#LockdownDebates: From furlough to mask-wearing: can we ever return to normal?

LOCKDOWN DEBATE: How best can work and life return to normal post-Covid? Will normality ever return? Many argue we will have to learn to live with the ‘new normal’, accepting facemasks, elbow-bumps, and under-filled pubs. Some even celebrate it, arguing that office life is dreary compared with the extra time to spend with family and friends that working from home allows. Do we need to make a more full-throated case for a return to normal life, or is this too risky when the virus still causes deaths across the world? Should we celebrate the chance to re-evaluate social norms and working practices, or do we risk leading narrower, more parochial lives? What exactly has been missing during the lockdown – and why should we care? Dr Clare Gerada, Ben Habib, Norman Lewis, Rebecca Lowe and Anne-Elisabeth Moutet discuss.