Belgian here, the covid situation is being handled very poorly. The rules change frequently and are badly communicated, the three main regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) all have different set of rules and information is contradicting.<p>E.g Flanders: Schools are not a problem vs Wallonia: Schools are a problem.<p>It's frustrating to see.
Sweden and Belarus handled pandemic by not doing lockdowns. In Sweden for the last 3 months only 0-3 people a day die with covid-19. There is no second wave like in other European countries.
<a href="https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/se" rel="nofollow">https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/se</a>
Trump gets most of the attention, but this whole pandemic has laid plain how liberal republics have been hollowed out by neoliberalism over the past few decades. The capability for broad, fast, collective action has been all-but wiped out, even in the supposedly enlightened and well-run countries of Western Europe. The nations that defeated fascism are crippled by a far weaker threat.<p>I can't think of another liberal democracy besides NZ that has handled COVID well, and they are a small island country. It's embarrassing, because the response has been terrible on both purely financial and humanitarian levels.
It's obviously a bad sign if they are even thinking of resorting to this ... the 'second wave lockdowns' are a failure of leadership in most of the West.<p>The '1st wave' was understandable - crude measures in an emergency, fair enough.<p>But should have a much more nuanced understanding of the situation by now, and be able to focus on smart but clear policies.<p>There was a 'sweet spot' coming out of the lockdowns that would work well, but we moved past it, and how we're playing a game of 'back and forth'.<p>For example, we probably don't need lockdowns or curfews at all, they are a little totalitarian and probably do nothing but get people super mad.<p>We probably need to stop social gatherings of all kinds, limit social bubbles to nuclear units.<p>On TikTok I see way, way too much intermingling among especially young people who are unambiguously driving the second wave.<p>We also probably need to support our local businesses as we can and 'keep things moving' i.e. 'Remember to Get Takeout'.<p>In Canada Unis opened up, there were house parties, dorm parties, bars with drunk student <i>what the goddam hell were they thinking</i>? How about: nobody in your house/dorm unless they live there, 'outdoor beer gardens' only, limit 2 beers.
Have a 'dance party' in a big open parking lot to break the social malaise. Otherwise threaten <i>expel</i> students who break the established rules for putting other people's lives at risk.<p>We have almost stopped talking about 'isolation' and we have no support for it. In Taiwan, they send you home, show up at your door with masks, call you every day to check up on you. That kind of 'nudging' would be hugely impactful, it's also a form of tracing.
Things are going really badly Covid-wise throughout Europe right now, and there doesn't seem to be a plausible path to stopping it. Even lockdowns are increasingly politically and socially non-viable. I suspect it might not be obvious over in the US because the press only seems to run comparisons which make the US look like a unique failure due to Trump for election-related reasons. (Seriously. It was amazing watching, for example, the New York Times switch from downplaying the severity of Spain's outbreak compared to Florida to ignoring it to turning the country's politics into a Trump analogue once the disaster became undeniable - and if I recall correctly this was ostensibly news, not editorial. France looks like it could potentially end up reporting more cases than the <i>entire US</i> in the not-so-distant future, and I don't know how the press will cope with that.)
The infections are spiking but for example in Madrid the number of hospital beds with covid patients is holding steady at 19% (as of October 23). <a href="https://www.epdata.es/datos/evolucion-coronavirus-cada-comunidad/518/madrid/304" rel="nofollow">https://www.epdata.es/datos/evolucion-coronavirus-cada-comun...</a><p>So many people are getting ill but a lot less are ending up in hospital than March-April. I find the discussion about number of cases to be a distraction.