When do you think life will be 'normal'

[positivevibes88]

Do you think by next Christmas? As in, allowing big gatherings, unlimited household mixing.. just wondering what people's best guesses are..

Also the people who say ‘not until 2023’ etc, are you forgetting that in the summer we were down to approximately 5 deaths a week, and that was without a vaccine? Do you think once numbers are down to that level again and vulnerable people are vaccinated, the government are going to allow the economy to continue being destroyed?

By summer providing people aren't being twats about the vaccine. So in reality I'll give it 5 years as 50% of medical staff in my hospital are refusing the vaccine.

"Normal" is a very loose term - but normal enough that things feel a lot like they used to, by the summer.

They will vaccinate enough people to give everyone else a sense of security. People will still get covid but it will no longer be a big deal.

Also, I'm usually the biggest pessimist around, but people saying 2022/2023 are waaaaay off

@MistletoeandGin

Also the people who say ‘not until 2023’ etc, are you forgetting that in the summer we were down to approximately 5 deaths a week, and that was without a vaccine? Do you think once numbers are down to that level again and vulnerable people are vaccinated, the government are going to allow the economy to continue being destroyed?

Of we talking about pre COVID normal yes

Even with low deaths or no deaths things will be weird and not the same for a while

There will be nervousness from some about renewed strains
Nervousness about being in busy packed trains where someone might have a coughing fit
So for some they may not feel normal for longer than others

@Sarahandduck18

I think masks, hand sanitising, the move to cashless and online shopping will all be permanent.

Oh, don't be daft.

You think once most people are vaccinated and Covid is just another mostly seasonal illness like the flu, everyone's going to go around wearing masks? The move to online shopping was happening in any case, and covid may have sped it up, but no way is everyone going to go around wearing masks 'permanently'.

Chris witty said masks will be worn at least for the majority of 2021

I do think some things that have occurred are positive and hopefully might stay.
I've found my GP service far more efficient and would happily continue with phone apts (but with the option of f2f if needed)
I think although one poster on a different thread wanted every social function to be on zoom forever more , I think it would be good if weddings etc were available on zoom as well as happening in real life! for people that couldnt attend in person (eg elderly relatives or those who lived too far away) and possibly church services.

@Sarahandduck18

I think masks, hand sanitising, the move to cashless and online shopping will all be permanent.

But it's not cashless now. Everything I bought for Christmas was paid for using cash.

Definitely over the next year things will begin to return to normal. I think by next Christmas things will be a lot more ‘normal’.

I’m surprised people are saying 2024, I doubt the government will fund lockdowns and furlough for the next few years especially with a vaccine

No one thinks there will be furlough until 2024

It’s about when things will be normal

People here saying 2023/2024 have lost a sense of reality and perspective.

Exactly, do they honestly think people are endlessly going to toe the line for that long? The government are on thin ice with that now, regardless of what people on here say.

Thankfully @Onedropbeat I can live my life normally despite some people being ‘nervous’.

I agree our reliance on technology has been massively irreversibly accelerated by the pandemic. Working from home will remain for many with the realisation that productivity can be maintained without the overheads of business premises.

Other changes that are here to stay; a loss of social skills, the younger generation completely reliant on social media, an increase in mental health issues and a rise in general laziness and obesity as technology has replaced a need to leave your house.

Easter 2021. Because everyone I know is waiting for the very vulnerable to be vaccinated and then will get back to life ASAP (and the crappy eat out to help out scheme did at least show that people will go back to normal life at the drop of a hat). The moment the most vulnerable are vaccinated, I am going back to normal - as are all my friends. The nice thing is that people who want to stay in their cupboards avoiding all human life can do that - and the rest of us can get on with it.

Other changes that are here to stay; a loss of social skills, the younger generation completely reliant on social media, an increase in mental health issues and a rise in general laziness and obesity as technology has replaced a need to leave your house

Sadly I agree with this. Also a huge increase in health anxiety, and people feeling vindicated in treating others as disease vectors rather than humans. Particularly children.

I read yesterday the gov't are aiming for Feb x

Once again, the pandemic doesn't go away just because you are bored or fed up.

There are many other countries who won't be able to get this under control. Other variants will spring up. We don't know how long the vaccine effects last or if they will be effective against those. We don't know the long term effects of contracting it. Call me a doom-monger if you like. That's fine.

Our own govt has been awful at managing this, so I add at least another 6 months on for that.

It will take time for businesses to start up again. So many have gone under. It won't just be a click your fingers, everything is normal again in Summer 2020.

It doesn't matter if you are bored or fed up or even if terrible things have happened to your family. If they have I'm really, really truly sorry about that. But it's a virus that will do what a virus does. Things will just take some time.

No idea, my layman's best guess is that the government will lift remaining restrictions by the school summer holidays to benefit tourism. By that point the vulnerable should have been vaccinated, and everyone else will just have to carry on and take their chances much as we do with seasonal flu. That said, all bets are off really. Who knows.

^ I didn't even mention any of SmileyClare's points, but yes, we will have all that to sort out too.

But I like that it's not just crazy people using hand sanitiser in shops and wearing masks in public. I haven't had as many colds this winter, and I like the mask warming the cold air (and people not being able to cough directly onto me- it surprises me how many adults think it's ok to not put their hand over their mouth when they cough).

As others have said, by Easter we'll be back to how things were in aug. Loose restrictions only, then once everyone has been vaccinated back to normal. I feel optimistic as the Oxford vaccine is about to be rolled out and we have 100m doses the end is in sight.

The whole thing will be analysed for years. As an aside I loathe radio presenters like Julia Hartley Brewer wanging on that only 377 healthy people have died. As if anyone over 60, or in their 30s with mild asthma or someone in their 40s who is immuno compromised doesn't matter. Pre existing conditions does not equal moribund and bed bound. What a thick insensitive arsehole she is.

Once again, the pandemic doesn't go away just because you are bored or fed up.

At some level, though, it actually does. Once elderly and vulnerable people have been vaccinated and the NHS no longer risks being overwhelmed, there will be very little public appetite to continue with massive restrictions ‘just in case’. People are only just complying now, when most people haven’t been vaccinated and there are hundreds of deaths per day.

So even if the vaccine doesn’t get rolled out to everyone by the time of giant mask-burning bonfires, enough people will be out and about that they’ll get the virus naturally and get immunity that way.

(“but immunity isn’t lifelong!” - yes, so it’ll become another endemic low-level virus like the other endemic human coronaviruses.”)