How long until we forget?

[Twizbe]

I've been having this debate with my MiL. She is convinced that social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing etc will continue forever. She says that people will never return to before and that it will stay in the forefront of people's minds forever.

I think people have short memories and once we get a vaccine things will quickly return to how they were before.

My son is almost 4 and knows about the virus, but I predict that by the time he has children it will be a distant memory for his generation. He might still be paying for it but a lot of the restrictions will be forgotten.

What do you all think?

Your DS will be glad it comes automatically to him when it needs to swing in for the pandemic of non-SARS-COV

If you look at Far East Asia, things like mask-wearing are normal as precaution in ordinary winter virus seasons. People change with risk; and some of the things you seem to think will be consigned to the past, will quite possibly prove to be necessary basics of life on an overcrowded planet

Well considering it's likely to take 12-18 months too get everyone fully vaccinated that pendant means masks being around next winter as well. Two winters of masking means it's more likely to stick perhaps, especially if vaccines end up having to be annual (not sure about the data on this yet). So I'm not sure overall, I certainly don't think we'll be living like currently forever, but I do think there will be certain things that hang on and mask wearing in certain conditions is likely to be one of them.

(Very frequent hand washing should be normal good hygiene anyway, I've never understood why people day they're washing more than normal - what on earth were they doing before?!)

I think it’ll get closer to ‘old normal’ but things like greater awareness of distancing, caution of passing things on (maybe masks when unwell) will stay. That’s no bad thing given that scientist predict that the next pandemic may not be far behind this one.

I absolutely won’t be wearing masks for a minute longer than necessary, although maybe some people will choose to in future.
I agree with you largely OP... I don’t think there is generally much appetite for a ‘new normal’ (most irritating phrase ever) and many will forget quickly.
I think there will be people with increased health anxiety as a result of it all.

It's interesting.

I think this summer to a certain extent (certainly here in Italy) people forgot totally. The area where I am in any case had a total of 31 active cases in the first wave.
We had a perfectly normal summer, everything opened up, masks were still mandatory in shops and we had to leave test and trace details in restaurants but life other than that was normal, crowded beaches, nightclubs, tourist spots.

And look at the state of us now. My area has 211 cases and our schools are back online. Hospitals are at capacity and we're anticipating a total lockdown announcement any time.

I'm beyond furious as the scientists said this was going to happen, if we weren't prudent, but the govt went on holiday, opened up for "the economy" which is going to end up more fucked than ever now because lessons weren't learned first time around.

Italy doesn't seem to be featuring as much as before in the international news, but there was a TV news programme the other night with the presenter yelling at the regional governor in Lombardia where everything was so awful before about the interceding 7 months when they have done fuck all to prevent it happening again. Which it now is.

So, yes, people forget until they're reminded. The hard way.

I do hope that people will be more conscious of avoiding passing things on... Covid isn’t the only nasty virus/dangerous around and it makes sense for people to stay at home while recuperating to avoid infecting others.
Ditto the hand washing... I’ve always washed my hands a lot to avoid the multitude of viruses that are around, and have been a bit shocked to see that frequent hand washing isn’t the norm for others.

My child is a little older and fully aware of what's going on in the world right now, I do not think she will forget.
I think it will take quite some time for us to get back to where we were before even with a vaccine it will take time for it to be rolled out and then you will have those who won't want it.
Some friendships and even families will be damaged due to disagreements and personal choices and maybe irreparable.

I am absolutely keeping the 2 metre thing as long as I possibly can. Also the no handshakes or hugging.

I have a new nephew and we were discussing this at the weekend. When he’s older we will have to tell him why in the baby photos Auntie Sparkling was so far away from him! Then my SIL said ‘unless we are still doing it when he’s old enough to understand’

It will be forgotten very quickly when we can.

I don’t think I will ever forget about it totally. It’s made me think about catching germs from strangers and I’ll certainly be mindful of that forever I think.

@Sparklingbrook

I don’t think I will ever forget about it totally. It’s made me think about catching germs from strangers and I’ll certainly be mindful of that forever I think.

Gosh no I certainly won’t forget about it totally... having to homeschool 2 children, look after a baby/toddler and work full time full time during the first lockdown, followed by then losing my job due to Covid and caring for a terminally ill relative while balancing job hunting and bubbles popping at school has made my mental health plummet to the point of feeling suicidal. That will be imprinted in my memory forever.

If people weren’t already hand washing I don’t think the increase will stick. People already knew the importance, they just couldn’t be arsed.
What does you MIL mean by social distancing will stay forever? Does she mean between strangers eg at shops? Shops won’t keep limiting their customer numbers unless they have to, and there is already not a huge amount of distancing at my local supermarket. And I don’t believe social distancing between family/friends will continue.

Actually I more mean we will change behaviour quickly but not completely lose the memory of it.

There might be small changes - maybe not sharing an Icecream again

But mostly we’ll spring back to before

My family will not forget. We have lost people we love dearly to it who should have been with us for many more years.

@Ignoringequally I don’t have school after children, I honestly don’t know how home schooling would have gone if I did. Not well. You have had a terrible time of it, how are you now?

I’m the same, @CovidPostingName. If commitment to handwashing stays as it is, that will be a good thing. Worries me that most people weren’t washing their hands at regular intervals with proper soap.

• school age

I think it will be a period of time we refer to quite often. I don’t think mask wearing and social distancing will stick but the ramifications on some sectors and the millions of lives that have been changed will mean we will never go back to how it was.

I think children now will be generally much more aware of how illness spreads and how to prevent it because they'll have grown up with it. I think we'll keep low level stuff like masks, distancing and sanitising hands. So overall we may see a drop in the spread of other illnesses as we all become much more aware of basic hygiene. So it's not a bad thing really.

I think meant more behaviour will revert rather than forget as such. I won't forget this year for sure, but I can see my grandkids not wearing masks in shops or not hugging their friends.

My grandparents were my son's age during the 1919 pandemic and I don't think they ever once mentioned it to me.

I think in a generation it will become history.

Mask wearing won't stick. It's a struggle getting people to wear them now, no way will people wear them if it's not law.

I won't forget this period in time quickly though, it's been hell.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget this hell. I also think some of us will be scared by this mentally.

As for being more aware about other viruses, no I don’t think so. A work colleague came into work coughing and said it’s not covid (cough, splutter) another work colleague was v upset because her mum is in a nursing home and if she’d caught it she couldn’t go to the nursing home.

I think people will continue to be selfish.

Asian countries wear masks due to high pollution levels, not necessarily SARS memories

I hope we keep the hand gel at the entrances of places like supermarkets as that could help with winter bugs in general but the sooner we can move on from living like this the better.

I think we'll keep low level stuff like masks, distancing and sanitising hands

But distancing isn’t low level for a lot of businesses. Every other chair not in use at a hairdresser, fewer tables in restaurants, fewer people allowed in to cinemas/theatres, small shops only allowed one or two people in. Those restrictions won’t stay in place forever. Unless you meant the more “informal” distancing, like not reaching over someone at the supermarket, standing a little further back in a queue?