When do you think we will go back to normal?

[BirdieFriendReturns]

Work has said we are to WFH until January 2021 - I work in a huge, open plan office.

We might go back into lockdown in autumn / winter but no more furlough will be paid? Some universities aren’t having any face to face lectures until September 2021.

Do you think we will be BAU by January?

DH's work said 6 to 12 months of WFH. They're a big organisation with lots of connections, so maybe they know something we don't (or are just being cautious...)
So I'd say maybe somewhere between November and May 2021?

Note: am I the only one feeling that "Back to normal" sometimes gets subtly redefined to fit the agenda of the person talking? ("Look, you can meet up to 6 people in your garden! And schools are reopening and we can go shopping! Back to normal, am I right?"... nevermind all the remaining restrictions...)

It’s all really confusing right now! Normal for me is no more queuing up outside supermarkets, going out for dinner, going to the shops on a weekend, going back to work, no jumping 2 metres away from everybody.

I guess normal would be stage 2 of the road map ( no/minimal SD). My guess is anywhere between August 2020 and May 2021, but I really have no idea.

We can't until:

1. We have a vaccine

1. We know whether we have to get the bloody vaccine every year

We just don't know if we're stuck with a mutating virus that's going to affect a large number every year

What if they can't find a vaccine?

There is nothing to suggest that COVID mutates particularly quickly. The evidence so far suggests it is fairly stable and mutates slowly, certainly much more slowly than the flu.

I’m not sure an annual COVID vaccine would be the end of the world. I’m anticipating it will be combined with the flu vaccine and done in one go.

I’m really hopeful of a successful vaccine being in production by the end if they year with everything returning to “proper normal” sometime next Spring.

I think december time

Imagine the Xmas shopping cues to get into shops, if by this time were still not back to normal by then. 😳

But then we keep getting the subliminal message of this is "the new normal".

I've heard that when clothes shops open back up your not even allowed into the changing rooms to try on the clothes.

And some of the videos online ive come across or that have been shared with me, showing how pubs and restaurants are going to be when they open back up looks horrendous. Who wants to go into a pub and social distance, you go into a pub to socialize.lo

Probably Spring next year, who knows what will happen in the Winter...

This is the second thread on the same lines you’ve started today.

Are you more worried than you seem?

I think we’ll find some decent treatments, probably a combination of drugs, including some that can be given early on and prevent the more serious complications. Combine that with faster tests on the horizon and the economic imperatives and I think we could potentially go back to pretty much normal for most people even without a vaccine, or with a vaccine that’s only partially effective. I’m hopeful for September for many things, probably next summer for things like concerts or big sports events.

Back to normal, certainly not this year

I honestly think if a vaccine isn't found you'll have people, particularly the elderly, crossing the road whenever somebody approaches them for the rest of their lives

My Mum hasn't seen my DD (14 mths) my brother or myself since before Mother's Day. She can see me now but she still doesn't want to. I have to respect her wishes, she gets very worried and stressed very easily

Do people really think we won’t be released until a vaccine is found?

Australia is slowly going back to some semblance of normality...with social distancing. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/26/coronavirus-australia-lockdown-covid-19-restrictions-how-far-can-travel-social-distancing-rules-nsw-victoria-queensland-qld-wa-sa-act-how-people-over-house

ArriettyJones - I’m not worried but I am weighing up some likely options regarding moving house. If I’m going to be WFH for a substantial period, I can happily move with DH as he’s been posted somewhere 3 hours away.

If life is going to return to normal by September say, I would stay here as we would be going back into the office.

The trouble is, nobody is able to predict what’s going to happen!

Next April.
Even then I don't think huge events like festivals will happen.

@BirdieFriendReturns

It’s all really confusing right now! Normal for me is no more queuing up outside supermarkets, going out for dinner, going to the shops on a weekend, going back to work, no jumping 2 metres away from everybody.

By that definition of normal, not until there is a vaccine or a treatment which stops covid killing people, or both.

It’s somewhat surprising that some people evidently still haven’t grasped this.

The trouble is, nobody is able to predict what’s going to happen!

Indeed.

A lot of people with vulnerabilities will continue to self-isolate or restrict their own interactions, though.

So I do think we can safely predict life being quieter for 8-12 months more.

AgeLikeWine - what if there’s never a vaccine? We won’t be living like this for the next century.

There may never be an effective vaccine. That's something we may have to get round to the possibility of.

I've read several articles regarding a vaccine, and one I just read was where the doctor said the number of cases of CV is dropping so much that it is a race against time to develop a vaccine. In other words, we need the infection rate to be higher in order to roll out successful testing.

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-disappearing-so-fast-oxford-vaccine-has-only-50-chance-of-working-11993739

The best glimmer of hope I read was that the monkeys that were tested on at Oxford seemed to have less of the virus in their lungs and airways, meaning the condition didn't developed in to pneumonia.

Back to proper normal with big events like festivals and concerts allowed?

Spring 2021 I hope.

I think it'll all be over and done with within 6 months, but I have always been an optimist

No science, no backup reasoning, I just believe it'll disappear as quickly as it arrived.

I live in dorset where we've only had approx 150 deaths and generally people have been very well behaved and distancing properly, if we don't see a rise in cases in a couple of weeks after the beaches and the new forest have been packed with tourists then I can't see any reason for continuing to be furloughed.

Do you think we will be BAU by January?

At the rate Boris is relaxing things to get people to "move on" from a certain topic, oh I can see it being BAU by next Friday.

'Normal' for me will bewhen the shielded can come into society again, without undue fear; shielded DC go back to school and their parents can WOH again.

Announcements on this are not expected before the end of this month, and it is widely expected that there will be an extension and it could be substantial.

I think we need to count continued segregation in months not weeks, and factor in the possibility of second spike and start of winter flu season. Next spring perhaps?