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Did not return to Ajijic this year


CalgaryBoy

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We are also stuck here in Oklahoma.  Travel to Chapala is usually in October, but this year may try and get the new vaccine before we come.  Probably in February.  Wife has green card so we like to spend our time divided among the two countries. 

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1 hour ago, dichosalocura said:

Apparently mostly Americans are still coming down but not so many Canadians according to this article.

The Canadian government's approach to COVID has been quite different from the US. While Canada has its share of anti-maskers and young people ignoring large gathering rules, on a whole, I see Canadians in general more informed about the virus and less willing to take risks with their health. Canada also has socialized medicine, so Canadians staying put means they know they'll get care if they do get the virus, without having to sell their home to pay for it.

I have an Airbnb listing for a private room in my home (closed since March due to COVID) so I read a lot of posts on Airbnb hosting forums, where I get quite a dose of seeing the varying attitudes from all over the world. I'm blown away by how many American Airbnb hosts still don't seem to "get it" after 10 months of this pandemic. There are hosts from the US concerned about accepting guests from other countries which have high numbers of infections, while seemingly oblivious to the fact that their state has more infections and deaths than that foreign guest's entire country. That they run a greater risk going to the grocery store in their own US city than they do from dealing with one foreign guest or that anyone at all could be carrying the virus is a concept that seems to elude them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A few years back I studied staph, strep, and hospital aquired illness, and how to prevent it.  Since that time, my wife and I have worn masks and used bleach wipes on all airplanes, long before covid 19.  So feeling comfortable with the proper prcedures to protect oneself from virus's, we have been even more proactive with protecting ourselves against covid 19.  Why, because it can cause long term damage to ones body.  It all depends on one's DNA make up, as to how your body will react.  That is why healthy 30 year olds die from this virus, but some 90 year olds survive.

So, using proper PPE, and suggested protocols, we have been protecting ourselves, and everyone else.  Have we been isolated in our house, absolutly not. We have been to Mexico, Hawaii, Lake Stevens Washington, Monterey California, the Olympic Penesula, McCall Idaho, Phoenix Arizona, and currently enjoying my third week in Florida.

But, you have to be educated in virus transmission protocols.  And be aware of your surroundings, and not let your guard down.

But should we get unlucky, and catch it, we would not want to deal with the Mexican health system.  And that is why our house in Mexico sits empty.

This virus only needs you to let your guard down, once.

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1 hour ago, Referdude said:

A few years back I studied staph, strep, and hospital aquired illness, and how to prevent it.  Since that time, my wife and I have worn masks and used bleach wipes on all airplanes, long before covid 19.  So feeling comfortable with the proper prcedures to protect oneself from virus's, we have been even more proactive with protecting ourselves against covid 19.  Why, because it can cause long term damage to ones body.  It all depends on one's DNA make up, as to how your body will react.  That is why healthy 30 year olds die from this virus, but some 90 year olds survive.

So, using proper PPE, and suggested protocols, we have been protecting ourselves, and everyone else.  Have we been isolated in our house, absolutly not. We have been to Mexico, Hawaii, Lake Stevens Washington, Monterey California, the Olympic Penesula, McCall Idaho, Phoenix Arizona, and currently enjoying my third week in Florida.

But, you have to be educated in virus transmission protocols.  And be aware of your surroundings, and not let your guard down.

 

This virus only needs you to let your guard down, once.

Rational post! In addition to using the same protocols, I trust my doctors here implicitly to keep me alive and they are all Mexican.

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15 hours ago, Referdude said:

But should we get unlucky, and catch it, we would not want to deal with the Mexican health system.

We are very happy with the Mexican health care here. We are originally from New York.

 

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On 12/15/2020 at 10:54 PM, mudgirl said:

The Canadian government's approach to COVID has been quite different from the US. While Canada has its share of anti-maskers and young people ignoring large gathering rules, on a whole, I see Canadians in general more informed about the virus and less willing to take risks with their health. Canada also has socialized medicine, so Canadians staying put means they know they'll get care if they do get the virus, without having to sell their home to pay for it.

I have an Airbnb listing for a private room in my home (closed since March due to COVID) so I read a lot of posts on Airbnb hosting forums, where I get quite a dose of seeing the varying attitudes from all over the world. I'm blown away by how many American Airbnb hosts still don't seem to "get it" after 10 months of this pandemic. There are hosts from the US concerned about accepting guests from other countries which have high numbers of infections, while seemingly oblivious to the fact that their state has more infections and deaths than that foreign guest's entire country. That they run a greater risk going to the grocery store in their own US city than they do from dealing with one foreign guest or that anyone at all could be carrying the virus is a concept that seems to elude them.

🤢🙄🤮 Put the shoe on the other foot and try reading this claptrap.

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5 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

As a response to yet another off topic anti-American rant, yep.  Not to mention tiresome.

 

I think it is a valid comparison and not intended to be anti-American in any way.   

Having been in Florida this week due to a family urgency, we observed far too many individuals flagrantly ignoring and flouting mask and / or distancing rules.      Walmarts with big signs saying "masks mandatory on all shoppers" had close to 50% unmasked walking around in them.    You literally felt like running out the door....certainly would not go back again.     We asked 3 employees about it and the response was, "yes, we know".      Canada is far from perfect as Mudgirl says, but way, way better than this....even in "conservative" areas, there is a very high level of compliance and masks are not and have not been made into a political tool.

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The problem with comparing the USA to other countries is the system of government is vastly different. In the USA the state governments hold the power.  The state governments set the rules.  So while California is in "total lockdown" , Florida is upen and running. 

New Jersey has a death rate of 205 per 100k still basically locked down  while Florida has been open for months and has a  death rate of 96 per 100K. There are no sure answers.  

