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?

LawnFever surely you can't have failed to have noticed that Australia and New Zealand have shut themselves off entirely to the world, hardly normal

@LawnFever

Life is pretty much back to normal in some places, Australia/New Zealand, why is everyone convinced we can’t get there too when we’re so ahead on vaccinations too

It's more of a "new normal" than back to any kind of a real normal. We don't have the day to day risk of carrying out the usual activities that a lot of other countries have but to me it's still drastically different from how we were living pre covid. We have restrictions on public and private gatherings, maximum limits & distancing in shops/restaurants/ public transport, we aren't really traveling internally or externally because of the risk of last minute lockdowns, temperature checks several times daily for daycare, still working from home a year later, and only in the last week or two can we can we stand up in pubs and restaurants.

Foreign travel will go back to normal once the world is all at the same stage of vaccination. I'd guess at about a year. It's not great but it's not gone forever.
I'm hoping that high street shopping will pick up again - I'm fed up of online shopping and want to actually see and try things on.
On the bright side, it wouldn't be a disaster if public hygiene was permanently changed. We might get fewer colds and other bugs if we permanently adopt hand sanitizer in shops and masks in public if you are unwell.

No I don't think it's gone forever but I'd like the government to take clear decisive action at an early stage so that this summer isn't shrouded in uncertainty.

Of course it will end.
Hopefully it has served as a reminder that we can't just continue living like we were though, nature has its limits... if you think this has been bad, wait til climate change really hits us. It has also massively highlighted the inequalities in the world but I'm not sure many people care, they just want to get back to a beer garden and to get their hair done.

Pandemic is a media term. It has no scientific definition

WTF is this? Utter drivel.

There will be a new normal. Much like after 9/11. A before and after covid. Hopefully soon.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Foreign travel will go back to normal once the world is all at the same stage of vaccination. I'd guess at about a year. It's not great but it's not gone forever. I'm hoping that high street shopping will pick up again - I'm fed up of online shopping and want to actually see and try things on. On the bright side, it wouldn't be a disaster if public hygiene was permanently changed. We might get fewer colds and other bugs if we permanently adopt hand sanitizer in shops and masks in public if you are unwell.

If we really want to see a life of misery we will carry on with the copious use of antibac and step into the world of antibiotic resistance bugs. Then Covid will look like the happiest year of your life.

I'm really surprised at some of the responses.

We have to ask: what differentiates this pandemic from others?

Absolutely, in terms of the current, most restrictive, limits for individuals and society, we will return to, not normal but (annoying term, I know!) a new normal which incorporates most of what we are used to.

But more widely, the pandemic was absolutely expected by epidemiologists, in this form. It arose from the ability of this virus to transfer from an animal to humans. Most likely bats, perhaps via another animal host (pangolin has been suggested). It happened, not because this is in any way new, but because the management of our planet is having very serious consequences: population growth means much more chances for close contact between infected animals & large groupings of people (eg the wet markets in China, which are huge) and our decisions re: deforestation & removal of natural habitats, particularly in Asia, of species like bats, meaning they come to live in much closer proximity to humans.

Bats are important, as they have such strong immune systems apparently, that viruses that survive in them, are very potent.

In terms of normality, we need to want that to look different. In a local, more medium-term sense, it means accepting some restrictions for a longer period, as we won't be Covid-free, and the likelihood is vaccines need to be repeated in less than a year (tho later developed vaccines will give closer to a year's immunity).

But in a longer-term, we have to address sustainable population growth, destruction of habitats, and the way we live our lives - ultimately the demands we put on the planet. We shouldn't want to go back to normal in that respect.

BBC Seriously did a great programme on this 'The Jump'. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p099fd8q

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Foreign travel will go back to normal once the world is all at the same stage of vaccination. I'd guess at about a year. It's not great but it's not gone forever. I'm hoping that high street shopping will pick up again - I'm fed up of online shopping and want to actually see and try things on. On the bright side, it wouldn't be a disaster if public hygiene was permanently changed. We might get fewer colds and other bugs if we permanently adopt hand sanitizer in shops and masks in public if you are unwell.

I don't know if that would be in the best interests of children though as normally our immune systems are built up over repeated exposure to that kind of thing through childhood.

Of course it will end. Hopefully it has served as a reminder that we can't just continue living like we were though, nature has its limits... if you think this has been bad, wait til climate change really hits us.

