I'd love to have lots of street shopping and I do buy my clothes, food, etc., in person, but come on. Cities are about much more than shopping.

How about being able to walk out your door and get everything you DO need or want -- food, healthcare, transit, culture, friends and family, the office...

ok boomer

something they have done in the Vancouver area and surrounding suburban cities is close down roads, either entirely to car traffic, or closed off two-lane roads into one-lane roads and changed some two-way roads into one-way roads to allow for more room for pedestrians and cyclists.

So, now that my company is supporting long-term (permanent) remote work, I have decided to put my condo up for rent in Denver and move to Chicago for a while. It's always been my home away from home, and I have tons of family there, so why not? Nothing against Denver, it's a great place, but the COI is getting high here, and I am not a hardcore outdoorsy or skiing guy.

Like I said earlier in this thread, there has to be tons of people all over the place thinking about making moves like this to live where they actually want to live, and not just where their "office" is at.

There is no life on my city. It’s also been raining constantly and 3 days since I left the apartment.

Can't you at least walk in a park or something?

I would go crazy if I didn't leave my apartment in a day, to say nothing of three.

In the spring and summer, yes. When I say it hasn’t stopped raining since Sunday, I mean it hasn’t stopped raining since Sunday.

I have my bike attached to a turbo trainer for exercise but that’s it.

Coronavirus sparks exodus of foreign-born people from UK

More than 1.3m may have left in past 12 months according to research that questions official data

https://www.ft.com/content/def33cfe-...8-d4fc42051f09


This country relies on EU nationals for the hospitality sector, not just because Brits don’t want the jobs but because they’re not as good at it. Without Italians, Spanish, French etc to staff restaurants (both front and back of house), London isn’t a liveable city. And now with Brexit having happened, most won’t return or be replaced by new ones.

Might be time to start looking for a place in Brooklyn. Guess I was here for peak London...

^ Times may be rough in the UK for many, but trust me, things are no better here in the U.S. And there has been a similar exodus of immigrants due to rising unemployment, though not sure it's to same scale as UK.

U.S. democracy has been approaching the abyss for awhile, even Britain looks comparatively stable.

It is impossible to schedule an appointment through Kroger for someone who is eligible starting Monday. Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Health Department have 1100 doses-combined. Kroger and Giant Eagle are it besides these two for the 1.3 million residents of Franklin County. Every time slot for some stores appears to be unavailable. There is no hotline number or coordinated response. They should have seen this coming-we have known for weeks it would be rolled out through local pharmacies. 3 different people trying to get info got 3 completely different responses from the pharmacy. lol.

This initial part of the general public rollout is turning out to be a sh#tshow. Prepare for the rest of it to be the same(what a surprise, huh?). Also good luck getting through any phone number, or getting any questions answered online either.

*everything has to be done online. Wtf?-we are talking about people 80 or over-as if they all have internet access or even computer literacy???There is no number to call, no hotline, other calls to customer service or the pharmacy get the same response-we don't know, do it online(which seems impossible as already stated). smh.

^ my wife’s parents in the US have all gotten their vaccines already. Even 80 year olds can use the internet, or have family that can help.

I know the situation in the US, and it is vastly better than here. Even the politics, below the surface, are better because the institutions are stronger and less subject to the whims of the current leadership.

Sorry but you are wrong. This is Ohio, and two other people(myself and someone else)have been helping him.

There is no ability in Ohio to get the vaccine right now if you are a member of the general public. It will not start here until Monday. They are opening vaccination up to only those 80 and up(he is 92)on that day-at least for residents of Franklin County(Columbus).

Before then it has only been provided to health care workers, first responders, and those in group care facilities or in nursing homes.

The situation here sucks. The CDC gives the states guidelines, and then it is up to each state to set up a way of giving the vaccinations.

Your parents must be in a state that has different guidelines. But it is what it is-it is up to each state.

It's worse in GA. We usually don't register worst nationwide in any metric but we are sucking wind big time with vaccine rollout. We have the lowest percentage of vaccine in arms of people anywhere in the country. I haven't heard a good explanation why yet.

yeah I saw that I think on CNN's site. I am surprised Ohio was not on the list of the worst, and not surprised that Ohio was [B]not[B] on the list of best-this is Ohio and all here lol.

