Life IS back to normal... not here but in Germany

[AvenueQ]

Last weekend my 77 year old mum in Germany travelled 400 miles by train to visit her 81 year old sister and her husband. Stayed at their house for four days. While there went to cafes, shops, church. Met my cousin and family. Went for dinner at my aunt's friend's house.
Same weekend my niece in Germany went for a sleepover at her friend's. Another adult friend in Germany went on a weekend break with his family, stayed in holiday apartment.
Meanwhile infection numbers still low.
This might all blow up - or give us lots of hope!!

.

It messes with my brain how much the reality here is different!

A family members dc are in Germany just now as they split time between there and the UK as their dad lives there. They don’t want to come home as life is so much better for them over there just now.

We were planning to visit relatives in August. I'm not worried about going to Germany - was actually quite looking forward to sampling a bit of normal life! - but now the government have come up with their hate-brained quarantine scheme... yes let me isolate for 14 days because I've been to a less infected country...

*harebrained not hate brained obvs!

Same! I want to go to Germany like I do every summer but not if I have to lock myself away for two weeks!

We could have been in the same situation in the UK if Johnson's government had handled the crisis as well as Angela Merkel's government has.

Sadly, it did not, so we effectively wasted our lockdown as case numbers are still as high as when we entered lockdown.

Wish I lived in Germany, with capable, honest leaders and well funded healthcare!

Case numbers are the same here as they were in Germany when lockdown was eased significantly

Yes. A friend in Frankfurt said that the bars are open and most young people are not staying at a 1.5 m distance. No spike yet. It gives you hope for the future.

Whilst it’s frustrating we aren’t there yet and yes we could have got there more quickly if we had a competent government, this gives me hope.

And all the reports from Spain too. I’m going to take it as a positive. Especially as my WhatsApp school group are sharing horror stories about no school until November.

@AvenueQ

Case numbers are the same here as they were in Germany when lockdown was eased significantly

That is completely untrue.

Why are you making this up, AvenueQ?

Does anyone have the stats that compare the UK and Germany to hand?

@Staysafer why completely untrue?
Significant easing of lockdown in Germany when about 1500 to 2000 new cases a day. Similar numbers to what we have here in uk now.

More total cases however

Apparently everything normal in Switzerland too, but only Swiss nationals allowed in bars etc.

We could ease things a lot more but the Tory haters would be up in arms. It'll be interesting to see how Germany does and hopefully we follow

It's moving from total lockdown to local lockdown.

I have family in Switzerland and so jealous of them going out for drinks/ pizza etc! My sister turned 40 last week and was able to have a small gathering in her house.

They are still legally obliged to wear face coverings in lots of settings - not normal.

Bundesliga is playing without live fans - not normal.

Mass gatherings are still banned - this is the new normal.

Are universities open with students allowed to sit in lectures at normal density?

i can only speak for Berlin:
DD's uni course was switched to a complete online version and still is, but the reading rooms in libraries are opening again. She had to rush in today to hand some books back.

Yes, life is almost back to normal here in Switzerland. Still with the 2m distancing - but bars and restaurants are open, cinemas are opening on Saturday. The tables should be 2m apart, no standing in bars or restaurants, and they ask you to leave a contact name per table (not compulsory). Masks are recommended but not required (and I'd say less than 5% of people are wearing them).

We've just had a long weekend and I went to the Alps for a couple of nights - the cable cars were closed (they re-open this Saturday) but lots of people were out and about. We were the hotels first guests since the lockdown and they were really friendly and happy to be open again.

The schools have been back since May 11th, the measures in schools differs between cantons, but in mine - they are back to business as usual - full days, full classes. No distancing required for the children (the schools open are up to age 14) - but they should keep 2m from the teachers, or the teachers should wear a mask. There was a lot of debate about that prior to them opening, but so far there have been no increase in cases - in fact it's continued to go down nationally and there've been no new cases at all in my canton for over a week.
The next big test will be the re-opening of borders with France, Germany and Austria on June 15th. But so far things are going very well. I am still working from home, but it's so nice to be able to meet people for a meal after work or go to a museum. It's not quite normal, but after so many weeks of seeing nobody in person and going nowhere but the supermarket, it feels like a new world.

uni course was switched to a complete online version and still is
Not normal -- how does that work for nursing or applied biology I wonder.

The tables should be 2m apart
Not normal

no standing in bars or restaurants,
Not normal

should keep 2m from the teachers, or the teachers should wear a mask
Not normal

Or maybe it is all the future normal. I wonder when I'll get used to it.

AvenueQ, you are making those stats up.

Provide a link to this.

I am not clear why you are repeating fake stats?

That’s good news about the schools in Switzerland being open since 11th May with no social distancing between kids, full classes etc. I remember they also allowed bubbles of 10 children to play together but the adults had to social distance and this was back in March/April. I wonder if we’ll get some more conclusive research about the risk of children in the spread of this virus out of this.

Yes I live in Germany and pretty much everything is getting back to normal - except everyone wears a mask on public transport and in the supermarkets etc.
I have just turned down a job in the U.K. because I wouldn't feel safe being there at the moment. I feel the U.K. handled the entire situation so poorly.