I thought it might be interesting to see what people think is going to happen next, and collect those opinions in one place.
We're now heading into autumn - and then winter - again. Compared with last year, we've had the near-completion of the vaccination program - all adults who wanted the vaccine have had plenty of opportunity to get it - which I think at the start of this year most people considered was going to be the 'endpoint' of all this and a return to normality.
But now, what are the expectations for what will happen over the next six months or so? Are things going to get better or worse (or indeed stay pretty much the same)? In England at least, we're currently at something vaguely approximating to 'normal' but even so
- There is still a massive regime of testing and, at least to some degree, contact tracing
- We are still 'recommended'/'expected' to wear masks in 'crowded' indoor places
- Most workplaces don't seem to have enthusiastically embraced the 'back to the office' idea, certainly not yet at least
- The Coronavirus Act and various other legislation is still in place
- International travel is a total disaster
and none of these things have any obvious end-date or clear criteria for ending (except the Coronavirus Act, which expires March next year if renewed again next month).
Obviously in other parts of the UK things are worse. And in most other western countries worse still.
Coming up soon we have decisions on vaccine 'boosters' - are they needed, and for whom, and will it be just one booster or regular boosters forever - and also controversial decisions on vaccinating for under-16s.
And, probably most important of all, the ever-present threat of 'domestic vaccine passports', which would redefine the relationship between the individual and the state in a very fundamental way, probably forever.
Are people optimistic, pessimistic, a bit of both? What would you like to happen next, and what do you expect to happen next?
We're now heading into autumn - and then winter - again. Compared with last year, we've had the near-completion of the vaccination program - all adults who wanted the vaccine have had plenty of opportunity to get it - which I think at the start of this year most people considered was going to be the 'endpoint' of all this and a return to normality.
But now, what are the expectations for what will happen over the next six months or so? Are things going to get better or worse (or indeed stay pretty much the same)? In England at least, we're currently at something vaguely approximating to 'normal' but even so
- There is still a massive regime of testing and, at least to some degree, contact tracing
- We are still 'recommended'/'expected' to wear masks in 'crowded' indoor places
- Most workplaces don't seem to have enthusiastically embraced the 'back to the office' idea, certainly not yet at least
- The Coronavirus Act and various other legislation is still in place
- International travel is a total disaster
and none of these things have any obvious end-date or clear criteria for ending (except the Coronavirus Act, which expires March next year if renewed again next month).
Obviously in other parts of the UK things are worse. And in most other western countries worse still.
Coming up soon we have decisions on vaccine 'boosters' - are they needed, and for whom, and will it be just one booster or regular boosters forever - and also controversial decisions on vaccinating for under-16s.
And, probably most important of all, the ever-present threat of 'domestic vaccine passports', which would redefine the relationship between the individual and the state in a very fundamental way, probably forever.
Are people optimistic, pessimistic, a bit of both? What would you like to happen next, and what do you expect to happen next?