Italy - mandatory quarantine

[Tulipomania]

DS was planning to go next week to visit a friend.

He had both vaccines ages ago.

It's so shit, but what can he do?

He's just left Uni.

3Brit how do you know that lockdown in the UK was a joke if you weren't in the UK?

I don't think its right for people I'm Spain to blame the Brits if they holiday there. The blame for that lies with the Spanish Govt.

That said I do agree that this isn't a year for international travel and it pleases me when countries restrict travel to the UK because our govt are very week.

We weren't allowed out for even 1 walk a day. If you didn't have an essential job, ie dr, nurse etc and didn't have to care for someone, then only 1 person from the household was allowed out once a week to go food shopping. With a curfew of 7pm. We were on complete house arrest.

@Wakeupin2022

3Brit how do you know that lockdown in the UK was a joke if you weren't in the UK?

I don't think its right for people I'm Spain to blame the Brits if they holiday there. The blame for that lies with the Spanish Govt.

That said I do agree that this isn't a year for international travel and it pleases me when countries restrict travel to the UK because our govt are very week.

Because my whole family live there, and all of our friends and they told us no one followed the rules. Because my DH went back when restrictions were lifted, for essential property reasons, not a jolly, and saw how no one was following the rules or wearing masks, the tube and buses were packed and no-one kept their distance or any of the rest of it. Because the uk government continued to allow flights to land from all over the place. Because I saw all over social media, everyone coming with a reason why they were exempt from the rules.

Here, we had no option to cry about our 'rights' and our exemptions. The rules were the rules and that was it.

@Melassa I think the issue with Italy - like other EU countries was that vaccine rollout has taken a while. My ex MIL ended up in hospital in Milan with Covid for 3 weeks a month or so ago because she had only just had her first jab. My parents were jabbed in the U.K. back in Jan. So it was slow. Same in the Netherlands. Slow.

@3Britnee lockdown in Spain was indeed very strict. Much stricter than the U.K. Italy was also strict. But then the Netherlands was more relaxed than the U.K. for most of it. That is until the recent curfew which has finished now. So every country was very different.

What I do find extraordinary and why I think @Baileysforchristmas was spot on - is how on earth we can be so highly vaccinated and yet our numbers still are high. Don’t tell me we are the only country with the Delta variant. Other countries didn’t stop flights from India either. There has to be an element of how much we are testing. I am in the Netherlands now and all restrictions end next week. Everything. Masks. Social distancing. They are far less vaccinated than the U.K. But then they aren’t testing their unvaccinated twice a week. They are now cracking on.

Really find it funny that UK lockdown was harsher then some European countries.

Were you limited to 1km from your home? With police stopping you, checking your papers and measuring exactly how far you were via GPS?

Did you have to wear a mask outside at all times from July 2020 until June 2021?

Do your children have to wear masks in school including during playtime from September 2020 until, well still ongoing?

We've had a curfew from Oct 17th to tomorrow. For months it was 6pm.

My family are in the UK and although schools closed for some, they had so much freedom with distances they could walk/cycle to etc.

I'm in the UK.
@3Britnee and @InvincibleInvisibility are absolutely right.
The UK lockdowns were very half hearted. Hence one reason why we are a high risk country now and others aren't. Our wide open borders to import all new strains being another big reason why.

why does it matter who has had the harder lockdown - it’s not been easy for anyone

my annoyance is simply at OP for complaining about needing to quarantine when travelling abroad from a country with rampant delta variant to another without but behind with jabs.

when will it end - no idea but it hasn’t yet ended when even the uk isn’t fully jabbed and other european countries are lagging in their vaccinations compared to even us

Lots of people on here saying you can still be carriers if you've been vaccinated. Please read the science - I posted a couple of links - the risk of carrying and passing on the vaccine is massively reduced if you have had both vaccines.

Thanks for the empathy from many posters.

And as for the miserable ones - it's MN, I expect that here now too.

@Blessex yes, we started later, also, depending on region there was a policy of doses close together instead of pushing for everyone to have the first dose. For instance, my DM got her second dose in early March in the U.K., but my MIL had her second dude the same day despite having her 1 st one 6 weeks later than Mum’s. Also there was some criticism about priorities, healthcare workers, teachers and police were in the same band as the over 80s, as it was deemed that these professions were more at risk of infection. Still, we’re now vaccinating over 12s in some regions so have good coverage I believe.

I am also mystified about the increase in infection rate in the U.K. despite vaccination. Is there perhaps a large percentage of anti-vaxxers aiding the spread of the variant? If not, it doesn’t bode well for the autumn. Although there is talk of a third dose in the autumn, no one really knows how long immunity really lasts with the vaccines currently available.

