Aberdeenshire Council heard the country has gone through a decade’s worth of change in mere months, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Members discussed the ongoing virus outbreak at their full council meeting yesterday, with East Garioch councillor Martin Ford suggesting there may never be a return to how things were pre-Covid and that wording in council papers could do to reflect that.
Mr Ford said: “We should be looking at this as an accelerated period of change rather than a defined event with a beginning and an end.
“Firstly, are we going to continues as thing are now? No. Secondly, are things going to go back to how they were one year ago? No. Thirdly, will be stay protected when things change again?”
The East Garioch member added that habit changes such as a shift to online shopping rather than supporting the high street and partial working from home set-ups have both been accelerated by the pandemic and neither will return to their former state pre-Covid.
“We have seen ten years of transition happen in the space of a few months,” Mr Ford said. “It’s a real period of change not an event with an end point.
“Coronavirus will not go away and we will need to get it under control and later keep control of it.”
However, West Garioch councillor Sebastian Leslie warned such language and the idea that life will never return to normal did little for raising spirits.
He added: “We really don’t want our electorate to think this curse is going to linger on and on.”
Mid-Formartine elected member Paul Johnston added: “The worst is yet to come but the end is in sight. We need to keep up the work.”