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?

@Radio4Rocks

Reading some daft posts on this thread makes me wish we could vaccinate against stupidity.

If you don't understand the science don't make yourself look like an idiot by making stupid comments.

It isn't like any other pandemic, ever. Try to understand that.

Well, our response to isn’t like shh other pandemic, but we’ve had other worse pandemics.

@EarringsandLipstick

“ Many otherwise healthy people have died or been seriously ill with Covid. Yes, older & vulnerable people are still at highest risk - but are you suggesting we accept this? We don't with any other illness, including flu.”

Yes, we do accept that there will be a certain number of flu deaths every year. We do what we can and offer the vulnerable a vaccine against the most dominant strains each year but people still die. Including some otherwise healthy people.

@twelly

We can't in my opinion keep saying it's different - we didn't deal with it well at the start which was the opportunity for zero tolerance like countries in Asia which are back to normal with no social distancing and masks on public transport. We now seem to be putting restrictions in place which change our way of life and the three lockdowns have led to huge damage for the young. We need to have minimum controls and accept that the virus is here to stay - the elderly and vulnerable have been protected now it time to get back to normal

This.

@Hop27 What a fabulously positive post!! Have a brilliant Easter and an extra few wines for us lot 🍷

We need to have minimum controls and accept that the virus is here to stay - the elderly and vulnerable have been protected now it time to get back to normal

Except the balance is changing and we are reaching the point where continued isolation of the elderly and vulnerable, particularly in care homes, is doing real harm.

That is why it is very unlikely that current restrictions will stay in place for much longer. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to open up quickly, before we understand how effective the vaccines are at controlling hospital admission rates and transmission.

@twelly Asia is not ‘back to normal’

My friend lives in HK, there were 3 cases of Covid at his gym and now he’s been dragged to a quarantine camp for 3 weeks.

That’s not normal. And not something we’d be OK with.

@twelly but yes to the rest of your post and is getting on with it - minus the enforced camps

*Many otherwise healthy people have died or been seriously ill with Covid. Yes, older & vulnerable people are still at highest risk - but are you suggesting we accept this? We don't with any other illness, including flu.”

Yes, we do accept that there will be a certain number of flu deaths every year. We do what we can and offer the vulnerable a vaccine against the most dominant strains each year but people still die. Including some otherwise healthy people.*

Yep agreed.

The only issue should be whether the NHS is overwhelmed or not. If it’s not then we have to accept the deaths that occur as a result of Covid. People die, we can’t lock up millions of healthy people and trash the economy to stop even many thousands of people dying. It doesn’t make any sense

Put another way, I don’t think it’s reasonable to trash the quality and life chances of the many to stop the few from dying. People on here think all that matters is people not dying. It isn’t.

@RedcurrantPuff

Put another way, I don’t think it’s reasonable to trash the quality and life chances of the many to stop the few from dying. People on here think all that matters is people not dying. It isn’t.

Well said.

Asian counties operate minor lockdown when there is a case in a very small area - that is true of China, Japan and others - so a complex or few street are shut down - they have fine that as they gone for a zero tolerance to the virus. There approach was severe lockdown and zero tolerance. We have gone got a luke warm approach which was not zero tolerance so we need to get on and live with it. At the moment we are penalising the young and teenagers in particular - the elderly and vulnerable have been prioritised so much so that many of the young are now suffering and will become vulnerable due to months of isolation. In my view that is a trade guide.

@userxx I promise it gets better

Take heart from the data coming out of Israel - 83% of adult population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

We’ll get there.

You talk about normal, but after the War normal returned, but it wasn't the same normal. For many it was considerably better - for others worse.

It was 9 years after WW2 before normal returned.
We still had rationing till 1954
I have a feeling that the timescale for lockdowns snd mask wearing will be similar

@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?

I’m so sorry you feel this way. I do too , I’m a tad older than you with a dd the same age. We’ve both lived our lives as normally as possible but even that is a long way from normal.

I feel it will go on for a long, long time while people are so willing to be so compliant.

I know I’m not alone when I express my views on mnet, but I find it very heartening to see little pockets of resistance mushrooming up here and there , peaceful protests, stand in the local parks on Sunday mornings, people quietly meeting up with friends in parks, gardens and in their homes, why even Germany has backtracked on their Easter 5 day lockdown because they heard the uproar and rather than end up with egg on their face because they realised people were only going to meet up anyway, have quietly shelved it.

Governments can only tell us what to do up to a point.
If we decide we aren’t prepared to do it then what can they do
The more they retry to enforce control
The more ridiculous they look and the more glaring ly obvious it becomes that it’s not about an illness but about control

If Boris wants to go down in history as a good prime minister, which I suspect he does, he’s going to have to do some fancy footwork to keep the people on his side.
This is going to be his greatest challenge.