I also need the vaccine as I am high risk, and will still have to quarantine except for essential needs until then.

Is there anywhere in the World where this vaccine rollout has gone well? smh.

Many states will run out of vaccine next week since the federal government apparently misled everyone about how much it has stockpiled.

Israel? I also hear that Greenland will have it's entire population vaccinated soon. Currently Greenland has closed ita borders and I'm watching with great interest as I'm trying to deploy an experiment there over the summer (was supposed to happen last year but you can guess how that went...)

Why am I not surprised? This is just pathetic and unconscionable IMO.
I really hope they can get some in here-the other person working to get my father scheduled was able to "pull some strings" and got him an appt. for Thursday-it does help to know the right people I guess. I just hope they have the vaccine there for him.

Last week I decided that I had had enough and booked an Airbnb in South Florida. We both got negative Covid test results 24 hours before our flight and arrived on Friday.

What a difference. Firstly the weather makes a lot more possible, but there is also some semblance of normal life here. Bars and restaurants and nowhere near as crowded as normal, but you can go to them, and interact with strangers, and generally engage in human activity. There is a midnight curfew that is generally enforced, but to be honest this is helpful given that I’m still working remotely with Europe. The gyms are open, and while any serious cardio with a mask is pretty intolerable (but you can do that outside), lifting weights is doable.

I feel much better being here after 3 months of winter lockdown in London where I was becoming homicidal (let alone suicidal).

And Florida is doing significantly better than England in terms of Covid deaths. Lockdowns don’t even work and the UK’s real problem is its crappy public health system and substandard nursing homes.

I felt the same damn way when I visited family during Christmas in Arkansas. It is amazing how normal things are, and the covid death rates are lower in AR than in IL. Coming back to Chicago seeing people wearing masks while walking around outside was comical.*

I am wearing a mask outside now because of the extreme cold lol

Pretty back to normal here in Sydney, pubs, restaurants and public areas are getting crowded again.

No cases in the community for 24 days now. Still required to wear a mask on public transport which is pretty irritating given it's the height of summer, but people getting pretty lax about that.

Not many masks anywhere else.

4.32 million people were vaccinated in Brazil, or 2.04% of total population. The main challenge is the lack of vaccines itself, as the country could manage to vaccinate 3 million people daily under normal circumstances.

235,000 people were killed by Covid in the country, and the daily death toll is once again above 1,000 for the past 21 days, the longest period since July.

The failures within the UK have little to do with the NHS or retirement homes, but piss poor decision making (the failure to close borders, sending infected hospital patients back into retirement homes, bodged track & trace, delayed and lax implementation of lockdowns, mask usage, etc…) and legacy issues such as unhealthy lifestyles.

Covid-19 doesn’t have legs, it needs people to proliferate. Flying across the Atlantic to socialise with strangers is not just irresponsible, it is flat out stupid. Florida has more sun and to-date it has a slightly lower death rate than the UK when accounting for population. However, the number of cases is not dropping anywhere near as fast as in the UK and the death rate in Florida has plateaued since mid-Jan. I suspect the divergence in trends could be partially explained by the differences in lockdowns.

If you’re lacking the mental strength to endure lockdown, perhaps you ought to be focused more on improving your fragile mental resilience rather than your quads or biceps.

The pandemic is having significant impacts on Surrey residents, businesses and the economy. GDP growth is a strong indicator of an economy’s continued growth. Disruptions in GDP growth rates can affect real estate markets. I am working in real estate market. Real Estate is badly affected by this pandemic.

You're not a responsible person.

You are mentally weak!

Sorry, are we supposed to accept 1 year of lockdowns, if so, why?

I've been on a steel prison before, a boat for 8 months. I did just fine, it made sense.

These lockdowns don't.

Deaths per million people as of yesterday
Arkansas 1714
Illinois 1726

The Chicago area got hit hard at the beginning of the pandemic and this was before it was known how to treat COVID-19. Also can you really compare largely rural Arkansas to Illinois with the compact city of Chicago making up 20% of the State's population and the Chicago area making up 60-70% of the state's population?

