If you live abroad (ie not UK), what's life like in your country?

[purrswhileheeats]

Apologies if this has already been done

Here we have to obtain a permit to go out and must carry ID; police are stopping motorists and pedestrians and handing out on-the-spot fines to anyone found without both, no exceptions. Local FB pages inundated with expats complaining they 'can't use the sunbeds on the beach' or complaining they've been fined for not carrying the correct documents.

Weirdest thing though is seeing how the locals have changed. They are passionate, loud people who usually greet each other with handshakes and kisses; I have never seen a nation so subdued. So strange too how a country of queue-refusers can suddenly comply with social distancing, will they go back to normal 'once all this is over'?

Waves at @elp30. I’m not too far from that football stadium if you’re talking about the school district one. Lying in a tent in the backyard in the rain

Such an interesting thread. I'm in London so can't add anything

Quebec here (Canada).

Kids have been out of school for a good 2 weeks. I've not been outside except to walk the dog in a local park for 2 weeks now either (I'm diabetic). I've found the Quebec govt has been really decisive in closing schools/restos/malls etc. I can't tell if people are being compliant because i haven't been out and about, but my OH tells me it's pretty calm in the part of Montreal where we are. It was weird being about 10 days ahead of the UK in things closing. When I spoke to friends in the UK I couldn't believe the certain things were still going on (schools, party etc)and then a couple of days later it would be clamped down on.

The thing I"m most happy about is that our school board has specifically said that it's a stressful time now so we are not going to get masses of schoolwork sent home. I'm WFH now and if I'd had to guide my kids through a curriculum I would struggle badly. I hear from many friends in the UK that they are drowning in schoolwork and it's causing massive stress because they don't know how to teach! My kids are instead just following math apps/language apps instead.

OH is working in a frontline job in healthcare, so that's a worry. but I'm happy we have a system like the NHS. It seems like Montreal is getting worse at the moment, which is a little frightening. I feel very far away from friends and family in Scotland.

San Francisco Bay Area — we were told to keep kids home from school if possible starting 13/3, schools in the region closed 16/3, “stay at home” directive issued by 6 counties in the region 17/3, followed by the entire state a few days later. School closure has been officially extended through 1/5 so far and stay at home order is expected to be officially extended next week. Many of the big tech companies that are major employers in the area (google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) started having the majority of their employees work from home even earlier than the official order though, starting as early as 10/3.

Shops (only grocers, pharmacies and the like are open) were hit hard early on, but are reasonably well stocked at this point. Still hard to find loo roll, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, flour, yeast, and frozen food. Apparently everyone is a baker now... Online food shop delivery slots are very hard to come by and less common in the US anyway. Lots of independent shops are doing delivery now though that had never done so before.

Everyone decided to become a tourist suddenly at the beginning of all of this and large numbers of people flocked to remote areas. I had been to one such area a couple of weekends before all of this and saw 3 people all day on our hike whereas the first weekend after the stay at home order had throngs of people matching peak season holiday weekend numbers. They’ve been closing progressively more Park areas as this has gone on. All of the big ones like Yosemite closed early on.

At first, people weren’t taking it so seriously, but people have come round for the most part. They had to take down basketball hoops at local parks because people wouldn’t stay away and there are still the occasional person taking down the barriers to the play areas at parks. Shops are limiting the number of people in at a time now though and people are generally giving space. There seems to be little enforcement though.

The statistics are showing the area faring a bit better than the New York area though even though the SF area had an early influx of cases (lots of travel to Asia due to demographics and the prominence of the tech companies In the area with manufacturing in Asia). I read that the early stay home orders are thought to have helped the slowing of the growth of cases. It’s nice to see that the efforts seem to have done some good. There is an uptick of cases though, so we will see how that holds. Testing still seems pretty limited, although increasing, similar to the rest of the US.

This is fascinating. In the UK, if you listen to the news you'd think only UK, USA, Italy and Spain have it. Obv we know that's not the case but that's all the news covers.

We still seem to be struggling as a nation with being told we can't do stuff, I think it's the whole "we got through the war, we beat Hilter" stuff, and the face that Boris doesn't carry any air of authoroty or a persona that suggests he has a clue.

@itstrue. A friend has just flown into NZ from Aus as her job is over for the season so she wanted to go home. She’s updating us, and talked about the stringent checking at the airport. She was sneezing from allergies so she got bundled off to 14 days quarantine in a hotel. Not allowed to leave the room, medically checked every day, 3 meals provided, no alcohol, care packages allowed to be sent to her and police patrolling to make sure they comply. She’s on day 2.

I'm in NYC. It's awful. We're on lockdown, but allowed out for essential trips, exercise and for dogwalking, but the city is silent and deserted. People seem to be taking social distancing very seriously though, which is good.

