Am I being reasonable to assume that almost everything is back to normal now?

[Charlize43]

Am I being reasonable to assume that everything is almost back to normal now, apart from taking personal precautions to avoid getting Covid (getting double vaccinated; masking up and washing hands often)?

Are people back at work or going back to their workplaces?

I know various people for whom the pandemic was business as normal and commuted into work every day, and others who are still isolating and having home deliveries. I'm curious what everyone's general opinion is.

(It might sound like a stupid question but I was made redundant right at the start of the pandemic, April 2020, received a large pay off and have basically been at home, living off my savings, and almost feeling like a retired person as I'm in my mid 50s. I'd like to get back into life as obviously I'm not retired! )

What do you think?

Everything except work is back to normal for me - I'm still suffering the effects of cancelled/ postponed contracts and lack of government help, and won't be back to normal until at least next spring.

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy the staff in the supermarkets are the ones not wearing masks here - customers are

I thin I we have a weird situation atm.

Many people saying we’ve gone back to normal, going to festival etc…
And at the same time, just as many people who really don’t want to go back to the office, citing the risk involved lol

My office of almost 4000 is almost empty. Less than 50 in on a daily basis, the rest wfh

Mostly back to normal but my job will only go back to the office in hybrid mode so 2 days in the office, the rest (for me another 2 days) at home

This won't happen until November as they are making changes to the layout to free up some of the office space for other uses and to ensure the space works for all of the teams who will be working from the office part time only . So for me work is not back to 'normal' as in exactly like pre-covid and probably won't ever be. Most things seem fairly back to normal though

GreenFingersWouldBeHandy

I'm getting pissed off at staff giving me the dirty looks and muttering under your breath when I take my mask off at the supermarket . It's a shame they didn't apologise to me after they realise I take it off in order to communicate with the deaf person I am supporting at the time.

Respect works both ways.

your - their.

Certainly not normal here as DS 16 is very poorly with COVID. Day 8 and still sleeping 24/7 and in a lot of pain.

@Charlize43

respect works both ways

So does communication. They are not mind-readers. If you'd bothered explaining, I'm sure they would have been happy to help. Or I hope they would have been. I can't speak for them as I don't work in their supermarket.

All I know is we all wear our masks all the time and it would be nice if our customers did too. We can't make them. But we are allowed to have opinions about them.

Whilst we are in a much better position than say in January or February, I would not call it back to normal as yet. Many like me still working from home, still wearing face coverings.

I could never consider life as normal in any case whilst Mr Johnson is Prime Minister.

part from anything else there is general consensus in the science and medical community that cloth masks are ineffective against aerosol transmitted virus (medical grade masks like N95 offer more protection) but the cloth masks worked well to remind people to keep a distance and keep awareness of the virus front and centre any time you were out in public or in a retail environment, it was more to encourage social distancing than a real protection against transmission,

I agree - masks, together with cleaning, are part of the 'hygiene theatre' for the psychological effect rather than actually being effective. Interesting article here: www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/12/hygiene-theatre-how-excessive-cleaning-gives-us-a-false-sense-of-security

And there is virtually no evidence of surface transmission, @GreenFingersWouldBeHandy, so you don't need to worry about people touching things whether or not they're wearing a mask.

Actually I’ve barely thought about Covid this past week. Everyone I know is double jabbed, the third wave seems to be on a fast downward trajectory. I’ve been for several meals out and am living life pretty much as I did pre pandemic. I’d say mask wearing on public transport is now about 50/50 in my area. It really feels like we’ve turned a corner!

Not normal here. My son who has worked in a supermarket throughout the pandemic has tested positive for Covid today.

Absolutely not, I’d like to think they weren’t filled with rage and seething resentment at their work though. That’s got to be doing their health more harm than the COVID risk.