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Original poster

How long are you expecting this to go on for?

372 replies

DennisReynoldsDuster · 20/03/2020 21:59

Just curious. Friends seem to think it will all be fine again by May, I kind of feel like we will be lucky if we are “back to normal” by Christmas.

And by “this” I mean businesses shut and social distancing etc

OP posts:
rosieposie2 · 23/03/2020 09:29

Im really scared, when will hospital start surgery again. I have a family member recently diagnosed with cancer that needs surgery.

FannyCann · 23/03/2020 09:48

rosieposie2 Obviously it depends where you are in the country and what the local arrangements/plans are but I believe there is a plan for the private hospitals to be doing some of this surgery to try and keep up with some of the "normal" nhs work. I don't suppose they will be able to take on very complex surgeries requiring a lot of specialist support though.
I hope your family member gets their surgery. Thanks

Barney60 · 23/03/2020 10:16

it will NOT be gone by May, ive been told IF we do as the govt say now it will bide them time to try and find a vaccine.
As not many seem to care... we will end up in full lock down I hope the sooner the better, rude selfish ignorant people who flout the rules and think dont apply to them.
its going to be around 2 years in my estimation.

hopefulhalf · 23/03/2020 10:17

Urgent cancer surgery is not being cancelled

Dramadrama · 23/03/2020 10:23

A depression will follow this which will have its own set of problems.

I think young adults are being very hard hammered. My son just managed to get a hard-sought internship for June after years of trying. It's now at risk. When he does start working, his tax rate will be very high to pay for the economic bail-out announced last week. And he will still have student loans outstanding.

People keep talking about 'government' money being given to the economy. Ultimately it's our money and it is being underwritten by our children's future earnings. I have an elderly mother with blood cancer. Yes, it's hard for her being stringently isolated. But it's youngsters like my son who are risking their future prosperity to keep her safe in her comfortable home: a home they have no prospect of affording, even though they have years of higher education. She realises this and is grateful.

Of course the economic bailout is essential. But we won't be paying for it all: our children will.

EmpressoftheMundane · 23/03/2020 11:47

Very much agree dramadrama.

EmpressoftheMundane · 23/03/2020 11:57

When we have a test that shows when someone has had the virus and is now immune things may get better. These will be people who can get back to work and keep things moving for us all. (Rumours are a serological year to do this should be with us soon.)

Abraid2 · 23/03/2020 12:24

If there's a depression after this, 'normal' life won't return. Perhaps, for the sake of the planet, that's no bad thing. Less travel. Less consumption. But for future tax-payers, it's grim.

It's also ironic that the most right-wing government elected is perhaps now the most socialist in tone since the war.

I don't think market forces can sort this out and I am a (usual, but not last time) Tory voter. When I heard that the trains have basically (temporarily) been nationalised my jaw hit the ground.

I think a lot of us are going to have to row back from the old behaviour of buying whatever we want from wherever on the planet we want and having it delivered to our doorstep. And at a cost that doesn't reflect the true cost of the product and its journey across the world and all the people who work for a pittance to get it to us.

Thespiceisright · 23/03/2020 12:26

I agree Dramadrama I work in debt help and people were already in crisis. The financial fall out from this is worrying me the most tbh.

Justaboy · 23/03/2020 12:29

The peak around here (Yorkshire) is predicated end May/ early June.

Now we know that Yorkshire is gods chosen county, but where did you get this divine info from?, was it perchance a visitation after several pints of Mashams finest brew:?..

Abraid2 · 23/03/2020 14:27

Yes, Thespice, some people (definitely not all) never seem to have had any idea that they were supposed to save some of their money or at least not gear themselves up to the teeth. Hopefully this horrible period will be a chance for us all to calm down on the conspicuous spending.

Of course, not all people in debt are in that position because of ridiculous spending, though. Some were just using cards to pay essential bills. Very hard for them.

threatmatrix · 23/03/2020 14:33

Surely we could just look to China and whatever happens there should probably be the same for us. As long as the stupid English follow the guidelines

Booboostwo · 23/03/2020 15:30

Yes threatmatrix the totalitarian Chinese government imposing a military style lockdown complete with ID tagging, is exactly the same as BoJo the clown fumbling through some contradictory recommendations while everyone is having a pint down at the local.

