Is this now the new way of life?

[Wannaflyaway]

Hi, I just wanted to ask those, who are a lot more knowledgeable than me, if, the way life is now, i.e. face masks in enclosed places, social distancing, the constant threat of local/national lockdowns, travel restrictions, quarantining, no theatres, no concerts, no mass gatherings etc. is really the new normal, not just temporarily, but for the long-term?. I think that it actually really is. I also feel that I'm now starting to come to terms with this new normal, which is what I thought I never would, but it isn't a nice feeling. It's a low-level depression and the feeling that I'm just existing, but not living, and that I have fuck-all to either plan for or to look forward to in the future.

"They will keep moving the goal posts until we don’t even remember what the old way of life and freedom looked like."
Yes that's how I feel. What's happened to the three weekly reviews of national measures? What's happened to the alert levels that were going to inform everything we do?

I predict much more car traffic this winter than last winter. People trying to get places but stay away from public transport. That kind of habit (not using public transport as much as you used to) can easily turn long term. The public transport companies are also in financial crisis right now, so service provision may be cut sharply
Yes, I am really worried about this. No one else seems to be talking about it! People keep saying that WFH is better from the environment...well, when I am in work I go there on the train, which I walk to. When I am WFH I need to take a break and go out, and I'm likely to drive somewhere, to shop or go somewhere else for a walk, go to the gym etc. I'm getting a bike actually to try and stop doing this.
Public transport is terrible pretty much everywhere outside of London and the air is getting noticebly worse and triggering my asthma (asthma kills people too!)

But were those diseases AS contagious as this one?

Erm, yes? And in the case of smallpox at least, A LOT more harmful to a much greater proportion of people.

Do people honestly think this is the worst infectious disease ever to befall mankind?!

@herecomesthsun

Together with our improved understanding of pandemic disease processes, there is also a heightened awareness on the part of trading partners and tourists, with whom we want to do business. We can't behave the way we want to in the world of business if we are an infection-ridden pariah, and no one will want to come from overseas and stay in our hotels, eat out in our restaurants or study in our universities.

I am sure that if we could have carried on business as normal, even if the juggernaut had been heaving over the expiring corpses of infected office workers, our Government would have carried on regardless.

Covid is actually not good for business, funny enough, cos no one else wants it either.

Very true. I think the people who want to just go back to normal now don’t get that. Places were shutting and events were cancelled before lockdown. Not many businesses or venues are going to want to have the dubious honour of hosting super spreading events, even if they’d have customers who wouldn’t be bothered

@SomewhereEast has said a lot of what I wanted to say.

Essentially, we are waiting for a vaccine. It seems likely that we will have one by next spring for the most vulnerable - everything I've read recently is looking very positive. I don't understand why people think this is going to go on forever.

Life will change, but that is the case after any global event.

It does seem very gloomy on here at times compared to how people seem in general.

^ this

I’ve got a new admin job in a school, and aside from the fact that people are making an effort not to be in each other’s faces (apart from the person who leaned all over my desk on Friday ), things feel great.

Much much better than at the beginning of lockdown.

I think that by next summer we will be more or less back to normal.

It will end. History has shown that.

I don’t feel so negative about this. I had covid in March and was ill for at least three months and I still have symptoms. But I am a single parent and one of my children has additional needs. My world had already narrowed. I love both my children, but my life looks immeasurably different than it did before he was born. Covid actually does not change that very much at all, except it made me very ill.

Life is what you make of it. People adapt to do things differently but the sun still rises and sets (and it looks beautiful if you take the time to look). People (at a population level) will get through this too. I don’t think I would want to go back to full lockdown but we are not being asked to do that, are we? Just make adaptations to reduce risk.

Good point, whatever happened to that Nando's scale thingy?!

Do people honestly think this is the worst infectious disease ever to befall mankind?!

I know, it's bizarre! France's second peak of cases is now higher than their first back in April, but their death rate hasn't risen at all.

I have no doubt it is being used intensively behind the scenes to inform government thinking as they steer us through this mess. Either that or it's under the stairs, along with dd's art projects from last year, getting rather squashed and gathering dust but too much effort went in to just put it in the recycling bin.

@SoManyActivities

Good point, whatever happened to that Nando's scale thingy?!

Do people honestly think this is the worst infectious disease ever to befall mankind?!

I know, it's bizarre! France's second peak of cases is now higher than their first back in April, but their death rate hasn't risen at all.

France's hospital intake is rising. The start of the 2nd wave was amongst the young who are not so severely affected. Widespread community transmission means that more vulnerable now are beginning to be affected - hence the hospital intake. I fear an increase in death rate will follow.

Wow, what a gloomy read. Even as a risk-averse, generally measured person, I feel much more optimistic than many here.

