When will normality fully return?

[ThornAmongstRoses]

The other night, when I checked on my youngest son at about 10pm, he felt quite warm and sweaty. My first thoughts were one of panic, not of Covid but that a temperature would mean he wouldn’t be able to go to the childminders and I wouldn’t be able to go to work. Again.

I checked his temperature and thankfully it was fine.

But when will the time come where temperatures don’t matter?

As in, he may have a slightly raised temperature in the evening, but I would give him some Calpol, he’d be absolutely fine in the morning so I’d send him to childcare as normal and I would head off to work.

When will normality in that respect come back?

I was just reading another thread about a woman who’d been told to isolate via the NHS app because she may have been in close contact with Covid in the supermarket, and so was having to isolate for 8 days. When will this stop?

When will we stop needing be monitored like this? Where even if you may have walked past someone in the supermarket with Covid, it doesn’t matter and you just carry on with life as normal?

When does the time come where a temperature doesn’t mean we have to get tested? When does all that stop?

It has always been normal that you cant take a child with a temperature to childcare

I wouldn't expect things to be back as if covid had never happened for some time? This winter is likely to be a watchful time - unless the government are going to go full Boris and try to ignore it.

If your kid has a temperature it's not cool to mask it with Calpol to infect the other kids.

It has always been normal that you cant take a child with a temperature to childcare

I’m not talking about taking an obviously sick child into childcare after dosing it up on calpol.

I’m on about a random temperature of 37.9 for example one evening in a well child, who then goes to bed and wakes up 12 hours later perfectly well with no temperature.

In normal circumstances it would be a case of just assuming it was a random temperature and the child is absolutely fine.....whereas now we have to treat it as though it’s Covid and go into isolation until a test proves otherwise.

I don’t think the OP is being irresponsible in any way. Kids get temps all the time & 6/12 hours later, you wonder what on earth was wrong! It’s happened to my DD countless times.. I’ve always assumed they’ve picked up some minor & their body quickly fights it off.

I know what you mean OP. Everytime one of my kids coughs, panic sets in. Are we going to have to isolate, will I need to miss work again. My employer is getting very unsympathetic with isolation/child absence 😓

Sadly, I don’t think we’ll go back to normal this year or through next winter ..but eventually it will be a pandemic like any other. Levels will become low in the community, just like flu. The vaccines are brilliant & treatments will improve meaning we don’t worry so much about hospitakd etc. Maybe covid will be like sickness bugs or chicken pox, children have to stay off school/nursery for so many days. Hopefully not 10 days at a time 🙈

Obviously I’m wildly guessing but two years...

But I think it will become more normalised and businesses will have to get less daft about sickness/wfh etc. Or at least I hope so!

I think those rules are going to stay for some time and be quite strictly enforced. Part of the plan to get us back to normality is strict isolation and test and trace, to stamp out outbreaks before they take hold.

Maybe once kids are able to be vaxxed because

• vulnerable kids who cant/havent been vaxxed yet

The spread from one kid to all of the others and their siblings.

Gosh. I can’t see the end if it right now

I find it very confusing, but am also confused why we are still in lockdown despite all over 60s and vulnerable people now vaccinated

I don’t understand the persistent fear

So as long as there is fear, there will be these restrictions and needs to isolate? I guess? And fear still instilled in us every day through ads

I guess it could now just be like this?

Hope I’m wrong

Depends on many things, the variants and how the virus mutates. How effective the vaccines are, when children get vaccinated etc.

If we're both lucky and the government is competent, then life in the UK can be normal by mid-2022. But International travel is going to face some issues for the foreseeable future.

If we're unlucky or the government screws up again, it could be years.

My mood shifts from Pessimism, whenever I hear some minister or pet scientist talking about living with a low level of covid in the population, to Optimism when I hear from those focused on completing the vaccination program and and learn that Boris at least appears to recognise the importance of keeping infections as low as possible until the program is completed.

While there may exist a future in which it is possible to "live with" a low level of covid circulating in the community, that future is highly unlikely to come for many years - indeed may never come. There's absolutely NO reason for the virus to become less serious, and no certainty that it won't quickly adapt to bypass vaccinations.

I wouldn't panic if my very young child had a mild temperature- covid would not be top of my list.
But normality? Psychologically, this time next year maybe, though in terms of what is allowed, late summer this year (except travel which will still be hit ir miss depending in the country). You may be able to do things, but I think quite a few people may take a while to feel comfortable doing it.

