What's life like in other countries at the moment?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

I seem to recall tales of Lockdown in France, Spain, Italy and even Sweden taking up a lot of news columns in the spring.

But there seems to be very little now. Obviously there's a lot to fill the papers with currently, so maybe that's the reason?

If you're not in The UK, how's life for you?

That’s to @LangClegsInSpace

Ireland got pretty bad for a while but is thankfully improving. My local hospital has a very high number of cases so that's quite scary

Yes it's a fantastic thing that people are volunteering for trials and of course every participant's bravery and altruism must be acknowledged.

It's not just NZ that is relying on volunteers in other countries though, it's all of us. For example, we've got plenty of community transmission in the UK but nobody here was a volunteer for the Pfizer/BioNTec vaccine trials. If / when that vaccine is rolled out around the world, we can thank the thousands of volunteers from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, South Africa, Turkey and the United States.

And it's not just suitable volunteers for trials - there is so much else that goes into R&D, manufacture and distribution.

You said NZ gambled on a timely vaccine which it couldn’t produce alone.

My frustration is because no country could produce the vaccine alone, certainly not at the timescale that we have seen. It's a gamble for all of us which is why it makes sense that most countries in the world have come together to collaborate, share resources and spread the risk by collectively investing in a whole portfolio of promising vaccines.

I just don't see why NZ (or any other country) should be singled out when it has been such an amazing global collaborative effort. I don't think it's helpful.

Of course @TheSunIsStillShining

www.visitcaymanislands.com/en-us/global-citizen-concierge

I've lived here 13 years and don't plan on leaving anytime soon!!! 😂

@ShanghaiDiva

China virtually back to normal, although borders still closed to international travellers and govt has suspended entry of uk citizens.

Hi - I remember you posting in the early days. Glad things are back to normal for you

@Tadpolesandfroglets

I think what NZ has done is amazing and well done to them but part of the reason they have managed it so well is low population density and closing down their borders. I do wonder what the long term economic consequences of this is though? That doesn’t mean I am not happy for them or wishing them ill will. England is a shit show.

South Korea, with its population of 51m has done amazingly well. As has Vietnam (92m)

PP asked about the mental health repurcussions in children doing zoom school

Initially it was awful, my DD is very social and got incredibly lonely but they’ve been doing it for 12 weeks now, are fully expecting most of the school year will look like this and are just getting on with it - it’s the new normal. We do manage the loneliness with outdoor masked play dates to help.

I’m more worried about the quality of education to be honest. They both seem ok (I have 9&12yr olds) but I feel like this may well put them behind

@BloomShine

COVID 19 is seasonal like any other virus. It peaked in Aus in their winter (July) when we had low levels as it was our summer. Nothing to do with how people behaved. Without a vaccine it will peak again seasonally.

My under standing is that Covid I’m is not yet a seasonal disease (like flu) but that herd immunity has been achieved (through vaccination), it may become seasonal

US West Coast
Pretty much the same since April. Everyone who can is working from home, schools are not open and are doing online remote learning from home instead, some things are open like hairdressers, nail salons but with limited capacity. Restaurants at limited capacity and indoor dining is spaced out and should only be seated with your household, although I think in reality this doesn’t happen.

@Strokethefurrywall

Of course *@TheSunIsStillShining*

www.visitcaymanislands.com/en-us/global-citizen-concierge

I've lived here 13 years and don't plan on leaving anytime soon!!! 😂

Don't want to derail this thread, but one more thing: could you give me a link to a local real estate agency that you think is good? TIA

TheSun have a nice time

What a great scheme

@MonsterKidz

US West Coast Pretty much the same since April. Everyone who can is working from home, schools are not open and are doing online remote learning from home instead, some things are open like hairdressers, nail salons but with limited capacity. Restaurants at limited capacity and indoor dining is spaced out and should only be seated with your household, although I think in reality this doesn’t happen.

Monster has there been any preliminary talk of vaccine? When and who

Shanghai same - have you started programme in China? How’s it going

@LangClegsInSpace

I’m not singling NZ out for negativity. You said earlier in the thread people are willing them to fail, whereas I praised their response and said I was very jealous of people there so I’m not sure why you got defensive (and accused me of needing to read up on things, as though my perceived ignorance of covax is “frustrating”).

I spoke about NZ because people on this thread have been, at length. None of what I said about NZ and the vaccine is untrue, and nothing that I said about NZ is negative.

Another person in the UAE (Dubai)

Life feels relatively normal - my 4 year has been back at school full time since September, we go to the beach, to soft play, out for dinner etc - we just have to wear masks and have temperature checks at the entrance. I’m still WFH but a lot of my organisation are back in the office.

