'stick to the rules and we'll get back to normal sooner'

[MorrisZapp]

This had been said since March and there's a new wave of it now. If we stick to the guidelines, then we can get back to normal sooner.

What is this based on? I don't see how 'normal' can be achieved by anything other than a vaccine, better treatments and a degree of acceptance of this new virus in our world.

If you think that sticking to rules now will bring normality sooner, why do you think this?

It's not true,it's all bollocks. It's a bloody virus that we've been told time and time again that we have to live with. The people who genuinely believe that if we stick to the "roolz" that Covid will only infect if you're in pub or restaurant after 10 or in a group bigger than 6 are kidding themselves. The only way to get back to any sense of normality is to either learn to live with it or get a vaccine rolled out to most of the population.

I suppose that if there were civil unrest it would divert resources away from the important task in hand, so behaving is important in that sense.

So basically,in short,I agree with you!

Of course it's not going to go away until we have a vaccine.

Anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.

I think they just mean keep it at bay for as long as possible to buy time to get better treatments and or a vaccine.

The more we drive the virus down the more freedoms we can have, so in theory we get more normality like we did over the summer. But yes, you’re right that we won’t be back until true normal until we’re all vaccinated and there’s possibly more decent treatments

There's an advert on the radio with a reassuring woman saying 'I know it's hard, but dig deep, we've got this' etc. Then she goes on to say the stuff about a sooner normality.

I'm not against the rules per se, I'm happy to follow most of them. I can see the benefit in keeping the spread down as much as we reasonably can. I just think it's actually quite harmful to tell well meaning people that if they do x they'll be rewarded with y. It's never going to work like that.

I don’t think “normal” = no deaths from Covid. I think they mean no lockdowns, enforced mask wearing, SD etc.

If you want “normal” to mean no Covid deaths then yes, you need a vaccine a full roll out of it.

Do people honestly think that every person to person transmission occurs because someone 'broke a rule' and that if there was 100% compliance the virus would magically dissappear in 2 weeks?

Ehup I actually think a lot of people do truly believe this!

Where I am mid July to end of August things were pretty “normal”. Not totally normal obviously but manageable. We could meet friends and do stuff (aided by warm dry weather making outside socialising “normal”) and there were only a handful of cases in my large city and if you needed a test there was a 24hr turnaround.

Agree with you OP. Do these people who say "it'll be over sooner" think that the virus will suddenly stop spreading in the community when the numbers are low enough? 🤔 That's not how viruses work.

@EhUp

Do people honestly think that every person to person transmission occurs because someone 'broke a rule' and that if there was 100% compliance the virus would magically dissappear in 2 weeks?

Yes,so many people do actually believe this.

The rules are designed to flatten the curve not stop transmission altogether. However the rules have been confusing and contradictory.

I think people struggle to listen to a government who is so inconsistent. I think whatever side of the divide you are on this it's difficult when we are fed such conflicting advice and information.

@treesofwood @layladylay234 unfortunately I agree with you and giving out the message 'follow the rules and we'll all be back to normal asap' does nothing to dispell the myth

I think the opposite is more true. Dont stick to the rules now and we will face more serious restrictions

We are just treading water and buying time without health services becoming overwhelmed.

I think it's perfectly normal to have opened up society, give us all a break! Let us out, eat out, holidays, mixing and now, with winter, flu etc it's time to start battening down the hatches again... Try and get through to March and pray.. There is some break through by then.. By march we will have severely months of great weather to buy more time....

This vaccine we seem to have blind faith in.....is it to be trusted?

Normal has gone for a good few years I think. The governments idea of normal and my idea of normal are two vastly different things I fear.

It's not going away ever.
I doubt we will ever get back to normal if by normal you mean no masks, no distancing, shaking hands,hugging etc
Masks will be here forever now. Large crowds at events are gone for good. Small distanced mask wearing crowds as cinemas are now will eventually come in for theatre/sport/concerts/festivals. Nightclubs and parties, random hook ups are a thing of the past.

This is life now, anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves, following the rules won't get it over quicker. This is life. We will come to look back on pre 2020 the way we look at the middle ages disgusted at the poor hygiene practices.

The government have already told us so with the alert level system. Level 1 equals no measures it requires no covid in UK.

That will never happen now, it won't cause the deaths so often once we can vaccinate but it will still be here so the alert system will never get to 1.

We will always have measures now, this is normality the quicker people accept the happier they will be.

@FeedtheFish123 no chance. Parties will always happen wether legal or not. Prohibition and now this pandemic shows that.

I think we're going to be loosening and tightening restrictions until we have a vaccine. I don't think this will be over until then.

I suppose maybe people mean, the sooner we get cases down, the sooner we can relax the measures needed to do so? But of course, it's going to yoyo straight back as soon as we stop. I think that's pretty much inevitable.

I don't think this is normality, though. I think normality is probably yearly or twice yearly vaccinations.

Nightclubs and parties, random hook ups are a thing of the past.

This is life now, anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves,

The government have already told us so with the alert level system. Level 1 equals no measures it requires no covid in UK.

I think you might be deluding yourself if you think parties and random hookups aren’t still happening now.
I also think the actions taken by gov bear no resemblance to the levels. Level 1 was supposed to be the only time shielding people could stop shielding. But that’s happened.

It won't play out like that. When deaths settle down longer term due to better treatments there will be no driver to force people to stay apart. Things have already improved since March and they will continue to improve.