What will life be like after Covid?
Discussion
We had no idea on New Year’s eve 2019 whilst getting drunk with friends, letting off fireworks in the garden, celebrating having moved to our new house having taken over 2 years to get there. My eldest daughter getting married shortly which was to be so exciting and we moved my 86 year old mother closer to us so she wouldn’t be so lonely, had the best year since the 2008 crash at work and general having had a really bloody good year.......what a mess we be in not 3 months later, but at the end of 2021 
So, my predictions are:
Life will return to the best level of previous normality at some point but not in 2021, in 2022 and quite possibly not until the summer. I believe we will have some sort of restrictions and tiers until that point in time.
Other thoughts:
Hand washing - this is a good idea. I’ve never understood why some food preparation shops make your sandwich with gloves on, then handle money and then make another sandwich with the same gloves on and so it goes on.......seems a bit contradictory to me and I have in the past removed myself from a queue and gone elsewhere - yuk! (I have seen chefs go to the loo and then not wash their hands........
odd by most peoples standards but it happens). So, general hygiene will hopefully be improved and that can only be a good thing
Mask wearing - I would suggest that anyone over the age of say 65 will on the whole now continue to wear a mask for the rest of their life. I’m not saying they should, I just think they will. I cycle on the South Downs and generally it’s the older people who will literally turn their back on you as you ride past for example. Anyone middle aged (I’m 57 and consider myself middle aged
) will probably go back to normal unless we are forced to wear them by law and if that’s the case. Youngsters will not wear mask and it will be a vague memory once they are older.
Flying - sadly like it or not and certainly for the next coupe of years the world will dictate one simple fact - no test, no flight or no entry. I’m not sure how this will work if you can’t have a test but look at Qantas. Major airlines generate huge profits and need to get back to work. If they need to be ultra-safe they will be. We are already seeing this and it will continue.
Health passports - these will happen, They do to some degree already given some countries need a vaccination for malaria or whatever. They will become a normal part of life and once they jab is here and tested and we know folk aren’t falling dead with it we will all simply accept it and have one. Personally if I need a jab and it allows me to go on holiday I’ll do it.
Work - working from home where possible will be the new-norm, this has been the case in some industries for a long time and will become more widespread. I don’t think the office is dead, some attendance will happen for meetings (again, personally I think it’s a shame and I believe on the whole staff get a lot from working together where they can closely and in a team rather than at home on a zoom call. There is also no doubt money can be saved where huge buildings won’t be required and companies love to save money.
Inner city - on the back of the reduction in office workers the inner sixty will change. Shops will close, there will always be a Pret for example, just not three on the same road in the same part of town. Some of the now redundant office buildings will become flats or homes.
Travel - in general car travel will stay much the same, we will always moan about the cost of fuel etc but road tolls will happen in some fashion once the EV market is in full force, sadly it has to otherwise huge sums of money won’t be paid in RFD.
Mental health - this is a serious one and over the next two to three years we will experience mental health issue previously unheard of. This manifests itself in so many different ways and often kept behind closed doors until it’s too late. The government need to focus on this in the same sentence as Covid!
Elderly- I just hope folk like my mum aren’t locked up for whatever remains of their lives, it’s s
t currently and what a way to end your life.
Cancer and other treatments - sadly due to covid many people will suffer and early death because Covid not only took priority but scared some to the point of staying at home rather than getting checked up. Deaths from preventable disease over the next 5-10 years is going to be huge. Don’t forget if you get some cancers now you’ll still live 10 years, but if you detect them now and fix them now you’ll live another 30+ years until your natural death.
On the whole I believe we will return to some sense of normality, I’m not a fully-fledged conspiracy theorist so I’m not going down the jabs with computers within so they can track you.
I genuinely believe the leaders of the world have to a point over-reacted and are now stuck for the time being in a circle of bad management.
So, my predictions are:
Life will return to the best level of previous normality at some point but not in 2021, in 2022 and quite possibly not until the summer. I believe we will have some sort of restrictions and tiers until that point in time.
