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?!

The 1665 plague outbreak in Eyam is interesting to read about. The village quarantined itself to avoid killing neighbouring villages. Most villagers died but the infection didn’t spread.

@Quartz2208
Yes indeed and some accused of doom mongering are actually just expressive their realisation that it won’t be eradicated. Some believe it will be eradicated by spring.

Covid will never be eradicated but the pandemic will end, earlier in some countries than others.
Covid will become a seasonal burden like flu. Over time there may well be a need to tweak the vaccine and ongoing vaccination will be required, just like flu.
In this country the vaccination programme is actually going pretty fast - restrictions will start to be released once the groups with the highest likelihood of severe covid are vaccinated.
Will life be like it was before, not entirely because we will be dealing with the ongoing burden of covid/flu and the consequences of the pandemic but will we be able to gather and travel in the way that humans have through history, of course!

[quote Mmn654123]@Quartz2208
Yes indeed and some accused of doom mongering are actually just expressive their realisation that it won’t be eradicated. Some believe it will be eradicated by spring.[/quote]
Who believes it will be eradicated by spring?

@Vindresi2020

A pandemic has a social end and a scientific end. The social end will come much sooner, in fact I'd argue it already has.

The majority of people won't follow these rules for much longer- God knows I wouldn't live like this for another year.

@Vindresi2020

Indeed. So reassuring to see another human who actually grasps this

@SnowyOwlWan

No, they're not deluded. It will end. (There might be another zoonotic virus but that's an unknown).

By April this will be old news. And if there's a bit of a surge next winter, it'll be reported but not that much.

Some people will carry on wearing masks, working from home, avoiding crowded gigs etc..

Are you having a laugh? It's going to take another year just to vaccinate everyone and it's still not approved for kids. Scientists say we'll be wearing mask and socially distancing for a few years to come

What worries me is the headlines today are that we have 100 million doses, but that 15 million people have been identified to be vaccinated by end of February - then restrictions will be lifted.

What about the other 45 million people? They get no say in keeping themselves safe if we are all expected to get back to normal at the end of Feb.

I can't see myself getting back to normal until I've had a reliable vaccine. So I can see myself coming under extreme uncomfortable pressure from the end of Feb onwards to get on with life as normal when I just don't want to but society/government will remove the choice from me.

I am on the priority list, but quite far down - so I am at some risk, but maybe not enough to be among the first 15 million to get the vaccine.

I am happy for everyone who wants to get back to normal to do so. But I worry that the choice to stay safe will be taken away from people at moderate risk.

@notagoodyear

What worries me is the headlines today are that we have 100 million doses, but that 15 million people have been identified to be vaccinated by end of February - then restrictions will be lifted.

What about the other 45 million people? They get no say in keeping themselves safe if we are all expected to get back to normal at the end of Feb.

I can't see myself getting back to normal until I've had a reliable vaccine. So I can see myself coming under extreme uncomfortable pressure from the end of Feb onwards to get on with life as normal when I just don't want to but society/government will remove the choice from me.

I am on the priority list, but quite far down - so I am at some risk, but maybe not enough to be among the first 15 million to get the vaccine.

I am happy for everyone who wants to get back to normal to do so. But I worry that the choice to stay safe will be taken away from people at moderate risk.

The 15 million are the ones that are likely to burden the NHS. If you don’t get one then the chances of you needing hospital treatment are presumably deemed to be low. Whether you choose to accept that low risk of illness or follow restrictions on your life until you have been vaccinated is up to you.

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

@StealthPolarBear sorry, confused now -which one?

@ElizabethG81

Spanish flu ended, the Black Death ended, but Covid-19 won't? OK. And there were no vaccines for them, people just had to crack on.

I seriously think there are going to be a lot of disappointed people on Mumsnet when this does end.

I agree.

We have had several pandemics not in the too distant past. This isn’t even the worst one in the past 20 years!

The only difference is - is the access to online dubious news outlets, the curse of social media and regular people being able to cherry pick ‘data’ that feeds their anxiety.

Going off past epidemics they normally burn themselves out with in two years. I just booked next Christmas holiday abroad

Of course it's going to be over. Life will resume, we just don't know when yet.

15 million are the number of doses already manufactured and ready to be distributed into vials. This also covers the most vulnerable and will make a sizeable sent in the mortality rates and reduce pressure on the nhs. Far more will be distributed after that.

But of course, someone here can no doubt make a £3 vaccine, which is reported to be as effective as the Pfizer and mModerna vaccine, that can be stored in regular fridges and can be manufactured by the billion in India, seem a bad thing.

