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 😫

I feel we hear so little in the British media about how other European countries are doing. Really interested to hear from anyone in another European country re what restrictions currently apply to your daily life in terms ability to meet people from other households, travel within your own country etc, and whether hospitals in your area are overwhelmed with Covid patients.

As others have said, compare us with the rest of Europe and, regard to vaccinations, we have doing phenomenally.

My 91 year old Uncle in the Netherlands will not get his vaccine until April, if he’s lucky, the roll out of vaccine is very slow, they have been hit very badly by Covid and their whole government has resigned due to a scandal.

Why why why this continued downer on the country we live in, celebrate some of successes for goodness sake instead of the constant comparison. Comparing Australia or New Zealand to the UK is like comparing apples to oranges.

I also disagree that the current state we're in is due to large scale rule breaking. A lot of the time our rules have been far too lax, eg pubs allowed to stay open if they served a "substantial meal". If you believe that Covid is spreading in pubs to the extent that it's necessary to shut them, it's clearly nonsense to think that Covid won't spread in pubs where "substantial meals" are being served.

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

Um... Did you miss the absolute shambles on the news just before Christmas?

We cannot just 'close our borders'. We are literally just a few miles from mainland Europe, and connected by a tunnel which is used constantly, as was seen when things went tits up a few weeks ago.

This whole 'NZ is an island and so are we so why can't we just do what they did' thing is just bullshit.

Parts of America are pretending it's not happening. Florida has per capita same case counts as Britain. They shut almost nothing so restaurant visits legal. Airplanes are flying in USA for leisure/business travel but only like 30% full.

Vietnam has almost no one in care homes & authoritarian regime, no such thing as privacy. If you get covid everyone in the community knows it. HK publishes online exactly which apartment buildings have a covid case inside.

Things are calming down in Peru & Ecuador (their summer) but they were very top of the league table for a long time (many weeks), in their winter, for deaths per 100k (per week). Nigeria is taking off with case counts now.

Los Angeles is a huge hotspot at moment, California's lockdown is having slow effects. Nobody knows what is really happening in India but they (like many other LMICs) have benefit of relatively young population & few care homes for elderly.

And actually in terms of vaccinating people, we are doing incredibly well - fancy that eh?!

Why why why this continued downer on the country we live in
I think that criticism of the government in the UK is particularly important given that we have a PM who isn't willing to take difficult decisions early in order to protect people, but instead only acts where things have reached such crisis point that huge numbers of people are clamouring for a change of policy.

@LilyPond2

I feel we hear so little in the British media about how other European countries are doing. Really interested to hear from anyone in another European country re what restrictions currently apply to your daily life in terms ability to meet people from other households, travel within your own country etc, and whether hospitals in your area are overwhelmed with Covid patients.

My dh works for an Austrian company, similar restrictions to here, but they also have a curfew.

This whole 'NZ is an island and so are we so why can't we just do what they did' thing is just bullshit.

Plus, while GB is an island, the UK is not. It has a land border with another jurisdiction, the Republic of Ireland, which also has open borders with all the nations of the European Union. It's an idiotic comparison, and it's amazing that people are still trotting out the same nonsense, 10 months on.

There’s little point in comparing with countries half way across the world, with radically different situations and/or tools at their disposal.

Most of Western Europe aren’t doing any better.

In the longer term, vaccine rollout is the permanent way out. And the U.K. are ahead of the game there.

Plus, while GB is an island, the UK is not. It has a land border with another jurisdiction, the Republic of Ireland, which also has open borders with all the nations of the European Union

Hmm a bit like WA being part of Australia and yet managing to close its border. Or even more like when NSW and VIC had their borders closed or VIC and SA and despite people living and working across the border they shut it (with border passes, regular testing etc) It all depends how much you want something I guess and what the reward at the end is

It's an idiotic comparison, and it's amazing that people are still trotting out the same nonsense, 10 months on.

None of these people are capable of engaging their brain, they just want to keep bleating nonsense.

Hmm a bit like WA being part of Australia and yet managing to close its border.

The U.K. is prohibited from closing its border with ROI under international law.

Hmm a bit like WA being part of Australia and yet managing to close its border

No, not really. The border between NI and the republic is a tad bit more sensitive and complex than that between two states of the same jurisdiction.

@TheKeatingFive

It's an idiotic comparison, and it's amazing that people are still trotting out the same nonsense, 10 months on.

None of these people are capable of engaging their brain, they just want to keep bleating nonsense.

It's probably the same people who had silently hoped that the British vaccine roll-out would fail, so that they could compare it unfavourably to 'other countries'.

