To think life will be pretty much normal by early 2021?

[itsaweddingone]

I hope we are! A colleague said today (he has no extra knowledge or info) that he can't see us being back in the office before 2021.

Do you think Covid will be mostly behind us by then or we will still be living with restrictions?

I don't think it will be normal. I think we will be able to do most things (go shopping, restaurants, holidays etc) but in a different way and with precautions.

This seems balanced.

I remember the faff at having to separate liquids before airport security. Presumably many will remember being able to smoke on planes and just having a quick walk through the metal detector.

The world is changing around us all the time. We will have to live with some new processes for the long haul, but anyone who thinks that will mean not seeing family and friends without social distancing is hysterical at best.

My partner has a pub, he cant see it opening till December.
I hope by oct, the worst will be over and a new normal will be atleast in place..

Oh God, yes. Looking back it seems incredible that we could smoke on planes. And the liquids, electronics etc just feels so normal it's hard to remember when we didn't do it. I remember hating wearing a seatbelt in the back but we got used to it. And as for all the fuss over wearing a condom in the late 80's!!

Things change and we do slowly forget how it used to be.

Even the idea of meeting up with someone you met at a bus stop knowing nothing about them instead of stalking them on the internet first feels so dangerous.

Bloody Hell.

2021????? I need things to be back to normal long before that. So do my children, if they still want to have a mother at the end of it.

I can't see things being anything resembling normal for a very long time. Unless the government (any government) is prepared to allow us to individually make an adult decision about the risks and live accordingly. Don't see any evidence of that happening.

All I would say people is prepare for a very low-key Christmas - get in all you might need if we have a lull in August/September before the flu season starts and strict lockdown occurs. We already have our logs stored for the coming winter, as well as coal and firelighters.

I’m taking a punt on at least summer 2021 as when our August holiday this year was cancelled, we were advised by both the holiday company and insurance not to rebook until at least Sept 2021.

I think we'll see some positive (as in ) numbers this summer, particularly if it is hot and humid. (I am watching the studies about COVID, heat, humidity and UV light with interest.)
I think there might be a collective sigh of relief in July.
I predict people will get anxious again in the fall, with school returning, even if numbers remain good - because their kids are involved. Hoping the hot weather will remain.

I'm feeling optimistic about October too - but I don't know why. So many factors at play. I don't think it will be normal, but I think we'll have made some strides and feel more comfortable with the dance we're doing with this virus. Also, the kids will have probably settled into a routine by then, which is vastly helpful.

I also read this today, which made me do a happy dance:
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/18/coronavirus-vaccine-first-results/

Hope in a vial...

Ive just heard DH's board discussing the fact that they expect offices to be at least half the size going forwards and that working from home will be the norm now. Its very expensive for them to make adaptations to offices and so they don't want people back in.

That said, we desperately need the economy to get going again or we will have thousands of job losses.

If only people would behave themselves and distance properly and wear masks etc we could get things moving again.

I wish I had your optimism. By then, I think we'll be only at the tip of the iceberg of realising the long-term health consequences of Covid. So yy if by normal you mean places will have opened up again then I think that will happen in 2021.
But people will be living with the repercussions of this for much longer and that will mean a new 'normal' for them, and for us as a country in regards to impact on resources and services.

What's the point in living if we can't live freely and be with people?

To protect the weak and the vulnerable. Or do we just throw them under a bus?

And despite the Dementors - Christmas will not be cancelled and people will be giddy with relief at New Years. Goodbye, the throwaway year that was 2020!

I actually think the holidays will be more joyous and meaningful for many, many people than ever before.

@Truthpact fingers crossed for you. A lot can change in a year! Last year we could never have imagined this lot.

I hope really hope so too, but I doubt it's realistic. Unless someone comes up with a viable vaccine that gets produced in large enough numbers to be given to enough people by the end of this year, we're maybe talking late 2021 for anything like normality - I guess by next summer, even in absence of a vaccine, we'll have worked out more stuff, adjusted to doing more outside (one thing that does seem to be getting clearer is that it's pretty hard to get infected outdoors with social distancing) and so on.

I have resigned myself to there not being much change this calendar year, TBH, and it helps to remind onesself that these things are not just applying to you, but to everyone. I think they'll find ways to get kids in school at least part time from Sept, maybe some kind of limited booking-only arrangement for restaurants. I'm not commuting into central London, so I'm not going into my office this year (not scared of the virus, I want to hurry up and get it over with, I just don't want to give it to loads of other people when I do!). I don't think me or my kids will be getting closer than 2m to my parents, we won't be leaving the UK, and long walks are basically going to be our only entertainment outside the house for the foreseeable. But, as I said, it'll be everyone.

I mean, it would be nice if they can work out how to do cinemas, galleries and museums safely, by autumn, but not getting my hopes up!

I think we need to be mindful that although things seem positive as restrictions are lifted or modified it is not always a sign of things returning to normal. It is very much a test, and we will only know if its ok looking at the numbers of new infections

Yes, Hysteria is right - some things may get restricted again. Which is one reason not to start lifting things yet, the clearer we can get things before doing so, the better.

I suppose there's a best case scenario where there won't be any sort of second peak or a vaccine will be ready in September then there's a worst case scenario where this could go on in one form or another for a couple of years if not more. The reality could be anything along a spectrum between those two points, I imagine!!

I think there will be much more working from home. I think schools, colleges and universities will do a mixture of school and home learning.

I don't see foreign holidays happening until next year (and even if its sooner, do we really all want to travel en masse?)

I don't see theatres and concerts happening until at least later in the year and again it will be very different.

Pubs and restaurants will open in the autumn 2020 I reckon.

I remember the faff at having to separate liquids before airport security. Presumably many will remember being able to smoke on planes and just having a quick walk through the metal detector.

I remember the times without the meta detectors when we could wait outside in a balcony and wave passengers as they passed under the balcony and while the plane was arriving or taking off, who cared if we lost a bit of our hearing, we always wanted to be at the balcony

We have frozen tickets in the west end for end of March so fingers crossed!

To protect the weak and the vulnerable. Or do we just throw them under a bus?

I am not weak or vulnerable in the way that I think you mean it, @LemonPudding, in that I'm not old and I don't have any physical illness. I'm certainly being thrown under a bus, though, by this bastarding lockdown. Why is that less important?

Being a miserable pessimistic fucker doesn't increase your COVID-19 survival chances or get you magical brownie points. There's nothing wrong with being optimistic and focusing on the future

Best anti dementor post I’ve seen.

Again, though, this thread is one of those Mystic Meg ones (people reading stuff in their tea-leaves, or consulting their horoscopes). None of us knows what will actually happen.

By early 2021 we will be feeling the effects of a no-deal Brexit, let alone whatever stage COVID19 is it.