I have great hope in the human race's ability to both adapt and, importantly, innovate. Just look at how quickly millions of businesses switched to WFH, something that would have seemed unthinkable 12 months ago. If retail outlets, performing art companies and entertainment venues can't operate as they used to for the foreseeable, I hope/think that people will come up with alternative ways to operate (someone upthread mentioned a theatre company performing in a circus tent). If office workers move to WFH, I suspect much of the money they spent on commuting, eating out in town etc. will be spent on home improvements, local food establishments/takeaways etc. If exams get shifted and universities can't operate as before then they will hopefully find new ways to deliver education. There was enough moaning about the education system previously, my hope is that people could see this unfortunate period as an opportunity for positive changes rather than catastrophising.

I have faith that a vaccine will be found, plus improved treatments will reduce the impact on infected individuals. And if not, at the end of the day we are a social species and eventually people will resume socialising in a natural way, be it through a trickle effect or a mass breakthrough. Humanity has thrived after other world-shifting events, and we will after this!

I think there will be several vaccines. (I'm not alone in this, Prof Sarah Gilbert, of the Oxford Vaccine says so too). So all this talk of "if the vaccine isn't very good" is spurious. There will be tremendous effort to keep making them and have them more efficacious and different ones to suit different people's needs. And there will be better treatment and knowledge. Better tests. Better idea of immunity. And transmission will become negligible.

It's only been such a short time in the scheme of things. And hopefully we'll be bettered prepared for any future pandemics.

Plus, re virtual dating, don't under estimate people's desire for sex!

I thought this at the beginning but now I am much more optimistic
Vaccines /treatments coming along .. my son back to school and my parents seeing him .... it is 4 in 100,000 where I live !!!! People will not SD for ever and I think we will be out of this by match

Society cannot function this way longer term, there will be nothing left

Nothing good left - just a nightmarish, bleak dystopian world.

The worst thing you can do is accept it as the new normal. If you do, it will be. I don't and I won't. We do have a say. It's OUR world. We must must remember that, if only for the sake of the children and future generations. The psychological damage being caused to their young minds does not bear thinking about.

The solution is massively disproportionate to the problem. If you can't see that, you're not looking in the right place.

France's second peak of cases is now higher than their first back in April, but their death rate hasn't risen at all.

Not really comparable though, the actual number of cases in April was much, much higher than those reported, due to lack of testing.

The average age of cases has also fallen dramatically.

@Teal99

The real fear is people seem to be embracing the "new normal".

It's rubbish. After spending nearly all the summer in the house i've made an effort to get out the last couple of Saturdays and it's soul destroying.

Today went out for the afternoon and went to a restaurant and then a couple more pubs. One way systems, stand here, don't stand here, sit here, don't sit there, no live music. To be fair to the pubs they were following all the guidelines and fair play to them and I gave all my contact details for the tracing system. I just can't be bothered going out now. That's me for the winter for the winter I think.

Hopefully some kind of normality at some point next summer.

I am very optimistic about a vaccine, like @Ellsbells12, @tobee and @Tentativesteps133 (great post) above. The WHO say mid 2021 to get a vaccine out - but that I think means distributed globally. Here I think we'll be luckier thanks to the Oxford folk. So we just need to tough it out till next spring or summer. Winter won't be great but get through that and we'll be on the up.

I recently travelled to a popular british seaside & it was as if covid didnt exist. Hardly anyone wearing masks even the staff in restaurants. It was pretty surreal.

Back in March I heard an expert on the radio say ‘there is no exit strategy’. I think that was one of the most chilling things I’ve ever heard and things felt pretty bleak for a while.

But things are slightly better now. Hopeful for a vaccine and most of my friends are of the opinion that we will be careful but take what opportunities we can to do nice things.

Life, especially work, is still very different for me but there are glimmers of hope.

Not really comparable though, the actual number of cases in April was much, much higher than those reported, due to lack of testing

Have you looked into the testing, what exactly it tests for? Covid 19 has never been isolated and therefore cannot be tested for accurately. This explains why many people who test positive have no symptoms at all.

@inaspin12

Not really comparable though, the actual number of cases in April was much, much higher than those reported, due to lack of testing

Have you looked into the testing, what exactly it tests for? Covid 19 has never been isolated and therefore cannot be tested for accurately. This explains why many people who test positive have no symptoms at all.

???

I knew it wouldn't be long until the turquoise tracksuits came out.

Inaspin, Icelandic scientists had been able to distinguish where various strains of covid19 had come from into Iceland back in June at least. What do you mean?

I actually really enjoy reduced capacity as I dislike crowds! I went out for dinner last to a fav restaurant where normally you are pretty squashed to the next table. It was so much better being 2m apart! I suppose not so great for the owner & his profits but I enjoyed it!

Lovely for you. Do you want to pay twice as much for your meal? Because that's what will have to happen if it's long-term. Right now restaurants and everywhere else with halved capacity are desperately trying not to increase prices because they're just trying to weather the storm and still be there when normal comes. If that's not coming then the only way businesses can sustain getting rid of the 'crowds' is dramatically increasing prices.