What are we waiting for or will this go on forever?

[rosieposiepud]

Are we waiting for a cure or vaccination? What if we can’t produce this though, will we be in this perpetual state forever? Are we going to loose some industries and a load of small businesses. Is the dcs education and further education going to be permanently disrupted forever resulting in lower standards and huge disadvantage. Will routine ops and screening ever restart properly? It’s such a horrific prospect. What sort of state will the country be in after another few years of this?

I'm getting a bit panicky now for the same reason.

This is why we really need to just get on with life now. We need to focus on ramping up a decent working test and trace system and enforce it properly.

I feel the same. I don't know what the end of this looks like or what they are hoping wil get us out of it

Whitty and Vallance said be patient and the science will catch up. So I don’t believe it will be forever.

It gets annoying and confusing though, when people say “you have to follow the rules so this will be over quicker” and “rule breakers just make this go on longer”. This will not be over until there is a vaccine or it burns itself out. The rule breakers just affect the R rate, not whether this will “be over”.

Well we need a vaccine. I do t Ravi is there is a "cure" just more knowledge about treatment options. People survive it so are essentially "cured".

Herd immunity will build with the current strategy.

Is there such a thing as herd immunity? The stuff I hear is conflicting. I desperately hope there is.

I'm getting completely pissed off. It wouldn't be so bad if tests were available, but being forced to stay indoors for weeks because someone (in my case someone who is prone to coughs every autumn/winter) has a cough because they can't get tested is just ridiculous. How are people supposed to get on with their lives? Some schools are sending pupils home and insisting they test for every sniffle, which has compounded the lack of test problem. We simply cannot live and function like this. I've been completely complaint and understanding until the point of zero tests. Enough is enough.

A vaccine may be completely useless by the time they come up with one as viruses mutate. This is just misery.

I have great faith in science being able to develop treatments/vaccinations and I believe we are well on that road now. The Aids pandemic was horrific, but is now something that can be lived with. We are only six months in, it's still early days inthe scheme of things.

I don't think a cure is realistic but treatment to reduce the severity plus a vaccine that is fairly effective. It's unrealistic to expect a vaccine that is 100% effective. There is a very good chance that the oxford vaccine will be ready early next year. There is also a treatment that can improve outcomes when someone is severely ill in hospital.

I'd recommend watching dr John Campbell on YouTube. He's a nurse (with a PhD hence dr) who explains the science in a way that is understandable. I find him so helpful.

@Pinkmakeupbag

I'm getting a bit panicky now for the same reason.

So am I. I can't cope much longer.

It’s the state everything else is going to be in (education, economy, healthcare etc) by the time these treatments have been discovered that petrifies me.

@Lemons1571

Whitty and Vallance said be patient and the science will catch up. So I don’t believe it will be forever.

It gets annoying and confusing though, when people say “you have to follow the rules so this will be over quicker” and “rule breakers just make this go on longer”. This will not be over until there is a vaccine or it burns itself out. The rule breakers just affect the R rate, not whether this will “be over”.

Yes! It drives me mad when people say "this will go on longer because of you" etc. Seriously?? Are they actually expecting us to eliminate this virus using restrictions and social distancing? It's here to stay. So the sooner governments actually bloody address the ginormous elephant in the room that we need to live with this the better.

It gets annoying and confusing though, when people say “you have to follow the rules so this will be over quicker” and “rule breakers just make this go on longer”. This will not be over until there is a vaccine or it burns itself out. The rule breakers just affect the R rate, not whether this will “be over”.

Yes this drives me mad. I can’t believe after the experience of the past 6 months and seeing what’s happening in other countries which had far stricter lockdowns (e.g. France, Spain) people are still trotting out this shit.

@secretllama I agree.

I wonder what version of vaccine we'll get. Will it last at least 1 year, and will it prevent being ill and able to transmit, or merely prevent severe illness? Will the efficacy after one shot, for at least one year's duration, be at least 90% or higher/lower? Will it be cheap or expensive? Seems like we could have waves of different vaccines being offered over years into future. Will full immunity be possible after you've had the jab, say, 5x (like tetanus)? Will the Americans & Russians rush out something ineffective on their own populations, or even hoard the supplies from rest of world.

What if science came up with a nasal spray version rather than a jab, and will any jab be available that doesn't have to be refridgerated?

The only part I'm not wondering about is serial mutations making a stable single vaccine impossible (like influenza). That is extremely low risk outcome, I reckon.

This won't last forever, no pandemic has lasted longer than 2 years, we're in a much better position than society's in the past who lived through similar situations.. much better health care and scientific knowledge. IMHO the only drawback we face is a god awful prime minister and government who couldn't run a bath let alone a country at the height of a pandemic.
Regardless it's only been six months and we have no choice but to take mitigating measures and go with the flow. This too shall pass

Any way perhaps covid20 will be a lovely virus that makes us all loose weight and become kinder human beings😬

@BikeTyson

It gets annoying and confusing though, when people say “you have to follow the rules so this will be over quicker” and “rule breakers just make this go on longer”. This will not be over until there is a vaccine or it burns itself out. The rule breakers just affect the R rate, not whether this will “be over”.

Yes this drives me mad. I can’t believe after the experience of the past 6 months and seeing what’s happening in other countries which had far stricter lockdowns (e.g. France, Spain) people are still trotting out this shit.

Strict lockdowns are pointless if you’re going to return to unregulated socialising as France and Spain did (weddings of 200+ people permitted).