IMO, the main differences here are:

• People are much more compliant. When a new rule is announced, you follow it. For example, when they enforced a brief curfew earlier in the year, any cars on the road after a certain time were automatically ‘caught’ by speed cameras and a lot

of fines were given out.

• As the vast majority of the healthcare system here is private, supply far outweighs demand. They did build a couple of field hospitals but I don’t think there were ever any real concerns about the system getting overloaded.
• Testing has been prolific from very early on. There’s a drive through test centre five minutes down the road from me and I can get tested 24/7 and receive my results in around 12 hours.

I do feel lucky in some respects, especially when I talk to family in the Uk but it has been really shit not being able to travel (it hasn’t really been feasible by the time you factor self-isolation time etc) Am praying we make it to London for Christmas, otherwise kids won’t have seen their grandparents for over a year.

Sinopharm announced that 100k people have been vaccinated and no adverse effects reported. Trials of this vaccine are also taking place in UAE, Egypt and Peru.
Sinopharm chairman said he was vaccinated back in March.

@ShanghaiDiva

Sinopharm announced that 100k people have been vaccinated and no adverse effects reported. Trials of this vaccine are also taking place in UAE, Egypt and Peru. Sinopharm chairman said he was vaccinated back in March.

Thanks. Is it the same as here where you unblind trial at certain point?

Sorry if this has been done, but I'm in Madrid.

People going to work, kids going to school, eateries open but shutting at 11pm or midnight. You aren't supposed to leave your municipality. There are very vocal protests against this current 'lockdown' but I don't see how you can call it that when you can leave your house freely, exercise etc but just within certain boundaries. Still, cases are going up and up and up. There is zero appetite to close schools again.

Everyone wears masks the moment they step out of the door. There isn't the social distancing that seems to be prevalent in the UK in supermarkets etc. But generally people are aware. It feels like life as usual really, except everyone is wearing a mask.

Marsha
I don’t know any more details, just the highlights from the sinopharm conference last week.

@Aridane yes, as I said upstream, there are many factors involved but density must play a large part. Countries that have been ‘success’ stories in dealing with Covid that you mentioned are all ones that have previously dealt with similar epidemics, such as SARS or Mers and set in motion a thorough track and trace system from the onset, applying what they already learnt. They were proactive and already had systems in place for this kind of eventuality. So the high density was not such a huge factor as their aggressive track and trace early doors kicked in. There are lots of factors involved as to why some countries are handling the situation better than others, leadership and fast action being one of them. U.K. was complacent and fiddled while Rome burned so to speak. However the bottom line is a virus is spread more easily in high density areas, NZ had the gift of space, small population and good, decisive leadership. They have done well and long may it last but the sadly will be damaged in other financial ways (as we all will be of course).

@Malin52 it wasn’t supposed to be a competition! You said your economy is fine, but this is just not true. NZ economy is suffering just like others. however you want to spin it. I know our economy is shot to
Pieces but we also have Brexit to contend with. How iN Z will deal with borders opening up is another worry....

@MarshaBradyo thanks :) I mentioned it in passing to DH and he didn't freak out, which is a much better reaction than I could ever hope for. Our tenancy agreement runs out in early feb, so i have a few weeks to talk him into it :)

West Africa here. Reported cases are low - a few hundred a day but I do know people here who have had Covid - many with mild symptoms. Many more people have malaria (100k deaths a year from that). Schools and unis have only just gone back and sports restarted. Many people stopped following the rules on large gatherings e.g. weddings, mosques and churches a few months ago. For the average person Mask wearing - common (and required for small kids in school too) but often with nose or mouth exposed - primarily cos it's so hot! We feel quite fortunate that our kids can socialise with others sensibly (we are not doing large gatherings and meet friends mostly outside) given the situation in the UK.

with the greatest respect NZ is apparently in one of the worst economic slump on record so no, economy is not 'doing fine'.

It's doing pretty fine compared to many other countries. Also the economy was in a reasonably good shape pre covid, certainly better than some other countries. It's all relative isn't it - "one of the worst economic slumps on record" doesn't mean a lot when there haven't been many and they haven't been that bad.

@TheSunIsStillShining at this point I would refer you to www.ecaytrade.com which is where most folk (and realtors) advertise everything for sale/rent.

The best idea is to think of the first questions you want answered (where to live based on budget etc/ cost of living /island activities etc).

Feel free to pm me with any questions!

[quote Strokethefurrywall]@TheSunIsStillShining at this point I would refer you to www.ecaytrade.com which is where most folk (and realtors) advertise everything for sale/rent.

The best idea is to think of the first questions you want answered (where to live based on budget etc/ cost of living /island activities etc).

Feel free to pm me with any questions![/quote]
I might take you up on that in a few weeks if I soften DH enough :) Until then I just keep on dreaming... I'm not even sure if we fit the criteria with not having "proper" employers, but our own company....