What’s it like where you live?

Most of us I guess are Wales based and many in England so we know what lockdown is like here. No pubs, clubs, theatres, gyms, pools, or non essential shops open.

Not allowed to leave home to travel unless food shopping, medical appointments, caring or working.

No fans at the football or the rugby. People can’t play golf, tennis or drive to the beach.

But what about elsewhere in the world. What’s it like in the US? We have New Yorkers on here, Wisconsin too I think. How about the Far East, Australia or Europe. We have Danish and French contributors. Ireland as well.

I have to go out for work I can’t do from home and there plenty of people out and about here. Not socialising as such, but lots going to the supermarket, McDonald’s, car washes, stores like The Range, B&M, B&Q seem quite busy. Loads of students about near Tesco’s on Western Ave.

Places are quieter and although I’ve not been in several months I imagine town is quiet these days.

Are we getting used to a new way of life or is it going to explode into a frenzy when we get the green light to get back to normal?

Church Village is rocking.

When all restrictions are lifted I imagine it will go crazy for a while, particularly if its in the summer as hoped

I have a few friends ( or people we have stayed in touch with via social media ) in Orlando, if it wasnt for face masks, i dont think they are living any differently than they did 2 years ago, it really is back to normal life for them, of course the hospitality industry is still struggling ( with the lack of tourists ) but even that is slowly returning, one of them has just had her 30th Birthday, about 15 of them in a bar drinking cocktails and listening to a live band, it looked normal

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Originally Posted by blue matt

I have a few friends ( or people we have stayed in touch with via social media ) in Orlando, if it wasnt for face masks, i dont think they are living any differently than they did 2 years ago, it really is back to normal life for them, of course the hospitality industry is still struggling ( with the lack of tourists ) but even that is slowly returning, one of them has just had her 30th Birthday, about 15 of them in a bar drinking cocktails and listening to a live band, it looked normal

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Hasn't Florida lifted all restrictions?

Its bloody hot on Mars , not much life either ,and It's a God-awful small affair.

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Originally Posted by life on mars

Its bloody hot on Mars , not much life either ,and It's a God-awful small affair.

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No need for social distancing (or is that dustancing?) there!

We really are lucky in our Province Mike (New Brunswick)we currently have 36 cases , have had 27 Deaths since it all started. Mind you our population is very small around 780,000. We still go to Restaurant's, cinema etc, although have to wear a mask when outside or unable to safe distance. We are heading for our lowest level in a week or so, Yellow, which is very much the same as current. All shops, salons, hairdressers all open with restrictions, schools, daycare centres all open. Where the UK is well ahead of us and quite rightly, you have it much worse, is the vaccine provision, where me as a healthy 58 year old will likely have to wait until Aug / Sept to receive.
Oh well local holiday again this year.

Stay Safe all

Bars and restaurants can operate at 25% capacity. Shops are open. Everyone is required to wear a mask to enter any public place. In Manhattan, 90% of people wear masks when out on the street. This is not mandatory. Beaches are open. Golf courses are open. NYC is relatively quiet but still fully operational. Although the subway does shut down for a few hours at night. Many people are working from home. So far about 50M people have received one or more doses of a vaccine. The new one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine should become available this week. It only requires regular refrigeration so hopefully, it should be a lot simpler and easier to administer. I am eligible to receive a vaccine on March 29th.

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Originally Posted by City123

Hasn't Florida lifted all restrictions?

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Yes they entered phase 3 last Sept, which did lift most restrictions and it aimed at getting life back to normal, including getting people back to the office, theme parks ( though they all seem to be at under 50% capacity ) bars and restaurants can open with full capacity, i think sports events are still slightly restricted

I also saw that DeSantis, has said that Fla has vaccinated over 50% of the senior aged ( which is pretty good going ) they are now doing police / firefighters and teachers over the age of 50

Hiya Mike. I live in Brisbane Australia and everything is pretty normal. My bewery is going fine with restrictions of one person per two square meters although there is a limit to capacity of 289 when we could fit over 450 in on a normal match day (we are opposite the Gabba and people are allowed to attend sports games here). People have to check in or we must refuse entry but most people are used to this now. It is weird watching other places around the world on TV with all the brutal restrictions destroying many small businesses.

Whenever there is a little outbreak usually from staff working in hotel quarantine, they just shut down the city for a few days, contract trace and eliminate the outbreak.