What this pandemic has proven to us once again is that personal responsibility is the key in life, not depending on the government to take care of you.  

As one American president once said  "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

 

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38 minutes ago, Mostlylost said:

The problem with comparing the USA to other countries is the system of government is vastly different. In the USA the state governments hold the power.  The state governments set the rules.  So while California is in "total lockdown" , Florida is upen and running. 

New Jersey has a death rate of 205 per 100k still basically locked down  while Florida has been open for months and has a  death rate of 96 per 100K. There are no sure answers.  

What this pandemic has proven to us once again is that personal responsibility is the key in life, not depending on the government to take care of you.  

As one American president once said  "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

 

That pesky 10th Amendment...it confounds many who think they are wiser than the "common man".

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

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2 hours ago, Mostlylost said:

The problem with comparing the USA to other countries is the system of government is vastly different. In the USA the state governments hold the power.  The state governments set the rules.  So while California is in "total lockdown" , Florida is upen and running. 

New Jersey has a death rate of 205 per 100k still basically locked down  while Florida has been open for months and has a  death rate of 96 per 100K. There are no sure answers.  

What this pandemic has proven to us once again is that personal responsibility is the key in life, not depending on the government to take care of you.  

As one American president once said  "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

 

Exactly right.  There are over 20,000 governments in the U.S. many if not most have some involvement with this issue.  Canada has 10 percent of the population of the U.S.  This is one of those apples and oranges comparisons.

As for the topic, I would note that the expat community here has done a great job of largely avoiding covid for over 10 months now and it certainly helps that our environment is warm, sunny and replete with fresh air and opportunity for all of these without a lot of close contact with others.  Covid is a type of flu and flu always gets worse in the winter in cold places where people are much more confined indoors.  Florida probably offers a similar benefit.

IMHO one is far better off here than in the cold north.  My wife and I are sure happy we are here rather than there.  

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On 12/25/2020 at 9:09 AM, Referdude said:

But should we get unlucky, and catch it, we would not want to deal with the Mexican health system.  And that is why our house in Mexico sits empty.

Canadian here. 

We obtained subscription travel insurance that includes COVID coverage (SafetyWing / Nomad Insurance, I love their monthly autorenew without needing to call in to extend insurance if we stay an extra month!), and decided to snowbird this year (3 months).

The higher tier health care in the region (Jocopotec-Ajijic-Chapala) is okay from what we heard from our friends -- Although I generally like the Canadian socialized health system better, the upgraded private care around here compensates if you spring the bit extra (and have insurance). From what we know from our friends, there are some really nice hospitals near here which currently aren't full.

The R value locally isn't bad as our area in Canada.  Part of this is the summerlike weather even in winter, with the strong sun killing the virii faster, and the dry weather giving shorter lifetimes to covid on surfaces (from scientific studies). 

We take precautions, wear out masks outdoors, and keep our social circles small.  Also, it's nice that People here seem to be complying more with mask laws here than back in Ontario, Canada (yes, yes, both spotty record, but compliance % seems higher here at the moment -- when you really compare a lot of iffy parts of Ontario with Ajijic area). 

Also, they even have a wear-mask-outdoors law here at the moment. We monitored for superspreader events and they just don't seem to occur in this specific area of Mexico, and fewer % of our friends in Ajijic caught it over the same time as % of our friends in Ontario, so we have judged that the risks are okay.

In our 2 weeks here we almost never saw an unmasked individual indoors, although there were a few aberrations -- but far less than our city in Canada.  Although the outdoor-mask-law compliance was maybe 75%, my areas in Canada does not even have an outdoor mask law!

We paid for AeroMexico Business class flights (cheap this year -- about 500-600 CAD for the big seats up front) and spent time in the lounges away from airport crowds, so that helped make the flights feel safer.  Although airports are certainly not fun places to be in COVID...the lounge compensated!   I absolutely loved that I could haul 200 pounds of luggage at no extra charge (140lbs of checked in 2x70lbs, plus remainder in carryon + "personal item" + my pockets), and go in VIP lounges.  Fly your first leg of two early as possible, even redeye, for uncrowded flight + uncrowded airport that's been freshly janitored + bypass horrendously long Customs lineups to merely tolerably-long lineups.  Even if your connection is longer (compensated by spending extra time in a 75% empty VIP lounge with free beer).  Unlimited free barista lattes + unlimited free beer.  This was the first time I intentionally paid for business/first class!   Normally I see 'em for four figures for first class, but considering economy + addon fees for extra suitcases, it's as if the business class flight was the same cost as economy + extra fees!.   With a free VIP lounge thrown in with all the lattes I can dream to drink.  This helped me bring lots of stuff from Canada for our first-ever true snowbird trip to store in our 2-year lease.

Testing coverage in MX is pretty poor though which leads to a higher-than-real death rate statistic making Mexico seem dangerous when you look at the death rate statistic.  However, reading between the lines regionally AND healthcare-tierwise AND testing coverage math compensation (which shifts death rates up/down, since low test rates means death rates are artificially biased higher) -- when filtering out the dense areas (Mexico City, Gualadajara, etc) combined with the higher tier care -- the reality the death rates are much more similar and statistically safer when all the aberrant data is filtered out. 

I think it's currently (approximately) a wash or temporarily better in this region given the ICU beds are full in Ontario but not full in Ajijic area.

Yes.  We could certainly be wrong.  But we have decided that it's better stay-at-home in our Ajijic home, than stay-at-home in Canada.   Just be strategic about it.

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6 hours ago, Mostlylost said:

The problem with comparing the USA to other countries is the system of government is vastly different. In the USA the state governments hold the power.  The state governments set the rules.

Inform yourself. Canadian provinces have each been setting their own COVID directives.

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