Your thoughts on when life will be normal-ish

[charcb]

I realise this is purely speculative but what are people's thoughts on when we will be back to a semi-normal reality? Knowing what you know on vaccinations, when, according to you, can we expect the most simple of things to be back up and running again? I am referring to the simplest of things such as getting people back to their offices/places of work, having shops/gyms/entertainment venues permanently open, and the like?

I know we are a long way away from normal as we know it and that it may take several years to go back to it so I am not talking to getting back to total normality - ie no masks, no social distance, no restrictions.

Actually normality in summer 2022/23. Covid is here to stay, so when will we learn to accept the risk is more the question.

@Baycob this is simply not going to happen, what makes you think this will go on into 2022 and what makes you think the economy will survive this long and people will put up with it? OP if you think of last summer there was a great degree of normality without a vaccine, this summer has to be better, there will still be masks in some settings perhaps and hand hygiene etc. but the government have already said this will switch to personal responsibility rather than being dictated and enforced by government. You only have to look at the difference in attitude between now and March to see that people will not take this for much longer and to be honest restrictions will end as soon as people stop complying and I think after the most vulnerable have been vaccinated people will no longer comply.

Middle of next year, possibly longer.

They’re starting to hit a period of significant bumps to the UK vaccination programme due to supply.

We’re also seeing new strains emerging regularly. Whilst a lot of the world is unvaccinated that wide pool from which new mutations can arise will continue unabated.

So I think there will be a significant winter covid season next year, bit like flu season. If no new strain wmrges that renders the current vaccine invalid and the vaccine is dispersed round the whole world pretty evenly and rapidly, then I think later part of 2022 and 2023 have a good chance of making big strides. Some countries will get things battened down again in the interim. Sadly UK is not one of them. Too much indecision.

It wasn’t over by Easter last year, won’t be over by Easter this year.

Agree with 2022 before we stop worrying about before whether hospitalisations due to covid will overrun the hospitals. Autum/Winter 2021/22 will probably still have cinemas / theatres etc closed or at very limited capacity and other hospitality and gyms at risk of closure or enforcing social distancing, e.g. tier 4.

Positive thinking. I'm going on holiday in August and its happening

Easter if we’re allowed

I feel like things will change a lot over this year but not be 'normal'. There's too much unknown, particularly about the vaccines and by the time they've got through most, they might need to start again...and then winter again etc. There will be lots of back and forth, much like the last year.

I think this is the worst bit but things will get better and after the next winter being more stable, I think covid won't be at the fore of our minds Easter 2022.

My guess is they will start to lift restrictions after Easter starting with the schools reopening. I would like to say things will be back to normal by summer but I would say autumn for things to go back to normal in the UK. Foreign travel I would guess next year hopefully.

It depends what you mean by normal. We won't be in lockdown for much longer but it won't be back to life as we knew it in 2019 for a long while yet.

I expect this coming summer will be much like last summer - hospitality open, shops open etc. Maybe even some larger events, organised sports with spectators etc.

There's no doubt lots of working age people will wait until they've been vaccinated to fully drop any social distancing measures. Many work places will continue WFH if it's gone well so far. If everyone over 18 is vaccinated by next winter, hopefully the NHS won't be overwhelmed like it's been this year and by spring 2022 we may see 2019 levels of normal again.

I’m hoping next summer give the new strains that are appearing, vaccination and boosters for new strains etc.

I hope things will gradually begin to improve from late spring onwards and be getting back towards normal by the autumn.

I think the very first signs of things settling will be at Easter, with schools and shops opening back up and maybe meeting more people outside.

By September I think things will be quite a lot better, with hospitality coming back and perhaps meeting indoors in smaller groups.

Perhaps slightly bumpy through the winter going backwards a tiny bit, maybe less meeting indoors but schools open and then really significantly better by spring 2022.

I think/hope this is the last big full on schools closed style lockdown.

I'm pretty pessimistic, certainly think this summer is optimistic.

@Christmasfairy2020 sending positive thoughts as I'd love too go away too!! Anywhere exciting??

Fingers crossed for a roaring ‘20s like after the Spanish flu...she says as drinks another glass of wine and eats another twirl after another day of sitting in the sofa with a baby...it has to get better

By summer we should see most of the adult population vaccinated. Covid won’t have gone away, but the horror of 1000+ deaths reported ina. day and the possibility of the NHS being overwhelmed will have.

So I think most things will be pretty much back to normal then, with the only impacts for people in this country being specific ones about international travel (not that you can’t do it, but that some countries will still have a lot of cases, some might require proof of vaccination, etc etc).

People were happy enough to go out to pubs and restaurants and shops again back in summer when there were no vaccines. There is zero chance people are going to stay at home once everyone’s been vaccinated. What would be the benefit of that?

I just switched over the news as the first thing out of the newscaster's mouth was "new strain from Brazil". I don't know how much more we are expected to take.....this isn't living.

I don’t know why people don’t think this summer will be like last summer (shops, bars, restaurants open and abroad holidays to certain destinations).

Well I went abroad last summer so why with a vaccine would people not be travelling this summer?

Once the elderly and vulnerable are vaccinated restrictions will start to lift. Schools back first.

There is no justification for continued restrictions if the hospitals aren’t overwhelmed.

They won’t be overwhelmed this summer just like they weren’t last summer.

I’m hopeful for things to be looking up by Easter this year. Much better by summer. Warmer weather and vitamin S combined with people spending more time outdoors should help a lot. Last summer was semi normal and we didn’t have a vaccine then.

That’s meant to say vitamin D

Extactly @Summerflowers101 and this summer many will be vaccinated. Yet still the doom and gloom...

Last summer I went abroad, went to pubs, restaurants, had a good time. Why won’t that happen this summer? With a vaccine??

People on this site love predicting it will be years until things went back to normal. There were carols in my local village and people forgot about social distancing within minutes (not that I approve, it’s just a fact - we are social animals.) A few weirdos will sit at home with their tin hats and ventilators on for months (years?). The rest of us will be back to normal by the summer. I certainly will be the moment the most vulnerable are vaccinated. Then it’s a manageable risk that I’m prepared to take.

Fascinating to hear everyone's views, thanks for posting. I also think by summer things will look more positive with a return to a more normal situation by autumn. Definitely shops and restaurants open by summer in my opinion, travel allowed, with hygiene measures remaining in place. I honestly think most companies and government will be willing to get people slowly back in their sites by autumn as the economy will collapse otherwise. The bigger question is whether people will accept this now that they've seen that WFH works.

I have doubts over whether we will see a relapse again next winter in terms of number of cases and deaths but fingers crossed that won't be the case.

I'm less concerned about the variants - I think science will know how to cope with these and adapt as needed.

Those who saying this summer will be worse than last need to really explain why.