We have it pretty lucky over here. I hope you are all safe and well.

In Tokyo, we've never been fully locked down. Some restaurants/bars were shut last year from April to mid-June, but 99% normal since then, although since last month many places that serve booze have to shut by 8pm. There are token spatial restrictions which are arbitrary with spaced seating in banks/offices etc. but not on the packed trains or most restaurants/bars.

Other than that, I've been massively lucky to be out here.

Oh, and the baseball season will open on April 1st with between 10,000 and 15,000 fans allowed at games.

In Poland it’s pretty similar to UK. I can go to work and shopping but pretty much everything else is still closed. No sport, no bars, no cinemas. I can get a hair cut!

I moved out here 5 months ago and Covid levels have been consistently 15% of uk rates until the last couple of weeks when the decline in uk finally took uk under pl rates and Poland have just started their 3rd wave.

We've been quite lucky in the province I live in, everything here is pretty much back to normal. Wearing a mask on public transport is still mandatory and sometimes, for reasons unknown to me, some of the shopping malls will insist you wear a mask and use the phone app to scan a QR code when entering or leaving, then other days the same mall has no such restrictions.

A noticeably much smaller percentage of people are wearing masks when they're out and about (est. 15%). At the height of the pandemic here last Spring, everyone wore a mask when outside.

You need to check when planning on entering another province if it's is allowed or whether you would be allowed access back to your province as a result.

Some provinces have had quite severe lockdowns.

All people entering locals and other nationalities have to spend 14 days in quarantine. For travellers arriving at Tan Son Nhat, Ho Chi Minh City accommodation is provided at Cu Chi (not in the tunnels though)

Life carries on pretty much as normal. Bars, restaurants are open. People go to work. Students go to school. Markets are open as usual. The Tet holiday was celebrated in the usual ways.

Virus testing doesn’t have much take up so trying to get a real idea about infection rates is pretty meaningless.
And similarly with death rates. People get sick. Go home and if they die the chances of it being recorded as coronavirus is very small because the health care system is pretty much non existent unless you can pay but even then the doctors probably won’t put it as a cause of death.

If you are identified as someone with the virus the police (Mr Green) will come and sit outside your house to make sure you don’t leave the house until the quarantine period is over.

People are excited to receive a vaccine when one becomes available but government officials and people with money will get the vaccine first.

If you’re a foreigner with health cover you can get a vaccine at your approved international clinic.

Those citizens who are better informed follow closely developments in the U.K., Europe, the US and Australia

Well this is a depressing read. 🤣

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Oh, and the baseball season will open on April 1st with between 10,000 and 15,000 fans allowed at games.

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Read an article about NY the other day saying they reckon about 3 million people have left? All the wealthy ones off to their second homes, Broadway actors etc gone and no students.....is that right? It was mainly about whether NY will become the NY of old again....

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Originally Posted by UNDERHILL1927

Well this is a depressing read. ��

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Sure does...if you want to feel normal ish here just go down to city rd, feels like nothings changed too much.....

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Originally Posted by goats

Read an article about NY the other day saying they reckon about 3 million people have left? All the wealthy ones off to their second homes, Broadway actors etc gone and no students.....is that right? It was mainly about whether NY will become the NY of old again....

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you are correct goats its the same in California too over 100,000 people and businesses are leaving every year to mainly Texas .Properties prices and rents have gone through the roof

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Originally Posted by goats

Sure does...if you want to feel normal ish here just go down to city rd, feels like nothings changed too much.....

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Haha I steer clear of that road at the best of times. Almost run someone over every time I drive down it

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Originally Posted by UNDERHILL1927

Well this is a depressing read. ��

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But people are generally happy with the way things are being ‘managed’

Here’s some madness:
Had COVID - yes
Had Antibodies test - yes
Have regular negative tests - too many to count
Had vaccine - yes

But ....
When I return to uk in 10 days time I need to have 3 negative tests in 11 days, pay approx £300 for the privilege and quarantine for 10 days and now queue at Heathrow for 7 hours, when everything is already confirmed on line!

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Bars and restaurants can operate at 25% capacity. Shops are open. Everyone is required to wear a mask to enter any public place. In Manhattan, 90% of people wear masks when out on the street. This is not mandatory. Beaches are open. Golf courses are open. NYC is relatively quiet but still fully operational. Although the subway does shut down for a few hours at night. Many people are working from home. So far about 50M people have received one or more doses of a vaccine. The new one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine should become available this week. It only requires regular refrigeration so hopefully, it should be a lot simpler and easier to administer. I am eligible to receive a vaccine on March 29th.

