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Going back to “normal” prematurely, even when our peaks are flattened is simply going to result in further outbreaks, as long as a large proportion of the population remains vulnerable to this infection. Only when new cases start to dramatically drop in number, can we consider reopening the economy, but would need to be done in a step-wise, planned manner. There’s a pretty fair chance that even if things improve over the summer, there might be a re-emergence in fall and winter, which puts us back to Square 1. We’re not out of the woods until the majority of the population becomes immune (infected or via vaccine) or if the viral transmission virtually disappears.

Firstly, anyone with antibodies to the virus following a resolved infection would be able to work. If we do allow everyone back to work, it will be with long-standing (but possibly softer) social distancing measures for up to a year most likely.

Air travel will have to change dramatically for the time being, and many countries might still limit incoming travellers. We might want to think about holding off on summer plans for the time being, and possibly even until after next winter.

As we search for a vaccine we will inevitably have to get used to a “new normal” for a while — likely a year, maybe more, maybe less.

Estimates put a vaccine at a year earliest, which is still overly optimistic. Vaccine science is rigorous — and needs to be — as vaccines are the safest and most effective interventions used in medicine. By comparison, when testing for approval of a drug for treating a disease, the easy part is that the patient already has the condition and doing nothing is going to be harmful, thus we can allow for more side effects as long as the overall benefit outweighs the harms.