UK or US: unavoidable covid travel edition

Post date: 2021-10-16 07:17:46

I'm in Italy, and need to leave for a few weeks for visa reasons (to avoid running out of my 90 days in the Shengen zone while paperwork sorts itself out). Covid-wise, is the UK a safe place to wait this out?

My wife and I have booked tickets to, and hotels in, London for the next few weeks (refundable/changeable). We also have a return flight to the US (NY or CA) we could use. We envisioned hopping to the UK as a quick, easy trip to reset while waiting on the paperwork in Italy. But covid-wise it suddenly looks absolutely terrible. The US doesn't look much better, frankly, but it's home and would be easier to manage & deal. We'd go to upstate NY/Berkshires or SF Bay Area, but the flights would be much, much longer.

We are paranoid, double-vaxxed 40-somethings, and wear masks indoors, full stop. We do not eat at restaurants indoors. The plan was to eat takeout and/or cook in a serviced hotel/apartment. But public transport and store visits are inevitable.

Are Londoners as casual about covid as it seems from news photos? It appears that on the tube and in stores few wears masks. As our trip approaches we are suddenly getting freaked out about apparent covid casualness. Various numbers look at their worst. Are UK people as unconcerned as they seem?

We have come this far, so far, safely - and in Italy people are religious about masking up inside (save restaurants, which we aren't doing) and the green pass restrictions, despite recent protests, are reassuring to have in place.

Sorry for wall of text - TL;DR :
London-dwellers - is the city a safe place to be right now or should we head back to the states?

*not interested in generalized speculation or discussion of visa issues in Italy.

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