Other thoughts:
Hand washing - this is a good idea. I’ve never understood why some food preparation shops make your sandwich with gloves on, then handle money and then make another sandwich with the same gloves on and so it goes on.......seems a bit contradictory to me and I have in the past removed myself from a queue and gone elsewhere - yuk! (I have seen chefs go to the loo and then not wash their hands........
odd by most peoples standards but it happens). So, general hygiene will hopefully be improved and that can only be a good thingMask wearing - I would suggest that anyone over the age of say 65 will on the whole now continue to wear a mask for the rest of their life. I’m not saying they should, I just think they will. I cycle on the South Downs and generally it’s the older people who will literally turn their back on you as you ride past for example. Anyone middle aged (I’m 57 and consider myself middle aged
) will probably go back to normal unless we are forced to wear them by law and if that’s the case. Youngsters will not wear mask and it will be a vague memory once they are older.Flying - sadly like it or not and certainly for the next coupe of years the world will dictate one simple fact - no test, no flight or no entry. I’m not sure how this will work if you can’t have a test but look at Qantas. Major airlines generate huge profits and need to get back to work. If they need to be ultra-safe they will be. We are already seeing this and it will continue.
Health passports - these will happen, They do to some degree already given some countries need a vaccination for malaria or whatever. They will become a normal part of life and once they jab is here and tested and we know folk aren’t falling dead with it we will all simply accept it and have one. Personally if I need a jab and it allows me to go on holiday I’ll do it.
Work - working from home where possible will be the new-norm, this has been the case in some industries for a long time and will become more widespread. I don’t think the office is dead, some attendance will happen for meetings (again, personally I think it’s a shame and I believe on the whole staff get a lot from working together where they can closely and in a team rather than at home on a zoom call. There is also no doubt money can be saved where huge buildings won’t be required and companies love to save money.
Inner city - on the back of the reduction in office workers the inner sixty will change. Shops will close, there will always be a Pret for example, just not three on the same road in the same part of town. Some of the now redundant office buildings will become flats or homes.
Travel - in general car travel will stay much the same, we will always moan about the cost of fuel etc but road tolls will happen in some fashion once the EV market is in full force, sadly it has to otherwise huge sums of money won’t be paid in RFD.
Mental health - this is a serious one and over the next two to three years we will experience mental health issue previously unheard of. This manifests itself in so many different ways and often kept behind closed doors until it’s too late. The government need to focus on this in the same sentence as Covid!
Elderly- I just hope folk like my mum aren’t locked up for whatever remains of their lives, it’s s
t currently and what a way to end your life.Cancer and other treatments - sadly due to covid many people will suffer and early death because Covid not only took priority but scared some to the point of staying at home rather than getting checked up. Deaths from preventable disease over the next 5-10 years is going to be huge. Don’t forget if you get some cancers now you’ll still live 10 years, but if you detect them now and fix them now you’ll live another 30+ years until your natural death.
On the whole I believe we will return to some sense of normality, I’m not a fully-fledged conspiracy theorist so I’m not going down the jabs with computers within so they can track you.
I genuinely believe the leaders of the world have to a point over-reacted and are now stuck for the time being in a circle of bad management.
HoHoHo said:
We had no idea on New Year’s eve 2019... I genuinely believe the leaders of the world have to a point over-reacted and are now stuck for the time being in a circle of bad management.
I think it will be like the ‘20s again. Debauchery and fast living, realising that we don’t live forever.Or maybe that is just my hope after a year of utter boredom.
Do you think that at some point they will admit that they were wrong, or overreacted, and we can all go back to old normal?
Nope. Not how they work. They may u-turn, but they never admit being wrong, or at fault.
They were right.
Their scientists were right.
The interventions work.
The interventions are necessary.
The interventions are making you safe.
Our "new normal" - you're in it.
Nope. Not how they work. They may u-turn, but they never admit being wrong, or at fault.
They were right.
Their scientists were right.
The interventions work.
The interventions are necessary.
The interventions are making you safe.
Our "new normal" - you're in it.
grumbledoak said:
Our "new normal" - you're in it.
Drivel. I despise BJ and the Clowns for many reasons, but they are liberal Tories at their core, social freedoms will return post vaccine*- unless the retards and science deniers are a big enough proportion of our society to limit the effective outcome of the vaccination programme. I cannot believe that there are that many tin foil hats in our population. I hope.