You’re obfuscating and confusing different issues. The pandemic isn’t punishment, retribution or a ‘teaching’ about climate change and it isn’t nature hitting back at us for bad behaviour.

If we were silver birch trees, the birch dieback bacteria would be an pandemic. If we were chickens, it would be avian flu. The pandemic is a natural process that happens to affect us rather than another species.

I also hate the smugness of ‘think this is bad, wait for how shit you’ll feel when XYZ happens’.

If we really want to see a life of misery we will carry on with the copious use of antibac and step into the world of antibiotic resistance bugs. Then Covid will look like the happiest year of your life.

What nonsense. Increased hand hygiene & use of anti-bacterial gel reduces the risk of viruses being transmitted. This is just common-sense, and what we should be doing routinely.

It is in no way linked to antibiotic resistance - the direct opposite in fact.

The better our hand hygiene, the less likely to spread viral infection. Viral infections don't respond to antibiotics, yet often they are prescribed. Also, individuals can develop secondary bacterial infections, which do require antibiotics, but over-use results in resistance.

See: Hand hygiene is the most important way of preventing the spread of infections including antibiotic resistant infections. from www.amr.gov.au/about-amr/what-causes-amr

If there is one thing I absolutely hope we take away from Covid-19, it's improved hand hygiene.

Claudia

That poster really isn't obfuscating, at least not in the part you quote.

This pandemic is entirely linked to the physical destruction of the planet, and how we've changed natural habitats, in line with massive population growth.

The way in which new viruses have emerged is not any different to how it's happened always - but the potential for it to happen has been massively increased by population growth & changed habitats.

On the R4 programme I mentioned, they talk about it as 'buying a lottery ticket'. The virus just needs one successful lottery ticket (the ability to jump from animal to one human). Densely populated areas where there is close intermingling of animals & people, provide the virus with many many lottery tickets. Centuries ago, they had maybe only 10 lottery tickets, so that mutation was harder to happen.

In 2019, epidemiologists had essentially predicted a new SARS virus. It was just when & in what form - and if happened to be Covid-19.

We'll never be back to the old normal. Too many selfish assholes.

And there are other viruses just lurking out there waiting to bring the world to a halt again. Exacerbated by climate change, overpopulation and crowding of other species.

Mark my words. And be glad you had what you did.

@EarringsandLipstick

Claudia

That poster really isn't obfuscating, at least not in the part you quote.

This pandemic is entirely linked to the physical destruction of the planet, and how we've changed natural habitats, in line with massive population growth.

The way in which new viruses have emerged is not any different to how it's happened always - but the potential for it to happen has been massively increased by population growth & changed habitats.

On the R4 programme I mentioned, they talk about it as 'buying a lottery ticket'. The virus just needs one successful lottery ticket (the ability to jump from animal to one human). Densely populated areas where there is close intermingling of animals & people, provide the virus with many many lottery tickets. Centuries ago, they had maybe only 10 lottery tickets, so that mutation was harder to happen.

In 2019, epidemiologists had essentially predicted a new SARS virus. It was just when & in what form - and if happened to be Covid-19.

Well said. Thank you.

climate change really hits us. It has also massively highlighted the inequalities in the world but I'm not sure many people care, they just want to get back to a beer garden and to get their hair done

Without a haircut hair is a lot longer hence needs more water to rinse it. I have a bath. No shower.

And please dont belittle the sacrifices ppl have made. Some just want to see their families. Yes a haircut would be great. My hair is becoming unmanageable. And i bet employers wouldnt lower their expectations if a woman walked into a job interview with hair that hadnt been cut since God knows when except for a DIY fringe cut that went wrong.

Nope Im willing to bet the lower expectations are just for the "plebs"

normally our immune systems are built up over repeated exposure to that kind of thing through childhood.

I can see why you'd say this but it's not the case. For example, no-one develops immunity against the common cold, no matter how much they catch a cold.

In fact, washing your hands, as a child, is one of the ways to build a stronger immune system (along with diet, a healthy lifestyle, rest etc). That's how a child's immune system develops (through levels of T-cells in their body). It's not boosted by catching viral illness.

Improved hand hygiene for all should be one thing we take with us from this.

I think kids will still be exposed to enough bugs that they will build robust immune systems - no amount of hand gel will stop them putting bits of play-doh they find on the floor at nursery into their mouths!
Also, I'm not proposing that we carry on with the insane shit like quarantining post or washing shopping. But I do think it would be good to carry on the habit of keeping our hands cleaner - I've quite enjoyed not getting colds every 5 minutes this past year.

