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.

We develop better treatments. We develop a vaccine. It is not about the virus going away. Ebola has not gone away but we now have a vaccine.

Thank you CoffeerevelLove

Thanks for the reassurances, but when can I see my son? I am not being selfish as I am in the vulnerable high-risk group for Covid 19. I don't care if I get it. I need to see my son who was near death in November The impact of the lockdown is torturing some of us and that' includes the worry of jobs. mortgages, domestic violence, etc, etc.

I would rather take my chances personally carrying a bucket load of hand sanitiser, poking anyone who gets too near with a big stick and dress like a Halloween mummy than continue in this way,

We will be somewhere halfway between where we are at present and "normal"

International tourism and large scale events are highly unlikely to be normal.

Retail is adapting quickly. Broader healthcare is getting to a position of providing essential treatment, but less critical departments will remain seconded for now.

Education, and the service industry are somewhere in between.

Knowledge about the virus will improve. People who have recovered from the virus will have some immunity reducing the blank canvas of spread. The resources for testing and contact tracing are rapidly being developed.

Other European countries are easing their restrictions in the near future. I anticipate that we will have a few weeks lag in observing their methods and the impact and we will adapt accordingly.

Regarding a vaccine. It won’t have been tested properly. Currently it is being tested on well people with no underlying conditions. Would you take it next year? Initially I thought I would. Now I’m not sure.

@coffeeandbeans that is scaremongering with no evidence. And yes once it has been tested I will have it.

I think people are confusing social distancing with lockdown. So whilst lockdown measures - which include school closures, ship closures, bans on mixing households etc - are expected to be relaxed from next month, social distancing - not visiting people with COVID symptoms, staying 2m apart in the supermarket, working from home where possible - will be in place for a year. And TBH I think we can handle that - I am personally enjoying the lack of space invaders and neck breathers in public!

Schools I believe will have to go back to normal this year (not academic year necessarily, just some point before Christmas) - the lack of consistency that’s been discussed on many threads here can’t continue.

Testing will increase, shops etc will still have social distancing measures in place.

It wouldn’t surprise me if many companies closed offices after this and had more people working from home permanently.

Things will go back to normal. A vaccine may not even work. Stands a high chance yes, but we won’t be like this forever. We will learn treatments, testing will become available so that people don’t have to have two weeks off every time they develop a cough or a temperature, and as a society we will live with it under more control. Lockdowns are trying to bring it under control so that we can carry on.

@GlummyMcGlummerson I am not confusing them. I know social distancing is impossible in schools unless they have small numbers in. So I know I will be told that is what schools are doing, it it will be a lie.

@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.

I don't know. I am not sure that is what happened. I think until really quite late into this thing, people still doubted how much it would spread here. Once they saw the maths on how many would be infected they realised the economic impact of not locking down was also severe, quite possibly more severe than the economic impact of lockdown.

But as I say, I don't know. I could have saved myself a lot of time recently by just leaving all my comments at that

@inkpaperstars I really respect your honesty.
People have been commenting on MN for a while about what was going to happen. WHO were giving out warnings, and other governments were giving warnings and facts. Once it spread to Italy it was obvious it was going to come here.

I think people are confusing social distancing with lockdown. So whilst lockdown measures - which include school closures, ship closures, bans on mixing households etc - are expected to be relaxed from next month, social distancing - not visiting people with COVID symptoms, staying 2m apart in the supermarket, working from home where possible - will be in place for a year. And TBH I think we can handle that - I am personally enjoying the lack of space invaders and neck breathers in public!

I think this is true in part. I was listening to an 'expert' on the radio who said airports and planes were already hotspots for infection so he expected air travel to change and one way that will happen, is that people won't travel as much as they did before.

Face masks are expected to become compulsary and pubs will stay closed for longer (as alcohol inhibits people and social distancing won't be maintained).

Some universities have already announced that they will resume in November instead of the end of September/October and it will be a mix of home learning and lectures. School won't open until at least September and then there is talk of school at staggered days and times such as each class attends for half a day once a week, which for large schools would be impractical so they may have to remain closed.

Childcare facilities expect to remain closed for obvious reasons (toddlers and social distance do not mix) and although there was talk (probably hope) of them being opened again, the Gov have said instead that healthcare workers who cannot find childcare can stay at home on paid leave.

