‘Take back life’: More nations ease coronavirus restrictions

“Late-night disco partying. Elbow-to-elbow seating in movie theaters. Mask-free baring of faces in public, especially in Europe and North America: Bit by bit, many countries that have been hard-hit by the coronavirus are opening up and easing their tough, and often unpopular, restrictive measures aimed to fight COVID-19 even as the omicron variant — deemed less severe — has caused cases to skyrocket.

The early moves to relax such restrictions evoke a new turning point in a nearly two-year pandemic that has been full of them.

Omicron, the Geneva-based World Health Organization says, has fueled more cases — 90 million — in the world over the last 10 weeks than during all of 2020, the outbreak’s first full year. WHO acknowledges some countries can judiciously consider easing the rules if they boast high immunity rates, strong health care systems and favorable epidemiological curves.

Omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, according to studies. Omicron spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.”

“Britain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and several Nordic countries have taken steps to end or ease their COVID-19 restrictions.

Last week, England ended almost all domestic restrictions: Masks aren’t required in public and vaccine passes are no longer needed to get into events or other public venues, while the work-from-home order has been lifted. One lingering condition: Those who test positive still have to self-isolate.

On Tuesday, Norway lifted its ban on serving alcohol after 11 p.m. and the cap on private gatherings to no more than 10 people. Travelers arriving at the border no longer will be required to take a COVID-19 test before entry. People can sit elbow-to-elbow again at events with fixed seating, and sports events can take place as they did in pre-pandemic times.

“Now it’s time for us to take back our everyday life,” Norwegian Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol said Tuesday. “Tonight, we scrap most measures so we can be closer to living a normal life.””

Comment: But, COVID mania still rules in the US, something like tulip madness long ago. pl

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-pandemics-united-nations-ca046d38f7e78ad7150a0a8d95d81433

This entry was posted in government, Health Care. Bookmark the permalink.

30 Responses to ‘Take back life’: More nations ease coronavirus restrictions

  1. jld says:

    I have seen passing infos that Omicron was also an “engineered” virus, i.e. cannot be a natural mutation of previous strains (too many concurrent mutations of the spike), if this is true that is “interesting” to say the least…

  2. Barbara Ann says:

    Threat over, back to new normal. Great, I look forward to seeing all the ‘vaccine’ mandates & ‘health’ passes in the states that have implemented them & worldwide being repealed very soon. After all, this was all about our health, no?

    I expect Le petit Justin will be keen to lead the way, you know, because he’s so into “freedom to do what you want with your body” and all.

    • Fred says:

      Barbara Ann,

      I look forward to all the reports of side effects making the news. Now they only need to be blamed on Trump.

  3. Deap says:

    Excessive PPE waste is now a major a global environmental hazard – for items now shown to provide only symbolic value and virtually zero infection protection:

    https://www.breitbart.com/environment/2022/02/02/w-h-o-surprised-dismayed-as-medical-waste-builds-across-the-globe/

    Biden sends out one free face mask to 350 million American – multiply that times 365 days.

    What kind of “environmental” message does that send, when a few years ago you could go to jail in my town if you did not provide paper straws to protect plastic straws from getting trapped in turtle’s noses.

    • Fred says:

      Deap,

      This is the same hype the left has pushed for years. Medical waste, of course not or we would have labeled it that from day 1, as many pointed out on day one. Global hazard to the environment; just like the plastics flowing out of Asian and African rivers. Let them get their act together, and do it without our money.

  4. AK says:

    COVID mania still persists here because there is still a critical mass of garbage elites who see it as their only lifeline to power (politicians) and relevance (media and entertainers—lookin’ at you Neil Young, et al.). And there are still enough easily spooked automatons who’d rather face a pretend existential crisis from the safety and comfort of their homes than venture out into the world and actually find and overcome a real one. Thus has it been since the beginning of this fiasco.