We don't have food shortages, although the supermarkets are pretty strict about not letting too many people in, so you have to queue 6 feet apart outside. I've managed to get Whole Foods and Prime Now delivery slots about a day in advance without too much trouble.

Also lots of ordering takeout and shopping online, there's been a pretty big push to support local business in the community, especially our restaurants. I'm actually really surprised it's so frowned upon on mumsnet.

We've been on WFH, whole also looking after 9 month old DS for 2 weeks now, it's a struggle. Loads of baby classes have now gone online, I've set up a weekly Zoom play date for his class at daycare and daycare are doing online circle time, yoga and music classes for them.

People are really scared though. There's a temp hospital 10 blocks from my house, morgues in tents springing up around the city and just a general feeling of dread.

@HerRoyalNotness - I am in NZ too and have just been reading about the quarantine in hotels - it is going to be a long 14 days for your friend I would think.

Large Midwest city (US). We had a "stay in place" order issued last week - only leave the house to go to certain stores (groceries, medicine, liquor!) or for exercise. Gyms, churches, etc were closed down in mid-March. Schools closed since March 16 and will be out until May 4 at least; I suspect we are done for the year. Our city just closed off the roads around the perimeter of local lakes so that pedestrians can continue to walk around them with appropriate social distancing.

People in my state are being very diligent; I am actually very heartened by it. I took my dog for a walk today (you can go for exercise) and the city was eerily quiet. I'm actually finding this to be quite a peaceful and spiritual time.

Oman here.
We are in the 3rd week of school closures, and all except essential shops are closed. Take-aways and food deliveries still going. Companies can have a max of 30% of staff working, but it's recommended that all non-essential staff WFH.
Food shops are fully loaded and there is no panic buying.
People are 'strongly advised' not to go out unless they are travelling to or from work or shopping/medical appointments, but there is no curfew (yet).
I think generally people are very pleased by the way the authorities have handled the situation (ports and airports are pretty much closed except for cargo; only Omani nationals are allowed in, and they face a mandatory 14 day institutional quarantine). There are very public displays of action such as pics of airforce cargo planes bringing back loads of medical supplies direct from the manufacturers in China and the army out disinfecting the streets.

The infection rate is not rising exponentially (yet!) so I think early action has done its job and 'smoothed' the curve; although I am sure we will see bigger jumps.
I worry for the country's recovery afterwards though with the low oil price; plus how the lower-waged workers here will cope when wages dry up.

@elp30 @herroyalnotness I'm in the same city as you both - in a neighboring county. I just got back from NYC and have been self quarantining- tomorrow will be 13days. I haven't been outside at all and I think I'm going a little bit loopy.

central british columbia, canada. a city of about 100,000. we have 77 confirmed cases. but it's in the community and new cases are not related to international travel.
my dh and i are retired in our 60's with no children living at home or nearby.
it's obvious school is out as you see the children outside playing on their own or with siblings. i've really enjoyed seeing all the sidewalks chalked up and lovely encouraging messages (chalk the block). there is a rotation of items to hang in the windows and walking throughout the neighborhood we spot a variety of rainbows, shamrocks, hearts etc. kids shooting hoops at various times observing the social distancing concept (playgrounds cordoned off limits).
the men spend their mornings washing their vehicles/power washing the driveways and sweeping up the gravel the city puts down over the winter. lots of yard work happening.
i've seen the women sitting on folding chairs chatting (loudly) to one another from their driveways.
i walk 7km a day around my home and see and wave to my neighbors but have yet to come within 2 meters of anyone. lots of physical space available in this area. and as mentioned traffic way down.
despite all the reports, my timing of shopping was such that i have not experience the dreaded lack of items. i'm a huge costco fan and have a well filled pantry year round. as do all my friends and canadian family.
face to face businesses (hairdresser/massage therapist etc) are closed. restaurants are take out only.
at this point we have no challenges with the restrictions and it has not impacted our day to day life much.
we've not met up with our kids or grandkids but only see them 3-6 times a year anyway (my daughter is in the uk and i visited in february). my mom in quebec has stricter recommendations and is suppose to say home, my brother has been shopping for her.

Another one in NZ. We have been told to stay in our 'bubbles' - your immediate household and pets. Bubble has a radius of 2m. You don't pop your bubble, or anyone else's. So whoever you were with last Wednesday night, when our lockdown started, you stick with for the next 4 weeks.

We can go out to exercise on foot only, with dogs on leads, and no patting of other people's dogs - no driving to a beach or similar. LostDog not impressed.

Everything is shut apart from supermarkets, pharmacies & corner shops. Work from home or don't work at all.