To be honest the summer was pretty normal. Allowed to go to the pub, go out with friends, take the train there, stay at other people's houses.
Ok so you had to wear a mask for some of that. But I can't see how this summer will be different to the summer gone.
If the vaccine works and does offer relatively long term protection I think we'll be relatively normal next June or so and not go back to where we are now in winter 2021.
There are a few things like working from home that will hopefully not return to the previous normal. But things like working from home are not just because of the virus, they have other benefits.
Foreign travel could take a bit longer to recover and as suggested they'll be testing and quarantines depending on where people are flying.
My honest, slightly optimistic, opinion!
Ok so you had to wear a mask for some of that. But I can't see how this summer will be different to the summer gone.
If the vaccine works and does offer relatively long term protection I think we'll be relatively normal next June or so and not go back to where we are now in winter 2021.
There are a few things like working from home that will hopefully not return to the previous normal. But things like working from home are not just because of the virus, they have other benefits.
Foreign travel could take a bit longer to recover and as suggested they'll be testing and quarantines depending on where people are flying.
My honest, slightly optimistic, opinion!
cml24 said:
To be honest the summer was pretty normal. Allowed to go to the pub, go out with friends, take the train there, stay at other people's houses.
Ok so you had to wear a mask for some of that. But I can't see how this summer will be different to the summer gone.
If the vaccine works and does offer relatively long term protection I think we'll be relatively normal next June or so and not go back to where we are now in winter 2021.
There are a few things like working from home that will hopefully not return to the previous normal. But things like working from home are not just because of the virus, they have other benefits.
Foreign travel could take a bit longer to recover and as suggested they'll be testing and quarantines depending on where people are flying.
My honest, slightly optimistic, opinion!
This. Its the only possible outcome, if the government aren't trying to break us, and lead us into a brave new world. Ok so you had to wear a mask for some of that. But I can't see how this summer will be different to the summer gone.
If the vaccine works and does offer relatively long term protection I think we'll be relatively normal next June or so and not go back to where we are now in winter 2021.
There are a few things like working from home that will hopefully not return to the previous normal. But things like working from home are not just because of the virus, they have other benefits.
Foreign travel could take a bit longer to recover and as suggested they'll be testing and quarantines depending on where people are flying.
My honest, slightly optimistic, opinion!
That latter one seems to still be considered a conspiracy theory by most. I still consider it unlikely, but timeframe of vaccinations slipping is definately something to keep an eye on
The big question is, what will be left of the pubs and small independent shops if tier 4 is kept up til April/May?
Things will bounce back to normality pretty sharpish.
Give it a few years and the WWII style gloss will be on the pandemic, everyone was out in streets cheering for the NHS, everyone donated and pulled their weight etc etc.... and you wont be able to find a covid nutter.
Give it a few more years and it will be a literal two page spread in the history books for your kids, and give it another 75-100 years and another government will be making the same mistakes again.
Give it a few years and the WWII style gloss will be on the pandemic, everyone was out in streets cheering for the NHS, everyone donated and pulled their weight etc etc.... and you wont be able to find a covid nutter.
Give it a few more years and it will be a literal two page spread in the history books for your kids, and give it another 75-100 years and another government will be making the same mistakes again.
I can see this st going on for another two years. First government to head back to normal will be crucified by the media for any “deaths with Covid” after normality, this will stir up the social media nutters and the whole thing will end up a political football with the opposition stating “how many more deaths until you admit you were wrong!”. This will play the same throughout Europe and I fear we are stuck in a loop.
t going on for another two years. First government to head back to normal will be crucified by the media for any “deaths with Covid” after normality, this will stir up the social media nutters and the whole thing will end up a political football with the opposition stating “how many more deaths until you admit you were wrong!”. This will play the same throughout Europe and I fear we are stuck in a loop. If the vaccine works as planned and enough people have it then I think all this talk of new normal will just fade away and we will get back to how we were over the next 18 months. All this talk of it being the great revolution in home working etc will all be turned on it’s head when companies realise as the economy picks up that it didn’t really work it merely allowed them to continue to exist. Within 5 years it will be like it never happened
robuk said:
Things will bounce back to normality pretty sharpish.
