Do you think things will ever return to our 'old normal'

[isitamapletree]

Just that really. I know a lot depends on whether we find a vaccine and/or effective treatment but I wonder if some things will just never return to how they were before Coronavirus. At the moment it is hard to imagine life as it was before and I can't see it ever being exactly the same again.

9/11 for example changed the way we live in many ways but we have largely adapted and most people see it as normal now. Things like going through airport security, not carrying more than 100ml in hand luggage, being checked before entering large venues, being suspicious of abandoned bags are all a normal part of life now.

What do you imagine changing permanently in the long term due to Coronavirus?

Some of the replies above are a bit melodramatic and assume this crisis is going to go on for years. There's a very good chance a vaccine will be found within months and widely available within a year or two. There is also optimism about other treatment options. It's also possible that the virus will mutate to a less deadly version, as happened with the Spanish flu.

If that happens, it's unlikely this crisis will lead to lasting societal changes, though there will certainly be economic pain at least in the short term.

If people carry on treating this virus like the bubonic plague then nothing will change. Mindsets need to change and only then will things start to get back to normal. If we are waiting for a vaccine we could be waiting a while.

@Bubbletwix ah yes I follow now, my worry is more building on green space, I am very against that. I will probably get called a nimby but I live rurally for a reason and don’t particularly want my village turned into another town as they seem to be at the minute!

@tp67 yes I totally agree with you. I said this on another thread the other day and for flamed for it, there is too much tunnel vision at the minute and a lot of screaming murder if you so much as try and think logically

Why does anyone want to go back to the old normal. It was shit

@TiddyTid not for everyone it wasn’t, everyone has different things that they enjoyed doing they was normal to them, a routine almost. If we can’t get at least some of that back it’s going to have a massive effect on people especially with recession looming etc, there needs to be some joy. My life certainly want shit

Yes

Nor mine Alaska. I was being slightly facetious. I do get it's absolutely horrendous at the moment. But as an introvert (or 1/3 of population) the new normal is really quite comforting. No pressure to socialise, no guilt for not socialising, having space and it's ok it's actually allowed now. Life at the moment is moulded for the introvert. Obviously we need to sort out a load of stuff but I really really hope we never go back to thinking this way of life is wrong.

I don't think we are going back to the old normal anytime soon. Think we will be social distancing and more people will be wearing face masks for a long while yet.

Given we have had taverns and theatres since Shakespeare and they did literally survive the plague so I think they will get through this in some form!

I do agree with working from home, and a knock on effect records offices and less places such as sandwich shops that serve offices. It could also end the London centric nature of our economy as it will be possible for people to work outside the capital in jobs previously done inside the capital as they will just work remotely from wherever. This could have a knock on effect on things like property prices and the desirability to live in commuter towns.

@TiddyTid I follow you now, it obviously went straight over my head! Yes it should never have been seen as wrong anyway, things haven’t changed massively for me really, I didn’t do a lot of visiting and I wasn’t out every weekend but I did get my hair and eyebrows done every 6-8 weeks and I’m missing that part of my routine terribly, some weekends I would fancy going out for Tea or a look round the shops and I hate that that choice had been taken off me

Alaska. I get you. My hair is a disgrace! I have a mobile hairdresser I've known all her life (she went to school with my son) I can't WAIT to see her!! And I need charity shops to open, not the big stores, the little charity shops where I'd ponder about on my own, rummaging around, buying bits

@TiddyTid exactly, it’s just little things that bring us all joy and just give us some purpose really. I work so I can afford to do nice things etc but literally just living to work at the minute

I work in London and they are working towards us going into the office ... remember there was the Spanish flu /hong Kong flu and life did not change ... once a therapeutic is found or vaccine or both things will go back albeit less pubs . When you are doing client deals worth millions then the VC will not work clients want face to face !!!! So yes will be business travel.
There is lots of scaremongering etc and the truth is no one know what will happen as Chris Whitty said there will be a therapeutic or vaccine .. what are you going to stay in for the rest of your life ?
Weddings will start, holidays will start and buffets will start again it will mutate to a weaker version if it is natural .
There will be more home working and people will
appreciate life more but more mental health but we will get over it that is my opinion

Of course they'll go back to normal. Life moves very quickly, in 10 years this will all just be a curious thing that happened back in 2020

Of course it will go back to normal, the roaring 20’s was just one/two years after the Spanish Flu and WW1, and that was without modern medicine. Just an odd blip that we get every now and then.