@Thatsnotmynamename

Fgs. Enough already. Just as much as one knows that it will 'all be over' by summer, you don't know that it will go on for many, many years. Lots of people are really struggling and who cares if they think/ hope it will be over soon and then are wrong. At least they have hope.

There is absolutely no reason not to believe that with vaccines rolled out to the most vulnerable, plus care workers, along with continuing advances in treatments, that within the next 6-12 months Covid won't get to a similar level of severity as flu, which kills numerous people every year (including children) but at a level which we are 'happy' with as a society to live as normal.

I think a more important question to ask is why you feel the need to start yet another thread to bring everyone down and spread misery at what is about to be the most depressing tine of the year anyway, when actually - you don't KNOW anything.

This.

@inuet

So, if you want to stop the bubble busters engaging in this destructive behaviour, keep your hopes warm glows inside your head and avoid vocalising them.

++++++

Or in other words a blind optimism and refusal to face reality will see us through this pandemic.

Some people operate on this basis (including Boris Johnson) others don't.

It will be over eventually. It'll probably be a gradual relaxation of rules rather than a flick of a switch.

But as a country, as a world, we've had pandemics before and all have gradually been dealt with and lives have been restored and freedoms regained, and those were done without modern medicines and vaccinations.

It will happen eventually, though we may still keep some things.

Would it really be so bad that if people have a cold they take to wearing a mask if out of their home to avoid coughing and sneezing near others when out and about, or sat at work?

Would it really be so bad if people try to keep their distance a bit more from strangers, especially if they've got a bit of a big/cold?

Though on a sadder note, they'll be thousands of school children in the future who will no longer feel the joy of a snow day being declared at 7:30am on a winter's day,

The majority of people won't follow these rules for much longer- God knows I wouldn't live like this for another year.

But we have to I'm in Tier 4, I can't go to my office, I can't go to the gym, I can't eat out, I won't see family as they need protecting from the virus etc. Life cannot go anywhere near back to normal with all these restrictions in place.

Whether you choose to accept that low risk of illness or follow restrictions on your life until you have been vaccinated is up to you

No, the point I was making is that at some point, perhaps before I am vaccinated (even though I am on the priority list) the choice to follow restrictions will be taken away from me.

Will those 15 million doses cover all the priority list people? If so, great. But otherwise, there are people who have been identified as at risk but who won't get the vaccine before restrictions are lifted because they are only moderate risk rather than severe risk. Those people might have their choice to stay safe taken away when those who are low risk get fed up or the government decides they need to start spending again.

ElizabethG81
Spanish flu ended, the Black Death ended, but Covid-19 won't? OK. And there were no vaccines for them, people just had to crack on.

I seriously think there are going to be a lot of disappointed people on Mumsnet when this does end.

Agreed. Mumsnet sure does love a pandemic!

@shamalidacdak what bit of my post is a laugh, I cannot fathom what part of life will go back to normal by about April is a ''laugh''.

Even in 2020, there were periods in the summer where restrictions were lifted. The vulnerable can have the vaccination. There's never going to be 100% uptake. Not even close.

If you don't think that hairdressers and cafes and pubs will be open again by April, meet you back here in on this thread and you can explain to me what it was about my post that was a ''laugh''.

And a vaccine in a storage room or warehouse isn't any use until it is inside a person. We currently have 4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the country, the majority of which have not been administered.

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

@BrightYellowDaffodil @LimitIsUp that is the underlying planning assumption for some of the NHS work. It will be fab if it’s pessimistic.

yes, I read that book, Pale Rider, it was the same back then, conspiracies, people doubting everything, sigh............... I am glad I'm not vulnerable and it'd be a more stressful experience for me if I had an underlying condition, but this zoonotic virus, this one, covid 19, it will be pretty much old news by the summer of 2021.

That doesn't mean there won't be another zoonotic virus.

It really grates on me when people say that this will last forever. ESPECIALLY when they present their opinion as fact as the OP does.
You really are incredibly annoying.

@notagoodyear

Whether you choose to accept that low risk of illness or follow restrictions on your life until you have been vaccinated is up to you

No, the point I was making is that at some point, perhaps before I am vaccinated (even though I am on the priority list) the choice to follow restrictions will be taken away from me.

Will those 15 million doses cover all the priority list people? If so, great. But otherwise, there are people who have been identified as at risk but who won't get the vaccine before restrictions are lifted because they are only moderate risk rather than severe risk. Those people might have their choice to stay safe taken away when those who are low risk get fed up or the government decides they need to start spending again.

But they won’t. Yes some things like work/kids going to school maybe, but it will still be open to you to not socialise/go to non essential shops/pubs/restaurants/hairdressers/people’s houses.