I have been in the medical profession for 20 years. I feel qualified to chime into this discussion.
I have been following news in the Far-East outlets for the past 4 months. There is definitely been a decrease in the amount of scare/worst-case scenario reporting.
I don’t feel that fomite plays a big part in the transmission of the virus. As long as we reasonably wash our hands, we should be fine. As it turns out, this is also confirmed by the CDC recently. So I wouldn’t worry about daily activity in terms of what we will touch unless you work in the health care setting. Also, masks are likely to provide the bulk of the protection that will make it adequate to re-open the economy.
As long as everyone wears masks and wash their hands, there should be very little risks for the virus to infect the general public. People will be realizing this fairly soon and the scare will end. Unfortunately, it will take a while for the economy to adjust to the new realities.
As long as there are asymptomatic transmissions, social activities will likely be restricted for many months to come. However, from the standpoint of daily living, dining, shopping, and activities, there should be a very minimal risk for most of the age groups.
I forsee that we will return to normal when:
1. there is a rapid way of testing for the virus, like with rapid strep. The technology is pretty much there and just need to be refined.
2. there is a way of treating the virus without serious sequale. This is much tougher and thus far there is no good drug candidate. HCQ was supposed to be it but the current findings are not positive. Remdesivir is going to be pointless unless it can reverse early course. But looks like it is for people who are about to die from the virus.
As for the vaccine, I don’t see that coming. If it is easy we would have the vaccine for common cold already. I don’t think it is realistic to expect a vacinne.
However, there is the possiblity that Covid-19 can disappear the way of SARS. After all, SARS did go away.
Only time will tell. Let me know if I was right…