Alaska. I was saying to my DH, yes yes garden centres, going back to work, etc but when is that little second hand shop opening down the road....I mean, there's only 2 people in there at most at the best of times!! Priorities 😂

To be fair, our life hasn't changed much during lockdown, other than I'd love to see my family. Irks that I can spend time in a supermarket with strangers but can't see my parents from a distance. I wear a mask too when out as I'm immuno not great as I Had shingles just before lockdown.

That said, if never had to hug anyone except my kids and very, very occasion family members again, that would be fine with me

Too. Does this also mean we will never have to bullshit shake hands with a stranger with sweaty hands again and not be judged for it?

People are so dramatic! Of course things will go back to ‘normal’ but certain things will change. ‘Hugging and kissing our friends will become a thing of the past’ - are you joking?! So once you are vaccinated & the world has been too, you are still going to live in terror?! 🤨

There will be a vaccine. It might be this time next year. It might be sooner. Infection rates will also naturally keep falling. Once the risk becomes similar to catching seasonal flu and other illness we’ve always lived with, what’s to be scared of? Particularly if everyone is vaccinated or at the very least the vulnerable & elderly!

Things will change, of course they will. Sadly lots of businesses will go under & I think economically we are going to suffer with this for a lot longer than coronavirus.

But people move on pretty quickly. Billions are chomping at the bit to go get back on their foreign holidays, my hairdresser had 135 people contacted her in an hour on Facebook to book appointments today when they announced they were taking appointments from July today. In fact, if anything I think consumerism will boom as people rejoice in the freedom to do so! I for one will be supporting my fav local coffee shop back on its feet on daily basis! You’ll find me thoroughly enjoying cake with my friends!

I agree that working at home may become more done. Although my company paid for a multi million pound 10 year lease in Canary Wharf a couple years ago so they are quite keen to get us back into the office 😂

No, it’s not dramatic - it is a clear paradigm shift. Good changes, bad changes, neutral changes.

Of course they'll go back to normal. Life moves very quickly, in 10 years this will all just be a curious thing that happened back in 2020

Well, er, couldn’t everything that affects history be described as a ‘curious thing that happened in year X’? Doesn’t mean that the thing won’t have sizeable repercussions.

@Bol87 well said !!!! I work in the city and we still have 25 years left on their lease !!! People are dying to travel again and we have got ok with life after London bombing !!! My dad remembers the Hong Kong flu which killed 80000

I think there will be some permanent changes if a vaccine is more than a year away, in which case it would be very difficult to see the High Street ever returning to how it was in 2019. The shift to online shopping will be irreversible and shopping malls and retail parks will close and be redeveloped for housing.

There will also be cultural change towards white collar work. Working from home will become the new normal, which will have upsides (no commuting, hurrah!) and downsides (less social interaction with colleagues).

I read a quote recently. I can't remember or the exact wording but it was something like - there is no normal to go back to. People sleeping in the streets wasn't normal. Children living in poverty wasn't normal. Neither was our taxes being used to bomb people thousands of miles away. Using other people's lives to pile up objects wasn't normal. The whole thing was absurd. Surely it's time to start imagining something better"
I think most things will slowly go back to the way they were. But maybe people will appreciate their loved ones more, spend more time with their parents. Maybe we'll look after the vulnerable in society and appreciate the shop workers and delivery drivers and nurses more. Businesses being more open to home working now and maybe universal income will cease to seem like a fringe idea. There are parts of my pre lockdown life I can't wait for but I dunno. Maybe this will make us better as a species.

It doesn't feel like it will at the moment as without a vaccine and no guarantee of immunity if you have it , if it's here to stay then what will we do
It's very worrying as all social distancing is just not natural for us as humans we are in generally social beings
That said if we find a vaccine or control it somehow soon then I think for most things will return to normal as people forget , even now you can see people in supermarkets etc forgetting social distancing and suddenly stopping and checking so should be easier to go back to normal as that feel more natural , although longer this goes in for I guess social distancing will seem more natural .