How long will social distancing last?

[Myfriendanxiety]

How long do we think it will be before children can see relatives again? My 3 year old is desperately missing his grandparents and cousin. I was hoping only around 6 weeks but I’ve seen news articles saying October!

I expect the general advice will still be for people to work from home if they can.

^ and the fact that hundreds of thousands of people will be out of work will help too ... people will have nowhere to go & no money to get there. Fun times ahead.

Sadly Lania... I think whatever happens, times are going to be hard for a long time, just in varying degrees of hard!

yes & yet more proof that we really aren't all in this together. It's going to be truly awful for a very long time & the virus deaths are just the beginning.

Even before the vaccine we may get to a point where the other people at the bus stop or those in front/behind you in a queue have all had it so can't infect you.

Not that you would know you were safe, but it would help your chances considerably.

I just don't think there is an easy choice here. We cannot continue lockdown solidly for 18 months, the deaths it would cause would be catastrophic and more numerous than CV.

There will need to be relaxation here and there with support for the vulnerable to isolate themselves.

I think Christmas will be mainly cancelled this year, no gatherings, no parties, no markets. It would be disaster in the winter as this virus isn’t going anywhere. If they have any sense December will be locked down

I think it will continue until either

i) Enough people have been infected so there are no longer enough hosts for it to spread
ii) A vaccine has been deployed into the population

Im struggling to see any other possibilities.