I also didn't realise there was a competition for whose had the worst time.

It's been shit for everyone.

Where do you live @3Britnee ? (I've gathered Spain, but it's a big country)

but it doesn’t fully reduce the risk of being infected or carrying

the more this virus continues to spread the more variants there will be - and there could be one that totally sidesteps the vaccine or targets a different age group etc

so staycations fine but spreading disease to other less jabbed countries for them to spread internally and spread back - it literally won’t ever end

there is a reason why NZ and even the states are doing so much better than us in terms of living fuller lives - closed borders

@Confusedaboutlots

but it doesn’t fully reduce the risk of being infected or carrying

the more this virus continues to spread the more variants there will be - and there could be one that totally sidesteps the vaccine or targets a different age group etc

so staycations fine but spreading disease to other less jabbed countries for them to spread internally and spread back - it literally won’t ever end

there is a reason why NZ and even the states are doing so much better than us in terms of living fuller lives - closed borders

Yes this.

Perhaps people there have the much referred to empathy... empathy for the vulnerable - including those unable to have the vaccine for medical reasons or who are less protected by it. And the many CEV children in the UK, who are not yet vaccinated.

Italy may well have imposed this quarantine requirement quickly for a specific reason. Wales are due to play in Rome next in the Euros and if England come second in their group they will be due there in the following round.
I wouldn't be surprised if the quarantine requirement is lifted once that threat is out of the way.

Are you surprised? I think this is fair enough, Italy can do whatever they like to protect Italians, it's a hard time at the moment, they get to choose who they let in.

Plus, massively reduced is not an inexistent amount, so why should they take the risk to let UK residents in?

@Lesartisansetlessansculottes

Are you surprised? I think this is fair enough, Italy can do whatever they like to protect Italians, it's a hard time at the moment, they get to choose who they let in.

I agree - absolutely.

@shinynewapple21

Where do you live *@3Britnee* ? (I've gathered Spain, but it's a big country)

The costa blanca. Old people territory so the rules have been strong.

What I do find extraordinary and why I think @Baileysforchristmas was spot on - is how on earth we can be so highly vaccinated and yet our numbers still are high. Don’t tell me we are the only country with the Delta variant. Other countries didn’t stop flights from India either. There has to be an element of how much we are testing

Perhaps other countries in europe are using far more Moderna/Pfizer and have greater confidence in their vaccines?
The UK and India have greater family connections than europe, so we imported more Delta variants.
Of course you'll find more if you test more, its the % increase of the positives that matter and ours is going up far more than the tests done isn't it?

Having seen how our pub culture is, its not surprising we have more positives - we don't hold back with drink on board & we ve pretty much ignored the rules on numbers in the home.

The sheer nerve of the young man. This is why we are once again the laughing stock of the world. Thinking that going on a non-essential jolly is worth the risk of taking Delta to Covid-secure countries.

I could weep.

@NannyAndJohn

The sheer nerve of the young man. This is why we are once again the laughing stock of the world. Thinking that going on a non-essential jolly is worth the risk of taking Delta to Covid-secure countries.

I could weep.

Oh come on. If he's been vaccinated and was prepared to test and quarantine on return as required there was no reason not to go, with the possible exception of insurance issues. Obviously if he has to quarantine on arrival (and Italy has every right to make that decision) it's now a non starter and he's bound to be disappointed.

COVID safe countries? Ha ha ha ha ha. The Delta variant has already arrived on the continent. Anyone who thinks closing borders keeps variants out is a fool, sorry.

@Confusedaboutlots

why does it matter who has had the harder lockdown - it’s not been easy for anyone

my annoyance is simply at OP for complaining about needing to quarantine when travelling abroad from a country with rampant delta variant to another without but behind with jabs.

when will it end - no idea but it hasn’t yet ended when even the uk isn’t fully jabbed and other european countries are lagging in their vaccinations compared to even us

It matters because we are the ones that will get put back into a hard lockdown when you've all had your fun and gone home. That's why the difference in lockdowns and whose was hardest matters.

Ours was harder than yours, but you need a holiday - that will then put us straight back in that shit.

Anyone travelling for fun atm is a selfish entitled dick.

In that case countries should close their borders if they don't want visitors or impose appropriate and stringent testing / quarantine requirements.

3Brit we get it. The Spanish lockdown was hard! Your perception (very wrong) is that in the UK we all just went about our business as normal. Perhaps your family did but not in my circle.

The responsibility to manage covid lies with a national govt. Blame them if brits introduce infections, although the Delta variant is already spreading in Spain.

I already blame the UK govt for its very weak border controls.