go on for a whole year??

[cola2019]

AIBU in thinking that this cannot go on for a year?? My husband seems to think that until there is a vaccine available life cannot go back to normal. I can't envisage not seeing my parents for a year (my dad has cancer so is currently in the sheilding group). He keeps telling me that I need to face up to the fact that we can't see our parents until they have been vaccinated. No shops, no bars, no events, no schools. Surely economically life will have to resume slowly we can't wait till 2021 surely. But as soon as lockdown is lifted and people start mixing then it will spike again.

Yes I realise this but we didn't lockdown until we developed a flu vaccine and it mutates all the time so it's not a hugely effective one. I just mean that we live with potentially a fatal, contagious things all the time and we do need to have a sense of proportion in this - we can't hide away from all contagious things forever. Unfortunately death is very much a fact of life. Luckily we are relatively shielded from it nowadays compared to the past so it feels more like something we can control. I don't want any more of my loved ones to die either, I've been fully complying with the lockdown and will continue until told otherwise, but the talk of lockdown til 2022 or whatever it was is just ridiculous. We take all sorts of risks every day and we have to a balance the risk of this too.

And by life going on as normal, I mean going back to work in jobs where social distancing is impossible. It is mainly the poor doing these jobs.

@TheGinGenie Except there were lock downs for flus. We quarantined people. We understood then that we needed to isolate the infected.

Well if they cant work for money for 2 years of course they might.
Or maybe my landlord will let me live in his house for free?
And the supermarket will give me free food?

But that's what we're doing now. I don't disagree with lockdown, it's just not realistic forever as people are worried about

Your husband is being extremely optimistic thinking a vaccine will have been not only developed (whether this is even possible is unknown), but also manufactured (billions of doses required), distributed (across the whole country/world) and administered (it was hard enough to get a GP appointment before this, imagine 66 mil of us trying to book in simultaneously!) in a years time.

Maybe flu was a bad example but I'm very tired

There may never be a safe vaccine.

I don't think the govt are any more concerned about death from Covid than death from other causes, and I don't think they are any less worried about the economic damage caused by lockdown than about the economic damage caused by letting the virus rage through society. The are looking at the overall impact on loss or life, society and the economy. It isn't at all clear that one approach favours one of those priorities and one another. It is a delicate balance and the tipping point will change over time.

There are people on here who want us all to lock down until and if a vaccine is found, and there are those who want to reopen everything tomorrow. Neither of those options will be the best for either health or the economy, and neither will happen. This false complete opposition people have set up between health and economy is not genuine and will not be part of any decision making process.

@thegingenie. So people who are vulnerable and work in jobs where you can't socially distance just have to risk dying?
And this will be mainly poorer people.
And few will give a shit. The news will just reassure healthy people that these people had underlying conditions.
And we will be told that class has nothing to do with this when in reality it has everything to do with it.

@DrManhattan

What I don't understand is why this hasn't been more of a 'thing' anyway. Cheaper for employers, better for the environment, often more family friendly etc. It seems strange to me that companies are only just getting on board with it now that they have to. I guess it's a bit like the swap from single use grocery bags to Bags For Life - people just don't like change, even if it could be for the better.

@Inkpaperstars Lets not pretend. The government do not give a shit about old and disabled people dying. They do care about the economy. They were quite happy for several hundred thousand to die until they did a u turn because of public pressure.

You know that's not what I meant. A lot of people who can't socially distance are already still in work and are dying. But a lot of poor people will also die by not being allowed back to work too. I work in debt and benefit advice, our numbers are rocketing because people are out of work and struggling to survive already. This will only increase further. There will be a point where this is not sustainable.

@Pickles89 Because you can't micro manage poorer staff working from home. Many employers do not want poorer paid staff to work from home ever.

@TheGinGenie I know a lot of vulnerable key workers are in work, and they are largely the ones dying.

If schools go back in June which I doubt then that's the end of social distancing. You can't do it in a school. Is,it really going to be worthwhile doing social distancing if children, teachers, other staff, parents and grandparents are all mixing?
I really don't think this will go on for a year, how can it? The economy will be screwed and let's face it, other countries have gone back to some type of normal. I can see some places not going back until Christmas but don't think it'll be any longer.

Ha you absolutely can micromanage from
home - there's all sorts of horror stories out there

the economy needs to take priority

Really? Priority over people’s lives? I’m sure people that have lost a loved one to this virus would think differently.

You're not wrong, but why ever would the the powers that be suddenly start prioritising people's lives over the economy now when they haven't ever bothered before? Money is always more important to the government than the genuine welfare of the people. If anybody disbelieves me, just look at how much harsher sentences people get for non-violent financial crime (and I'm not talking about scamming individuals) than many rapists, abusers and even murderers get.

@Rosebel My kids are nt going back. But who I worry about are vulnerable school staff.

I assume that there will be a slow relaxation of some restrictions. Luckily we are behind other European countries so can see what happens there. It would be likely that we would see an increase to the amount of manufacturing that starts up again, non essential shops starting up all with social distancing measures. Office workers I think will be encouraged to be home based for a long time yet. - I doubt that home working will be encouraged permanently for many reasons. I suspect schools will go back (at least primary) after half term knowing that they will be back short term before the summer hols.

But I suspect mass gatherings like sports events, large concerts will take quite a time to come back, I’ve seen one American commentator mentioning late 2021 but I think this would be very worse case scenario. Pubs etc I can see closed for a good few months yet. How would social distancing be enforced?

What happens with the shielded group is so difficult. I’ve seen some research today saying that genetic factors have a massive impact on how the disease takes hold. There might be some testing round this
To free up some of the shielded groups.

Unfortunately someone at some point is going to have to make a decision on how many more deaths from COVID are palatable in order to save the economy (and lives that would otherwise be lost through collateral damage focusing on COVID 19).

Of course it can, you are being ridiculous. It will take as long as it takes.

@TheGinGenie Okay I stand corrected. But I have certainly come across management who think anyone working from home would be automatically skiving and so who don't allow it.
My DP is working from home and I know will have to go back as soon as lock down is over. I am in the shielded group so will have to sleep separately and try and socially distance in the house.

I really don’t know what the answer is and can’t teally think straight tonight .
I know personally 8 people who have died of this ... 6 were under 50 ...

Not all of these people are in the same at a so it’s nit the same infection cluster so to me it seems just absolutely everywhere ...

What of those who have outpatient appointments as I have and a desperate need to see relatives, who are in the hospital as my young adult son is. This seems to be hardly mentioned at all as to when hospital services will resume. The 'talk' feels very school centric

Surely once the hospitals as they must do, eventually open the doors the whole thing starts up again then another spike happens. We cannot continue this forever. People need health care other than Covid 19. I am in a vulnerable group but I would take my chances to see my child. who actually picked the virus up whilst an inpatient in hospital. It feels like a damned if you do and a damned if you don't scenario. vaccines seem a long way off and a bit of a shambolic attempt to create one in all honesty. It feels like no one has a clear steer on the numerous

hospital scenarios

Same area .. sorry so many typos in that .. can’t think straight and clearly not type either .