To Have This Virus Forever

[Dave20]

Just listened to Radio 2s Jeremy Vine show, about the prospect of living with covid forever, which Patrick Vallance has said will be.
Talk of social distancing forever, wearing masks forever and people working from home where they can, still.
Other ideas are staying at home if you’re ill until you have a test.
It’s utterly depressing. What about the financial costs? People having lots of sick leave because they have a cold, and don’t even have covid. People not isolating because they won’t get paid.
How will people form relationships and meet partners?
How can theatres and sporting venues operate with limited spectators?
What about not about ever shaking hands with people or giving people a hug?
What kind of future will our children have? Companies will be smaller meaning less opportunities.
The economic affect of people working at home in mass numbers,ditching the office, leaving ghost towns and pubs and restaurants closing, along with industries in hospitality.
Surely the death rate of covid can’t be worth sacrificing our kids futures? I’m sure even older people who are most at risk of dying wouldn’t want these measures forever?
The one thing I can’t understand is social distancing, the people who want it to stay forever! Many businesses rely on a full ‘house’ to stay open.

@TheKeatingFive

it’s all you ever go on about, almost like you’re trying to convince yourself or others

Never has a pot screamed ‘black’ louder.

Not sure what you’re worried about. As you’re so convinced we’ll be locking down forever, why are you even paying attention to what I post?

😆 I don’t pay attention, I just can’t avoid it because between you and Marsha it’s like a constant stream of defiance.

🤗

I just can’t avoid it

Oh you totally can. Just give it a fraction of the energy you put into hoping for more lockdowns.

Ha! Social distancing on the titchy minibus they replaced our local bus with yesterday would have been impossible. It was only me and the driver but Vine needs to get in the real world.

It also worries me that some people seem to accept these restrictions so easily, when 18 months ago it would have been unthinkable.
Shaking hands is an old tradition. I get some people don’t like doing it but to me it’s a way of greeting people. It seems odd when you see a friend to maybe not shake hands. Or go to a job interview and not shake hands with an interviewer. Just seems more ’cold’ less personal. Maybe it’s a guy thing, I don’t know. Or giving someone a hug when they need it. Especially a nurse or Carer, doing this to a patient.
It’s sad we’ve become so sterile.

Also as more people work from home and an office closes or gets smaller it has a major knock on affect for employment. Think about the other industries in the office block, the maintenance team, cleaners, caterers, security guards. Not to mention the local businesses ,as already mentioned like the cafes and shoe repair shops.
The train companies who also employ maintenance teams and cleaners.
The fallout is massive.
But then again we have some people with the attitude of, it’s not my job I don’t give a toss.
We are a service industry in the UK. Look at our infrastructure. If masses of people worked from home permanently then there will be less jobs, less engineers, less architects, entire industries will get much smaller.
I’m thinking of our future generations who will have a very small world to live in if this continues.

But then again we have some people with the attitude of, it’s not my job I don’t give a toss.

I expect when the cost of all this becomes obvious to them, they will care. Lots of head in the sand about that at the minute. Though it will be too late by then.

@TheKeatingFive

But then again we have some people with the attitude of, it’s not my job I don’t give a toss.

I expect when the cost of all this becomes obvious to them, they will care. Lots of head in the sand about that at the minute. Though it will be too late by then.

I have a theory that this is a psychological side-effect of lockdowns for some.

Spend fifteen months walled up in your nice house, interacting with people only on screens, contact with the outside world limited to when the Amazon or Ocado van turns up, that suits some people. And then once you go out in the world again it’s still set up to reinforce you being in your own little bubble that nobody can get too close to - distancing in supermarkets, table service in pubs.

So for some, it starts getting easier and easier to forget that you aren’t actually isolated from the rest of the world and what happens to it affects you too. “Well my job’s fine, my savings are fine, I’m doing fine, why do I care if Pret goes bust? They’re separate from me, I don’t have to interact with them.”

The virus may be around for a long time, for me it has always been about it becoming something requiring testing/time at home, instead of hospitalisation and deaths. Which I think vaccination can achieve.

Screens at tills, one way systems in shops, proper hand hygiene (which should always have happened), face coverings and PPE in medical settings, and part of the working week from home (say 2 days a week) can all help, without being so restrictive that life is never near to that before the pandemic.

@Pinuporc

Wfh if you feel slightly unwell, or need to isolate, is all very well if you have a job that is compatible with wfh which seems to be most of MN but for a lot of people that have to go out to work this will mean not getting paid.

One of the single most effective things the government could so is.make it compulsory for all employers to.pay proper sick leave designed to stop people who.may be contagious ( with anything ) from coming into work.

I don't care if that means people will occasionally take the piss and some people might be off several times a year for a week or so , though employers could ask for proof of illness if necessary. This would help enormously with getting back to normal and helping to control the spread of contagious illnesses

I don't think isolating contacts is reasonable long term but staying home with symptoms of any sort whatsoever should be a no-brainer. People who don't stay home with symptoms or diagnosis of a contagious illness should face strong social pressure to do so but only if they aren't seriously economically penalised for staying home . I include colds in that . It would cost money but is an investment worth making and would cost a hell of a lot less than furlough has

Good luck with that idea, bumbling. There are still people on this forum who disagree with more support for testing and isolation because it will encourage people to catch covid deliberately.

Other ideas are staying at home if you’re ill until you have a test.
It’s utterly depressing. What about the financial costs? People having lots of sick leave because they have a cold, and don’t even have covid.

I'm fairly certain that it is the British that are out of step on this and that staying home if you are ill is what happened in many other countries before Covid.