Is life never going back to normal?

[JuneMoonstone]

I feel incredibly lucky that I've lived 44 years of a normal life. I am heartbroken at the way life has become. Like so many others, I feel like I am existing, not living. I don't see any point in making plans, I don't feel any hope for the future. I was feeling quite positive about the progress made in the UK with vaccines and seeing the infection rates and death rates lower. However with the news about the rest of Europe going into lockdown due to escalating infection rates, I can't help but feel that we are never going to get out of this bloody mess. I cannot help but believe that we will have to live our lives under constant restrictions forever now because of this virus. Is life really going to be shit from now on? Will I ever be able to, for example, go into a busy pub on a Friday night and watch a live band and have a bloody good time again? Will we have to wear face masks permanently in public places from now on? I get a very strong feeling that this will be the case. It's my daughter I feel for the most. She's just 5 years old. What kind of a life is she going to have?

It's normal in lots of places... Or at least it's reported as normal. Although still restructions on travel.

I feel the same after the latest news. What the hell is the point of vaccines then if we still can't go anywhere and do something as normal as go on holiday? Aren't there always going to be mutations and new variants, so we will never be allowed to go anywhere?

It will go back to normal. Worst case, even if something goes wrong with the vaccines, there’ll come a point at which our tolerance for covid deaths rises because a) we simply can’t find the country with a half shut economy and b) people will reach their limit of sacrificing normal life to keep covid deaths down.

Obviously that’s very shit if it comes to that (and I don’t think it will- I think the vaccines will work and there’ll be very effective treatments which reduce deaths and pressure on hospitals). But either way, there’s no way people will tolerate living like this in even the medium term.

The old normal has gone because the pandemic has changed the world. So there will be a new normal, which will be more like the old normal than what we are living through now but never really the same. It will be a new era. A bit like pre and post 9/11 or pre and post internet. But this will feel even more significant.

Not much help I know, but the pessimist in me says we wont go back to how things were... so many people happy to live in this "new normal" and have to undergo a medical procedure to get their rights back. It makes me feel sick if I think about it too much.

It absolutely will. Enough people want to go back to normal whether we are allowed to or not. The people that are happy with the "new normal" are a minority.

I feel the same I am was talking about Christmas today (I know early :-) and thought well what is the point we can't do anything

I also think scientist would keep us locked up for 2 years but the economy won't and people won't do it , they are even protesting now ... and it wiil hey worse

Mental health is rife , delayed cancer , poverty the list goes on so it will not stay like this

No we won’t go back to how it was completely. At home, possibly schools and small clubs possibly we will. By working practices and the nhs - no. Lots of big companies will be keeping things such as home working, masks, sanitisers, spit guards, one way systems and on line meetings. Shame because it will bring a host of other problems. But life goes on albeit changed.

Well we can't please ourselves and go back to normal if our normal is going abroad on holiday.

And if travel isn't permitted that's that.

@ilovesooty

Well we can't please ourselves and go back to normal if our normal is going abroad on holiday.

And if travel isn't permitted that's that.

It will be at some point. Foreign travel won't cease to exist, it's a big money maker.

Thank you for all your replies. I'm struggling to come to terms with it all, even after all this time. What I don't understand is that there have been pandemics in the past such as Spanish Flu, but they lasted for a limited period of time and then they ended and life resumed as normal. What is it about Covid 19 that makes it different from all the other pandemics in the past, in that our way of living will be changed permanently? Why is there the liklihood that we will have to wear face coverings for many years to come when this wasn't the case for the Spanish flu? Is it because we are being prepped for another pandemic that is expected to arrive imminently, so that social distancing and face coverings become the norm? Do I need to just accept that from now on, whenever I go into a shop, any public space or when I take my child to school, that I need to wear a face covering? Do I need to give up the hope of ever going to the theatre again? Will I ever be able to shake someone's hand again, unless they are a member of my immediate family?

It doesn't seem like it at the moment. But it will. No pandemic has lasted forever.

Don’t compare us to Europe. They’re miles behind with their vaccines and we’ve had our third and second wave together, so horrendous was the death toll post Christmas.

We’re heading back to normal. Foreign travel will follow towards the end of this year I think. Millions going abroad this summer would appear to be a pointless risk. We’re getting there though .

The Spanish flu eventually mutated to a milder form and became endemic. Pandemics don’t last forever.

The WHO said early on that the pandemic would last about two years.

Most pandemics didn't really end until vaccines arrived.
Flu epidemics are unusual because they're one particular mutation of an existing disease that happens to be more severe than normal so it's a false comparison. A new mutation arises that is back to normal severity and life goes on.

What is it about Covid 19 that makes it different from all the other pandemics in the past, in that our way of living will be changed permanently?

Nothing. The only thing that’s different is that the people making ‘it’ll never be normal again’ predictions weren’t personally affected by all the other pandemics. They have been shaken and scared by this one (as we all have!) so it feels like, well this is the most significant hugest thing ever and the worst pandemic ever.

But objectively - it’s not, really. And life will go back to normal just like it did every other time.

Yes, it will.

Will we not just build resistance to covid eventually? People die of the flu, people will die of covid, but it will be ‘acceptable’. Things will just slip back into normality IMO. Less and less people will wear masks until hardly anyone does.

Yeah, pandemics don't last forever but this one is being drawn out due to the lockdowns.

The world won't return to normal maybe ever but that doesn't mean the UK can't. Much will depend on how well the vaccination program goes and what happens with mutations but I'm quite relieved that the UK iseems to be pursuing a zero covid strategy which if successful will mean a largely normal 2022.

Most pandemics didn't really end until vaccines arrived.

We’ve had infectious diseases for far longer than we’ve had vaccines. The human race would be extinct if every single pre-vaccine pandemic was still going strong!

So many people with their mystic crystal ball of doom...I wish I had one but panic buying init 🤷‍♀️

OP, no point comparing us to Europe. Vaccine roll out is in a different league. Rising cases now doesnt/shouldn't mean rising deaths.

The aim was not/has never been zero covid.

We will start to live with this as we live with flu.

Other countries will catch up and foreign travel will be allowed again.

The economy will recover

Some changes may remain but they will be up to individuals/employers e.g. mask wearing in winter and increased tolerance for WFH

“Waxonwaxoff0

ilovesooty
Well we can't please ourselves and go back to normal if our normal is going abroad on holiday.

And if travel isn't permitted that's that.
It will be at some point. Foreign travel won't cease to exist, it's a big money maker.”

Erm I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but foreign travel HAS in fact ceased for the regular holiday maker.

We were told “get the vaccine, get back to normal”. But that’s not the case is it.... and no one seems to have died of anything apart from covid since March 20.

I think things will return to normal eventually, fingers crossed!

@Notrub

Yeah, UK will be a single covid - free island in the world where we will all live happily ever after while the whole world continues to battle the Covid until the next century or longer.

I really wouldn't worry about whether your five-year-old daughter will have nights out in a pub!