Take a chill pill man. I guess we’re just supposed to be confined to quarters forever until there is no rona anywhere; which ain’t ever going to happen.

If you’re so scared then you can stay in a closet for the rest of time I guess if it makes you feel better.

No kidding, I’m personally sick of the sanctimonious virtue signaling and shaming of anyone who doesn’t want to be confined to their house/apartment. Live your miserable life and let others enjoy theirs - if they want to go to a restaurant, work out in a gym, travel on a plane, etc they have that right.

I would imagine that the sanctimoniously virtuous are personally sick of the self-absorbed, entitled attitudes of those crowded into restaurants, gyms and planes.

Yes. Chicago is overwhelmingly using masks and their two shutdowns were way more strict than in Arkansas.

Using Media Logic, that means they were way safer and should have a lot less deaths per 100k.

The ones who insist on making the pandemic worse and longer-lasting? Yep.

Especially the ones who AT THE SAME TIME want to open things and only wear masks when forced.

What aren't you getting?

As was said before, at the beginning, before COVID was known how to treat Illinois - primarily the Chicago region, got hit hard and Arkansas didn't. Thousands of people died here in the Chicago area before it was known how to treat. Arkansas didn't get hit hard at first because to be blunt, who goes there? Some small town in the middle of Arkansas, which is the majority of the state, it is much more of a convoluted path for COVID to arrive then a city like Chicago. Your major city Little Rock is small and sparsely populated at 1600 people a square mile while much maligned suburban sprawl Schaumburg Illinois is 3700 people a square mile, then throw in Chicago.

True, you DON'T want to be Arkansas.

They're within 1% of Illinois in per capita death rate in total, but Arkansas' deaths are more recent on average. It was doing well (or got lucky) through summer, but they lost control.

Illinois has gotten their numbers much lower lately, with a far better trend.

Here's a point that must be obvious: If you have few infections to start with, the same policy/behavior might result in a similar trajectory but from a lower point, so the numbers will be lower. Even then, Arkansas screwed it up.

Not as badly as Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, or the Dakotas mind you, as those might be the worst in per capita deaths post-May, but not far off of those.

Illinois was one of the first states to mandate a strict lockdown. What are you not getting?

A strict lockdown saves lives, its the only way to stop Corona! Why didn't their strict lockdown work well?

Or maybe I just don’t want to spend a cold and rainy (or snowy) winter locked down in my London flat when I don’t have to?

The fact that so many in the UK (at least the media) are looking to Australia as an example to follow makes me question whether I ever want to go back for more than packing up my stuff.

And yes, the situation in the UK is largely a product of the poor state of the NHS and nursing homes. The reason that elderly people with Covid needed to be discharged to care homes is that “bed-blocking” is a longstanding problem in hospitals, and with the bed shortage exacerbated by Covid, they had to go somewhere. When they get to the care homes, of course, they are often older and smaller facilities that lack the physical ability to separate and isolate infected patients.

Btw, the free walk-up testing down here is really excellent. Once registered you get an email with a bar code, and you can just turn up and get a free PCR or rapid test whenever you want between 9am and 5pm.

The strict lockdown was after it was too late. Just because you lockdown doesn't mean that the current cases stop and people's infections go away and they are able to treat COVID. Masks were hard to come by at this time and essential businesses were still open. I am not advocating either way for a lockdown or not.

And just because, now, you see where you live in your part of Chicago you see a lot of mask wearing doesn't mean that mask wearing is adhered to in other parts of the city.

I spent all of December in Miami and I don't regret it one single bit. Flew biz class with points, got tested every single week, limited my social interactions, wore masks, but fuck...it was like going back to normal life again. City streets, restaurants, businesses, etc., seemed so much more vibrant and I didn't see any of the blight (boarded up store fronts, restaurants out of business, encampments) that is plaguing CA cities. It did wonders for my mental health. All the while they are somehow faring far better in terms of covid deaths and rates.

