Everything from me not being able to go to school in person to personal stuff. Makes me wonder, How did the global pandemic get so overbearing? Why has so many businesses where I live, have to shut down permanently? Will everything be back to normal when said pandemic is over? I have so many questions.
I must say this has probably been the hardest period for the world since the Second World War. I'll try and awnser these questions as much as I can however as has been the case this whole time things will likely change going forward. I'll awnser these two together. The Pandemic took the world by surprise. Nobody was expecting it. Despite the world having 2-3 months to react and prevent it spreading out of Asia they didn't bother. Some countries (like S. Korea) had experience thanks to SARS (similar in nature to COVID). However Europe and the Americas did not. And as we know Africa is dealing with plenty of stuff right now out-with COVID. As for businesses, this follows a pattern seen everywhere, as people have been at home nobody has been able to go to shops - mostly because governments told them to shut down. And due to the financial implications businesses have went under. The honest awnser to this is nobody can say as of now. Nobody even knows when it'll be over. Considering the fact that only really some Western countries have strong vaccination programmes we still have quite a while to wait and see. We all hope it will be soon, but we will have to wait and see. As for the "new normal" it's likely to be along the lines of the old normal, however Sanitisation will become much more common than pre-pandemic - and personal hygiene will as well. Here's hoping.
Why was it so hard? Multiple factors including people being used to living their lives a certain way, global travel, people being idiots generally and people not being used to being clean, having to test themselves and so on. Why did it hit business so hard? Because people don't understand that for businesses to operate they need a certain mass of people to attend premises, spend money and then either leave, or spend more money. If you aren't set up to have enough space between people, you cannot trade, thus you need to shut. Given most businesses do NOT own the land or buildings they operate in, this means they still have bills to pay just to keep the shop or premises in their name Of course, many businesses (like people) are tied into contracts for things like electric, gas, water, phones, internet... All of which continued throughout. If the company couldn't trade at all then these bills don't get paid. Will everything go back to normal when the pandemic is over? This pandemic will NEVER be over. COVID is one form of a virus that has many strains, mutations etc. So the better question is "Can we get back to normal when we know how to live with the virus" and that would be a yes. Once we have sufficient people immunised, and once people develop immunity on their own in big enough numbers you break much of the cycle, but just as with flu, the common cold etc it WILL still be out there and people will still get ill and die. The difference is we have ways of coping with this for the most part as of now, and this will only get better as time goes on. But everyone has their part to play, and only if as many people as possible play that part will some form of normality be able to be reached
The Pandemic will be over eventually. When global vaccination happens the virus will just be a lingering thing like the flu - it's there but it won't be able to do anything. At that point it is no longer a Pandemic.
I guess at that point it will just go back to a widespread deadly disease that kills thousands worldwide every year, so yes
The true ‘crisis’ of COVID is over now : yes , the case numbers are rising again , but the Indian variant is a lot less deadly . As long as people continue being vaccinated every year , life should return to normal . However , I would expect another pandemic like this one to hit again in around a century , every 100 or so years there seems to be something like this . But let’s not go there . Let’s just hope for life to continue as it used to
I bet you £100 that we won’t have another pandemic 100 years from now. The money has to be collected in person. Seriously, I don’t believe this will totally go away. What we have established is that lockdowns don’t work (otherwise we would be free of it by now) but vaccinations are effective at keeping cases and the seriousness of the infection down to a manageable level. Oh, and that Governments of all flavours need to rid themselves of their obsession of cuts in the NHS year on year. In my opinion, this has been the real reason for the inability to deal effectively with a crisis. Finally, people need to take this sort of thing seriously. Your “personal freedoms” can go do one. This is why the likes of New Zealand have coped better. Decisions were taken and people went along with it. Go and get jabbed unless there is a genuine medical reason not to. The only pricks we need are those in the arm.
They have worked in various countries , and would’ve saved 1000’s of lives if they were actually enforced better
Totally agree. Maybe I should have said lockdowns haven’t worked in this country because of some peoples’ attitudes. Hence the New Zealand reference.
