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?

@TheSunIsStillShining yes you can still qualify assuming your dividends allow you to live above the threshold!

For a couple the threshold is US$180k so assuming you clear that, you'll qualify! You'd have to show supporting documents, bank statements to prove independent living etc.

How can people be bitter and resentful about New Zealand's situation? What is wrong with people? It's brilliant that New Zealanders are no longer catching Covid and dying from it.

I assist my family members entry into NZ last week. It is bloody difficult to get in and they live there!! To get into NZ you need to prebook into a isolation facility. Right now there are no free bookings for weeks. No booking no entry. You can exercise with guards watching you. Once you then finish 14 days isolation you then live life as if normal. Weird times.

We are in the Cayman Islands and similarly to NZ have a very normal life. We had a very hard lockdown initially but the hard work of the country paid off as now no masks and no social distancing. Mandatory 14 day isolation for persons entering the country. Our tourism industry has been hit but internally we can all function normally. If our borders opened our freedoms would be jeopardized.

Eastern Canada here.

Schools still open (thank god). Malls are still open - restaurants etc only open for takeaway. Not supposed to have people into your homes, so people are meeting in parks, etc.

Skiing has been given the go ahead for this season, big relief.

People are following the rules, distancing, hand washing etc.

Because of all this, there's been a MASSIVE increase in buying local, environmentalism and local travel. The provincial parks network has announced that camping /chalet /fishing reservations for summer 2021 can be made as of next week. Which is about 4 months earlier than normal to meet demand.

FIL has a small cottage he rents and its already booked for next summer.

So covid has had a lot of knock on effects. Not all of which are bad

Other side of Canada
Schools open but online is an option. Universities online. I’ve been wfh since March and will be until at least January (PSI). Everything open again (gyms, pools, shops, restaurants, pubs) but mask wearing in public and distancing in place. And yes our ski hills are open 🎉
Numbers are (contextually) very bad currently but provincial government doesn’t seem to want to mandate a lockdown.
Tbf though, I live in tourism central and employment has been decimated locally.
People who were laid off months ago are now not job hunting because of the risks involved, and there are now rumours that a good chunk of those who have been working throughout will receive wage cuts. Oh and there are more planned lay offs in the health sector. Yes, during a pandemic.
It’s pretty (I have snow on the roof and the sky is blue) but economically we’re screwed. And the university students are screwed too.
I’m basically a hermit and have established a weekly grocery delivery for veg and meat (hilariously, this was not possible before Covid, because online grocery orders did not exist here) and also two bakeries are offering delivery too. The chocolatier delivers. And I can get local distillery botanical gin and fancy beer delivered with my veg...
I’m supporting local businesses by staying home. 😊

Don't know if this has been brought up in the thread but if you compare Northern Ireland with Ireland the difference in deaths and cases per population is remarkable. And the counties beside the border such as Donegal have the highest rates in Ireland! There was talk of them taking some of our ICU beds as its so bad up there. They even shut the schools for an extra week but it doesn't seem to have made much difference yet. They really need to stop squabbling and fight the virus together.

London's population density, at 5,701 people per square kilometre,

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2019

Based on a total site area of 12,368.2sq km, the current population density of the Greater Sydney area is 430 persons per square kilometre which includes a number of surrounding national parks. The built urban area is estimated at 4,196sq km which translates to a density of 1,171 persons per square kilometre.

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/guides/city-at-a-glance

A big difference in density between the two cities. When I was in Oz some years ago it felt so spacious compared to London.

A big difference in density between the two cities. When I was in Oz some years ago it felt so spacious compared to London

I agree, anxiiusone, I think that what happens is that when the eastern cities are said to be densely populated, is that's only compared to the empty inner mass of land. And yes, you can feel it when you're there. I've lived in London and Melbourne and see exactly what you're saying.

The only time I've felt London-ish about crowded places was on Brunswick Street in Melbourne on a busy weekend, and that was to do with the narrow 19thC pavements, which pushed pedestrians closer so I was side-stepping people.

In Australia near the NSW/Qld border.

Have been wfh since March but we can go back into the office when we want. I work for a uni and we’ve had a lot of staff take voluntary redundancies and soon there will be forced ones. My partner’s workplace was also affected and he’s been mainly working 3-4 days instead of 5, since late April. Fortunately we’re ok financially and our teens have all managed to pick up lots of extra work in retail and hospitality fairly easily.

Socially restaurants, pubs, sporting events all open but with social distancing regulations in place. Major festivals and music events near me aren’t going ahead this year but Sydney has just announced a massive Sydney festival will be on early January. Things like local markets have been back in a few months too.

So everyday life is sort of like last year, and sort of not. While I’m really pleased Australia shut its borders fairly quickly and I think our state premiers have been strong leaders (not the PM, he’s an idiot), I’m looking forward to border bubbles with NZ, pacific islands, Korea or Japan. I miss the world.