    Interesting aside: a Johns Hopkins study released today concluded what everyone with any common sense knew from the beginning—Lockdowns were a pointless, self-inflicted disaster.
    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/johns-hopkins-analysis-lockdowns-should-be-rejected-out-of-hand/

    I wait with baited breath for all the mea culpas that are surely forthcoming from our aforementioned garbage elites.

  5. tedrichard says:

    like any self respecting horror movie unless the bloody bodies keep piling up the audience gets bored and the audience at least those whose brain is still capable of critical thinking have gotten bored with the covid soap opera.

    for those still drunk on the coolaid sadly there is no cure but more time and social embarrassment for looking like fools and for some the cognitive dissonance will be too much to ever accept the truth they got hustled.

  6. walrus says:

    AK, the study distinguishes between Government ordered lockdowns and actual “lockdown- like” behaviour by people acting on their own. It says nothing about the effectiveness of individual protective behaviour – masks, hand washing, etc. It focuses on Government mandated behaviour.

    It now appears that some part of our own lockdowns in Victoria, Australia- we hold the record for the longest lockdown:( may NOT have been ordered on medical advice but were instead politically motivated. If so and considering the harm they have done, the government will be toast at the next election.

    • AK says:

      Walrus,

      I have no issue with people making personal choices to wear seventeen masks if they wish. Not my business. If they wish to stay in their homes and have every last necessity of life dropped at their doorsteps, so be it. Plenty of people lived like that before the pandemic. They were called recluses, hermits, and shut-ins.

      What I find absolutely reprehensible is that such people expect one and all to adopt their behavior. It’s even worse now that we have a significant body of evidence that indicates such measures never worked anyway. Drip, drip, drip…the “experts” are gradually being forced to admit it. But still, so many in the general public cling to the safety-ism narrative. They know no other way.

      As for your distinguishing government mandated behavior from personal choice, didn’t this government mandated behavior, in a crucial way, require the widespread compliance and consent of the governed? My underlying point is that too much of the American electorate are personally attached to extreme COVID policy, for whatever reasons. And in many states and localities in the U.S., their elected officials have yet to, and likely will not, feel the pain at the ballot box.

      My former state of residence, Oregon, just instituted permanent mask mandates for K-12 school children. Of course, they want to make sure you know that “permanent” doesn’t mean “forever.” This is the official line from the powers that be. The blatantly Orwellian manipulation here is simply jaw-dropping. IMO, there is no other way to describe this than as criminally insane.

      https://news.yahoo.com/oregon-makes-masks-schools-rules-014708495.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAmPW3AEiH4Uwrb0ymhAytBrWd3dgLgaf84s-XnZRoMySscGlPQRTBcaNNj4uTjqIf7Kp4Pt5xubMk_XTlVj18mpkD2ZlUty5K8HTVurEh5f9dXxNSSP_0FOKms1lx1FAtvhqHdoo-5Td6Rt9RCGJ8RCsvXTNG-NyVzXhLvV-EyT

      Of course, when words don’t actually mean what they mean, these people can absolve themselves of any and all responsibility. Too many voters in these places are willing to accommodate them. In a place like Oregon, the ghouls who do this know full well that they will always enjoy enough support of a compliant public to keep pushing the limits, no matter what. There are hardy folks in the country out there, but they are far outnumbered by the spiritually pathetic creatures in the cities. I do believe a great many of those people would surrender their children to the state if it was demanded of them, for no reason other than that the state said so.

      To your last point, I almost feel a bit sad for the people who thought that these measures were not primarily about politics. That was patently obvious from the start. If one stopped for just a moment to ponder how a cynical politician could use the pandemic to his/her political advantage, it didn’t take a Machiavelli to see the near infinite and obvious possibilities. Further, if one were under the delusion that most politicians are immune to such temptation and would never exploit such a tragedy/crisis/emergency for such ends…well, there’s little that can be said or done to disabuse someone of that level of naiveté.

      We moved to Florida because it’s run by one of the very few politicians in the country who seems to be operating by common sense. Things are great here. My five-year old son gets to be a normal kid with other normal kids, seeing smiles, laughing, and hugging his friends every day. Out in public, some people wear masks, most don’t. Everyone respects everyone else’s choice and goes about their day behaving as American citizens with the freedom to exercise their own tolerance for risk. From what my neighbors tell me, they’ve pretty much been doing it this way since the beginning.

