Confused about other countries

[Lissy23]

So I have a friend who lives in Alabama (USA) and another who lives in California. Both of these friends are posting on Facebook pictures of them going out and about with friends. One of them even posted a video from Disneyland, so they’re clearly travelling around as well.

I have another friend in Germany who has recently posted a photo of her travels around with her kids and they don’t appear to be staying at home or only doing essential travel.

Why are we the only ones that seem to be doing this? I know our rates are bad and we’ve messed up a lot, but I thought the states were also not great either? I can’t see any restrictions there whatsoever, except mask wearing. I’m so confused!

Not all of Canada is under strict lockdown...
Rather relaxed in British Columbia. Schools open as well as restaurants, barbers and hairdressers. Malls even open air farmers markets in the fall.
Mandatory masks, social distancing and bubbles as small as possible.

@Rainbows89

I’m in Canada and we are under a ‘stay at home’ order which is a lockdown essentially. Schools closed etc.

Whereas I'm in Canada and all schools are open in our province, and so are pubs and restaurants, as long as you sit at a table with only your own household and/or one other person who lives alone and is in your core "bubble"...

We, as a family, are choosing not to eat out, not to go to shopping malls, etc., but it's not prohibited right now. We're not allowed to socialise with anyone outside of our household though. Our teens can't hang out outside of school after they've been crammed into a classroom together all day.

The restrictions are decided by each Province here and are not necessarily reflective of infection numbers or science or logic.

California may not be under strict lockdown but my elderly relative there and all her friends have basically shut themselves up at home for the past year and many children have been learning remotely since September. So not exactly life as normal for them.

@daretodenim

Adding for France that all hospitality has been closed (except takeaway) forever... (though there’s an increasing number of restaurants clandéstins popping up) and big, non supermarket shopping centres are now closed. Family mixing carries on unstoppably as the giver can’t control what happens in private homes.

The winter holiday has just started and I’m watching our neighbours load skis onto their car roof... god knows where they are going as all the ski lifts are shut in France.

I'm in the US. States have different restrictions, some much looser than others. In our State, most public schools are still online and we have the rule of six and mask wearing pretty much everywhere and some restrictions on traveling across State borders but otherwise we can travel around the State freely, go to the beach to mountains etc...small gatherings and only do take out or outside dining. Some parts of California have just come out of a stay at home order and most restaurants are take out only.. Disneyland for the most part is closed , it's going to be a vaccination centre. But it is not a lock down like it is in the UK.

Also in States like Florida and Texas it's pretty much life as normal...but you have to remember that there has been a huge loss of life here and case numbers are still incredibly high and the vaccine roll out is patchy.

It will probably take the US much longer than the UK to see any significant change and so these 'lighter' restrictions will probably stay much longer, plus unless there is huge national pressure to open schools fully in September, which there won't be, many children will still be online or doing hybrid which quite frankly is incredibly damaging to the future prospects of many children. I know which county will come out the other side more successfully and it won't be the US.

The US is a terrible comparison. I have relatives in both California and Florida which have both been really badly hit. The rates and loss of life there is enormous and, in Florida, entirely the fault of state government.

My sister who lives in Florida hasn’t left the house since last March and is too scared to go out because she is ECV and no one is wearing masks.

The state governor in Florida is actively trying to hide how many people are ill and have died.

@MrsTerryPratchett

I thought Disneyland was clased.

I imagine she means Disney World witch is open....

I thought Disney car park was used as a vaccine centre in LA?

I imagine she means Disney World witch is open....

It doesn't look like she's coming back to enlighten us!

Yes I meant Disneyworld.

My native country has way less numbers of people infected and died than UK.
Watching the news, they are taking it way more serious, and non essential travel is definitely restricted and discouraged. So it's not just here.

I’m in Germany and the country is in lockdown but you’re not technically banned from doing anything. It’s just that everything is closed, but you can do as you like (if you can find something to do).

Pubs, restaurants, non-essential shops and all indoor venues have been closed since end of October. Schools broke up on the 15th Dec and have been closed since.

There are no restrictions on where you go though, so this might explain your friend’s ‘travels’. It was half-term in my state this week, so lots of families drove a couple of hours to get out of the city and visit different places with their kids. The German are very outdoorsy so I imagine everyone went to the woods or the mountains, or walked around some farm. There really isn’t anything else open... Only zoos and farms and anything that’s outdoors stayed open. So I imagine families also did that. You’re told to avoid non-essential trips if you can, but there is certainly no rule that says you should.

Germany’s rates are extremely low. Except a handful of areas still struggling with an incidence of over 100. There was a spike over December/January but it has been extremely well controlled. My local (inner city) incidence is 60-70. Going down three, four numbers every day so we’ll soon hit 50. At that point, corona restrictions are not even needed according to the law and European guidelines. They’ll only relax the current lockdown to begin with, not get rid of the restrictions, but the situation is so much better than it was a month ago.