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I’m due to come out in July,praying it will go ahead but really unsure.Fingers crossed.

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Originally Posted by theclaw

I’m due to come out in July,praying it will go ahead but really unsure.Fingers crossed.

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Will you have had two doses of vaccine by then?

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Originally Posted by goats

Read an article about NY the other day saying they reckon about 3 million people have left? All the wealthy ones off to their second homes, Broadway actors etc gone and no students.....is that right? It was mainly about whether NY will become the NY of old again....

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3 million sounds a bit much. I'd estimate an accurate figure would be 1/10 of that. The super-wealthy did leave for the country and students are remote learning, so many will have given up on their expensive apartments. But no one I know has left. Not in the last year anyway. I think most people who leave NYC leave because it's too expensive. People had started leaving before Covid began. Everyone in the US that wants a vaccine should be able to get one by the summer. I have no doubt NYC will be back to a million tourists a week again before long.

I'm in Ames, Iowa which is very rural, more than half UK size but with just over 3 million population. Ames is a university town, regular population 40K which almost doubles when students are here. All that means we've not felt the full force of lockdowns etc and life has been relatively unaffected. Non-essential shops, bars and restaurants were closed only for a few months and masks initially weren't compulsory. There's only one large city (Des Moines - similar in size to Cardiff) where restrictions have been followed more rigidly but the rural areas, largely Republican, have tried to ignore the rules as a matter of principle.

The longer it's gone on, though, it seems to me most people have themselves taken to wearing masks and are consciously taking more care. Like UK, the vaccination programme is happening now and most people will rely on beating the virus that way rather than sticking to the rules steadfastly. I had a positive test and very mild symptoms last June and, being of an age, I had my first Pfizer last week with the follow-up before the end of the month.

Currently working from home in Switzerland as it was made mandatory for those who can work from home to do so in mid January after relative normality albeit with face masks on public transport and in stores from mid June '20.

But as the cases began to pile up leading up to and after the Christmas and New year period the government were under pressure to introduce new measures.

Retail stores were forced to close under the January regulations but have just reopened this week. But restrictions concerning number of people allowed to gather privately indoors, sport venues closed, face masks in indoor public spaces are still in effect.

The vaccine rollout appears to be slow here, mainly due to Swiss regulators dragging their heels on approving some vaccines for use. Estimations are that the population will not be vaccinated until late Autumn.

But despite that, I still managed to go skiing on the weekend, masks mandatory of course but the pistes much quieter than normal this time of year.

What is this covid you speak of?
Business pretty much as normal in Adelaide. Really think we chose the correct course and being an island helped.
Ticks me off that the UK could have done the same.
When the government decided on this method it was with the wish to put lives ahead of profits. Turns out it saved a lot of businesses
And the economy is rebounding much faster than anticipated.
Feels to me like your government have managed to fail on both fronts, while concentrating on trying to save business over lives.
Please don't think I'm gloating, I love the land of my birth( still call it home after 30 years away). And have lots of close family there.
Stay well all.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

3 million sounds a bit much. I'd estimate an accurate figure would be 1/10 of that. The super-wealthy did leave for the country and students are remote learning, so many will have given up on their expensive apartments. But no one I know has left. Not in the last year anyway. I think most people who leave NYC leave because it's too expensive. People had started leaving before Covid began. Everyone in the US that wants a vaccine should be able to get one by the summer. I have no doubt NYC will be back to a million tourists a week again before long.

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Do you have to pay for the vaccine or is it free to everybody?

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Originally Posted by Michael Morris

Most of us I guess are Wales based and many in England so we know what lockdown is like here. No pubs, clubs, theatres, gyms, pools, or non essential shops open.

Not allowed to leave home to travel unless food shopping, medical appointments, caring or working.

No fans at the football or the rugby. People can’t play golf, tennis or drive to the beach.

But what about elsewhere in the world. What’s it like in the US? We have New Yorkers on here, Wisconsin too I think. How about the Far East, Australia or Europe. We have Danish and French contributors. Ireland as well.

