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?

Hopefully, there'll be more acceptance of people who don't want to shake hands/hug, who want to wear masks, who want personal space, etc. Before covid, such people were often ridiculed, bullied, even assaulted, so hopefully there'll be more respect/tolerance for whatever people want to do to make themselves feel safer.

I wouldn't mind sanitising before going into places on a long term basis but I wouldn't choose to wear a mask long term, though have no issue if other people want to. I hope things will go back to normal within the next couple of years. I think it'll be something folk talk about over history (winter of discontent, miners strike, 9/11 etc) but I still believe that in years to come covid will not be a prominent part of our lives.

@Frazzled13

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?

More respecting personal space, I'd have hoped, rather than specific rules.

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

You see I don’t think things like masks and distancing are ‘low level’. Masks are a significant barrier to effective communication, and long term social distancing would have massive ramifications for a lot of industries (plus isn’t how humans have evolved to live).

@Sparklingbrook still struggling, but surviving, thank you.

I think three only hangover will be a small minority of people wearing masks when out and about. Maybe if you have a cold or you're particularly old and vulnerable.

Otherwise I think it will go back to how it was before and I can't wait.

Ah ok, well if you mean respecting personal space then I’ve always done that, so yes I’d hope that continues for others.

Masks will go pretty quickly. Majority would not choose to continue. Very few would.

Sanitising will not be kept in restaurants

Not sure about screens but they’ll probably go

I know I've said this on a few threads over the past six months but I'm a historian by training (PhD level - left academia due to the workload) and I honestly think we'll be Old Normal by next Christmas whatever happens. People move on, to put it bluntly. You can already see the extent to which people are consciously or unconsciously slipping back to pre-Covid life.

There will be people left with long term health anxiety though, especially as Covid will probably never to be eliminated.

I think the government has sufficiently psychologically traumatised people that many seem to see fellow humans as potential vectors of disease first and foremost, and that that mindset will be difficult to undo, not that they will want to.

As one pp pointed out the legacy and memories of March and April didn’t stick with a lot of people given behaviours in august and September. We made the 2nd wave inevitable.

It would be a benefit for society if we did act to reduce a lot of viral spread. Better hand hygiene, forms of distancing and acceptance of the need for isolation for people with infectious disease.

Presenteeism, poor compensation and employer sanctions have prevailed in the UK in the defiance of staying home and in isolation when infectious. We can now see the cost of this mindless approach. I hope never to see a virus spread in an office because someone just won’t stay home. Even though they are not fit for work and make others the same.

I think what we’re being asked to do is against our natural tendency - we are generally a species that likes seeing faces and having close contact with others. This means it won’t naturally stick once the threat is reduced. I don’t know anyone who likes or would wear a mask by choice, for example, and the mental health issues this year because of not having close contact with family groups is also unsustainable. I think the majority of us will stick to the rules for a while but once there is a vaccine or cases fall again then people will start returning to normal.

The more we learn about the virus and get desensitised to it being here the less worried people will feel about it. There’s already a degree of that with this lockdown. People have lost the fear they had the first time now they know how many cases are
mild or have no symptoms. It’s not new or scary, it’s been here all year. In March it was new.

@CovidPostingName I wash more hands more regularly. I used to wash them after using the loo and before preparing/eating food. Now I also wash them when I arrive back home or at someone else's house (pre lockdown).

I am not sure I will go back to hugging friends and think we will still give each other more space in queues. Hopefully masks will stay around if you have a cold or similar to reduce virus spreading.

I hope it will become more acceptable to take time off work when you're sick... probably not among crap employers who don't care about anything except money, but maybe among the better ones at least?

I think I'll continue to wear a mask on crowded public transport, or if I have a cold. It's common in Asian countries to wear a mask to protect others, and I think that might pick up here though likely not widespread.

Otherwise I think we'll go back to normal within a few years. People forget. I remember going to a gig a few days after the Bataclan shootings and being hyper aware of the exits and who was around, but barely even thought of it within a few months.

I don’t think shaking hands will ever be a normal greeting again. Which is fine with me as I always hated it, and used hand sanitiser straight afterwards! I also think (and hope) that hand washing will become more mainstream, and the days of watching people waltz out of toilet cubicles without even a glance at the sink will be over!

Hopefully masks will stay around if you have a cold or similar to reduce virus spreading

I always wonder about this... how do you blow your nose in a mask? Do you just let it drip while out and about?

I don’t think plastic screens in shops will be removed, but as they break they won’t be replaced.
Masks will be the first thing that goes because let’s face it, none of us likes wearing them.

There have been pandemics before,’and we moved past them.

We’ll move past this one too.

But this has been a seismic event, and the generations alive today will certainly remember it clearly.

I suspect mask wearing when you have a cold or flu might become common practice. I guess that’s a good thing.

Otherwise, people will return to mingling like they have always done. That can’t change.

I think there will be a small shift.. i always found hand shaking very odd and quite disgusting long before this virus.. maybe it will be more acceptable to decline handshakes in future.. and sanitiser will be much more common

I've embraced every freedom as it was given back to me, mourned it as it was taken away and will not hesitate to dispense with this abnormal way of living the very second that I can.

Having said that I'm also the sort of person that used to say things like 'no, don't hug me, got a bloody awful cold at the mo' when meeting up with a friend. You know, using common sense and basic hygiene practices? Don't need the government or a face mask to know how to behave when not well.

@WhoopsSomethingWentWrong

Hopefully masks will stay around if you have a cold or similar to reduce virus spreading

I always wonder about this... how do you blow your nose in a mask? Do you just let it drip while out and about?

I've always noticed with Asian students I'm class with masks, if they need to blow their nose (and non mask wearing Asian students will do this too) they get up and move to the bin where they'll immediately put the tissue. They blow their nose as far away from others as possible, and quickly dispose of the tissue.

I think in Italy mask wearing will stick. Even over the summer it was the one thing that didn't get relaxed. I'll certainly continue with one.

*in class

I'm going to keep the hand washing

I only ever washed my hands after the loo - now I do it as soon as I come in from outside, when I get off public transport, after I unpack shopping.

I've basically doubled my hand washing.

I only ever washed my hands after the loo - now I do it as soon as I come in from outside, when I get off public transport, after I unpack shopping

Ah you see I’ve always done this anyway... there are many viruses about that I don’t want to catch even without Covid!

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

I agree, and have said this all along. In historical terms, this will be a mere blip. Even over the summer, life for many people was nearly normal. Wearing masks, standing 2 metres apart, having entire industries shut so as to keep people away from their fellow human beings - all of this goes against human nature.

Perhaps more WFH, maybe mask wearing when you're ill will become more common, but I doubt this will lead to any long-term societal changes. People are desperate to get their old lives back.