    • Fred says:

      walrus,

      You mean that “science” you’ve been talking about for months was all politics? I look forward to the apology post.

    • Mal says:

      I’ll bet the farm they elect the government they deserve……did last time, oh, and the time before that….and…….the only thing that changes are the transit numbers and the new pockets getting stuffed.

      Cheers Mal

  7. Claudius says:

    The WuFlu unlocked the door to mail-in voting, thus the last election was easily rigged by flooding key districts with unchallenged mail in votes. Anything to get rid of Trump!
    Watch the DC establishment, both Demsheviks and GOPe, struggle to keep the WuFlu threat alive, no matter what, so that this stunt can be repeated to keep the unwashed away from power.
    WuFlu, last minute indictments for loitering with intent to commit mopery, unauthorized consumption of urinal cakes, IRS audits, you name it, full on lawfare to prevent any change.
    Trump cost them money. He embarrassed the Bush family. His supporters didn’t go to Ivy League schools. They must be shut out!

  8. Sam says:

    The covidian hysteria should never have happened. The CDC with their multi-billion dollar annual budget had a pandemic response plan that they threw out the window. Public Health 101 was thrown out the window. The corporate media and Big Tech amped up the hysteria. The Science colluded to obfuscate, bury and mislead on the man-made origins. Instead we got a hapless Trump and Dr. The Science Fauci straight from central casting in Dr. Strangelove. What did they give us? At best a prophylactic marketed as a vaccine with unknown future side-effects and mandated. Lockdown that didn’t flatten any curve but flattened the poor, the working class and those with chronic disease that needed treatment and most significantly kids in schools. It also unmasked and unleashed all the authoritarians in our society from the political leadership to the bureaucrats and not least all the Karens and Kens amongst us. We should never forget who these people were. Even those among our neighbors and friends and families and co-workers. They’ll be in the vanguard of those consigning the minority who stood for common sense and fundamental liberty to the gulag.

    John Hopkin’s Study on Lockdowns proved an already known Science that they offered No Remedy

    The question is:
    Why did the U.S. follow CCP in Lockdown procedures Even when Dr. Fauci originally said it was Against all epidemiological Science?

    Why did Dr. Fauci Change his Mind?

    https://twitter.com/lawyer4laws/status/1488885146245812240?s=21

    Yes. Why indeed? Why did we follow the totalitarian CCP’s model? IMO, because those in power are equally totalitarian.

    We should hold all the totalitarians to account. They should not get away. They’ll be back on the back of another faux emergency.

  9. Sam says:

    The Fauci/Collins playbook to create a false impression of scientific consensus on COVID policy (used on lab-leak, lockdowns & early treatment):
    1. Call scientists who disagree “fringe”
    2. Deploy big tech misinformation hordes to suppress opposing thoughts [1/2]

    https://twitter.com/drjbhattacharya/status/1489040960428204035?s=21

    Excellent thread by Dr. Jay Battacharya at Stanford. This man deserves credit for risking his reputation and career and standing up to Fauci/Collins direct attacks and the cancel hordes in both corporate and Big Tech media. In the Annals of Courage during the covidian power grab he will have his name inscribed.

  10. Babeltuap says:

    Open border with 100’s of thousands entering unchecked while citizens are in their homes locked down watching them enter on TV with everyone chanting, “two more weeks” and “flatten the curve.” Point this fact out to them and they look at you like you think Elvis is still alive living in a trailer park in Reno..meh.

    My favorite though is asking them if masks truly worked why didn’t the CDC recommend them during the height of flu season for decades. I get dead silence. I just go with that one and skip all the studies on masks spanning over a decade that determined they do not work or not enough to matter because they won’t bother reading them.

