Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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:
Thread gallery
5
Ontheblink · 23/03/2021 07:52

I think if we had not had lockdowns we would have been out of this quicker.

This ^^

Is what I have thought all throughout but it was all about protecting the NHS and flattening the curve?? Otherwise it would have just worked it’s way through the population as it did in India?

Kazzyhoward · 23/03/2021 08:07

@Ontheblink

I think if we had not had lockdowns we would have been out of this quicker.

This ^^

Is what I have thought all throughout but it was all about protecting the NHS and flattening the curve?? Otherwise it would have just worked it’s way through the population as it did in India?

So you'd have preferred half a million people to have died in the UK then?
RedcurrantPuff · 23/03/2021 08:28

So you'd have preferred half a million people to have died in the UK then?

Ferguson has already said that 500000 would never have happened.

I am not convinced given our death rate per million is worse than countries who did fuck all in comparison in terms of restrictions that we’d have had much higher death numbers.

No one wants people to die but I am unconvinced that the measures taken to prevent it with the harms that they caused and will still cause for years to come were worth it.

I’m vulnerable as well but I would never expect anyone ri stay locked up to protect me.

Walkaround · 23/03/2021 08:30

@BonnieDundee - I’ve never said lockdowns are the answer. They are what the majority of those who know more than I do have concluded is the best course of action, however. To pretend there is a palatable way out of a pandemic is idiocy. Whatever action or inaction is chosen, the only guarantee is that those in low paid and/or insecure employment and abusive households will suffer the most. It’s more a question of deciding how they should be shat on, as they are at the greatest risk from the virus whatever is done or not done.

cryh · 23/03/2021 08:39

The UK really, really fucked up... when it elected Johnson. He is personally unsuitable for a situation of this type. In a crisis like this, politics is less important than character and personality. Johnson is completely lacking in the personal traits needed to lead through a crisis. He is short-termist, flippant, selfish, lazy, mendacious and over-confident.

HeraInTheHereAndNow · 23/03/2021 11:02

I listened to Evan Davies’ Radio 4 Program this morning. All about Covid and what went wrong, what went right etc. It’s a two parter and today was the second part. Rory Stewart was in. He lost out in the Party Leadership to Johnson. He was just so... sensible. Informed, calm, intelligent. I think the mistake was made when Johnson was picked by the Brexiters, back in the day. That’s when our country started to fall apart.

Johnson’s a cunt.

Itsalonghaul · 23/03/2021 11:07

You sound very bitter cryh and your on every thread with your anti British sentiment.

Bythemillpond · 23/03/2021 11:14

Rory Stewart I always thought was creepy. He gave me the shudders.
The UK isn’t fucked and if anything the EU has done more for BREXIT in the past few months than any amount of campaigning.

Aria999 · 23/03/2021 11:26

I think it will be back to normal by Christmas

thosetalesofunexpected · 23/03/2021 11:30

I think it's getting used to a different kind of Normal we need to get our head around !

Such as it will a semi Normal (sort of resemble of this for some time still.!

Proberly/Certainly as many people being expected to wear face masks

As obviously not every one is going to be vaccinated unfornately !
And then if someone get vaccinated if they have health disorders and their immune system is out of balance ,
the vaccine is not as effective on someone who has health issues !

Its more effective on a healthier person !

I was told this when I was vaccinated as I have a Auto immune deficiency disorder !

Nurse told me that they simply do not know how effective on a person like myself !

My mental health like a lot of people has taken a hammering too.

Bythemillpond · 23/03/2021 11:33

So you'd have preferred half a million people to have died in the UK then

I don’t think we will be far off that figure or in the end maybe more once you take all the deaths that are directly and indirectly because of Covid and lockdowns. We aren’t out of this yet and it will go on for years because we have drawn it out instead of getting it out of the way.

Ontheblink · 23/03/2021 12:09

Kazzyhoward,

Do you think the lockdown isn’t killing people???

PrincessNutNuts · 23/03/2021 12:24

So which no lockdown countries should we be watching to see them go back to normal before the U.K.?

Because my cousin in NZ went to a gig on Friday night.

Margie32 · 23/03/2021 12:42

[quote Cam77]**@DianaT1969
At least the UK will be back to normal faster than Europe.

  1. the U.K. is in Europe
  2. the EU nations will likely have caught up significantly vaccine wise by summer’s end
  3. it won’t be fully back to normal if there’s still a pandemic raging a few dozen kms away[/quote] Couldn’t agree more.

@DianaT1969 your comment read, let all Brits live on in splendid isolation while Europe gets totally screwed. Not a great sentiment considering the number of British citizens who live in Europe and are desperate to see their UK friends and families.

MiaMarshmallows · 23/03/2021 12:46

Am I the only one who thinks we will be ok by September at the latest ? That life will pretty much be back to normal and the only thing different will be no travel abroad and better controls on large scale events?