NotForSale · 23/03/2020 15:34

Businesses back to work in June, schools back in September

goldpartyhat · 23/03/2020 19:50

September. we should have a large herd immunity by then, enough to restart life. also regular testing so we can pounce on any local outbreaks, quarantine and damp it down.

FelicisNox · 24/03/2020 20:17

I've heard we are expected to peak around June/July but I couldn't say for sure.

I'm not expecting to send DD back to school before September and I reckon we've lost our family holiday on August.

Everydayishistorytomorrow · 24/03/2020 21:21

I think it will be longer than most people think or will plan for. When we all get back into a more normal routing the second wave will come and we go back to square one. Hopefully so many of us will have antibodies by then that the risk will be lower. This said, it will still change life as we know it, potentially changing the way we do things forever. 2021 is my gut instinct. Trickles of a 2 year estimate is rippling through media outlets. Only time will tell. It take years to properly check the validity and safety of a vaccine before it's unleashed on the masses as a viable treatment, rushing it will cause it's own problems. The solution may come from other drugs already on the market that are used for other conditions. We know so little about Clovid-19, it will take time to understand what is needed to know, in order to overcome it and reduce the associated risks.

Sostenueto · 24/03/2020 22:53

Hate to pop anyone's balloons but this virus ain't going anywhere! China will free their people in a couple of weeks and the world will hold it's breathe as we all watch to see if deaths rise again. If it doesn't great! If deaths rise again then we are all stuffed!

Apirateslifeforme · 25/03/2020 00:39

@Sostenueto I believe the rates of confirmed cases have spiked up in the past few days again in China.
I was seeing it upper 20s/30s, a few hours ago it was showing at 71 in the past 24 hours, has just gone on the worldometer website back to 0 but then its into the next day.
Not entirely sure were going to get rid of it right now

Sostenueto · 25/03/2020 05:01

We had an Apache gunship flying and hovering above our town yesterday. I thought wtf!? Turns out a school in town 10 miles away is now home for Army troops and an old WW2 airfield is now home for RAF helicopters!!! What's next I wondershock

sofato5miles · 25/03/2020 05:19

I just want to see my boyfriend, who is 3000km away. It was awful saying goodbye thinking it would be a month, now I just have no idea. Lockdown is not helping as there is little to distract and he ain't great on his phone.. He is completely self contained and patient, I am absolutely neither

Sostenueto · 25/03/2020 05:39

Before we all moan about how lockdown is affecting our lives read this quote then remember the words Everytime you think about why your life has to be a bit uncomfortable.......

Defoe:

“It was very sad to reflect how such a person as this had been a walking destroyer perhaps for a week or a fortnight before that; how he had ruined those that he would have hazarded his life to save, and had been breathing death upon them, even perhaps in his tender kissing and embracings of his own children.”

sofato5miles · 25/03/2020 05:52

I get it is completely for the greater good and am comfortable embracing the measurws that nees to be taken. Doesn't stop me being sad though

One adage that helps is That there is always someone worse off than you

It is more important to be grateful rather than envious but it doesn't stop me from being sad

Sostenueto · 25/03/2020 05:55

apirateslife yes I have always known this virus is not going away anytime yet!
Remember the cruise ships? The cabins were still infected with Covid 19 seventeen days after the ship was emptied and cleaned.
This virus created by man's appetite for unnatural food for it's species ( each animal on Earth has natural immunity to certain viruses that are in their natural food chain, if they then ate food not in their natural foods chain as man has done the viruses those animals that have been eaten carry their unique viruses which then cross over to the animal which has eaten it and that virus then adapts and evolves into a new virus inside it's new host which has no natural immunity to it and no cure ( not for a long time) and will kill indiscriminately. We as a species have pushed nature to the upmost limit and unfortunately nature is fighting back! I estimate 2 years at least till the world sees a cure. I don't believe we will develop a herd immunity to it. It is a foreign virus that has crossed over to an alien species.

Sostenueto · 25/03/2020 06:01

I find it odd how Russia has been very quiet about their cases of Covid. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say this could be a virus using bat and snake dna manufactured in a germ warfare laboratory by a nation that would love to see worldwide deaths and complete economic destruction of the most powerful countries in the world....but I am not a conspiracy theoristHmmGrin