  11. TV says:

    In the US a nation of uninformed, badly-educated and immature sheep is easily stampeded by power-hungry politicians and a willing agenda-driven media.
    This populace, after all, voted against “mean tweets” in favor of a demented corrupt career politician who has shown himself to be……a corrupt career politician with dementia.
    People get the government they deserve.

  12. Jim says:

    “My problems are all fabricated”

    The story of Emily Skala, principal flute at Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 1988.

    Fired in August, for posting online the dangers of covid shots.

    https://www.wcbm.com/2021/09/02/sean-casey-interviews-emily-skala-who-was-abruptly-fired-by-the-baltimore-symphony-orchestra-video/

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/04/baltimore-symphony-orchestra-flutist-fired

    https://slippedisc.com/2021/08/exclusive-emily-skala-hits-back/

    All the big media stories about this lied to their readers, and worse, talked as if she had done something wrong. . . the narrative.

    The executioners.

    Having studied classical music and being accepted into a top conservatory out of high school, I can attest to the need to practice four and more hours every day to perform at the level great musicians such as Ms. Skala do. I was never a great musician.

    And she got sacked.

    For no reason.

    A friend of mine in Mass., also a flutist, early 60s, lost her teaching job at a Boston music academy, for not getting the shots. She was desperate and bought a fake passport; she got caught but was not arrested, thankfully. She has been denied work since last year, due to the new Nurse Ratched ‘normal’. One of millions of victims of derangement and evil and intentional sadism perpetrated by Daszak, Fauci, Collins, Walensky, Biden, Gates, et. al. . . and I would add, every last member of the US House, save perhaps Rep. Massie, and 99 in the Senate, save for Johnson. And so on and so forth. Mass Nuerosis deployed on us. Mega Billions for them.

    My brother, a logger, contracted the virus last year from a now ex-friend, that was fully “vaccinated”. . . who purposely coughed on him.

    My industrial arts teacher from high school, fully Vac’d, dead of covid pneumonia.

    My mother, who had contracted the virus and recovered, placed in a NH nursing home; my sister unbeknown to me, had her vaxxed–and she died of heart disease. I discovered this shortly after her death last fall, after obtaining her death certificate.

    According to US Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, Marine Major Joseph Murphy says SARS CoV-2 is actually or may be: a bat virus! — called SARSr CoV-WIV [WIV=Wuhan Institute of Virology].

    That this bat virus, that escaped in August 2019 during research and testing this bat virus; and that the EcoHealth/Peter Daszak business that got the $14M grant [from NIH?] did not stop this aerosolized spraying of bats, to vaccinate them, until April 2020.

    Murphy in Aug. & Sept. 2021 said IVT and Hydroxy are only cures; that the mRNA shots either harm people, particularly elderly and those with other ailments; and/or the mRNA shots give them the virus. That mRNA shots contain the same dangerous spike protein as the bat virus, that escaped, that created the “pandemic” and therefore military must “abort” plans to vac US military, Murphy warned last summer prior to Biden and Sec Def Austin mandates.

    https://assets.ctfassets.net/syq3snmxclc9/2mVob3c1aDd8CNvVnyei6n/95af7dbfd2958d4c2b8494048b4889b5/JAG_Docs_pt1_Og_WATERMARK_OVER_Redacted.pdf

    Leaked documents say the aerosolization to vaccinate the bats . . . was being tested near Palo Alto California Research Center bat caves; and in Wisconsin [Sen. Johnson’s home state]. That the escape, where ever it happened [USA? CHINA? other?] — the bat vaccine was still being perfected as it were. And that the product was made at WIV, and final bat vac was to be deployed to bats in China, with that government’s permission.

    https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21066966-defuse-proposal

    “We are requesting $14,209,245 total funds for this project across 3.5 project years.”

    Vaccinate bats — “aerosolization via prototype sprayers designed for cave settings. . . We will use. . .wild bats in US caves to trial delivery. . .will conduct initial protype trials on US cave bats. . .then develop the prototype to a form that will be used for the proof-as-concept demonstrations at the test sites in the Kunming bat caves, Yunnan, China.”

