Over in the
Kids say the darnedest things thread, Jay said:
It's also helped that Canberra has experienced so little direct effect from the virus - it's nearly 11 weeks since the last case was recorded, a few months since the last death - and the preventive measures are pretty mild. Here's hoping we can keep this up until a vaccine arrives.
That's looking like an attractive refuge as we slowly become Amerika. My state alone recorded nearly 1,200 new cases just today. My brother's eldest daughter turned 13 today. I talked to him recently. They're coping by doing a lot of outdoor activities that lets them keep distance.
Replying here to avoid derailing the other thread further.
It's interesting to compare the US response to that just north in Canada.
Here in Ontario, Canada there is a lot of concern over 400+ cases a day, and officials are actually doing something about it. The most interesting thing is Premier Ford, who when elected was compared a lot to Trump (he got only 40% of the vote, and was deeply unpopular). However, unlike Trump he took the pandemic seriously and has (mostly) redeemed himself in that area. He's even called anti-maskers idiots.
At all levels, politicians have been listening to domain experts and implementing their advice, including the opposition parties at all levels. There has been some fighting of late, particularly with the federal Conservative party, to the point that a fall election is a possibility, though. Looks like we will be spared that, fortunately.
There was an article in the Toronto Star newspaper (well, online) that I read recently about a person's experience crossing the Canada/US border in both directions (he's a dual citizen with a home in the US, but apparently needed to get belongings from Canada). The contrast was marked: going into Canada the single agent was masked, and he was asked many question about COVID-19. He only needed to remove his mask briefly to verify his identity. Once in Canada, he was required to self-isolate for 14 days - and they followed up on that not only with automated calls, but with a live person calling to check.
By contrast, on returning to the US, there were multiple border agents,
none of whom were masked, and their main concern was about the goods he was bringing into the country. I don't recall if the article mentioned any self-isolation requirement; I suspect not.
This, in a nutshell, is why Canada, while not good, is not in the alarming state the US is - and personally, I lay most of the blame for that on Trump (who wants the border reopened soon - most Canadians, I believe, most emphatically do
not).
Aside: My older son is in Halifax, Nova Scotia; they're nearly back to normal. It's a nice city, if you are seriously looking to emigrate that would be a good place to consider.
