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Original poster

Is life never going back to normal?

631 replies

JuneMoonstone · 20/03/2021 22:52

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?

OP posts:
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Moonface123 · 21/03/2021 13:08

Oh yes, let's all get back to normal shall we,
Highest suicide rate amongst men, alcohol and drug misuse at an all time high, as well as domestic violence and mental health issues.
Life was so perfect before.
It's so sad this is a time for incredible self growth and new way of thinking , to see the bigger picture, yet everyone so busy clinging and grasping to the " familiar"
The lesson has been well and truly missed.

TrustTheGeneGenie · 21/03/2021 13:11

@Moonface123

Oh yes, let's all get back to normal shall we, Highest suicide rate amongst men, alcohol and drug misuse at an all time high, as well as domestic violence and mental health issues. Life was so perfect before. It's so sad this is a time for incredible self growth and new way of thinking , to see the bigger picture, yet everyone so busy clinging and grasping to the " familiar" The lesson has been well and truly missed.
What do you suggest? Because the restrictions are making all of the above much worse.

What new way of thinking are well all missing?

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:11

There will be a point where COVID will just be a nasty flu

Except Covid is not like flu. It will always be Covid. The starting point is it is many times more deadly than flu for all adult age groups. We have to deal with the reality of Covid, to have any hope of properly kicking it into touch.

MountainDweller · 21/03/2021 13:13

The 'rest of Europe' hasn't gone back into lockdown. Some countries and parts of other countries are in some degree of lockdown. Not quite the same.

Northernsoulgirl45 · 21/03/2021 13:14

I know COVID will always be far worse than flu but I am hoping we will find a way out through vaccines and it will eventually die out.

Roonerspismed · 21/03/2021 13:15

I like your thinking moonface

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:15

Once it’s not a novel virus, we’ve got some immunity in the population and vaccines why wouldn’t it settle down and become endemic like flu etc? Is that not what the experts have been saying ?

A variant will make it novel again, in herd immunity terms.

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:15

Should have said 'could' not will

MarshaBradyo · 21/03/2021 13:18

@Moonface123

Oh yes, let's all get back to normal shall we, Highest suicide rate amongst men, alcohol and drug misuse at an all time high, as well as domestic violence and mental health issues. Life was so perfect before. It's so sad this is a time for incredible self growth and new way of thinking , to see the bigger picture, yet everyone so busy clinging and grasping to the " familiar" The lesson has been well and truly missed.
The answer isn’t staying where we are where all this is more pronounced
MarshaBradyo · 21/03/2021 13:19

@ChameleonClara

There will be a point where COVID will just be a nasty flu

Except Covid is not like flu. It will always be Covid. The starting point is it is many times more deadly than flu for all adult age groups. We have to deal with the reality of Covid, to have any hope of properly kicking it into touch.

What is your suggestion after vaccination rollout?
mightbealittlebitmad · 21/03/2021 13:21

Logically some forms of our previous life have to come back. Nobody will give up mixing indoors with others forever, especially if everything else stays shut.

I don't know if people are willing to live a life without fun things like spa days, cinema, restaurants, pubs, theme parks etc. Seems a depressing way to live so maybe people will just open their stuff regardless especially when furlough goes. All of those job losses will lead to people not being able to afford their houses, then what happens. There isn't enough council houses to put everyone up and there is a huge lack of affordable private rentals.

The paranoid side of me though thinks that this is life now and I need to find a way of accepting it. I'm struggling with the groundhog day of it all, nothing to do and nowhere to go. What is the point in living if it's just an endless dreary cycle of get up, school run, walk, school run, bed.

RedcurrantPuff · 21/03/2021 13:22

@ChameleonClara

Once it’s not a novel virus, we’ve got some immunity in the population and vaccines why wouldn’t it settle down and become endemic like flu etc? Is that not what the experts have been saying ?

A variant will make it novel again, in herd immunity terms.

Which is why they tweak the vaccines. It’s a “variant” of the same virus. Not a completely new one. Otherwise why bother with vaccines at all?

Also I’m not sure that’s quite right what you said. Swine flu didn’t impact a lot of older people because they had some sort of immunity from other flus even if not the exact same one, and why younger people were worse affected because they didn’t

RedcurrantPuff · 21/03/2021 13:24

Also the death rate is the death rate now. Once we have a vaccine rollout, more effective treatments, and it’s been around the population a few times, it might well go down.