AcornAutumn · 23/03/2021 13:24

@MiaMarshmallows

Am I the only one who thinks we will be ok by September at the latest ? That life will pretty much be back to normal and the only thing different will be no travel abroad and better controls on large scale events?
No. I am in a pit of despair and I cannot tell you how much I'd like to believe that, but no.

But I don't consider mask wearing and T&T as normal, I think some posters do though.

MarshaBradyo · 23/03/2021 13:36

@MiaMarshmallows

Am I the only one who thinks we will be ok by September at the latest ? That life will pretty much be back to normal and the only thing different will be no travel abroad and better controls on large scale events?
I reckon it’ll be even more normal than even that

Everyone will be vaccinated so if we can’t lift everything then, then when?

MarshaBradyo · 23/03/2021 13:38

Everyone who can be vaccinated that is before some quoter comes along

bumbleymummy · 23/03/2021 13:45

If they'd let us, then yes. The constantly moving goalposts are getting annoying. We've locked down to save the NHS, we've vaccinated the groups most likely to get hospitalised/die but no, still not good enough and the restrictions continue. I'm getting really pissed off with it tbh.

TheHoneyBadger · 23/03/2021 13:56

Oh dear Lord we've got the Bill Gates runs the world folks on Hmm

There are those people who think we should never have closed schools, never have had lockdowns, never have had to wear masks etc who also think we shouldn't take vaccines. That leaves you in the land of let's do fuck all.

No country did fuck all by the way - despite common misconceptions of what happened in Sweden.

I'm a teacher btw and for what it's worth I'm happy to be back in school teaching and am so relieved kids are wearing masks now. It means I can circulate around the room, help individuals meaningfully, etc BECAUSE they and I are wearing masks and the results are good so far at my school with only one person having tested positive and it not having spread any further (largely because they are wearing masks now whereas before it only took one case and it spread around like wildfire).

I'll accept whatever gets decided, what choice do I have, but if the masks come off I go back to the front of the room and don't venture within 2m of any students in class. I can't understand people being outraged and offended by something as simple as masks to keep young people and staff in school able to continue with education as normal. Those will be the same ones as those on here saying - no lockdowns, no masks and no vaccinations either!

All of us want to see society open, most of us are willing to adapt a bit to make that happen, a few of us are unwilling to do anything to help it happen but determined it should happen anyway.

Now everyone is campaigning for them to stop

PrincessNutNuts · 23/03/2021 14:12

@MiaMarshmallows

Am I the only one who thinks we will be ok by September at the latest ? That life will pretty much be back to normal and the only thing different will be no travel abroad and better controls on large scale events?
I'm sure you're not the only one, and we all hope, but with our government determined to open up before vaccinations are finished, with second doses likely to still be ongoing in September, and then third dose boosters a distinct possibility due to the variants we keep allowing to emerge, the most optimistic I can be, realistically, is Easter 2022.
PrincessNutNuts · 23/03/2021 14:16

@bumbleymummy

If they'd let us, then yes. The constantly moving goalposts are getting annoying. We've locked down to save the NHS, we've vaccinated the groups most likely to get hospitalised/die but no, still not good enough and the restrictions continue. I'm getting really pissed off with it tbh.
We're all kissed off with it.

(Autocorrect. Grin I'm leaving it)

But our problem is not the goalposts, it's the virus.

Surely you don't think that if the government lifted all restrictions tomorrow and said "Let's Just Go Back To Normal" things would in fact just go back to normal?

Bythemillpond · 23/03/2021 14:18

Hasn’t there been something passed in parliament about extending lockdowns till September.

I know more people who have killed themselves because of lockdowns (not in this country) than have died of Covid.

ilovesooty · 23/03/2021 14:34

@Bythemillpond

Hasn’t there been something passed in parliament about extending lockdowns till September.

I know more people who have killed themselves because of lockdowns (not in this country) than have died of Covid.

It's rather more detailed than that. An extension to the Coronavirus Act will go through Parliament on Thursday. It has to be reviewed every 35 days. The proposals in the roadmap remain in place.
bumbleymummy · 23/03/2021 14:43

“ the results are good so far at my school with only one person having tested positive and it not having spread any further (largely because they are wearing masks now whereas before it only took one case and it spread around like wildfire).”

@TheHoneyBadger Or maybe because a large proportion of young people are immune after being previously infected? I really wish they would do widespread antibody testing.

@PrincessNutNuts I like kissed off too Grin. Actually I do think these would go back to normal quite quickly. I think cases will probably go up a bit but I don’t think this will result in mass hospitalisation/death because we’ve vaccinated the most vulnerable. Younger, healthy people having the virus and recovering will just add to herd immunity and we can all just get on with our lives.