No shortages at the supermarket. Hotlines have been set up to report price gouging (send in a photo of your receipt) and gatherings. NO gatherings - you can only spend time with people in your bubble.

IMO the communications from the govt have been clear and comprehensible. Jacinda Adern has been running Facebook live chat in the evenings to check in and answer questions. Fantastic. The comms from the govt have been regular and clear, and all households now have a poster covering different alert levels (1-4; we're now in 4).

School hols have been moved and are now underway... trying to find ways to keep DD(10) occupied inside is going to be fun

What are the financial help packages in your country? Is the help made available to everyone or limited and in various packages like the UK?

I am in Australia. I am concerned a lot of people are not taking thing seriously enough. No lockdown as yet, just social distancing. Lots of people still "pottering" around the shops and going out for non essentials.

Pubs and restaurants are closed except for take away. As of tomorrow night they are closing playgrounds, skate parks etc. Gyms are also closed but lots of shops that I would consider non essential like Kmart, local newsagents, clothing and home improvement stores are still open.

In my state even schools are still open until the regular holidays in 2 weeks time. Although the government has said keep your kids home if possible, I work in school bus services and we still have quite a few kids on our buses and not just ones who's parents are working.

It is still hard to get toilet paper and other essentials even though supermarkets are now putting limits on lots of goods. Anyone who flies in from overseas now has to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel. People are complaining about that despite being put up in 5 star hotels

Hong Kong, 9 weeks of social distancing and school closures but not lock down yet. Up to 2 weeks ago everything looked like we were getting back to normal but then US and Europe started to get bad so many people returned to HK (students, families that left when China was bad, mainland Chinese who wanted to leave China). We were seen as a safe haven, and now we're hitting a second spike with so many more cases than before. It's really sad.

Life is 'slowed down' people stay very close to home, everyone wears masks (it's socially unacceptable to not wear one and whether they are effective or not in fact it helps remind you continually to be more careful, keep distances, sanitise hands etc)

loubieloo4
In the US, there was a stimulus package passed last week through Congress. Many households will receive a cheque of $1200 it looks like in a few weeks, but there are income caps on that. Otherwise, people are basically screwed. Some specific cities has put in place a moratorium on evictions, but rent and mortgages will still need to be paid in arrears. Utility companies and mortgage lenders and the like are asking customers that have trouble paying to contact them and that they'll work something out, but this is on the individual company level. Annual tax filings and any necessary payments are typically due on 15/4, but this has been pushed back to 15/7.

There is a great deal of concern about what is going to happen next week as many people's health insurance is tied to the employer. Generally your insurance benefits are good through the end of the month in which your termination took place. That means that there will be a whole lot of people who were laid off in March that will have their insurance benefits terminated on 1/4. You have the option of extending your coverage after your termination by paying 100% of the policy charges yourself, but this is often an astronomical amount of money that is unaffordable to someone who just lost their job. I saw today that at least two of the major health insurance companies have said that they will not charge for coronavirus-related treatment. But, that doesn't help if you break your leg or something with no insurance. My state has extended the enrollment for the "Obamacare" state-sponsored insurance plans, but these are often still rather expensive and often don't have great benefits.

A number of larger companies have said that they will continue to pay people even if they cannot work, but that will only be able to hold out for so long.

Basically, lots of people are going to be completely screwed here, mostly lower income, non-white collar workers who don't have the luxury to wfh.

@HerRoyalNotness - everyone entering NZ for the last two weeks have had to self-isolate for 14 days, and the borders are closed to all but NZ citizens and permanent residents. Anyone arriving now with no firm plans has to go into organised quarantine.

Agree with @LostInTheColonies - the government have been great at updating us and answering questions.

Lots of testing being done, and lots of money being pumped into the economy

In NZ too - I don’t agree the communication has been clear but obviously it’s been a huge undertaking at short notice so some confusion is to be expected. And I have not even heard of this poster? We certainly don’t have one.

I’m not sure where you are Lost - but there are absolutely shortages in Auckland. No toilet paper, ( This remains incomprehensible to me 😆) no flour, cleaning products, sanitiser etc all out of stock. Canned goods, ready made sauce type things, bread incredibly hard to come by. Many items are limited (can only purchase a couple if it is in stock). Queues Are getting longer outside of supermarkets which are limiting how many people are allowed inside and getting an online grocery delivery slot is hard and only half comes.

A huge area near me has been filled with campervans and set up for quarantining purposes and a hotel is nearby which has people quarantined in it - some have been leaving and walking to the nearby Countdown supermarket to buy food which has caused issues.