    “There is minimal risk associated with human exposure to the fluid containing MPs” or micro particles, the spray/aerosolization of the bat vaccine.

    According to Murphy: “initial escape in August 2019” of “likely a live vaccine not yet engineered to a more attenuated state that the [ecohealth/daszak] sought to create. . .it leaked and spread rapidly because it was aerosolized. . .The reason the disease is so confusing is because it is less a virus than it is engineered spike proteins hitch-hiking a ride on a SARSr-Cov quasispecies swarm.” [program “was shut down in April 2020”]

    “The intent was to perform this task against humanized mice and then ‘batified’ mice. Instead, it was done with the world’s population.”

    Make of this what you will.

    -30-

    • Jim says:

      Eratta / corrections. Live bat vaccine; not virus. My apologies.

      The above post should instead read:
      According to US Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, Marine Major Joseph Murphy says SARS CoV-2 is actually or may be: a LIVE bat VACCINE! — called SARSr CoV-WIV [WIV=Wuhan Institute of Virology].

      That this LIVE bat VACCINE, that escaped in August 2019 during research and testing this LIVE bat VACCINE; and that the EcoHealth/Peter Daszak business that got the $14M grant [from NIH?] did not stop this aerosolized spraying of bats, to vaccinate them, until April 2020.
      ++++++++
      According to Murphy: “initial escape in August 2019” of “likely a live vaccine not yet engineered to a more attenuated state. . .”

      He is saying the world got virus from a live bat vaccine.

  13. Deap says:

    WSJ columnist Daniel Henninger sets out a concise game plan:

    1. Oval Office states the pandemic is over.
    2. Transition from daily responses to long-term virus management
    3. Mandated masks, testing and vaccinations no longer necessary
    4. Virus mitigation efforts reside in the states, not the federal government
    5. Thank all those engaged in these efforts over the past two year
    6. Accept Dr Fauci’s retirement

    • Barbara Ann says:

      Deap

      We can improve on that.

      1. The “pandemic” was always over when the people said so. I say it is over now
      2. Long term virus management sounds like code for New Normal, which is in turn code for permanent population controls. No. We go back to the old normal and the acceptance of low mortality viruses as a normal part of the human condition. We recognize that the ability to catch them is a freedom. We also revert to the original definition of the word “vaccine” – i.e. medicines that stop disease transmission and which are voluntary
      3. Yes, but far more importantly we examine which of these measures were illegal/unconstitutional. Mandated ‘vaccination’ is transparently the latter
      4. “Virus mitigation” was never an enumerated power of the federal government
      5. An inquiry into malfeasance at every level is necessary. Only then can innocent parties be thanked. The guilty parties are punished
      6. Fauci’s retirement location is likely to be determined by the above
      7. We use the whole sorry episode as a learning experience of how governments implement tyrannical measures in the name of keeping us safe and remain alert to the very real dangers posed by the health security state

      • Fred says:

        #5 is essential, along with impeaching every judge that went along with the unconstitutional orders. Maybe even get rid of Roberts for failing to ever discipline any of these judges.

    • longarch says:


      6. Accept Dr Fauci’s retirement

      I have a better idea. Expose the conspiracy between Fauci and numerous other insiders, including his wife, and then have a re-enactment of the events of 19 June 1953.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg

      The wrong-doing was malicious and motivated by personal desires for profit and self-aggrandizement. The wrong-doing extended to the FDA, Big Pharma execs, and NGOs.

  14. Deap says:

    An interesting take on the hyper-vigilance to protect triple-vaxxed Biden from getting covid: it would be proof the “vaccines” don’t work. (Duh?)

    Protecting the narrative, is more important than protecting the country from medical hoax.

    https://thepalmierireport.com/white-house-terrified-biden-will-get-covid-because-it-will-undermine-vax-narrative/

    Hence, the collection of extreme measures: Limit the SOTU address audience in the House of Representatives to only 25 persons; wear a mask constantly in any setting; hide in home basement for most of time in office; severely limit public engagements to a set format.

    The goddess of illusion has seized our national psyche. For what net benefit?