Give it a few years and the WWII style gloss will be on the pandemic, everyone was out in streets cheering for the NHS, everyone donated and pulled their weight etc etc.... and you wont be able to find a covid nutter.
Give it a few more years and it will be a literal two page spread in the history books for your kids, and give it another 75-100 years and another government will be making the same mistakes again.
This.Give it a few years and the WWII style gloss will be on the pandemic, everyone was out in streets cheering for the NHS, everyone donated and pulled their weight etc etc.... and you wont be able to find a covid nutter.
Give it a few more years and it will be a literal two page spread in the history books for your kids, and give it another 75-100 years and another government will be making the same mistakes again.
I think by late 2021 we will be pretty much back to normal, provided of course that the vaccine does actually work as intended, and the hospital admissions fall. Social distancing, masks, restrictions and so on will be gone.
Once that happens, we will bounce back pretty fast as everyone will be desperate to get on with life. All the industries that have been hit hard will once again experience demand, and there will people springing back up to service that demand.
People have short memories and old habits die hard. Covid will be something that only occasionally gets mentioned going forwards, and as robuk says, it will have a cheerful WW2 gloss splashed all over it. "We beat the virus!" etc.
What will be the legacy left by Covid? My guess is:
1) There will be some form of requirement to have all your vaccinations up to date before travelling abroad, but I don't think all countries will insist on this.
2) There will be a lot more people working from home.
3) Town centres will change rapidly as Covid has accelerated the current state of affairs by 5-10 years.
And yes, in a few decades everyone will have pretty much forgotten until it happens again, and it will happen again.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 31st December 13:28
I think that we’ll be back to normal by late spring, once we’ve vaccinated the most vulnerable.
Once we are I intend to live a bit more. I’ve had my head down a bit much at work these last few years, and have been a bit careful with my spending. I’ll probably do a big road trip, get my pilots licence, and spend some time on a beach.
Once we are I intend to live a bit more. I’ve had my head down a bit much at work these last few years, and have been a bit careful with my spending. I’ll probably do a big road trip, get my pilots licence, and spend some time on a beach.
WFH....it will in some sectors just be called work there won't be an office to go to. This will change the demand for some jobs that are the function of having a 2000 person office in a city. Other jobs will be normal like working in a factory or perhaps working in creative roles.
With this shift in demand city centers will contract an go to residential but if you don't work in the city why live there etc. Travel will be a test an travel process.
In years to come we will likely feel pain as government make claims about needed to balance books in reality they just want cash to build personal legacy.
With this shift in demand city centers will contract an go to residential but if you don't work in the city why live there etc. Travel will be a test an travel process.
In years to come we will likely feel pain as government make claims about needed to balance books in reality they just want cash to build personal legacy.
Not back to the old normal at any point in the foreseeable future. I hope to be wrong.
We will be taxed very heavily to pay for this disaster, and our civil liberties won't return in full. Government by decree to stay indefinitely.
Yes, it will be a little better than now, just like being on parole or with an ankle tag is better than being in the cooler.
Summer 2022 - masks, social distancing and more taxation.
You can quote me on this and call me an idiot. I'd take it with a smile if I will have been off the mark, but my cynicism so far has been right, if too restrained.
As for the Tories being liberal in any ways, once they realised what they can get away with, that's a power they love. Wait until Labour gets in next time around...
We will be taxed very heavily to pay for this disaster, and our civil liberties won't return in full. Government by decree to stay indefinitely.
Yes, it will be a little better than now, just like being on parole or with an ankle tag is better than being in the cooler.
Summer 2022 - masks, social distancing and more taxation.
You can quote me on this and call me an idiot. I'd take it with a smile if I will have been off the mark, but my cynicism so far has been right, if too restrained.
As for the Tories being liberal in any ways, once they realised what they can get away with, that's a power they love. Wait until Labour gets in next time around...
ucb said:
The failing in the entire thread is that there is a time that is ‘after COVID’.
There may be a time when people disregard social distancing, face masks and other such measures, but there is no existence henceforth without COVID. Just like influenza
Rephrase it then to a time when treatment/vaccine make it no longer a serious concern.There may be a time when people disregard social distancing, face masks and other such measures, but there is no existence henceforth without COVID. Just like influenza
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