Looking ahead: what might life be like post-pandemic?

Most of us are wondering when our lives will begin to return to something like normal – and we asked readers to give their best guess about when this might be.

Across Sussex, most readers thought it would take between one and two years for a sense of normality to return to everyday life.

This option was chosen by 44 per cent of readers in Worthing, 40 per cent in Hastings, 39 per cent of those in Eastbourne and 38 per cent in Chichester.

Meanwhile readers in Horsham were slightly more optimistic, with those who thought it would take just six to 12 months (35 per cent) polling ahead of those who thought it would take between a year or two (32 per cent) for normality to return.

Less than 10 per cent of readers across all areas thought things could take just three to five months to return to normal. Meanwhile between six and eight per cent thought things would not return to normal.

Once the pandemic is over, could a greener and more compassionate society await us? When asked what they thought the likely outcomes of the coronavirus outbreak would be, the majority of readers in Sussex said it would lead to greater funding for the NHS. This was closely followed by society placing greater value on key workers.

Between 38 and 43 per cent of readers across Sussex also thought communities coming closer together was a likely outcome, however the likelihood of the country coming closer together was at the bottom of the list across all areas.

Between 22 and 27 per cent of readers thought more people would travel by foot and bicycle instead of by car as a result of the pandemic, while 31-36 per cent expected to see a reduction in global warming.