I'm in Ireland and the Irish Gov. have taken CV19 more seriously from the start so much of the above probably won't apply to the UK.

I also think things will change markedly when there's an effective therapeutic, which will probably (or at least very possibly) happen before there's a vaccine.

If you know that there's an effective treatment, then the concern about getting the disease is lowered enormously. If it can shorten hospital stays, then distancing won't be necessary to stop hospitals from being overwhelmed; if it can reduce mortality then people will be much less worried about catching it.

Imagine if there were no vaccine but there was medicine that lowered mortality in those in their 70s from around 7% to around .07% and that meant only an overnight in the hospital. Things would go back quickly.

*I meant alcohol lowers inhibitions obv

@thescoolonthehill Why schools open but not universities from September? That makes no sense. Adults are much better at social distancing than children.

I can't be doing with people.who say they will have a breakdown and are very depressed about the lock down, and will be more so,of it carries on any longer. The people who have had deaths in their families,not been able to see a dying family member. not being able to go to a funeral, these are the people who might have a breakdown and suffer for a long time to come.

You have to try and trust all the powers that be, who have to decided what the safest things are to do this year.

Schools are currently off and Irish schools break up for the summer at the end of June. It is generally accepted that they will not return until at least September.

They haven't said that schools will open in September. Right now, there are all sorts of ideas springing up about taking a certain number of children from each classroom into school for half a day. This was one idea bounced around by the Minister of Health. Logistically this would not be possible in large schools (many city schools have four classes of thirty kids per each year) and one half day in school once a fortnight would be completely pointless and probably even more unsettling for the children. His idea was pretty much shot down.
Like everyone, I guess we are waiting to see how other countries who are easing restrictions will cope. We had a further thirty one deaths today and the Taoiseach (PM) announced the numbers were far too high to consider easing restrictions.

The President of one university (NUIG) sent an email to their students this week saying there would be big changes in the next academic year. Instead of starting on Sept 1st, they will now start in November and will commence with a blend of in class and online learning. NUIG is one of the main universities and one has to assume the others will do likewise.

@cantory the Ebola vaccine toon 4 years to be ready, even on rush through regulations. That is partially due to the difficulty and ethics around testing I imagine though!

You won't see them at all if they're dead so.........💁🏻‍♀️

That's our reality. I think lockdowns will be lifted in the next month or so but normal life is a long way off. And there's no reason you can't see your parents. Go and see them, stand in the garden and chat to them through the window.

@cantory it isn’t scaremongering. Vaccines take years to be properly tested. I’m from the generation where my mother was offered thalidomide for morning sickness. I also have a nephew who received damages from the NHS as a result of the flu vaccine.

Shielded group will have to avoid others until a vaccine is found. No real way of enforcing this so I’m imagining some will break the rules and sadly pay the price.

Rest of us will be encouraged to socially distance until vaccine becomes available. I don’t think pubs, restaurants and such will reopen anytime soon. Shops probably will but with social distance measures put in place.

Schools won’t be back until at least September now. Lockdown will be extended for a further three weeks at least, possibly more. We should have had a stricter lockdown from the start, the government were too soft.

I love it when people state their opinion as fact.

YANBU.

What NO one seems to be factoring in, is that the long term mental health implications from this are going to be absolutely massive on so many different levels. It quite honestly can’t carry on the way it is just now.

This is what’s going to swamp the health service, all be it in a different way, once the ventilators aren’t needed any more. And there will be many, many more people suffering with the aftetmarth.

At the very least, there's been progress with drugs to reduce the effect of covid on the body. If that reduces the death rate to that of flu, then I imagine things will return to normal sooner than waiting for a vaccine

@VoodooDonut Yes people keep saying that, except mental health professionals. Those who actually work in mental health say they have seen a rise in general anxiety and depression, which is not surprising, but that some people they work with with more serious mental health issues have actually improved.
The general anxiety and depression is what is used to be called reactive, which means as soon as things improve, their anxiety and depression will go. For a lot of people it is the unknown aspect that is hardest. Once they know when lock down is going to end and if they have a job or not, a lot will improve.
There will probably be a rise in mental health issues though amongst care workers and medics who are having to cope with a high percentage of people they support dying and some of their colleagues being very ill or dying. They are the group at risk.