For comparison, my family is in Spain where the local incidence is 1,200. Schools never closed, shops are open but do close at 6pm and restaurants only closed two weeks ago, when the incidence hit 1,500. There is a 10pm curfew that’s been in place for months though. People have been allowed to socialise throughout, my youngest brother recently went to a classmate’s birthday party with 5 other people. Internal borders are closed however (so you can’t leave your local area) and for cities over 50k population, there is a local lockdown every Friday 3pm to Monday morning, when you can’t leave town except for work/hospital/caring duties. The country just can’t afford another shutdown, so they make do how they can. It’s extremely worrying.

French schools are open I believe. I am not sure why theirs can be open but ours can’t.

France is not in lockdown at the moment. There is a curfew from 6 pm large shopping centres and restaurants, cafes, cinemas closed, gyms closed. I can met other people, have friends for lunch, go to shops, play tennis. Not finding it difficult compared to first lockdown.

Yes forgot school open, and went to hairdressers and beauticans last week.

French schools are open I believe. I am not sure why theirs can be open but ours can’t.

Masks, ventilation etc have been standard for everyone (no exceptions - no asthma, panic attacks, whatever according to my DS) in schools since returning to school in September, for secondary and for primary since November. As a result, school transmission has been really low. Very few teachers or students absent with Covid, very few school or even class closures.

Also the variant anglais has not quite reached the tipping point here yet - but check back in a week or two.

So I have a friend who lives in Alabama (USA) and another who lives in California. Both of these friends are posting on Facebook pictures of them going out and about with friends. One of them even posted a video from Disneyland, so they’re clearly travelling around as well.
I call BS. Disneyland in California and World Disney Resort in Florida are closed and have been for about 7 months and aren't expected to re-open until the summer.

In Spain it's by region and town. In my place no meeting anyone who isn't from your household, you can go to work/school/pharmacy/doctors and the shop and leave the house for parks/walks unrestricted but you must wear a mask at all times. All community centres/cafes/restaurants and bars are closed but you can get a takeaway until 10? And there is a curfew from 11pm to 6am. This is in effect until at least the 17th.

Although I think most places are on level 3 currently we were 2 but they increased nearly everyone to 2 or 4.

Everyone here has always worn their masks all the time since the start. It was only when sat down at cafes/bars that they didn't

Maybe posting old photos?

Oh yeah, like a PP said about France, Spain never closed their schools but masks are compulsory from Year 1 and there are absolutely no exceptions. In my brother’s school of 400 students there is one little girl aged 9 who has sometimes been seen without a mask because of her severe asthma. She still wears it most days though. Everyone else is masked 9am-5pm with no breaks except lunch, and whenever you leave the house you can only do so in a mask. So if you have activities or are going somewhere after school, that’s easily 10-12h of mask a day. Windows and even doors are open regardless of weather for ventilation purposes, and social distancing is enforced as much as possible.

You can't leave your area and I think the curfew is 10 now I don't go out at night so it doesn't really effect me

@OnItCarBonnet

We were always going to be hit badly by this pandemic, regardless of measures, because so many factors went against us. A North-temperate climate, low flu seasons for prior 2 winters (high proportion of vulnerable individuals), high obesity, an international travel hub, covid being in the country since late 2019 (first registered death was 30/01/20) and establishing itself during the winter months, high population density particularly in areas with high deprivation, an underfunded and madly managed healthcare system, and more.

Australia and New Zealand got VERY lucky. Being in the Southern Hemisphere with temperate climates (Australia partly tropical but most live in temperate areas), the virus arrived in their summer months. They would have done pretty well anyway, but their seasonality, along with the location and set-up on their countries, allowed them a longer timeframe to organise and close the borders. They are not the shining example that a lot of people think they are.

The US states are a great test study to show that restrictions have minimal effect. All states have different levels of restrictions, but there are minimal differences in case numbers and deaths between neighbouring states with similar climate conditions and populations.

In the U.K., we’re still in lockdown because the British press and the government have done a splendid job of convincing the public that we’re all dirty germ machines who are all at high risk of death. We have convinced ourselves that lockdowns work, because we’ve put a lot on the line for them. So we must continue with them, because to admit our strategy was wrong would mean that most of it (hand-washing, protecting the vulnerable and investing in healthcare and cluster tracing measures aside) was a waste of time.

This

School transmission has remained very low and very few teachers or students have been off isolating. Since September, only one class was sent home for 2 weeks, in a 3-18 school. As a result, education hasn’t been too disrupted.

The bulk of infections in Spain comes from socialising with family, which some people just won’t stop doing. The culture goes against not seeing your relatives for months on end and some people are just not sticking to it.