I have to go out for work I can’t do from home and there plenty of people out and about here. Not socialising as such, but lots going to the supermarket, McDonald’s, car washes, stores like The Range, B&M, B&Q seem quite busy. Loads of students about near Tesco’s on Western Ave.

Places are quieter and although I’ve not been in several months I imagine town is quiet these days.

Are we getting used to a new way of life or is it going to explode into a frenzy when we get the green light to get back to normal?

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I'm in Uganda Mike.

We implemented lockdown measures a year ago.

A curfew (was 7pm now 9pm), Temperature checks and hand sanitizers before entering anywhere, mandatory mask wearing, social distancing. Driving was banned apart from key workers for about 6 months.


Luckily I was able to continue to use the sports club I'm a member of and where I work from ... Tennis, swimming, gym, squash etc and good internet. Most of my work is remote anyway and I was able to adapt without too much hassle.

I've been very lucky.

So has Uganda. Maybe it's the temperature and the fact we have the youngest population in the world .. but we haven't been hit very hard at all.
Some believe it actually passed through Uganda in Jan and Feb last year... Many of us had flu type symptoms but we didn't recognise it as covid then

I have missed coming home to Wales though, especially with elderly parents. But even without the travel restrictions I wouldn't have travelled and put them at risk.

Thanks for the replies. Interesting to hear how things are around the world.

Hopefully here we will see restrictions lifted shortly but with rules / good practice put in place so we can go about our normal business again.

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Originally Posted by AfricanBluebird

I'm in Uganda Mike.

We implemented lockdown measures a year ago.

A curfew (was 7pm now 9pm), Temperature checks and hand sanitizers before entering anywhere, mandatory mask wearing, social distancing. Driving was banned apart from key workers for about 6 months.


Luckily I was able to continue to use the sports club I'm a member of and where I work from ... Tennis, swimming, gym, squash etc and good internet. Most of my work is remote anyway and I was able to adapt without too much hassle.

I've been very lucky.

So has Uganda. Maybe it's the temperature and the fact we have the youngest population in the world .. but we haven't been hit very hard at all.
Some believe it actually passed through Uganda in Jan and Feb last year... Many of us had flu type symptoms but we didn't recognise it as covid then

I have missed coming home to Wales though, especially with elderly parents. But even without the travel restrictions I wouldn't have travelled and put them at risk.

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Amazing, I’ve always wondered why so many African countries were hardly affected, low age population was something I hadn’t considered....

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Originally Posted by splott parker

Do you have to pay for the vaccine or is it free to everybody?

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Free.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Free.

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Good news:thumbup:

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

Free.

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My sister lives in Sacramento , until last week she was snowed under dealing with giving information out to people with covid 19 . Almost over night there were no more cases .

Life in Denmark hasn't been unbearable at all, if a little boring. After the first lock down, pubs opened again in the autumn, as did football stadiums with up to 500 people in the ground (everyone included, teams, staff..), but end of the year that all ended. First pubs got closed again, and then just before Christmas football went back to no fans.
Last week smaller shops opened again. Up until now it's only been supermarkets and chemists open.
We bought a house last August, so that has taken out minds off a lot of the normal things I might have been doing, pub etc... To be honest, using the money on the house instead of the pub has been a good thing.
It's a bit ironic though that I bought a house pretty much opposite the stadium of my Danish team Fremad Amager, and since then, we've hardly been able to go to the ground...
The Danish government thinks they can get everyone vaccinated by late June... looks like there's and end in sight!

The vaccination rates are positive.
The attitudes of a numerous some who still think this thing is a joke is still problematic.

My best Mate over here (An overbearing, obnoxious Wolves fan) caught it a few weeks ago, seemed to recover and was back in the ER yesterday.
Long Haul Covid for him now apparently.

Back to positive news.
Biden pledges a vaccine available for every adult In the US in May.

We are getting there, despite the idiocy and selfishness of others.

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Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue

Biden pledges a vaccine available for every adult In the US in May.

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When you consider the logistics, that is really impressive.

Here in Singapore we had a "circuit breaker" which lasted for nearly 2 months. My kids didn't go outside our front door for that entire time. Expats have lost their visas for not following the rules. Now we are in Phase 3 (the last phase) where a lot of things are back to normal except for mandatory mask wearing and having to check in everywhere we go. Nightlife is pretty much the last thing still not open. But restaurants are buzzing and plenty of queues all over. Vaccines have started with a target of everyone having one by the end of the year.