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'm one of those people who doesn't hate lockdown... And have such a small family that I don't want to see another person die... So I'm not miserable in all this. That said... I have no idea when things will return to a normalish life... I think we need to see what happens with a second wave... Until then I've not got a clue.

Both Whitty and Valance said last week that we may be a long way of a vaccine but we can make big leaps into this pandemic with improved treatments and testing. Plus we have the antibody testing coming into play, I doubt everything will be back to normal by Christmas ie foreign travel etc but there will be a vast improvement from where we are now. What we’re doing is not sustainable long term and I do think the high risk will be protected for longer but everyone else will get back to normal with small changes to the way we use to do things.

@LaurieFairyCake it’s also an absolute nightmare for actors/ producers/ musicians etc involved in the performing arts. The prospect of no work for years on end is terrifying 😬

Oh God I hope so. For someone like me with a great social life who doesn't enjoy walks in the fucking countryside, this is just existing.

I feel very positive about a vaccine being available this winter / nest spring but I guess it might be like the annual flu vaccine (which doesn't stop you getting all types of flu) so we will be living with coronovirus, but a reduced risk. I think travel will be very different mainly because lots of companies will sadly go under.

So glad someone said that, my trip to Morrisons is the highlight of my week too.

Just to liven things up, I'm now shopping at stores further away just for the variety. I now have customer loyalty cards for Foodtown and ShopRite. We had live Maine lobsters for dinner last night from ShopRite for a mere $6.99 per pound.

And for those who think lockdown is lifted there are 2.5 million people who can't leave their houses. I was shielding for four weeks and it was horrible, so claustrophobic.

There's nothing wrong with being optimistic and focusing on the future

Yes there is. Being unreasonably optimistic is just as bad as being unreasonably pessimistic. You're just setting yourself up for disappointment. Far better to be middle of the road and then if things go well, you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

Doubt it. Some christmas fairs have been cancelled already and talk that crowds wont be back at football matches for a year.

The vaccine issue isn’t just getting a vaccine, it’s producing enough and not just for the UK; I believe even if we produce it it will be given to other countries too. Plus it is the distribution and administration of the vaccine, this side of Christmas is very very optimistic even if it is ready to go in September to get out to 67million in the uk.

Still not understanding the dementors name calling. Aren't they evil characters?

Those who use it - who are you calling dementors? And why?

Of course they will, we can't live like this forever. The damage to peoples lives, wellbeing, and the job market would be unimaginably bad. The government can not afford to keep paying the nation to stay at home, we also cannot continue to sacrifice the wellbeing of our country's future ie our children, for much longer than we already have been.

It may have some differences, there may be a bit of a new "normal" but we will not be in crazy socially distancing lockdown forever.

I'm preferring to stay positive in all this crazy pandemic times.

Yes definitely. On the one hand I think we'll have more control over Covid (more testing, better treatments if not a vaccine, a better understanding of the virus). On the other I think most people will just want to get on with their lives & will - as the initial panic wears off - be increasingly willing to add the virus to the existing list of moderate risks we all live with every day. Also the impact of severe restrictions on society, the economy & our physical & mental health is already quietly mounting up & will probably start to overshadow the virus in people's minds.

Look at Italy and Spain. They are already starting to open back up slowly. We need to start doing the same, we will have to learn to live with this to an extent.

I'm still hoping we'll be back by end of June!!! Fingers crossed!

Why dementors? Isn't that a form of abuse and not allowed?

Oh, for pity’s sake!

Ironically if the over-65s I know (and I know quite a few through a particular volunteering role) are anything to by, its the genuinely at risk who will be leading the charge back to normality. The ones I know are mostly philosophical about it all & willing to accept an element of risk in order to have some enjoyment of life.

I'm not calling anyone dementors but in Harry Potter I think they sucked all the joy out of life so maybe thats why? I haven't read the books or seen the films in a while but didn't think they were evil as such?

I think we'll get back to a new sort of normal without the lockdown we have now maybe by the end of July August but still with social distancing, queuing into supermarkets, pubs etc still not open. I think that as autumn goes on we'll see more things open and then, and I really hope we're wrong, I think we'll be hit by a second wave, and that will fuck us up until at least mid-2021.

I hope I'm wrong, but hearing stuff from the WHO and looking back at the flu pandemic in 1918-1919 which had a far deadlier second wave makes me worry that we're nowhere near over the worst of it.

I think that when we do get back to some sort of normality it will be far different from the one we had before this started. We'll get used to it but it will be different.

Dementors are dark creatures that consume human happiness, creating an ambiance of coldness, darkness, misery and despair. Because of their power to drain happiness and hope from humans, they have been set the duty of being guards at Azkaban, where they prevent the prisoners from having the will or ability to escape.

@Ravenesque it's not 1918 though so fingers crossed we won't have the same troubles and can manage it better! 🤞🏻🤞🏻

The world is so overpopulated, polluted and natural resources are becoming scarce. The damage global warming is doing to our planet is now over the tipping edge. I despair for future generations.

Nothing will go back to normal. Nothing.

I'd like to think so but doubt it.

It will depend on whether we get a second wave as we start coming out of lockdown. Italy and Spain are only just starting to get back to some sort of normality so it will be interesting to see if they get a second wave.

Also is it going to be like the flu and hit in the winter. If it does the amount of people seriously ill with that and the flu could cause us to have to lockdown again

Prof Jonathan Van Tam has just said on the daily press conference that in the absence of a vaccine, we need to prepare ourselves to live with this for years...

Nope.
Like The Happening, I and many others would simply take our chances, walk outside and get on with life. I refuse for me and my child to live like this long term and we won't.

That's all there is to it.

(How did that ridiculous movie get so much right?!)