Blimey, how do you live with the gloom @notrub - no pandemic has lasted for years & years on end. People just will no comply. It’ll just become part of life. I already don’t instantly test my child for covid at the first runny nose or minor cough. Over the year I realise & reason that it’s probably their 100th cold of the winter & to wait to see how they are doing. I can’t afford to have my young kids off multiple times as I cannot work and my employer isn’t all that friendly about it.. so at some point life will have to go back to some normality. We’ll have to rely on family if I can’t send them to nursery.. that might not be the right thing from a virus perspective but so long as they are vaccinated & my children don’t have symptoms that’s the reality 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m hoping some things stay like not sending sick children to school/childcare or people going into work ill.
Even in non covid times I’d never send them to school etc with a temperature and calpol.

@HolmeH

Blimey, how do you live with the gloom *@notrub* - no pandemic has lasted for years & years on end. People just will no comply. It’ll just become part of life. I already don’t instantly test my child for covid at the first runny nose or minor cough. Over the year I realise & reason that it’s probably their 100th cold of the winter & to wait to see how they are doing. I can’t afford to have my young kids off multiple times as I cannot work and my employer isn’t all that friendly about it.. so at some point life will have to go back to some normality. We’ll have to rely on family if I can’t send them to nursery.. that might not be the right thing from a virus perspective but so long as they are vaccinated & my children don’t have symptoms that’s the reality 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

You mistake what is going on here AND what I wrote.

Covid is currently both a pandemic and the birth of a NEW globally endemic disease.

I think the initial pandemic will last 2 years, but there's different levels of "settled down" and few will be life as it used to be. Much depends on whether we allow the virus to become endemic in the UK, or mostly keep it out like we do with Measles, TB, Rabies etc

If we keep it out, then obviously border control will be here to stay.
If we don't then we have a MUCH more serious disease than flu potentially doing the rounds every year (NB we don't yet know if it's seasonal) - THAT will change the behaviour of individuals even if the government tries to ignore it.

While there may exist a future in which it is possible to "live with" a low level of covid circulating in the community, that future is highly unlikely to come for many years - indeed may never come.

I agree with @notrub

@notrub gets a lot of stick on these threads but is only posting what many scientists have explained - that covid is likely to cause problems for a fair while yet.

One of the scariest aspects of this last year has been how many adults don't want to engage with the subject, people are just desperate for comforting platitudes.

Thanks everyone,

I just can’t imagine a time where if you have a cough it doesn’t mean your life has to be put on hold for 10 days,

It’s just not sustainable.

I'm massively concerned about this too OP. Been fairly optimistic throughout this whole thing about things getting better,kids have kept their heads up. But now my 11 year old was sent him for 10 days isolation yesterday after 2.5 days in school,meaning he can go back the day before they break up for Easter....it's getting very tough on us all. I can't leave him for 10 days to interact with crappy ppt lessons they send through. If he doesn't do it and I say fuck it, he'll fall behind. I'm about to start a new job that becomes full time in June that I can't work from home for. How long will this sending home close contacts last? Indefinitely? There's only so much I can keep his spirits up and as I said,he's been bloody stellar throughout. But this now means another month off school,missing out on joining the school football extracurricular,missing out on the "fun they'll have for red nose Day" (thanks for bleating about that teachers). Honestly at this point,if I could afford it,I'd de register and homeschool as I'm not sure how much longer kids will cope with yo yoing in and out of school, it's so unfair.

How long will this sending home close contacts last? Indefinitely?

I think there's a huge grey area between school isolation ending now, and lasting indefinitely, so don't lose hope. UK is moving forwards.

Personally I want isolation to remain in school until things are improved as the last thing we need is a bout of nasty illness.

The thing I keep thinking OP is that when everyone’s vaccinated community levels are likely to be much lower so the chances of coming into contact with the virus and having to isolate reduce dramatically. In terms of the testing thing yes it’s a pain but locally results are often back within 24 hours so it’s only really one day of waiting/isolation/no work etc. I feel at the moment it’s manageable.

Exactly - people can’t just keep taking 10 days off work because their well child has been sent home from school because someone else in the class had a positive Covid test.

Or even like I said earlier, a woman shouldn’t have to isolate for 10 days because some anonymous person that she walked past in the supermarket later tested for a Covid.

We will be really taking a big risk though if we just pretend covid is over. The government is looking at in the region of 30k deaths from this unlocking. Personally I don't want to make that worse by not limiting the spread just now.

Schools have been open 1.5 weeks. Let's not fuck everything up straight away by being too hasty.