How are different parts of the world so different?!

[JC17fj74]

How are we all dealing with Covid so differently right now?
So far I've seen friends in Australia enjoying the 'normal' things in life such a beach days, meals out and drinks and cocktails in bars. Friends in America dining out in restaurants etc
And here we are in full shitty lockdown with no end date in sight.
Why are we so different over her?!
It's like the rest of the world has started to get back to normal and we are stuck in this nightmare 😫

We are doing badly even compared to the EU countries.
My sister lives in Melbourne, Australia. They had a very long lockdown but realise how lucky they’ve been compared to the UK and the dreadful mismanagement we’ve had of the pandemic here. This deadly shambles is all on Boris Johnson and his cabinet.

@AethelsWhiteGoose - I don't agree with you. Boris and Co. are doing the very best they can in an unprecedented situation. Do you expect them to get everything right? I would place most of the blame on the stupid, stupid people who will NOT stick to the rules and put everyone else in danger.

We are very lucky in Aus but it is still having an impact. We have internal border issues that are causing strife as they change quickly leaving people stuck in the wrong state unable to get home.
Also DH and I have been wfh since March. It has become our new normal and we don't seem to have the same push to get back to the office that I've seen in other countries.
We have restrictions but they seem to be more logical than some in other countries so maybe more effective overall.
I think one other thing we did really well was scaling up the testing early. Over here if you have a sniffle or feel a bit off you're encouraged to get tested. If my dd wakes with a sniffle at 6am, I can book her in online for an 8am test down the road. Results back around 7pmish that night so can be back at daycare the next day if she's well in herself.

[quote MagicSummer]@AethelsWhiteGoose - I don't agree with you. Boris and Co. are doing the very best they can in an unprecedented situation. Do you expect them to get everything right? I would place most of the blame on the stupid, stupid people who will NOT stick to the rules and put everyone else in danger.[/quote]
I don’t expect them to get everything right.
Getting one thing right would, however, be a start.

@GintyMcGinty

Summer there and winter in Europe.

Winter in China, Japan, HK, Taiwan, Korea .. And they are all faring better than us.

I think in some ways that Australia and New Zealand , while they have of course, acted in a more decisive and harsher manner, had fortune on their side that covid was not already circulating there in February/ March. They closed borders when it was declared a pandemic, not months before.

@Fizbosshoes

I think in some ways that Australia and New Zealand , while they have of course, acted in a more decisive and harsher manner, had fortune on their side that covid was not already circulating there in February/ March. They closed borders when it was declared a pandemic, not months before.

Australia had covid cases in January. I was in Western Australia on 28th January and all airport staff were already wearing masks.

Scott Morrison declared it a pandemic in Australia about two weeks ahead of WHO

@GetOffYourHighHorse - be very careful with that statement. Devolved administrations do not get to do everything their own way as not everything is devolved. They are still at the behest of the Westminster government for many key issues.

‘Boris and Co. are doing the very best they can in an unprecedented situation’ 😂 Yeah right.

Name one thing they’ve done well.

Hancock said they were not going for a zero Covid strategy. If they had done this, imagine where we’d be now?

You can't compare Europe to Aus and NZ.

There are Australian citizens and permanent residents stranded abroad that are getting bumped off flights left right and centre due to flight caps coming in to the country. You also need to quarantine in a hotel room for 14 days at your own expenses ($ thousands). And on top of that, there are Australians saying no one, not even Aus citizens (!!), should be allowed back in.

Could you imagine the outcry if the UK govt tried to impose the same border restrictions here?!

But if they had we would be practically Covid free.

Emergency situations call for emergency responses

China ,Japan ,Taiwan etc may well be doing better than us ,but many people in the UK won't even wear a mask,just read the countless threads about it and refuse to follow the rules ,Boris and Co might not be doing a great job but they are fighting a losing battle ,thank god for the vaccine roll out.