[quote babynov]@twelly Asia is not ‘back to normal’

My friend lives in HK, there were 3 cases of Covid at his gym and now he’s been dragged to a quarantine camp for 3 weeks.

That’s not normal. And not something we’d be OK with.[/quote]
Bloody hell 😱

Well don’t forget they are doing this here with the quarantine hotels..
They’ve slid out of the news
I can’t find anything on them..but I presume they are ongoing..unless they have quietly looked the other way while passengers scarpered into the nearest taxi.

If you know better , please let me know

Agree with this especially the bit at the end

twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1374696372960690180?s=20

@bumbleymummy

The problem is we understand flu transmission & how it affects people. We do not have sufficient knowledge of those aspects of Covid.

Think of the scale of deaths while restrictions have been in place; flu has essentially been eradicated by this. Imagine if we hadn't restrictions, what the death rates would have been?

Vaccines are a partial, not complete, solution, due to the novelty of the illness & the existence of variants. I wish people would stop completing the flu & Covid, and our response to both.

@Dowser from gov.uk - no idea if it is actually being enforced upon entry into the country

To enter or return to the UK from abroadd (except from Ireland), you must follow all the rules for entering the UK. These include providing your journey and contact details, and evidence of a negative COVID-19 test before you travel. When you arrive, you must quarantine and take additional COVID-19 tests. This will take place in a managed quarantine hotel if you enter England from a red list travel ban countryy, or enter Scotland.

@TheHoneyBadger

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

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

I think you’re in the wrong profession honeybadger

Why you think wearing a bit of snotty rag like a life belt is a good idea ...well I just don’t get it.
We are destined to breathe fresh air, read other people’s facial expressions, be able to speak clearly and for those children with hearing problems, sensory issues...well it’s just heart breaking that they will have to struggle all the more , just so you don’t have to cower at the front of class.

Not to mention the children doing untold damage to their lungs by breathing in detrimental bacteria from their snot rags.
Ugh it’s disgusting.
You wouldn’t blow your nose on your hankie and then lay it over your face and mouth...this is practically what you are doing when wearing a mask.

Even medical masks worn by staff in operating theatres are fitted correctly and worn for a couple of hours before being appropriately destroyed...not shoved in a grubby pocket or bag on their way home.

This is different to the Spanish flu because unlike then, we now have frequent testing, catching asymptomatic cases which would have gone undetected in 1918, making it seem like this flu is much worse. As long as we focus on cases we will never go back to normal. Deaths and illness requiring hospitalisation is one thing, but it frightens me how vaccinating the vulnerable and elderly who would fall into these categories in more significant numbers hasn’t made any difference whatsoever! Didn’t someone say we will have face coverings and social distancing for at least two years after 80% of the entire population have been vaccinated. It does not make sense

[quote EarringsandLipstick]@bumbleymummy

The problem is we understand flu transmission & how it affects people. We do not have sufficient knowledge of those aspects of Covid.

Think of the scale of deaths while restrictions have been in place; flu has essentially been eradicated by this. Imagine if we hadn't restrictions, what the death rates would have been?

Vaccines are a partial, not complete, solution, due to the novelty of the illness & the existence of variants. I wish people would stop completing the flu & Covid, and our response to both. [/quote]
Re: The novelty of the illness and the existence of variants. You know that flu mutates more often that coronavirus? Different variants of the same virus is nothing new. That’s why we have to tweak the flu vaccine every year and why some years it is more effective than others.

We do not have sufficient knowledge of those aspects of Covid.

One thing we need now is effective treatments. I gather that they have had good results with a readily available steroid which is quite cheap.

If you compare it to HIV - there is no vaccine for that as far as I know but now they have treatments and it's no longer the death sentence it was. Plus there was a change of behaviour in the communities most likely to be affected, so we will need that also.

@Peregrina

We do not have sufficient knowledge of those aspects of Covid.

One thing we need now is effective treatments. I gather that they have had good results with a readily available steroid which is quite cheap.

If you compare it to HIV - there is no vaccine for that as far as I know but now they have treatments and it's no longer the death sentence it was. Plus there was a change of behaviour in the communities most likely to be affected, so we will need that also.

We already have them Invermectin Hydroxychloroquinone with zinc Then Vit d3 with k2 if you’re not in a hot sunny climate

Funny that.
If we’d dished out these to the population we might not have chucked so much money into p.f z..I.e.r.S pocket

This is what india gave out to the population to help fight covid