For those who want restrictions to return...

[Warhertisuff]

When would think it reasonable for those restrictions to be eased again?

Or do you believe restrictions should be a permanent, or at least cyclical, part of life now?

We are out of sync with most of the world with face masks. I think for now they should become part of our normality.

For how long i don't know.

The only restriction we have where I live are masks (proper ones) on public transport and shops, and other indoor places when facing the public.

We can take them off at work but people have become much more respectful and will wear one throughout the day if they have a cold or keep sneezing.

Like the PP said, I think we can learn from other countries when it comes to mask wearing. It's the natural thing to do if you're poorly. If you go to Japan or China, you'll see lots of people wearing a mask on the train, it's a normal part of their culture. I wouldn't be opposed to keeping that.

What do you think, OP? Because in the absence of any opinion, I'll assume you are a Daily Mail journalist

i wont be wearing a mask again..they can bring them back but i am now exempt so wont bother

i suspect many of us will be the same

You've properly outed yourself as a rookie journalist with this thread, unless you actually give your own perspective.

I say that as a person who has worked in Journalism.

I want it forever, I want all our freedom curtailed. I want to destroy every vestige of happiness I once knew

I'm sure no one wants restriction to return, but what people think of restriction is different.
People need to think about social distancing and wearing masks in certain places for me is not a big deal.
You want to live normal pre covid and expect everything to be fine isn't normal, because we are not in normal situation.
More people realise and adjust the way we should live now, the closer the day we can have the normal life.
Some of the country have such a small rate of infection, compared to England. Why is that?

It's a fair question

More people realise and adjust the way we should live now, the closer the day we can have the normal life.

We've all heard this before

I don’t think anyone does do they?
But needs must

I think masks should be compulsory (with very few exceptions) in crowded spaces like public transport, theatres etc. I don't think it's a big deal (for most people) to wear a mask and even if it only reduces transmission by, say, 50%, it's a small price to pay for a big benefit and is very low cost.

But mainly I think we should all get booster jabs ASAP otherwise this winter is going to be awful.

No one wants restrictions, but we also dont want a pandemic. Id rather restrictions to reduce pandemic related problems than do nothing and reap the consequesnces. How ever we seam to have a situation that the gate keeps getting shut after the horse has bolted so im expecting heavey consequences plus restrictions that come to late

Im hoping that places are kept cleaner forever. Lots of the uk was pretty grubby with lots of cost cutting on basic cleaning before.
I hope people wash their hands more forever
I hope people with colds wear masks in shops/buses forever. I also think masks at work or be allowed to work from home if tgeir job allows if and they are sneezy/coughing with a virus but ok to work.

@Warhertisuff

When would think it reasonable for those restrictions to be eased again? Or do you believe restrictions should be a permanent, or at least cyclical, part of life now?

Life can go back to normal when life goes back to normal.

The determination to pretend that we can just declare that we're going to "live with covid now," remove all covid control measures - and everything will magically be fine is how we keep ending up here.

We can live with effective mitigations to reduce covid transmission.

Or we can go back into harsher restrictions a couple of times a year.

That's the reality we live in until we see what effect third/booster doses and vaccinating 12-15 year old has.

(At current rates this phase of the vaccine rollout is going to take several more months)

The determination to pretend that we can just declare that we're going to "live with covid now," remove all covid control measures - and everything will magically be fine is how we keep ending up here.
This. People need to grasp that acting as if Covid has gone away is not "learning to live with Covid" - quite the opposite.

We've all heard this before
@TheKeatingFive

Maybe you have heard it, but people haven't done it. Self restraint is a huge factor, which I really don't think English people are very good at.

Regarding restrictions, whether they should return and how long they should last for, that very much depends on the nature of the restriction. I think there should be a requirement to wear masks on public transport. I would only remove that requirement if Covid rates were consistently low. In terms of what I would consider low, I would say less than 50 cases per 100,000 of population per week.

@Ethelfromnumber73

What do you think, OP? Because in the absence of any opinion, I'll assume you are a Daily Mail journalist

😆 My view is that we should "run hot", and allow Covid to spread, and only place restrictions where the alternative is health service collapse. The more we try to suppress Covid, the longer it will take to emerge through to the other side.

I would reintroduce the requirement for children not to attend school if a member of their household has Covid (unless the child has already had confirmed Covid in the past 6 months, as reinfection within that timescale appears very rare). I would keep that one indefinitely.

Obviously, if there was an absolute game changer such as a new dominant Covid strain that caused much less severe illness, all policies would need to be reviewed.

I want some simple and easy to implement measures to return/be introduced now so that we don't have to go back to much harsher restrictions later.

I think we do have to get back on the programme with masks, they're entirely sensible.

We also need to embrace wfh for those that can. It helps immensely in cities where people take public transport to work. It's a win win, the world has moved on from the Tory presenteeism this government is hanging on to.

My view is that we should "run hot", and allow Covid to spread

Yeah, if people think this way, it takes longer for it to come to an end, imo. Just hope you stop complaining that it's way worse than other countries. Sensible countries are doing way better, with sensible mitigations.

The more we try to suppress Covid, the longer it will take to emerge through to the other side.
What do you mean by "emerge through to the other side"? People can get reinfected with Covid after a relatively short period, so if we don't try to reduce infection rates, we will just end up with consistently high infection rates as people get reinfected.

I agree Op.

I dont agree with running hot because my kids are under 12 so cant even get a vax yet (if ever before 12).
Also no masks has spread everything else so expecting me to test dc with every cough when they are likely asthmatic.
USA cousins missed zero school last year mine mised 9-10 weeks.
Why should all the vaxxed pay for the unvaxxed people who get long covid?
The rates are low in older peopls but they are getting a third jab. You need the vax across all age groups for it to work.
Also running hot means people dying or disabled (younger people) who moght have survived as treatments improve or vaxs.

@LilyPond2

Regarding restrictions, whether they should return and how long they should last for, that very much depends on the nature of the restriction. I think there should be a requirement to wear masks on public transport. I would only remove that requirement if Covid rates were consistently low. In terms of what I would consider low, I would say less than 50 cases per 100,000 of population per week.

The issue with the is that in the long term cases are always likely to be that high as it will be endemic. The restrictions would be bought back every winter. I guess the only way this cycle would end is if they said that restrictions can come back this winter however we will stop testing on X date in 2022 once the pandemic is declared as over.