OP here. I am stuck in the UK even though I have US insurance I am just too worried to fly. With respiratory issues that I have I am thinking of staying put where I am.

Anonymous wrote:US. I'm in the UK and it can't be worse. I went to two groceries yesterday and there was almost nothing, and this is London. People are panicked. Boris Johnson, the fox-hunt supporting toff, is fine with the little people taking a hit to achieve 'herd immunity.' We are so densely populated here, and this morning my colleagues and I agreed that yes, we are all going to get it. I just hope my case is mild.

I’m in London and my local grocery stores are picked over, but not bare. And my ocado regulars are still coming, though I have to book a bit further in advance.

We currently would not have insurance if we came back to the US as our current UK plan doesn’t out of country expenses in a pandemic, so we are better off here. We are feeling envious of our US friends in suburban houses and big yards.

One thing that I do appreciate the U.K. doing is trying to manufacture more ventilators and respirators. Hopefully it will be enough.

I'm British, living in DC now. If I had to pick between only these two places (I'm from London so that's where I'd be, not in the countryside or anything), I'd pick here. The President is mad, but at least it's not entirely up to him and the DC mayor has decided to close things, schools are closed, etc. Speaking to friends/family in London, it's a crazy mix of people being absolutely terrified and people just going about their lives as usual. Meanwhile one of my friends who has some of the symptoms and feels unwell has waited 3 hours to call the hotline (the only way you can currently get to a hospital unless it's an emergency), now she is waiting for a call back from a nurse, and she'll then be told either to stay home or come to the hospital. If she does go to hospital, she'd only get a test if she ends up in the ICU. Not sure the testing is much better here though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um....can I pick South Korea instead?

So how does S Korea have so many test kits available anyway- are they manufacturing themselves?

This explains it well
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-04/south-korea-tests-hundreds-of-thousands-to-fight-virus-outbreak

This article also great in describing what other measures they put in place right away to curb the spread
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-south-korea-scaled-coronavirus-testing-while-the-us-fell-dangerously-behind

From the second article "The quick fielding of a widely available test gave South Korea a key advantage in fighting the spread of the disease, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “They used the WHO test, so they had a test that was validated early on. Then, they made a simple decision: Test as many people as possible. They organized themselves to get specimens and then made sure they had a very high throughput in the labs.”

He added, “This was crucial to figuring out where the infection was and where it was not, and then they used this knowledge to direct their public health efforts.”

What they did with that data, to contain the disease, could inform a science fiction movie. Beginning in February, the government posted the precise movements (without names) of everyone who tested positive — everything from the seat numbers they occupied in movie theaters to the restaurants where they stopped for lunch. The government obtained the information from cellphone records, credit card receipts and other private data it is authorized to collect in a health emergency. Other Asian democracies have taken comparably intrusive steps in the name of public health. Hong Kong has tracked some high-risk people under quarantine with wristbands.

Kwon acknowledged in his email that the posting of the information was a “double edged sword” that raised public anxiety about where they could safely go. “However, we believed that if the government did not post extensive details about infected people on social media, COVID-19 would have spread even more quickly.”

Anonymous wrote:Um....can I pick South Korea instead?

So how does S Korea have so many test kits available anyway- are they manufacturing themselves?

Um....can I pick South Korea instead?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canada

You cannot beat Canada.

Canada doesn’t have enough tests and no plan. Trudeau said nothing until his wife was diagnosed. He is getting lots of heat for it. They are woefully unprepared too.

Canadian here. I am not a fan of Trudeau usually, and have never voted for his party, I think he has made some mistakes (like not closing the border to US citizens), but he certainly was talking about it prior his wife being diagnosed. She also met all the criteria for getting test.

My boss had the same criteria (out of country travel and symptoms) and was tested and accessed, and does not have it. We certainly aren't testing everyone like you here about in South Korea, but at this point testing is available.

Healthcare is also a provincial responsibility in Canada. I have to say I am not at all a fan of the Premiere of Ontario Doug Ford, but he does seem to be listening to experts and taking the appropriate measures.

My source is only Twitter, but apparently the Province of Ontario (population 14.5 M) has tested more people than the entire United States.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US. I'm in the UK and it can't be worse. I went to two groceries yesterday and there was almost nothing, and this is London. People are panicked. Boris Johnson, the fox-hunt supporting toff, is fine with the little people taking a hit to achieve 'herd immunity.' We are so densely populated here, and this morning my colleagues and I agreed that yes, we are all going to get it. I just hope my case is mild.

Critics are calling the herd immunity plan a cull the herd strategy.

you are in the UK and you think someplace (e.g. US) is better. Would you fly there now?Or stay put ?

Flying anywhere is a bad idea

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:US. I'm in the UK and it can't be worse. I went to two groceries yesterday and there was almost nothing, and this is London. People are panicked. Boris Johnson, the fox-hunt supporting toff, is fine with the little people taking a hit to achieve 'herd immunity.' We are so densely populated here, and this morning my colleagues and I agreed that yes, we are all going to get it. I just hope my case is mild.

Critics are calling the herd immunity plan a cull the herd strategy.

you are in the UK and you think someplace (e.g. US) is better. Would you fly there now?Or stay put ?

Anonymous wrote:I can tell some people don't like Boris Johnson but he is following NHS advice to the last letter and has always been upfront about the dangers of the virus and possibilities of rapid change (and things have changed - as late today's orders came in).

You can disagree with Johnson but you're also disagreeing with the NHS official advice. Trying to bring in politics with pointless references to silly caricatures is silly. It's a time of national crisis and sensible people know no one is going to get the perfect response, ie no deaths and no economic damage. The Tories jumped in the polls today, which shows the public understanding and approval.

My understanding is that the NHS playbook is based on H1N1, which was far less infectious, had a lower death rate, and resulted in far less need for ICU beds.

I can tell some people don't like Boris Johnson but he is following NHS advice to the last letter and has always been upfront about the dangers of the virus and possibilities of rapid change (and things have changed - as late today's orders came in).

You can disagree with Johnson but you're also disagreeing with the NHS official advice. Trying to bring in politics with pointless references to silly caricatures is silly. It's a time of national crisis and sensible people know no one is going to get the perfect response, ie no deaths and no economic damage. The Tories jumped in the polls today, which shows the public understanding and approval.

Anonymous wrote:nobody was prepared for this except for some asian countries that dealt with SARS. no country is going to have 10000000s of empty beds and nurses and billions of extra masks and ventilators just in case. i mean, from now on maybe they will.

Yes. The best prepared were countries that learned from SARS and MERS. Korea’s rapid test system and hotlines were put in place after MERS

Anonymous wrote:US. I'm in the UK and it can't be worse. I went to two groceries yesterday and there was almost nothing, and this is London. People are panicked. Boris Johnson, the fox-hunt supporting toff, is fine with the little people taking a hit to achieve 'herd immunity.' We are so densely populated here, and this morning my colleagues and I agreed that yes, we are all going to get it. I just hope my case is mild.

Critics are calling the herd immunity plan a cull the herd strategy.

nobody was prepared for this except for some asian countries that dealt with SARS. no country is going to have 10000000s of empty beds and nurses and billions of extra masks and ventilators just in case. i mean, from now on maybe they will.

Pp. My Canadian friends, including doctors, are terrified because of the lack of preparedness.