When will life go back to normal? Health officials say it could be by fall

MAGIC VALLEY — As more and more people continue to get vaccinated, many are wondering when life will get back to normal. Some health officials are saying it could be as soon as this fall.

“I’m very hopeful that by fall if we stick to this that we are going to be able to gather in large groups and have some sense of normal when we’re watching football, but we’re in April and that’s a long ways away and a lot of it depends on our behavior," Dr. Tommy Ahlquist, Co-Founder of Crush the Curve said in a virtual forum with the Idaho Statesman.

He says a lot of it also depends on how many people are willing to get vaccinated. But Crush the Curve is working on proving more options to overcome obstacles people may face when it comes to getting the vaccine.

“It’s not that people don’t want to, it's just you need to make it easier for them. So we’re going to have a lot of work to do to get from April and May where there’s still people that want the vaccine to June and July where we’re going to get the vaccine to people who actually want to take it," Ahlquist said.

Another big factor in reaching herd immunity is making sure kids are protected and don't spread the virus. Something that is a challenge right now since none of the current vaccines are FDA-approved for children under 16.

“Really good information is coming out about some of the vaccine trials in kids and I think it’s very possible that soon the FDA may give approval for us to vaccinate 11-16," Dr. David Pate, Former St. Luke's CEO & President, said.

This is good news for parents since Pate says if they can get FDA approval for a vaccine for kids and get them vaccinated by this summer, they could return to school full-time y the fall.

“What we need to do is if you want to have kids full in person next year then you need to get yourself vaccinated and you need to take your kids in to get vaccinated. That’s probably going to be over the summer as soon as they are eligible by age and once the FDA approves it and the more people get vaccinated the sooner we get back to normal," Pate said.

They say as long as people continue to follow safety protocols and also get the vaccine we could see life go back to normal this year.

“We’re going to get through this that’s the point," Ahlquist said.

You can visit Crush the Curve's website to learn more about how to book an appointment to get your COVID-19 vaccine.