Dairy’s and supermarkets are really the only things open, no takeaways, no cafes, no fast food places, no shops, no playgrounds, no driving anywhere, online shopping (except supermarkets) is stopped but the sun is shining here and with few cars on the road it’s nice listening to children laughing as they go for a cycle around the block as their exercise.

@yourethecomebackkid - I got the poster, it was delivered to our mailboxes.

Not sunny here, raining most of the day and has been cloudy since Friday - but I know the sun will return. I'm in a town in Canterbury, one supermarket had a queue on Saturday, but I've not noticed any at the one near me. Some goods not available, but there are substitutes.

I'm in mid Norway, entering our third week of lockdown.
Our schools, kindergartens, universities closed just over 2 weeks ago. Gyms and cinemas too. Hairdressers and quite a few shops and restaurants. No buffet style food is allowed including supermarket salads and pick a mix sweets.Also municipality owned sports facilities. Our ice hockey season finished early and all other sports are on hold indefinitely.
My Norwegian is "intermediate" but I'm reading that a lot of athletes like footballers, skiers etc are having their contracts reduced by 80%
We don't really have many restrictions on being outside, we're encouraged to take exercise outside, but to observe social distancing. Most people are doing that, which is probably why our restrictions haven't been made stricter. Cabin life is a huge part of the culture here, especially at Easter. We have a cabin ban, so you cannot travel to your cabin if it's in a different municipality. This is to protect the smaller communities. There's a group lobbying the government to overturn this.
We had one day of panic buying which was the Thursday afternoon when they announced the shutdown. Since then everything has been very quiet. The food shop we go to has gloves for everyone at the entrance, tape on the floor for distancing and no cash is accepted. We can mostly buy what we need, but there is a limit to 3 of the same thing e.g. 3 bottles of milk. There's an obvious supply chain issue as the shops aren't as well stocked as they were, but it's not something that I'm worried about as it seems that maybe it's just slower than usual.
Our doctors now hold consultations via Skype or telephone if at all possible and dentists are emergency only.
Our government holds a press conference daily and has them especially for kids too. We have quite a conservative government here, I haven't agreed with many of their policies, but with this they have been excellent. They acted fast and efficiently without promoting panic. They highlighted the seriousness of the situation and it seems that everyone has mostly listened. I've felt very reassured. We are locked down until 14th April to be reviewed on the 8th April.
The home school has been great, my son is in y2, we've had great lessons online and not too much pressure. I'm a teacher at a different school and management are nothing but supportive of staff.
It's going ok here, but I'll be honest, when our borders closed and the airports closed I did feel trapped for a while. Mostly because my mum lives in England, she's in her 70s and I worry that if she catches it I can't get to her. That plays on my mind, so I try to keep positive.

My mum is in ChCh @eaglejulesk and she has said her local supermarket is pretty well stocked too. They certainly aren’t in Auckland (at least the ones near me) but it’s more at ‘it’s a pain’ level not critical level.
There are no signs of the poster being delivered in this neighbourhood - hopefully it gets here.
Take care and I hope this time goes as well as it can for you and those around you.

Also in Cyprus. WFH, husband not working as he has a job on tourism.

I had to leave the house yesterday for work, this was me on the highway.

I'm in the greater Wellington region, NZ and we have shortages here too. Especially flour and other baking goods. Everything else is looking a little sparse! But the media is saying that the people of NZ are buying enough food for 7 million people a day (there are about 4.7 million of us). My neighbourhood store tells me that goods are coming it's just they distribution channels can't keep up.

The economic package is ok I think. But if it lasts longer than 4 weeks I think things are going to start to fall over.

Every worker is eligible for a $575 a week payment from the government with businesses encouraged to top up to 80% if possible.

The unemployment benefit has been increased but I'm not sure by how much.

Rules on mortgage holidays to be relaxed so pretty much everyone is eligible for a 6 month mortgage holiday.

If you are renting you are not allowed to be evicted during the lockdown period except in exceptional circumstances and non payment of rent has to reach 60 days (normally it's 21).

I'm not a business owner so I'm not sure if the details but I believe stuff is being done here to help them recover.

NZ here too (I’m in Wellington). My bubble extends to my ex and his wife and child as well as my daughter, so we can still share custody. So I can’t see my boyfriend for the foreseeable future.

For now, I’m working from home. So far, not sure how long it will last job wise. Hopefully, government supports will remain in place.

I’m a T1 diabetic so no even visiting the supermarket for me. My brother is collecting for my parents and I from the supermarket.

But, my daughter is good at occupying herself (a perk of an only child) and her school were super organised with activities. She is doing ballet and drama through zoom.

I think the PM and of course Dr Ashley Bloomfield are doing a good job. This is completely untested territory so there are always going to be some things that don’t go well. I’m glad we locked down when we did. Despite the pain.