- COVID vaccine compliance is pretty much low. In fact, in some cases, people only take one dose and not the 2nd. Even though the Federal Government recently approved the "booster" shots, I'd dare say such efforts are dead on arrival
Although some people take it "for convenience", due to the "no jab, no X" stick being weilded by governments across the world for an increasing number of services/sectors (you probably heard about "Edo", another state in Nigeria, from a few months back, where that ignorant governor tried to go full Australia...based on your analyses of similar countries, you can probably guess the predictable results there too...)
- "social distancing" and mask mandates are pretty much for show. Some shops/businesses have a "no mask, no entry" policy, but it's largely ignored. Or, in cases where a security guard is present at the entrance, it serves like an ID badge: you can walk up to the door maskless, put one over your face, and then immediately remove it on entry. Lord knows how many people walk the streets with masks on their chins...
- that being said, the news, government and media stations — which basically just copy/follow the West — have managed to convince many, and it is with sorrow that I report that despite there being no such mandates, some schools still make (or at least don't discourage) children from wearing masks. Such cases are not in the majority, thankfully, but they're still there.
I don't think I've seen any public figure push back against the COVID madness...(emphasis on *I*, I might be the one not looking hard enough...)
- interestingly, some so-called "law enforcement" use this COVID idoicy as excuses to extort like the mafia e.g. they can walk into an event centre and lock it up, claiming lax distancing and mask compliance, "but we'd be willing to re-open your business, if you made us an offer we couldn't refuse...$$"
Shocking reading. I’m not quite sure of my emotions about it all. I’m almost embarrassed to say I selfishly feel blessed to not be living in Canada... it all seems very strange indeed. If you’re vaccinated and test positive you don’t need to isolate in the Czech Republic? Seems to say it all...
- General situation: the vaccination rate plummeted. People were partially scared, partially forced to get a vaccine in October and November, when the Delta wave hit the peak, but today almost nobody cares about vaccines. The wave is gone. We don't want to get the vaccine. Everybody knows somebody that either died, either had an unpleasant side effect and so on. So, we try to avoid these vaccines as hardly as we can.
- Hovewer, as unvaccinated people, we have many theoretical restrictions. Tehcnically we are barred to enter in restaurants, in shopping malls, in non-food shops and in official buildings. Practically, restrictions are mild. I have a fake certification code (from a friend) and I can go everywhere, the guards just look at it and let you go, nobody verifies the codes. Small shops don't care about restrictions, everybody can shop inside. The same with postal offices, banks etc. Technically, they should enforce the rules, but nobody cares, they don't want to lose clients. In Bucharest every tax can be paid online, so there is no need to enter in any official building, and in small cities and towns, and in rural areas, nobody cares. One can enter into the mayor's building like he or she enters his own house.
- My wife was yesterday at the beauty saloon, nobody asked her for the Covid certificate (she is, of course, unvaccinated).
- The new government will try to impose the vax certification at work. Very big companies - multinationals - were among Government's most trusted partners. Many organised "vaccination sessions" for their employees. But with SMM Romanian companies, things are different. I have among my clients two of them with over one hundred employees and millions of EUR turnover. They already said "F... OFF, nobody will vaccinate us by force". Simply put, they won't comply. One of them is in top 20 companies in his county - nobody would dare to close him! He already had Covid, TWICE. He is a healthy 40-something yrs guy, he had no problems from it (only a couple of days loss of smell and some headache, the first time; the second one it was like a very mild flu). Another one is very religious, for him these vaccines are coming from the Devil and definitely opposes any mandate for him or for his employees. He had Covid in January 2021. He is older (59 years), he was in the hospital. Still not willing to get the jab.
- In Northern Moldavia (Bucovina), where people are very religious, the vaccination rate is only 25%. Bucharest is the champion, with 55% (or something). I'm from Bucharest (among the other 45%). In the city centre most people are putting on the mask, including the children, but in the more peripheric quarters (the "banlieues") people are more relaxed. Until a few days ago the mask was mandatory on the street. I never put it on. Nobody fined me or asked me something. Policemen just pass by me. In general, we use the masks only inside the shops.
- Politicians, ... I mean "Pfi$$er's sales agents"..., are desperate because of the low vaccination rate. In order to make us to accept the vaccines, they litteraly depleted the hospitals from any medication, they did NOTHING to prevent the Delta wave, they put gas on fire at the beginning of September by organising some huge festivals with little rules put in place, and so on. The Delta wave was huge, was bad, but also fast. Now is gone. They managed to convince / to force another 2 million to get the jab, especially after Oct.25 when they announced the restrictions. Many people were forced to get the jab in order to be able to enter into the working place (for example, people working in shopping malls). The vast majority opted for J&J because it is in single dose. However, after approx. 2 weeks it was clear for everyone how to trick the system (by getting a fake vaccination certificate from a vaccinated friend) and the initial scare was gone. Now, many refuse to get the booster. In a little bit over 2 months, only 1,7 million accepted to get a booster dose. So, out of 16,8 million elligible persons we have now 5,6 million fully vaccinated and another 1,7 vaccinated with 3 doses.
- We don't care about omicron.
- I think I had the Covid, but I don't care. I never had the curiosity to measure my antibodies. But I measured instead my D vitamin level and I found out that I need more. Instead of focusing on Covid antibodies, I prefer to focus on what it really matters.
