How normal do you think life will be in 12 months?

[Daisiesarecute]

Do you think the pandemic will have been declared over by this time next year?

I think almost normal but with some restrictions on travel, tests if unwell and some restriction/requirements for large gatherings. Day to day life normal with no restrictions on social activities.

I’m leaning towards normal but with covid still there in the background for quite a while yet. I do believe that eventually there will be stable strains prevalent and therefore less concern around the vaccines.

@lesbonastraves

I truly believe it will be ok, almost normal. Masks will stay...

I won't be wearing a mask for one second longer than I absolutely have to.

I think we will be back to normal,I certainly hope we will.

My main worry is the long term effects of the lockdowns

Depends how bad next Autumn/winter is - hopefully with vaccination rates being high it will be fine and most things will be back to normal this time next year.

Though I think some travels restictions to some countries may still exits till 2022.

I think mostly normal within the UK. There may be some short-term local measures for any outbreaks that pop up. International travel will still have restrictions.

@Dongdingdong

Yeah why can’t they come up with a less horrible test?

Seriously? I’ve had several tests done and barely felt a thing.

Things up my nose and down my throat give me the boak. We’re all different.

Everything will be back to normal.
Boris said so.
So it must be true.

Yeah why can’t they come up with a less horrible test

Seeing As we can transmit it from a bit of spit less than 6 metres away, I'm not sure why you have to stick the swab where ever knows.

If we aren't back to normal than it whatever doing isn't working so need to get new tack

I think/hope we will have more of our old lives. However, Covid will certainly be still around, we'll need distancing/masks and restrictions at times depending on variants/uptakes of vaccines.

That sounds much better. Where are these from.
I think they're only available in limited council areas at the moment, they need to go to a lab to be processed and presumably the lab needs the capability to process that type of test.

Someone define what is normal.

"Everything is back to normal in New Zealand" I've heard for months -- except they are all masked up on public transport and have to self-isolate if they think they have covid (+ other rules I forget)

"Everything is back to normal in Australia" except they locked their own citizens out of the country.

"Everything is back to normal in ..." except it isn't. Maybe not anywhere.

Goalposts moved re "normal". I don't know what is "normal"

Masks can fucking well fuck off to landfill where they belong ASAP. Utterly fed up of the double whammy of distorted, muffled speech and not being able to lip read. They are totally anti-social and make being out in public lonely and isolating.

Vaccinations are working far, far more sucessfully than wearing an unregulated handkerchief over the airways.

I could understand concern about travel to countries with higher rates which by next year is unlikely to be destinations most commonly used for tourism/ business.

I really hope that the government upholds its promise of scrapping social restrictions on June 21st with the way the virus is rapidly disappearing from communities and progress on the vaccination programme. I desperately hope that that's enough to swerve a repeat of last winter, because so many people were on their knees mentally from the toll of restrictions.

Vacination boosters like flu jabs for vulnerable people is fine. We need a real, sociable normal back.

@BogRollBOGOF

Masks can fucking well fuck off to landfill where they belong ASAP. Utterly fed up of the double whammy of distorted, muffled speech and not being able to lip read. They are totally anti-social and make being out in public lonely and isolating.

Vaccinations are working far, far more sucessfully than wearing an unregulated handkerchief over the airways.

I could understand concern about travel to countries with higher rates which by next year is unlikely to be destinations most commonly used for tourism/ business.

I really hope that the government upholds its promise of scrapping social restrictions on June 21st with the way the virus is rapidly disappearing from communities and progress on the vaccination programme. I desperately hope that that's enough to swerve a repeat of last winter, because so many people were on their knees mentally from the toll of restrictions.

Vacination boosters like flu jabs for vulnerable people is fine. We need a real, sociable normal back.

Absolutely. If masks are still around then it’s far from normal for me.

I don’t think we’ll be back to “normal” for about two years, with variants etc popping up from time to time between now and then.

