Do you think we will ever go back to normal?

[Mummypig2020]

I just can’t see how the government will turn around one day and say “that’s it, no masks needed, no social distancing”. I feel like everyone will going to live in fear forever!

I feel the same way OP and was thinking about this just the other day. It is quite worrying as we are so used to our 'old' ways of life

Nope. I don’t, if 11 deaths in a day still isn’t low enough to move on... when will it be

No I think this is it now and it makes me very anxious and very sad. I wonder what sort of life and opportunities my dc will have now.

I think things are going to be different. I can't see myself shopping on the high street going out for meals or to any busy places like theme parks for a long time.

Yes absolutely.
Normal won’t be quite the same because of damage to the economy but we won’t be wearing masks forever.
When there were plagues and epidemics in the past everything shut down for a bit and then it went back to normal.

Re numbers, I don’t think it’s about the 11 deaths (which in any case was a weekend low and you would base policy on the typical figure not the extreme) so much as the 500 odd new cases a day. It will be normal again just not yet.

I think once either a vaccine, effective treatment or the virus naturally fizzles out we will, at least socially, perhaps employment will change for good, return to full football stadiums, live music and sending kids to a packed full-time school.

But think it's going to be about 18 months before full society confidence returns.

It won't happen in a day.

The thing is though, the high street and retail has been struggling for a while now. Having an economy based purely on retail and services (ie relying on people having money to spend in the first place) has been somewhat precarious for a while too. I don't think there will be return to 'normal'. I just think coronavirus accelerated an existing pattern of decline.

A generation or so ago, the economy relied on manufacturing, industry and mining. It changed and adapted. Not necessarily for the better. The same will happen now.

I also don't think it's fear of the coronavirus that's stopping people from 'going back to normal'. I've not been anxious about catching it, still gone out and about. DH and I have both been working throughout and are in relatively 'secure' jobs. But we won't be going back to our pre covid spending levels. In the long run, I can see public sector cuts happening and so we want to be careful with our money. Lockdown has also shown us we don't need to be out and about, super busy, spending money all of the time to be happy. I don't want to say we've enjoyed a slower pace of life, but it's that kind of mindset. We're not as fussed about the things we once coveted.

I agree with fatted.

We will need a rethink on shopping centres etc some sort of gov support to turn them into accom or demolish and use as parks (ok I’m dreaming!). We don’t need vast warehouses of clothes and I will shop in the smaller more indie places or go online.

Jobs will change - fewer in retail but more in health care/nhs.

More outdoor exercise than indoor.

I am worried about my many friends who have lost jobs and where the new jobs will come from.

Yes, aside from the recession and having to deal with that, things will go back to normal. They have evolved a lot over the past few months (virus wise) and will carry on evolving . I think at some point next year we will go back to not having to socially distance.

Social restrictions wise, I think we’ll go back to normal when the alert level is at 1.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and I think things will be different for quite a while, but I do think that we will gradually work our way back to something more normal.

The way we are at the moment just isn't natural or sustainable. It will be accepted for a while, but not forever.

Put it this way.. On a scale of 1-10. 10 being Spanish flu.... This is probably a 2. We all returned to normal after spanish flu and they had they end of a world war to deal with aswell.

Things will get better.. And alot sooner than you think. If there is no second wave I expect social distancing to be gone by January and start the year off fresh.

I do hope so. Iv just booked a holiday to Cornwall for next July so fingers crossed 😂😩😩😩

Of course we will. There have been other pandemics in history. They don't last forever.

Not for years now, we are at a point now where there is (at absolute worst) a 1 in 3,900 chance of crossing paths with someone who has the virus. A 1-in-40 chance of that interaction resulting in becoming infected and of that miniscule combination coming together to cause infection - somewhere between a 0.1% and 0.35% chance of that infection proving fatal. What appears to have happened with this is that the appropriate anxiety that was needing to be created within the population when we didn’t know about this virus has indeed been created with devastating effect and now the lid cannot be put back on.

The public are just becoming more aware of what pathogenic, communicable diseases are and do and now there appears to be no sense of perspective or proportionality. Whilst it will be a good thing to see many more people go out and get the flu jab this year, I do worry that all communicable illness will now be viewed with the ‘each infection is too much of a risk’ mentality and we are going to revert to some form of this in perpetuity.

I have lung disease and can be very ill with quite opportunistic infections that wouldn't harm other people much. I am very aware this could be fatal to me. I also am aware that a society that lets you work from home and wears masks outside will be protective of me. I still wouldn't wish for this for myself or other people. I am of course shielding and don't know what we will do for the best when the children are supposed to go back to school.

Of course we will. There have been other pandemics in history. They don't last forever

This

Of course!

Nope. I typed a longer response but basically, like another poster, I’m grieving. I have no power and have to accept that my one and only life - which I’m already half way through - is controlled by others.

Unless we can have a vaccine and the uptake is high, SD, extra hygiene measures and masks will be the new normal. It's not great, but we will have to adjust to live our lives the best we can.

The initially deadly Spanish flu mutated to a weaker variant by 1920 ish because it had been too lethal in its first waves and killed off too many hosts. This is the usual direction of travel for coronaviruses. Descendants of the Spanish flu are around today - as just another cold like coronavirus

We have at least another year of hassle but it will resolve in time (until the next one!)

A previous poster mentioned a vaccine. Given the research this week that suggested antibodies don’t last very long, is a vaccine still a realistic prospect? I don’t know enough about immunology to work it out!

The pandemic will pass, eventually, I hope (current studies on waning immunity have me a little concerned). But there will likely be some lasting societal changes — more working from home, the shift to online retail accelerated etc.

It will leave its mark but a more easeful life will return.

No, this is it now, on the news today it was said that masks were like seatbelts and smoking so that is not going to revert back, holidays will need a lot of planning and good insurance because of never ending lockdowns. At least house prices might go down.