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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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!
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.
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.
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.
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.