Radio4Rocks · 21/03/2021 13:30

Don’t be so silly. We don’t shut down society to stop the flu deaths so why will we do it for Covid, once numbers are more manageable. People have to die of something and Covid will just become yet another illness that impacts the old and frail.

How many times do the ignorant need to be told that Covid isn't flu? A shame there isn't a vaccine for stupidity.

TeenMinusTests · 21/03/2021 13:32

There is a lot of work going on trialing the repurposing existing drugs to treat covid. They are getting more and more info all the time. yes it will stay with us, in the way that flu stays with us, but there is no reason why it shouldn't become manageable and 'livable' with.

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:34

Which is why they tweak the vaccines. It’s a “variant” of the same virus. Not a completely new one. Otherwise why bother with vaccines at all?

I think you're just slightly misunderstanding the covid vaccine/variant situation perhaps?

Yes of course they can tweak the vaccines. But the race to re-vaccinate the vulnerable, if the variant were bad, is very different from the situation we are used to with flu vaccines where they are annually changed on a rolling programme.

Because covid is not flu.

RedcurrantPuff · 21/03/2021 13:34

I know Covid isn’t the flu, I didn’t say it was. Which is why I referred to it being “yet another illness”. Which it is. What a pity there isn’t a vaccine for having poor reading and comprehension skills.

People have to die of something same as they already die of all sorts of things. We don’t close down the world to stop all of those. Covid is just yet another thing that will be added to the long list of things, including other infectious diseases, that might take us out as we get older and more frail.

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:35

@RedcurrantPuff

Also the death rate is the death rate now. Once we have a vaccine rollout, more effective treatments, and it’s been around the population a few times, it might well go down.
It might go down or up.
minniemoocher · 21/03/2021 13:36

My friends live in the USA and their lives are very normal, they eat out, stay at peoples houses, go on holiday etc. The only sign of the pandemic left is face masks, and they aren't enforced so it's around 60-70% compliant

RedcurrantPuff · 21/03/2021 13:38

Its less likely it will go up once huge swathes of the population have some immunity to it and we have vaccines and other treatments.

Funny how people like the much lauded on here Chris Whitty has said he has faith in science to beat infectious diseases like Covid but people on here remain convinced it will go on forever and continue worsening.

BonnieDundee · 21/03/2021 13:38

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56475807

I hope this isnt the case

Yapplepearora · 21/03/2021 13:39

@ChameleonClara

You do realise the infamous Spanish flu is still around today as ‘regular’ flu?

Covid is a coronavirus. Most common colds are coronaviruses. Viruses generally mutate to become more infectious but more harmless at the same time.

Saying “It will always be Covid” to imply that the virus is going to remain in the same state indefinitely is incredibly inaccurate

minniemoocher · 21/03/2021 13:40

@notrub

Not true, a combination of herd immunity and the disease mutating to a milder form was the predominant way of dealing with previous pandemics. The difference today is communication (we all knew about it quickly), fast travel (spread quicker including mutations) and an expectation that we won't die of infectious disease.

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:43

People have to die of something same as they already die of all sorts of things. We don’t close down the world to stop all of those.

This makes no sense - it is like the whole last year has passed some people by! We haven't shut down before because we haven't had anything as threatening as Covid during the post-war medical era.

Do some people still not understand how very threatening Covid is in terms of societal damage? It was very prefectly pitched - not too deadly, very easy to transmit, highly unpredictable...

Look at Brazil now - they didn't shut down, their health care system has collapsed. Young people are dying as there are no ICU beds. Doctors are begging vets for medicine. twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1373501475805102082

ChameleonClara · 21/03/2021 13:45

[quote Yapplepearora]@ChameleonClara

You do realise the infamous Spanish flu is still around today as ‘regular’ flu?

Covid is a coronavirus. Most common colds are coronaviruses. Viruses generally mutate to become more infectious but more harmless at the same time.

Saying “It will always be Covid” to imply that the virus is going to remain in the same state indefinitely is incredibly inaccurate[/quote]
I didn't say it will stay the same - that was in response to the people saying it will be like flu.

However it changes, it will always be covid and never be flu.

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