I don’t think we will be in permanent lockdown for the full two years - I hope we’ll have a pretty decent summer, and that any 4th/5th waves are small and happen next winter. I hope schools will be able to stay open throughout, and shops. But I don’t think it is going to be totally normal, with unrestricted foreign travel, no masks and people packed onto the tube every morning, like it was in 2019.

@Changechangychange

I don’t think we’ll be back to “normal” for about two years, with variants etc popping up from time to time between now and then.

I don’t think we will be in permanent lockdown for the full two years - I hope we’ll have a pretty decent summer, and that any 4th/5th waves are small and happen next winter. I hope schools will be able to stay open throughout, and shops. But I don’t think it is going to be totally normal, with unrestricted foreign travel, no masks and people packed onto the tube every morning, like it was in 2019.

I’d take this x

@lljkk

Someone define what is normal.

"Everything is back to normal in New Zealand" I've heard for months -- except they are all masked up on public transport and have to self-isolate if they think they have covid (+ other rules I forget)

"Everything is back to normal in Australia" except they locked their own citizens out of the country.

"Everything is back to normal in ..." except it isn't. Maybe not anywhere.

Goalposts moved re "normal". I don't know what is "normal"

Works for us. Wouldn't like to be in the UK. And "locked out" is an emotive overstatement - people can move between countries. My own neighbours' daughter arrived home just the other week.

It looks like the 'normal' we (meaning UK public) are being asked to accept is much higher deaths in general. They are warming us up to not mind 30,000 deaths this summer potentially. I have no clue what that means for winter.

If that's 'normal' it is a depressing state of affairs.

I can't understand why the government doesn't accept it is airborne, try to tackle it and try to reduce deaths. We don't need to lockdown, just improve things like test and trace (massive failure) and isolation (massive failure) and travel quarantine (massive failure).

Masks are my biggest bugbear of all the restrictions. Hate them. And now we have testing and vaccines I don’t see why we would need them after all age groups have been offered a vaccine. They make me feel ill and
I have issues with my glasses wearing them. I think less people are shopping because of them too.

It can be as normal as the government wants it to be. We should be fully vaccinated by then so in theory full normality (barring some restrictions on travel if that is the road they opt to go down).
But if we are not back to normal that says they have moved the policy from protecting the NHS from being overrun to reducing any Covid deaths at all costs for political reasons.
The way they are talking it is starting to look like the latter, hence we will still be wearing masks which have negligible effect and carrying out mass testing (ditto - a complete waste of public money).
The other not normal thing will be Covid passports....

I think it all depends on new variants.

Also, what do you see as normal now? I don't think I could go to a really crowded place again, office working will be mainly from home and will be forever testing and vaccinating.

Covid will never go, we have to adapt to a new normal to live with it.

@beginningoftheend

It looks like the 'normal' we (meaning UK public) are being asked to accept is much higher deaths in general. They are warming us up to not mind 30,000 deaths this summer potentially. I have no clue what that means for winter.

If that's 'normal' it is a depressing state of affairs.

I can't understand why the government doesn't accept it is airborne, try to tackle it and try to reduce deaths. We don't need to lockdown, just improve things like test and trace (massive failure) and isolation (massive failure) and travel quarantine (massive failure).

Agree and when rates are low ie NOW is the time to get all these things in place and working effectively. But they won't.

Yes I could easily go into a very crowded place once fully vaccinated. Why wouldn’t I? Does the vaccine not work then?
No I don’t want to be working from home rather than the office. Like thousands of people, I am squashed into my bedroom to work all day. No room for a proper chair and my back is now fucked.
How is anyone happy with the isolation of working from home stuck in the same place night and day like a prisoner, not socialising or even seeing another room / building day after day.
I am having to recruit people and conduct interviews over video chat (really not ideal) and then try to train them up over video call (awful, hard and not effective)
On too of that I have 3 young children who when they come home from school make lots of noise which can’t be helped in our small house and I am trying to be on these video calls.
No child will really be able to have a play date back after school whilst I’m working from home as it’s just too distracting.
No way am I going to be able to continue this forever

I think we’ll still have some restrictions, masks etc.

I just hope the situation in places such as India and Brazil are much improved. Their situation is heartbreaking.