The funny thing is that the countries that seem to be doing really well are the ones that closed themselves off from the world and effectively said we will. Come out to play once you lot of fixed a global issue.... Yes NZ have contained the virus well... However they have done naff all to Contribute to the global effort but will happily take the vaccine that allows them to open up.

I agree with @LastTrainEast

I have family in the states. In Florida, they’re going about life as per usual. Football games, cinema, restaurants, people flying in for holidays from all around the states. Few wearing masks.

Friends in NY/NJ, schools closed but they’re using that time to holiday. At least they’re wearing masks and restaurants are “curb-side” collection. However, their kids are off visiting friends in Florida! Uni closed but if they live off campus, it’s party time still. All of these late teens/early 20’s have already had it so they think it’s nothing.

Most of the parents are saying they won’t get the vaccine either as their kids had it and it was no problem. Many thinking it’s just the flu abd can’t understand why other places have restrictions/lockdowns. They have the idea that the deaths are misreported as a democrat misinformation. Bonkers really.

In case anyone is interested, here is what Heathrow looked like a few weeks ago. I had to collect someone who had to travel for work (travel or lose their job - they’ve since quit as employers very unreasonable)

@TheKeatingFive

It's an idiotic comparison, and it's amazing that people are still trotting out the same nonsense, 10 months on.

None of these people are capable of engaging their brain, they just want to keep bleating nonsense.

Harsh.

People look globally at successes in controlling covid and rightly question why we haven’t/couldn’t replicate that here. It’s called learning and holding the government to account, do you not think that’s something that should happen?

There are many reasons why we haven’t done things that other countries have but asking questions doesn’t make people stupid. Calling people stupid doesn’t make you right and certainly doesn’t make you clever.

People look globally at successes in controlling covid and rightly question why we haven’t/couldn’t replicate that here. It’s called learning and holding the government to account, do you not think that’s something that should happen?

Absolutely. But making comparisons to countries with entirely different circumstances isn't the way to do that. Look at comparable European countries. Most are in a pretty similar situation.

There are many reasons why we haven’t done things that other countries have but asking questions doesn’t make people stupid. Calling people stupid doesn’t make you right and certainly doesn’t make you clever.

I didn't say that people were stupid. I said that the constant comparisons with NZ, 10 months on, are stupid. And they are.

It's probably the same people who had silently hoped that the British vaccine roll-out would fail, so that they could compare it unfavourably to 'other countries'.

Yes, I can't help but think there are lots of people that want things to go badly so that they can complain. Owen Jones is the master of this on Twitter - you can tell he is desperate for the vaccine rollout to be a disaster as it will give him so many things to tweet about!

I don't think the government have done a great job tbh but neither do I think we are the absolute worst country in the world either!

There are many reasons why we haven’t done things that other countries have but asking questions doesn’t make people stupid

This debate has been going on for months and there has been ample time for these people to engage with complexities and nuances between the situation in different countries.

only NOW have the closed the borders to come in to this country, not closed, just prove of a negative test.
as of tomorrow!
and the schools i believe are not social distancing here

I didn’t quote you though did I @IcedPurple? That last paragraph was absolutely calling people stupid.

@TheKeatingFive, yes it has been going on for months but there’s no obligation for people to have sat down and poured over the masses of information generated during it. Not everyone knows what you know.

If someone asks a question because they don’t know the answer it doesn’t make them stupid because it’s been thoroughly discussed for months previously.

Some people don’t keep up with or engage with current events for whatever reason, they don’t get barred from the discussion just for being late to it.

I'm in Germany. In my state, and I believe nationwide, schools and nurseries (wisely!) didn't go back after Christmas and are closed until end Jan at least.
All non-essential retail and leisure / cultural venues are closed nationwide. But the restrictions vary a lot by state. In some areas above a certain number of cases there's a travel radius limit of 15 km (travel beyond that is sanctioned with a 500 euro fine).
FFP2 masks are mandatory on trains nationwide, and will be mandatory in indoor public spaces throughout Bavaria from tomorrow. In my local town centre, face coverings are mandatory even outside. Clinically vulnerable people can get a regular batch of FFP2 masks for free in pharmacies.
Again I recommend listening to Dr John Campbell on YouTube for an international overview.

it has been going on for months but there’s no obligation for people to have sat down and poured over the masses of information generated during it. Not everyone knows what you know.

I don't think it takes 'masses of information' to know that NZ is an island in the South Pacific, 5 hours by plane from its nearest major neighbour, geographically bigger than GB but with a population slightly smaller than that of Yorkshire.

5 minutes on the Google will do it.