Just listening re strong rebound in third quarter in U.K. huge surge in July. Up 15% We’ll probably decline again of course with lockdown but after first quarter next year hopefully rebound strongly again.

Re Melbourne etc I studied there (know Brunswick St well) and one difference to London is mass transport. There are trams but it’s easier to drive around in Melbourne.

There’s loads of differences between London and Melbourne, the two just don’t compare.

True. One theme that keeps coming up is other people complied more or tried harder. It’s not true. We may have fatigue now but in U.K. we got numbers down from a very high start point. A huge reduction.

It's daft to squabble.
In the UK we were slow to lockdown, have more overweight people (probably) and probably an older population. Perth is hours by air from the east coast of Australia. The midlands/north has a large population with cities close by car,. And a creaking NHS. We also have smaller houses closer together overall. Haven't closed airports.
It would be miraculous if we were doing better than other places!

One thing that covid has made me realise is what a tiny, crowded island we live on.

It may have been elsewhere but the point about food delivery via lorries is a good one. We’re an island but do have access this way by road and small individual carriers.

.....can I add -
A government working towards the end of a major constitutional change (for 4 years where everything else was ignored)
And a PM whose new partner was about to have her first baby.
And a country coming to the end of ?10 years of austerity.

@MarshaBradyo

True. One theme that keeps coming up is other people complied more or tried harder. It’s not true. We may have fatigue now but in U.K. we got numbers down from a very high start point. A huge reduction.

I agree. I think compliance was brilliant in the first lockdown. I still think it’s pretty good now but people are weary. Maybe people in other countries that have it under control would not be weary and would comply as well 9 months in, but I suspect the Aussies and Kiwis would be sick of it by now too. The British government has a lot to answer for but I’m sick of the pesky disobedient brits have only themselves to blame narrative.

Pretty good. In Australia. Life's pretty normal apart from social distancing and hand sanitiser everywhere. Weather's warming up and looking like a mostly normal Christmas. Benefited financial from COVID so can't complain all round really.

I'm in London and I can't agree that lack of compliance from individuals is the cause for rising cases.

In the spring, the public was by and large wanting more industries and sectors to be shut down- construction work was a huge issue.

There was also puzzlement and disbelief that the UK wasn't following the WHO's advice to 'test, test, test', enforcing compulsory mask wearing in shops etc, and implementing border controls and quarantine.

They were central govt decisions - it wasn't that good decision were made and people refused to obey they. It's that bad decisions were made and most people complied, but individual compliance was never going to be enough to prevent all spread.

Presumably we didn't have the test kits to test.
Nor the PPE to protect.
We were too late.
Probably those countries that had had SARS were first to the counter to order those, and we weren't like Germany and making our own tests.

From the eastern end of Germany, in Dresden - there were very, very few cases during the last wave, so people have become sceptical, with big mask-free protests in Leipzig and people marching here in Dresden, too. Many are the same people who previously marched against the supposed surge of Islam, and now have QAnon conspiracy ideas to occupy them. Others are simply angry that the arts and entertainment sector has still not received proper financial support.

This wave, there are more cases, but the health system is not overwhelmed. The R number is below 1 again and numbers are expected to fall. Christmas is still expected to be cancelled - though here in Dresden, they still haven't cancelled the market! The market is a really big local source of pride and they're probably too scared that there'd be riots!

Re the vaccine, it has been arranged so that the EU will share shots among the countries proportionately, based on the population, so that each country gets a fair share. That means Germany getting fewer than it expected, for instance. Seems a bit different to the UK's attitude of "Phew, glad we ordered from Pfizer as that means we'll get shots before other countries".

There's the same discussion as in the UK about who should get the shots in what order.

I agree with Christina. In my part of London, people have been not only compliant but were ahead on mask wearing. On the whole they've community minded, responsible and thoughtful. For example, when cases dropped, the local online COVID group turned to helping the food bank instead. Local businesses have been great too, despite being hit by a second lockdown. It feels like we're trudging now but there's lots to be proud of.

I am UK North East and I would love to be able to say the rule following here is going great but its not.

My DD'S class bubble got closed because of close contact from a another student catching it and the amount of mothers and children from her class I seen visiting family members playing with other kids out in the street was unreal, considering the rule was they were not allowed to leave the house at all apart from your own garden/yard and for the child not to enter any public places.

Also the school had a hand in knowing when the bubble reopened a couple of the kids were leaving school and going to a covid positive house (not their own household address) after school (the school can see this house from the gates and staff watched this) and letting them back into the school and class room the day after. I did contact the school about it as I normally take the stance of they will be sorry when they catch it and let people make their own choices but obviously my child is in that classroom so I had to speak to the school.

'Seems a bit different to the UK's attitude of "Phew, glad we ordered from Pfizer as that means we'll get shots before other countries".'

Or maybe literally NOBODY here has that attitude and instead we are thinking 'Thank god, it looks as if the vulnerable and elderly will soon be saved from the risk of early death/a life of isolated misery?'