Am I going to be unable to see my parents for 18months or longer?

[milkcartoncat]

This is really getting me down.
We’ve not been out for nearly 3 weeks and nor have they. I know we still can’t see each other but I would think highly unlikely to infect each other with anything now.
18 months of it feels unbearable.

Why do you think it will be 18 months?? Are you talking until a vaccine?

Where have you got 18 months from ?

It’ll be ok, there will likely be periods of this and periods of it being relaxed until there’s a vaccine so there will be chances to see them. Whether that will be still with the 2m distance or not, I don’t know.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to see mine normally without having to worry. It does seem a long way away, like a different life. It’ll probably come sooner than expected though. Are you staying in touch via video call? I find that very helpful.

Because there isn’t a way out of it otherwise.
The virus isn’t going away.
Once we go back out into the world it’ll come back again.

I too am concerned about what you know regarding 18 months. It's the first I've heard of it. Most people are thinking June or July but we don't know how long this will last.

Three weeks is nothing, I dread to think how you will be feeling in three weeks' time. You have worried me a bit now though, with the eighteen month business - not so much for myself but for other, younger people that I know and those with children.

Lockdown won't continue for 18 months. If it did, the death toll from the lockdown would be many, many times greater than any possible death toll from CV.

There is a way out.

First get the level circulating to a very low level

Then stop importing new cases ...long quarantine on arrival

And do testing and contact tracing with local lockdowns of anyone showing any symptoms

There will be a risk, but it should be very small compared to normal daily risks

If we are lucky to develop an effective treatment it would be even easier

time.com/5804555/coronavirus-lockdown-uk/

@milkcartoncat iagree . I cant see normality any time soon ... for months.

The thought of seeing my parents, being together & being able to hug them is making me quite tearful recently.

We are a close family, neither of them are well and this is really traumatic.

We will go in and out of lockdown for months yet . Certainly again over autumn / winter .

Things will not be normal ( if ever ) for at least a year .

If the economy continues like this for 18 months there will be nothing to go back to. So it can’t. The economy is you and me and everyone else and we need the economy to pay for all this and to pay back what we are borrowing.

The purpose of lockdown is to flatten the curve and not having everyone catch it at once as no health system can cope with that.

People will die and continue to die but not all at once. The elderly, ill and vulnerable are shielded to keep them away from the virus.

By then, the curve should be flatter, enough capacity, we'll know who is and isn’t immune, there may be some effective treatments and we'll be closer to a vaccine.

I was wondering this too (based on the virus continuing to be a risk until there's a vaccine). I'm lucky that they live nearby so I take some comfort from seeing them in the window.

It won't be eighteen months. What that'll do to the economy will hugely dwarf any impact from the virus itself.

Sorry but the 18 month thing is just ridiculous. (yes - I'm not being sympathetic)

As for not seeing your parents for a very long time - well there are millions of people around the world that migrate and never see their families again. Or if they do it's only once every couple of years. We survive. It's difficult at times, especially if there's something major happening - births, weddings, funerals - I've missed all of those over the years. We are so lucky now that we have phones, video calls, skype, zoom etc that we can be instantly in touch.

Imagine what it was like 150 years back when someone got on a ship for Australia or someplace. You probably would never see them again and would rarely hear from them, possibly losing touch due to a letter going missing when someone moves or something.

This is a temporary thing - difficult at times but not impossible.

I wonder how you are doing now, milkcarton, considering how 'bad' things were for you after three weeks :-).

OP, why can't you see your parents, are they abroad? There are signs of restrictions being lifted for the elderly/shielding now. In England I thought we could meet up with another household outside which is less risky. Also, we can stay in hotel/b&b accommodation so if you don't want to risk staying with them if they're a distance away, you could do that and meet up each day. I'm sure things will ease in Scotland and Wales as well.