There's hard evidence in the graphs that lockdowns do work - whenever we locked the country down you see the graph almost immediately take a nose dive downwards for new infections, and that's what they're intended to do - ergo, they work. Even with some people flouting them, they still had the desired impact, reduced cases, reduced hospitalisations and reduced deaths. The problem is they don't *stop* the virus, if you lock down the infection rates go down and everyone gets a false sense of security that it's all better - but it isn't, the minute you release the lock things just go back the way they were - until you have the vaccines. They are what makes it different this time. So now we're in a state that in the UK, with lockdown released mostly, the numbers of new infections are skyrocketing again the same as they did in the previous wave - but the huge difference is that thanks to vaccinations, the number of hospitalisations is remaining quite low and not really escalating, even though the new infections per day (currently at 20k+ per day) is escalating fairly rapidly. That's a GOOD thing people, that means that we're probably mostly through with this now. As Aruscoe said earlier - Covid doesn't go away any more than the common cold goes away - they're both corona virii and we haven't got rid of the common cold, so that should be a good hint that we won't get rid of Covid. Corona virii mutate a LOT and that's one of the things that makes them really hard to eradicate. What we will do is make it something that we can all live with through vaccination and then life returns to normal. The mutations also seem to be vulnerable to the vaccines as well still, so that's also good news. Of course this all means you DO need to get your vaccination when the opportunity comes up, otherwise you're living in a world buzzing with a covid that's potentially harmful to you. Don't delay and if you're unsure, please talk to a *doctor* and arm yourself with *facts*, the internet often does not have facts. One of the impacts that caused businesses in so many places trouble was because incidental business dropped through the floor - imagine you run a local shop near a big office building... suddenly you've gone from lots of people popping out for a snack during a break, or for some lunch, and that business has vanished because people are working from home now. That's aside from the more obvious problems of anyone in an industry that specifically requires people to congregate together like entertainment, weddings and the like which are more obviously cut to zero overnight. I'm generally quite positive about the outlook now, the vaccines - which are the subject of science fiction and it's incredible they have been produced this fast and been this effective - are working and the numbers are strongly suggesting we're in a better place. It'll take more time to establish more certainty around that so I certainly wouldn't advise complacency just yet, but be positive, be happy, get vaccinated, and get ready for the good times again.
A reading from the Book of Matt, Chapter 1 verses 1-8! Couldn't say it better. Up here in the Lakes businesses that relied on income that was tourist based have suffered hugely, thankfully I'm in an industry that was deemed essential and as such have been extremely lucky but sadly many of my mates have lost businesses and jobs. If you want somewhere for a staycation, obviously UK, this year I can recommend nowhere better for a getaway!! I had my own run in with the effects of covid and what it can do literally a year ago (July 4th), needless to say a week in hospital and ongoing rehabilitation and thankfully I'm here. Side note: TSW actually helped a lot with regaining motor skills and coordination especially micro ones. I've lost friends and family as a result of this virus, it's certainly going to be a different next few years. I've just seen my son for the first time since then this last week, and whilst technically I could've seen him at any point, we both agreed it was in neither of our benefit to do so (health and age concerns) until such time that we felt there was sufficient safety in place. It's a small sacrifice for ultimately the greater good. When I think of my grandparents and great-grandfather went through relatively speaking, a couple of years lockdown is, and excuse the language, F all in the scheme of things. Even if those in so call charge do there best to flaunt and bend the rules don't react negatively. As my grandfather used to say 'Be the better man'. I'll also second Matt, if it's offered or you can get one then don't hesitate for one second in doing so, if not for you then the ones you love. Plus you get excellent 5g reception and can control my sky with my mind with all the nanites in it! All in all, be positive, better times are coming.
The pandemic has been bad for some companies and good for others, for example those involved in digital entertainment. DTG belongs to this sector, so I hope it has seen its profits increase. They deserve it and that would be good for the future of TSW!
Pandemic wise i haven't known any difference because i work in manufacturing for a company making cable reels and drums, our bosses classed us as key workers because apparently we supplied products to another company that made ventilators so we had to stay open and worked through it. What i noticed was when we had to furlough some workers we had three types of people who got it. 1 People through no fault of their own 2 People with family who had to protect them 3 The lazy ones who wanted time off but still got some wages. This meant i had an increased workload plus a change in shift pattern which at times left me exhausted but like many we've battled on through it. Got my second covid vaccination this morning which is great as I'm off to London for a much needed weekend away on my own in two weeks time. Mainly i love watching live sport as a hobby but TSW and TSW2 have both been really helpful to me mentally as it's been a great way to relax and to sort of travel about, I'm actually excited about going on a long train ride from Manchester to London for that weekend break, it's been so long. Lockdown wise i didn't like it when a lot of blame was put on the Cheltenham Festival, i love horse racing and i firmly believe this wasn't the reason for the increase at all, weirdly i was racing at Doncaster the week before lockdown and on the day i had a feeling something was going to happen and when it did it was a real shock for sure. Covid-19 will never leave us, the Government should have locked down early but sadly we have a PM who seems to wait till he has one option left and then use that saying it was the only option available, the world will still be different for the next few years but vaccines are working but the ones who are refusing it through sheer ignorance will be the first ones to complain if another lockdown happens.
