To think people are deluded when they say ‘when this is all over’

[Lannaaa]

Not a conspiracy theorist! At all. But this is never going to be over. It really grates on me when people say this...like there’s a day where suddenly all is ok. This is going to go on for at least another year and will be here in some way or other indefinitely. It makes me sad that people seem to really believe that their freedoms will resume at some point. Maybe many many years down the line but not soon. Not sure where the ‘when this is all over’ even came from?!

Ragged "damn this is uncomfortable, I've always thought the Libertarians were nutjobs until now."

I get some consolation from thinking our numbers might grow after this....

I sort of agree with the OP: I think in my head the timescale is 2-4 years, but people I speak to seem to think it will all be fine really soon and everything will go back to the way it was. I think that is sadly mistaken.

2-4 years? Where do you get that nonsensical timescale from?

Ooh don't. All these dire predictions make people more likely (a) to get seriously stressed and depressed, which can be life-threatening as such; (b) die of/ spread Covid, on the grounds that why take precautions if it's hopeless anyway. And there's no reason to think that it will never end. The virus may not be eradicated completely (no virus except smallpox has been) but vaccinations plus the natural course of a pandemic are likely to control it to an extent that (as with many other illnesses) we won't be restricted forever in the way we are now. It may take a while - perhaps a year or more -before international travel becomes as easy as in the past, because this requires the co-ordination of rules and activities and medical practices and situations of different places (not to mention that Brexit may indeed make travel to and from the Continent permanently more difficult, but I digress!) But I think that most domestic activities will resume relatively soon. Some people may choose to wear masks in big crowds, and practice some social distancing or at least avoid huge crowded events in wintertime, as much to avoid flu as to avoid covid - but I don't think it will be required by law, or that we will need to avoid hugging our relatives or meeting our friends in the pub or café, or to drastically limit work and business activities. I know what it is to have to practice serious restrictions and isolation long-term, because in my youth 'every year was 2020' for me due to undiagnosed chronic illness, and I do sometimes have serious panics about going back to that time forever; but everyone I know, including some doctors, nurses and medical researchers, assure me that this will not be the case.

Will influential people campaign for and ultitmately politically achieve lots of authoritarianism again in response to a much lesser risk?

I seriously doubt it - at least as regards medical risks; we already accept plenty of authoritarianism in response to real and imagined risks of crime, terrorism, even 'foreign' influences, etc.

It should be noted that there's another side of the coin: increased access to technology, ability to work and communicate from home, etc. may actually reduce the level of control that government, bosses, etc. have over our lives. If everyone has similar access to communication technology to 'Big Brother', 'Big Brother' becomes less powerful. The downside, of course, is that any people, who through poverty or certain disabilities lack the access to technology may become even more disadvantaged than previously,

I think some of the posts I’ve seen that seem to believe lockdowns/social distancing and rules will continue even once the vaccine has been rolled out are way more deluded. Once vulnerable and at risk groups are vaccinated I think everything will steadily but surely start getting back to normal.

I’ve not read the whole thread, however I am certain this will definitely all be over. I remember when there were people posting on mumsnet that it was impossible for a vaccine to be made and approved for many many years, but here we are with not one, but many vaccines approved/awaiting approval.
I think we will see a huge change once the Oxford vaccine is rolled out. In addition to this we will hopefully have a a very effective antibody treatment (scheduled to be hopefully available by March) This antibody treatment is a true game changer apparently and will work instantly.
So with this new treatment (fingers crossed) and the Oxford vaccine how can things not get better?
My only concern is that once the coronavirus is eliminated or bought under control, what changes will be made to protect the world from another catastrophic pandemic? Hopefully valuable lessons will be learnt from this pandemic and steps taken to prevent another virus bringing the world to it’s knees again.

Well of course it will end. Don't see much of the bubonic plague knocking about these days do we?

@ElizabethG81

*Black Death took 9 years.

Spanish flu mutated to a less deadly strain so burned out after two years.*

Neither of those timescales are "forever" though, are they? Both still exist but the pandemic phase ended and people learned to live with it. There's no reason to believe that Covid-19 will behave any differently, unless you are prone to catastrophic thinking.

I didn’t say anything about forever.

I sort of agree with the OP: I think in my head the timescale is 2-4 years, but people I speak to seem to think it will all be fine really soon and everything will go back to the way it was. I think that is sadly mistaken.

And what is the basis for your theory? Or is it another case of “I just think”?

Mmn654123 Black death didnt take 9 years though in todays terms - that was the time it took to spread over Europe and Asis. Coronavirus did that spreading in well under a month!

