So this is gonna last

...after killing 50 million worldwide.

So there's that.

Still need a vaccine

and i can only see him outside if i have had a covid-19 test that came back negative in the last two weeks. That means it will be window visits. My dad and i are not good on the phone. I miss him. He says he is sort of happy. He misses us but especially his friend and caregiver who was with me doing the outdoor visit last week. I thank the ancestors that the city run nursing home is so strict. But i miss him terribly. We all do. I cannot imagine if this goes on for another year. At least nobody i know has gotten sick. That is a blessing.

is isolated, too, though at home.

Hugs.

Patience will be forced upon us as this proceeds.

Someday, I hope we'll be able to look back on this.

A vaccine can't come fast enough. Even the worst pandemic in modern history only lasted 18 months. I can't imagine COVID lasting for more than that as people have been saying.

And as for this lasting forever? Dear god I hope not.

However, as covid19 moves through our population, it will possibly weaken and be subject to some measures that we've figured out in the meantime.

We will learn to live with it, not in its current form, but in some slightly less dangerous form. This is what I expect.

I do not expect that we will need to continue social distancing, or masking or other things that we find troublesome. But all of this will take time.

Especially if this mutates, making it even more dangerous, and people refuse to take all of the necessary precautions , which they are, so I wouldn't count on this threat being over for at least several years. Then there is more possible virus problems ahead becoming a lot worse than with the corona virus. Business models will have to be changed a lot to make money with in our future, and many are gone for good, and many left are doomed from the lack of money, theirs and the customers. As long as trump is having rally's helping to spread this virus more , it will hurt all businesses as many more get it.

There's no way that this goes on forever. You can't keep us locked inside and chained to our computers forever. People need to be able to socialize with other people. Social isolation and distancing is hell. It is pretty much the literal definition of hell. We need to be able to leave the house and go out in public. You can't meet new people or build relationships in a 2" window with a web cam. Virtual cocktail hours, Zoom parties, and living room concerts are no way to live a life. We need to build real relationships with real people, travel, see our families, and even go out in society. Living at home 24 hours a day is a nightmare, it is not easy in the slightest.

We may have future coronaviruses to deal with down the road, but COVID will come and go, just like all modern diseases have. The key is to prevent future outbreaks with a competent government. Imagine where we would be if the Orange Douche wasn't in charge.

It took years and years for treatments to merely mitigate it.

Don't plan on a miracle.

Prepare for a changed lifestyle.

Seriously, this nightmare virus world is just not worth living in.

Life changes and you adapt.

Patio dining has resumed in virtually every state (some have fully opened).

Parks and beaches are open pretty much everywhere too.

I've found 6 feet is actually not as big a problem as I thought it would be - you actually aren't that far apart. If you're nervous about being closer, wear a mask and go out with friends.

If it ends sooner than that we can rejoice.

But you should mentally prepare yourself for this lasting until 2022.

I see a lot of signs that vaccines are making progress. I hope we get one by this time next year.

I just think that so many people will have had it that it won't be as much of a concern.

They said that the reason for this is that people will get so fed up with the restrictions on how the virus invades their every day activities that they will trade off the risks of going out for catching the virus. Also add to that, perpetual boredom and the social isolation aspect of it. No one wants to be socially isolated, and there's only so much you can do on a Zoom call.

Sad but true.

get back to the good old days are really in denial about our present situation.

I doubt it's all gonna just go away anytime soon--if ever. I do think we will all end up making some changes to our behaviors and our routines--and not all of them are unpleasant ones. Yeah, I'm not loving the fearsome parts at all, but once the docs figure out how to reliably and safely treat it, that should relent some. Not loving the mask thing. It's getting hotter. It's summer. Masks are just hot, I have yet to find one that isn't. I do have to admit, however, that wearing a mask when sick has been part of the culture in places other than the US, and I hope it will become common here in the US too. Flu cases might reduce some too!

I've come to appreciate the peace of being at home and not needing to be frenetically busy doing all the time. I've also come to realize just how much of my workdays were occupied with time fillers and bullshit. That aspect has been fairly liberating, if you want the truth. I have come to appreciate that people (not everyone, but a lot of them) have been more willing to speak to the neighbors when they are out walking. They call out greetings or comment on the weather or other mundane comments that acknowledge each other. I've found myself taking extra care to be kind lately. I've found my pace of living has slowed a bunch, and that's a good thing...

Find the blessings where you can, I guess.


Laura

We're pretty much screwed until a vaccine is found. And with the way it's being dealt with in the US I expect we're going to see tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of deaths.

If Trump is elected, he'll ignore the pandemic and it will get worse and worse and worse. The death toll triples or even quadruples. If we elect Biden he will listen to experts and we'll eventually get a clear path to a full reopening of the country, and a restoration of the US's status in the world and in international health communities like the WHO. We'll also get the pandemic response team back and we'll get the CDC restored and the US's status in the WHO restored. If Trump gets reelected, none of this happens, and the pandemic lasts for the next decade, if not century.