  15. Marlene says:

    The so called “Green Pass” remains in effect for to travelling into the EU, although being currently eliminated at home.
    This is needed for the next step dictated to Ursula Von Der Leyen by a recauchutated Klaus Schwab ( how in the Earth this old psycho appears just now with his face so terse and rose..? ) from WEF summit…

    https://t.me/cristinamartinjimenezescritora/5133

    To be able to travel through the EU you need an EMA approved vaccine to get the “Green Pass”, thus neither Chinese nor Russians nor any other nationals who took their vaccines are now allowed into the EU and viceversa, what constitutes “new rules” of the “New Cold War”…

    It is obvious here that the plan is that no one can scape so that everybody submit. Thus, those thinking of moving to Belarus will have a really harder time now for having delayed the travel way too much when the borders were still opened.

    A new straing of the HIV virus is said to be found in The Netherlands, we think that to cover for the de facto acquired immunodeficiency that the Covid vaccines provoke, as they have been the severla strains of the Covid virus.

    That these criminal have just retreated a bit to come with a new offensive when people is most relaxed must be an understatement.

    The fight must go on until we get rid of all those particpants in the new genocide and until the system is really reseted woithout them and new actors which won the favor of the people are rised to power.

    https://t.me/cbknews/14362

    https://t.me/cbknews/14353

  16. Deap says:

    More Kari Lake is the cure for just about everything – for those who might have missed AZ Governor candidate smoothly and competently taking down a gotcha journalist while identifying both the sickness and the cure – fake news is the enemy of the people.

    GOP has an embarrassment of riches – those who now talk the talk and walk the walk and are a lot easier on the ears:

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/03/we-need-more-suave-conservatives-who-can-and-will-call-out-corrupt-medias-b-s/

    (Scroll down to the video)

  17. Sam says:

    Queensland Senator Malcolm Roberts has a dire warning for Australians as to what’s about to happen.

    https://twitter.com/just___zach/status/1489454311641952257?s=21

    If what Senator Roberts says is true then it would appear that Australian leadership have been spending far too much time learning Xi Thought.

  18. Deap says:

    A sad tale of lumpish government bureaucracy – someone with all the right superficial credentials, but unable to accept the necessary risk-taking and decision-making leadership role that comes when rising a top executive level position.

    Instead she stayed in her very narrow comfort zone, and did nothing. Sounds very much like our credentialed VP, who share the same passivity when it comes to actually doing something. What exactly is the female leadership model that we are supposed to need more of?

    Calif Surgeon General abruptly resigns, while the state continues to mire in total covid lockdown and ongoing “emergency orders”..

    https://californiaglobe.com/articles/california-surgeon-general-nadine-burke-harris-abruptly-resigns/

  19. Sam says:

    As I expected revisionism coming on fast and furious. Lockdown will be an orphan. No one will claim they supported it. However, let’s not forget who the covidian lockdowners are as they’ll raise their ugly head when the next emergency is promulgated.

    The White House throws Dr. Fauci under the bus.

    Asked about Johns Hopkins study that shows lockdowns failed, Psaki disavows them.

    “We’ve not been pro-lockdown — most of the lockdowns actually happened under the previous President.”

    https://twitter.com/miltimore79/status/1489674251535745028?s=21

  20. Sam says:

    It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing.

    I will work with @AGAshleyMoody to investigate these deceptive practices — these donors should be given a refund.

    https://twitter.com/govrondesantis/status/1489978237304426501?s=21

    Ron DeSantis taking a stance against the use of Big Tech power in aid of the covidian authoritarianism in Canada.

    Then you have Sundance.

    (1) The “what?” part is that today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis aligned himself with The Club. McConnell, Haley, Pence, Noem and DeSantis all part of the cocktail donor group, the R-Club, the right wing of the uniparty.

    Timing matters….

    https://twitter.com/thelastrefuge2/status/1489776899245158401?s=21

    Has the battle between the Trumpists vs the anti-Trumpists among the Republicans already begun? How’s that gonna work out?

Comments are closed.