I'm pretty bitter how they're allowed to have a sense of normalcy and get on with life, whereas here in CA, we're basically living in the dark ages. Grateful outdoor dining is allowed now, but life seems far more depressing here.

It did work. On June 30, 2020, Florida had less than half the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths that Illinois did (Florida: 3,505 - Illinois: 7,124). As of February 11, 2021, Florida has registered over 6,000 more deaths than Illinois (Florida: 28,384 - Illinois: 21,985).

Put another way, since June 30, almost 25,000 people died in Florida of COVID, while only about 15,000 died of COVID in Illinois. And Florida's numbers might even be drastically undercounting the actual COVID casualties.

Good for you. Meanwhile LA's massive working class population is dying at an alarming rate and nobody is even picking up the damn bodies.

And it *is* absolutely tragic and I feel for that subset of the population. That said, if you had the resources to stay for free with a friend who lives in Miami for 5 weeks, could do it as safely as possible (worked remotely, didn't fly coach, got tested regularly, wore masks everywhere but when swimming, hung out with the same 4 people including my boyfriend the whole time, didn't party), I'm sure most people would've chosen the same. It was safer than me staying in my cramped apartment in central LA and being surrounded by covid everywhere. I cannot control the reality of LA's inherent socioeconomic disparities. I realize this is taboo to state, and I 100% acknowledge I was privileged to be able to get away. I'm just being honest about it, unlike many people who are being hypocritical.

Pretty much the same story here, minus being there for 5 weeks. I drove down for NYE just to get away, and the energy was completely different. Maybe it helped that the weather was amazing and you can go to the beach, be outside, etc. Flying back down for a week tomorrow to escape Hoth.....

I've been all over this city and in the burbs over the last three months, people are wearing masks.

So even with Illinois being so serious about covid and Florida not, Florida still did better or about the same as Illinois considering they have nearly double the population of Illinois.

Your numbers prove Florida is doing good.

If that's what you want to take away from it, I'm not going to change your mind.

No, I understand your point- basically Florida got lucky at first but then got worse as Illinois learned things and then started to improve, right?

My point is that Illinois is still doing worse than Florida since June.

I keep reading about these strict lockdowns in other blue states and I see them as counter-productive. Delaware has been a solid blue state for 20-25 years, but our Governor is pragmatic and knows that if you go too far with locking things down, people will resist even more. Being sensible and even-handed has worked here. We are no worse off than the other blue states that surround us, like Pennsylvania and Maryland among others. But we have been more open than other Northeast states, and people comply with the easier orders more readily. Once we came out of the lockdown in May, there was no closing back up. The closest that we got to another lockdown was a last call for bars and restaurants at 10 PM around the holidays. Now we are seemingly moving towards a permanent reopening, with 50% capacity for restaurants, churches, youth sports, schools, and so on. Allowing things to stay open at 30% capacity or more has made it easier to get people to follow the main rule in place to wear masks. I see masks on about 95% of people in restaurants, gyms, stores, and so on. People are allowed to live their lives. It doesn't sound like we're as open as Florida or Texas, but it isn't too far off. It is a far cry from places like Pennsylvania, where the backlash to state orders has been strong even in Democratic areas.

I could go on and on about how I think our Democratic governor has handled things well, with meaningful input from Republicans, for a cohesive and bipartisan effort to keep deaths and cases down, while also letting businesses stay open. There's been no instances of arbitrary measures here, like in other places where churches have 10% capacity but restaurants have 30% capacity, or where schools are closed despite negligible cases of kids passing the coronavirus to adults, or so on. I feel bad for people that live in these states with strong lockdowns, where businesses are slowly losing their grip and drowning, and relatively not many fewer people are dying for their forced sacrifices.

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https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/busin...91552c9e1b.png

Day 1 of a snap 5 day lockdown for all of Victoria, not just Melbourne. UK variant got out of hotel quarantine and there are 14 cases associated with the cluster so far - all close contacts of workers or recent residences in quarantine.

Brisbane did this last month, Perth earlier this month and now us - the common denominator is the UK strain and how it appears to spread faster.