Yes, there was a BBC news article yesterday which said that 37,000 Australians are stranded elsewhere in the world, on a big list trying to get back, as they only allow a few hundred per week in. However they had found space for tennis players. Perhaps they are coping with it, but at the expense of their own citizens and other countries? Those 37,000 people could well be contributing to health services strains and population densities in other countries.

I've seen almost nothing about what any African countries are doing, except SA, and I don't know what they're doing now. I get the impression that they're not in general locking down - partly, I suspect, because it's not practical for a lot of people - but I may be wrong there.

Obviously, comparisons to Europe may not be appropriate, but I'd be interested to know. I'd also be interested in whether people in general have a different attitude to it if they already live in a country with, say, a high incidence of malaria.

Why does everyone here always look to bloody Australia and New Zealand to have a bitch? Why not look at Brazil as a comparison?

Question: What happens if an Australian abroad is deported from the country they're currently in? Do Australia have to take them? You don't have a right to live indefinitely in any country other than your own, do you?

If also like to add whilst we’re lauding Australia for being so amazing with their Covid approach. They could not formulate their own vaccine so are relying on vaccines made by other countries. Isn’t it lucky that the UK has made an effective vaccine for them?

for example NZ only had 2,256 cases (in total: OK I know its only a population of 5 million, but even then, that still isn't many cases), because they closed the borders early enough to stop too many carriers from getting in, then had good discipline during their first lockdown.

To be fair, NZ's policy has been:

We are going to close our borders (which we can do pretty easily because we are a fairly isolated pair of islands with an already very strict immigration policy), sit tight and cross our fingers that someone else, somewhere else comes up with a vaccine that we can use... And they better bloody hurry up about it because we can't hang around here with our borders closed indefinitely!

But does Australia need a vaccine?

I must admit to seeing my friend's posts on Facebook in Hong Kong and being envious.

We had the advantage of seeing what was happening in Italy in advance. Medics there even warned us. We could see what was happening in France and Spain. Still the government did nothing and failed to take it seriously/heed the warnings.

We had the advantage of being an island, so I don't think it's fair to compare us to the rest of Europe.

It's a combination of this not fit for purpose government and the arrogance/ignorance of many who won't comply with basic restrictions.

@Jetatyeovilaerodrome

for example NZ only had 2,256 cases (in total: OK I know its only a population of 5 million, but even then, that still isn't many cases), because they closed the borders early enough to stop too many carriers from getting in, then had good discipline during their first lockdown.

To be fair, NZ's policy has been:

We are going to close our borders (which we can do pretty easily because we are a fairly isolated pair of islands with an already very strict immigration policy), sit tight and cross our fingers that someone else, somewhere else comes up with a vaccine that we can use... And they better bloody hurry up about it because we can't hang around here with our borders closed indefinitely!

Yes. NZ and Australia basically shut their borders and allowed almost nobody in and out. It may be a good strategy in their circumstances - totally different from any major European country - but it's hardly some genius strategy. Tens of thousands of their own citizens have been shut out indefinitely.

The graph shown on the other page shows that the UK deaths are predicted to peak around 21st Feb, not that they have peaked.

@JC17fj74

How are we all dealing with Covid so differently right now? So far I've seen friends in Australia enjoying the 'normal' things in life such a beach days, meals out and drinks and cocktails in bars. Friends in America dining out in restaurants etc And here we are in full shitty lockdown with no end date in sight. Why are we so different over her?! It's like the rest of the world has started to get back to normal and we are stuck in this nightmare 😫

Errr...

Most of Europe is in the same boat as us. The only reason Australia did well was because they shut all the borders and made anyone coming in stay in a hotel for 2 weeks. We share a land border with Ireland who didn’t shut their borders to the EU...what were we meant to do?

Boris hasn’t handled it well. But you really can’t compare us and Australia.

Success in other countries is not just about border control, it’s also due to effective testing and tracing of contacts.
We didn’t handle that well either.