Will life ever return to normal?

[lockdownlow]

Just coming here because I'm at home alone with my children after yet another morning of stress and exhaustion trying to WFH and help them complete their zillion tasks set by school, and my 8yo just came to me and said "Will my life ever be like it used to be? I miss it"
I painted on a smile and tried to reassure him that of course, it would be but inside I just had an awful sinking feeling.
I've come into my office for a quiet sob.
Will it? Is this his childhood now?

This is all really getting me down

The aim is to reduce pressure on the NHS. Once most adults are vaccinated (or even when the vulnerable are) this will happen.
Hospitals were pretty quiet last summer even without a vaccine!

Long term, instead of restrictions on our freedom which nobody will have any appetite for, the government needs to divert funding away from furlough and paying healthy people to stay at home and in the the NHS. So that it can cope in the future. But COVID will be lumped in with all the other nasty viruses around in winter. It won’t get special treatment any more.

@Cornettoninja Isn't it just. Quite unbelievable really.

Agree with a pp about precedent being set.

No need to find the NHS. Leave it as it is and of you get full we'll just curtail freedoms. Sorted.

Cornettoninja There’s nothing wrong with hope, it’s unrealistic expectations that hurt people in the long run, I personally imagine that full lockdown will probably go on till April/May, then back in the tier systems untill levels of infection and deaths are back to very low levels, The government won’t want to shut down again, full international travel, next year probably ( unless a vaccine passport )

I would say lockdown until April or May is an equally unrealistic expectation. I don't think we will be back to normal by then but I think given how cases have fallen and the fact we are on track to vaccinate the first 4 priority groups before the target of the 15th Feb suggests that some things will start to ease when they next review.

I agree @starfish88

You can’t accuse people of optimism and false hope then come up with some crap prediction based on no evidence.

With Wales and Scotland looking to open schools quite soon (and we know how Boris likes to cope Nicola) then we won’t be long after.

Things will start to open up in March.

Maybe we won’t get to go to the pub until May. Maybe we’ll have a rule of 6 outdoors for a while.

@Sirius99

Cornettoninja There’s nothing wrong with hope, it’s unrealistic expectations that hurt people in the long run, I personally imagine that full lockdown will probably go on till April/May, then back in the tier systems untill levels of infection and deaths are back to very low levels, The government won’t want to shut down again, full international travel, next year probably ( unless a vaccine passport )

What 'unrealistic expectations'?

Everyone here seems very cautious. Nobody thinks they will be out downing a pint in the Horse and Hound next week. We're all prepared for some restrictions for the next several months, but some of us are cautiously optimistic that things will start to improve fairly soon.

Your 'imaginings' are no more or less informed than those of anybody else here. Being uniformly negative doesn't make you more 'realistic'.

Delatron , likewise you have no evidence, opening up in March, oh wait a minute, pubs In May, what do you think will open in March, just Schools? Boris has all ready said possibly March 8 th, more like back after Easter holiday

IcedPurple, how do you see the timeline going forward t getting back to normal?

Has he said the 'more like back after Easter holiday' bit or did you add that?

@Sirius99

IcedPurple, how do you see the timeline going forward t getting back to normal?

I don't know. Neither do you.

My best guess is restrictions start to ease in March and almost back to normal by summer, except for large gatherings and possibly restrictions on international travel. Obviously this will all be dependent on the success of the vaccine roll-out and cases continuing to fall. Signs are good so far, but things can change.

To repeat, this is just a guess but it's no more or less informed than any of your guesses.

starfish88 The man responsible for a large area of schools, told me unless they can get the teachers and assistant started on the vaccinations, The union is not happy about their members go back without vaccinations

IcedPurple When you say back to normal by summer, you mean no masks, no social distancing, shops and hospitality open as normal, theatre and cinemas etc, I really hope your right,

@Sirius99 I agree expectations are important. I’ve mentally prepared for this pandemic to be overshadowing everything for approximately two years based off history, but I accept that everyone is different and listening solely to the media and cabinet gives very different expectations.

If case numbers continue to drop and we manage to get them consistently under 10k I would expect a gradual reopening much like last year (starting with schools). Unlike last year I would hope that the lesson have been learnt that when we need to pull back we do so quickly and decisively. I’m hopeful that this can be managed at a local level much like we’re seeing with mass testing for new variants (which should have happened in the last lockdown when it was clear some areas weren’t following the national trend).

@Sirius99

starfish88 The man responsible for a large area of schools, told me unless they can get the teachers and assistant started on the vaccinations, The union is not happy about their members go back without vaccinations

I agree with this. I think it is truly insane that teachers are

I do think teachers need to be vaccinated. But not more than the elderly and vulnerable. And I say this as a teacher myself but from the 'fortunate' position of probably already having caught covid (no test at the start of lockdown 1 but antibodies).

While I agree that teachers should be vaccinated it’s a question of who do you push down the list and how do you verify everyone? The current system is the easiest way to do it - by age and vulnerability - as those things are on a patients records. It becomes a lot more complex if you start saying people can provide proof of their employment (how do you police this - what is acceptable proof, how easy is it to fake, etc) to jump the queue.

@Sirius99
So Scotland and Wales open schools in Feb but Boris waits until the end of April. Despite saying education will be the first to open. Ok.

I also think teachers should be vaccinated though. What they are doing round here is when they have spare vaccines (20% aren’t turning up for appointments). They are offering to police and firemen. Be good to include teachers in the end of day call out?

They’re whizzing through the vaccinations though and cases are falling. We’ll be in a very different position in one month and that’s still before the date they said they’d consider schools going back.

We’re not chasing zero Covid here. We need the pressure off the NHS then a gradual opening.

No one is expecting to be going to concerts this summer but I think it will look very different to now.

Delatron, Better mid April, than go back for Two weeks, then off again for Two weeks

Well it’s the Easter break so yes actually @Sirius99 it does make sense they get a couple of weeks in March then have a natural break for Easter.

A couple of weeks before Easter could make a huge difference to many children.

With things going as well as they are they’ll be no appetite to keep everything closed until the end be of April!

Delatron , There might not be an appetite for it from a few, but unfortunately it’s the science that will decide when things open, not a few parents that are fed up with their kids being home and having to try and home school them

Yes that’s why we want to schools back @Sirius99

Nothing to do with their mental health, welfare and education..

The government are keen to reopen when they can. They can't let the economy continue like this or there will be no money for the NHS. Rishi Sunak has been discussing this today.

And accepting that most children do better educationally in a school environment as well as acknowledging the impact on child mental health is hardly 'being fed up of home schooling'.

As you say, we don't make the decision, the government do. But they will not push for lockdown a minute longer than they have to.

www.gov.uk/government/news/effect-of-pandemic-on-childrens-wellbeing-revealed-in-new-report

Yes!

Although the time scale is hard to predict, once enough of the population has been vaccinated normality will return.