In terms of individual places it took 12-18 months.

1-2 years makes sense really - I think this strain is going to infect an awful lot of people very quickly

@Quartz2208

Mmn654123 Black death didnt take 9 years though in todays terms - that was the time it took to spread over Europe and Asis. Coronavirus did that spreading in well under a month!

In terms of individual places it took 12-18 months.

1-2 years makes sense really - I think this strain is going to infect an awful lot of people very quickly

I didn’t suggest I’d adjusted it to take account of changes in society.it took nine years to end.

The key issue is whether the vaccines will still work and if they do, how long they confer immunity. If years, that’s good. If three months, that’s bad.

It makes me really sad - and fucking annoyed actually - that some people just revel in misery and seem to enjoy telling everyone how bad it’s supposedly going to be (in the name of “being honest”) when they’ve got nothing other than their own miserable little opinions to go on.

I know - bet they’re devastated that there’s only a few more months of shite before life gets back to normal in spring!

Mmn654123 but it needs to be adjusted because it shows that actually for the most part these things blow over and die down without vaccines and treatments naturally.

Vaccines I think are about trying to shorten the natural length and decrease the number of deaths not about whether they are the only recourse to ending one.

This is the first ever pandemic we have used this methods to end - why would it be the first that needed it?

The Russian Flu pandemic of 1889 is perhaps the best comparison if you wanted one as it happens as that is in some schools of thought the last Coronavirus outbreak rather than flu. That one lasted from October 1889 to June 1891 with further winter outbreaks until the spring of 1895.

If you make a comparison then what the vaccine needs to be able to do is control the further winter outbreaks so it doesnt go beyond June (and I guess knock a couple of months off of that).

'Never going to end', come off it.

@Quartz2208
The issue here is that folk think of ‘the end ‘ differently. For some it’s when the worst is over. For others it’s when it’s completely over. So neither spring nor 4 years is wrong if you assume the worst will be over by spring and there will be further outbreaks for years that may or may not impact day to day life locally. Which is what has been seen before.

@Bikingbear

We can't and won't live like this forever. The vaccine is on its way, and there is a theory that keeping the schools open allowing limited spread, will result in immunity within young people. If all else fails they will eventually allow it to take out the weakest, 100 years ago there were many viruses and infections that were killers. People didn't go hiding away from them. They took their chances.

No they didn't. Isolation and quarantine have been a feature in outbreaks of contagious disease for centuries.

Black death didnt take 9 years though in todays terms - that was the time it took to spread over Europe and Asis. Coronavirus did that spreading in well under a month!

Well they didn’t have planes in those days for one thing. And people arriving to other countries on ships were placed in a 40 day quarantine before being allowed ashore, as opposed to being waved through airports with no checks whatsoever as they are today.

@Dongdingdong

It makes me really sad - and fucking annoyed actually - that some people just revel in misery and seem to enjoy telling everyone how bad it’s supposedly going to be (in the name of “being honest”) when they’ve got nothing other than their own miserable little opinions to go on.

I know - bet they’re devastated that there’s only a few more months of shite before life gets back to normal in spring!

Well said.

I actually wonder if OP was looking for a bit of reassurance herself (based on the very rapid backtrack).

I know - bet they’re devastated that there’s only a few more months of shite before life gets back to normal in spring!

I think spring is optimistic but I see no reason why restrictions will be permanent (it's not affordable for a start) or what the OPs qualifications are for being able to state this so authoritatively.
Adding "Sadly" or "I'm afraid" or "The truth is.." at the beginning of a doom-laden prediction doesnt make it true.

Dong I believe that's the point that poster was making

@Mmn654123

Yes I agree I think there is a difference between saying restrictions are going to last a long time and there will be no going back to normal - because they wont and we will I think by summer at the latest.

For those who want to completely over does that mean eradicated because that is a different thing and wont happen. It will be here now but we will live with it - you can already see the acceptance to that already happening

Dongdingdong yes exactly which is why you cannot look at how long the Black Death lasted in comparison to this one

@Lannaaa

When enough people have the vaccine this will be manageable and hence all over.
Well that’s the hope. The people most at risk will then be the anti vaccination loonies and well enough said .

of course it will be over...we cannot afford to carry on like this. No country can. There have been pandemics before and life has resumed.

Today’s headlines are actually positive!! I think we will see a way through this this year because of the vaccination program. A relative of mine gets their first vaccination on Tuesday!! I cried when I found out. It’s just such wonderful news.