But I do think it would be good to carry on the habit of keeping our hands cleaner - I've quite enjoyed not getting colds every 5 minutes this past year.

Absolutely.

Also, it's been noted that seasonal flu has been eradicated (for now). Of course that's because of restrictions, as well as mask-wearing & hand hygiene.

But in the future, we can protect so many, by better hand hygiene & maybe, mask wearing in some situations.

I think maybe, you need a dose of patience,and some optimism.. You simply can't magically wash away a serious virus to order. Everyone has been affected, lots a thousand times worse.You will just have to play catch up,when things will get better, bit by bit.

I will only believe that things have got back to normal when I am packed into a pub to listen to a band that one of my friends dc is in without a face mask.

Atm I can’t see that happening for years.

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

I think some minor habit changes will remain. I don’t think you will have to wear a mask, but some places might encourage people to do so if they have a cold, because the idea that it is just too odd to wear one has been lost. Equally more people might work more flexibly rather than always being in the office, better hygiene will hopefully be encouraged. All quite good things!

Also of course for some people lost long covid, relatives lost to covid, long term effects or bereavement from lack of treatment for other conditions, economic or personal upheaval etc will not just disappear and will continue to affect them long term.

But broadly I think things will go back to something you will recognise as normal. We don’t have perspective because we haven’t lived through anything like this before, but these things do pass, nothing stays the same. We just need to not get ahead of ourselves and despair at setbacks, which is easier said than done I know. I never thought we would have vaccines so quickly but we do.

The problem with Covid was not really about avoiding death or illness from covid as such, it was about avoiding it on a scale that would cause massive societal and economic upheaval as well as loss and suffering from all types of medical conditions. I do think that with vaccines and treatments etc the levels of illness and death will become similar to many other illnesses, we won’t have the same threat of exponential growth in a totally vulnerable population.

Globally we might be less mobile for some time longer, but hopefully countries will work together on that.

One thing we do need to be aware of is that with the environmental and behavioural changes we have been seeing this kind of crossing of diseases from animals and resulting epidemics are more likely. It is going to take a lot of globally cooperative responsibility to try and limit that, but at least covid has focused governments on that goal and the economic and political need for it. It may in fact end up saving us from a worse pandemic.

@EarringsandLipstick
this virus.
That reads to me like you think this is the first one. It isnt.

HIV crossed from chimps to humans in the 1920s in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was probably as a result of chimps carrying the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), a virus closely related to HIV, being hunted and eaten by people living in the area

My opinion, this will not be over any time soon.
I am old and have lots of time on my hands. I have family I really want to see, some in other countries.
Some of my family are thinking positive and booking flights only to have them cancelled. They don’t take the refund, flight moved, cancelled and moved again.

I have been more or less isolating for a year now, I consider myself fortunate that I am able to do this as many my age still have to work and have the worry of being infected.
During this year I have seen my children and grandchildren rarely in my garden or on the pavement outside my house.
I think we still have a relationship due to them sending me videos and having FaceTime, phone calls and texts.

It is different though, we keep upbeat and looking forward.

I do think I didn’t ever have to think what the future would look like. Now, it’s a big question that we all want the answer to. We never knew the answer, but now we are all asking that very question.
Unfortunately we cannot and will never be able to know the future.

@Actsofgenerosity

LawnFever surely you can't have failed to have noticed that Australia and New Zealand have shut themselves off entirely to the world, hardly normal

Yes but life is really quite normal for us day to day. We tend to do longer trips abroad with years in between as it costs a lot to fly out of Australia. So not being able to travel right now feels a bit weird but it’s worth it for keeping daily life normal (and my immediate family are scattered around the world so it does have a personal impact).

We’re isolated countries, we’re used to it. When I was growing up we made it back to the UK twice to see family (I was 3 and 11) and we were considered pretty bloody lucky to be able to afford that.

Meanwhile life is pretty normal and education and healthcare perfectly accessible. I read how people are suffering in the UK and it makes me so sad as there was an opportunity to implement strict hotel quarantine there too. Being an island has perks.

LawnFever surely you can't have failed to have noticed that Australia and New Zealand have shut themselves off entirely to the world, hardly normal

Well it's a hell of a lot more normal than life in the UK is, and it has been for a long time (NZ). We are happy enough, and at some stage will open up again, in the meantime life goes on as usual with few restrictions.