Ontario here, compliance capital of the world. I have tried, throughout, to put forward a non-nutty-person form of resistance, to make it a smaller psychological leap for acquaintances when they find themselves exasperated. One of my older friends who used to say things like "we eradicated Polio, for god's sake!" came to me first when Omicron broke -- he wanted to know if it's really a big deal. I said it's doubtful but that probably won't change our policy trajectory. He was still reluctant to go to the cinema, so I took him to see Dune last week when the cinema was completely empty. He settled right in and the paranoia simply evaporated.
Every time things are looking better, they go harder. Canada had the most expensive lockdowns in the world, with the Federal government paying everyone's bills and enabling our Provincial premiers to act like cowboys and lock everything down for months and months at a time. Now the Feds are tapped out and won't bankroll more shutdowns, so the provinces must decide between letting Covid go or embarking on ever more personal surveillance at an unprecedented level of detail.
I cross the US border for work occasionally, and US guards don't even ask about my vax status. Coming home an hour later, I need to log into a government app, outline my "quarantine plan" and list members of my household, upload my passport and vax certificate, and even then they still asked for my negative PCR result. Failure to cooperate means two weeks in a quarantine hotel.
I had a bad cardiac reaction to my shots, but when I bring it up with my doctor she gets flustered and acts like her office is bugged. "It's just speculation... probably no connection... would have been worse without it..." Finally, finally she referred me to a cardiologist the same day Canada admitted there may be an issue with Moderna.
Every boomer I encounter is in love with all this. They've lived their lives coasting on the stolen valour from their parents' participation in the war, and have unlimited faith in the government. They squandered 70 years of peace and prosperity and now spend their retirement calling the cops on kids playing basketball.
Everyone here seems to think they are some kind of authority, and they exert this with unblinking dishonesty. Early on, a sign went up in my building claiming that Covid lives on fabrics for up to a week. Yesterday I got an email from the building manager about the "many complaints" he's gotten since I stopped wearing a mask in the elevator -- the bylaw expired in August -- and warning me they would call the city to fine me for breaching a non-existent rule. When the law expired I assumed people would be elated, but no: the signs stayed up and the masks stayed on. Yesterday our Health officer announced an explosion in school outbreaks despite no increases.
However, in private businesses, everyone seems to have formed maskless cohorts amongst themselves. Visitors mask out of courtesy until they're invited to remove them. It's really only in public that the aggressive masking continues, like we're all playing along to appease the people who haven't noticed that everyone is in on the joke but them.
Despite very low levels of death with Covid19, the government has switched much of its policies towards containment.
Vaccine passports are required for certain (not all!) indoor gatherings with more than 100 people.
Vaccine passports are to be implemented far more broadly in long distance public transport, primarily long-distance trains and buses (not however for airlines or ferries, the latter more or less relevant only to the island of Gotland) in the event of larger spread.
Vaccine passports in the event of larger spread, may (will) also be implemented in areas of commerce (grocery stores, postal delivery points and public libraries are to be exempted, as will be health service, dentists and veterinaries) in the current draft ordinance.
Vaccine passport is in German terms an "1G" policy, i.e. recovery from covid or negative tests do not count.
Face masks are required in the public transport during rush hours (however with limited effect).
The new Swedish PM and the new director-general of the Swedish public health authority have obviously changed the policies. It is not due to any dramatic surge in infections, hospitalisations, ICU or deaths, but seems to be some kind of adaptation to the policies in Germany.
Increasing number of Swedish local governments require vaccination for potential employees. Formally that is more difficult in central government agencies, but where these things will end up is not clear at the moment.
Arizona USA: no restrictions or mandates of any kind. People are living life normally. Economic activity is booming in an unbelievable way. You’ll occasionally see someone with a mask and that’s it. The health systems immediately encourage use of the monoclonal antibodies if you’re diagnosed. Clinics are walk-in and free for the antibodies.
I would like to see that map for the US be broken down by state. I appreciate the data points for the US above but I live in Pennsylvania which is split 50/50 red/blue (free/tyranny) and in the rural areas where I live it's fine but a couple towns/miles over they are hardcore fanatics insane for tyrannical lockdowns. I need to know where I can move to get away from this insanity. We can't all move to Florida or Texas although their the top of my list.
So glad I live in Texas. Like De Santis, Greg Abbott panicked early on and let himself get rolled by local politicians in bigger blue cities (and the media) but most of the nonsense has ended everywhere now. The people are all done with covid.
Most of the United States - even the blue states - have it better than pretty much the entire rest of the developed world and that is for two reasons: federalism - which is real and still exists - and the high prevalence of firearms ownership in America. There is no national government to bully people and they know better than to try if they did.
Somewhere else in the developed world it is eventually going to come to violence and it will spread quickly to other countries. It will be just like communism falling in the late 1980's but on an even wider scale.
There is a saying that in Russia the strictness of law is balanced by leniency of enforcement. Corona is a case in point. As well as that, measures vary by region. Curiously Moscow, which was the sricte
Masks. In theory mandatory indoors. In practice most people wear them in shops and public transport. Very few people bother to cover their noses, though. There is some enforcement through employers, who make shop clercs, taxi-drivers and couriers to wear them. But enforcement record is patchy.
Vaccination rates and deaths. Vaccination rates are low. Excessive deaths are high, especially among the old. It is unclear if these deaths are due to covid per se, or due to weaker healthcare system, less access to treatment in general. Would be interesting if you could share some ideas on how to look at the problem.
Vaccine passports. There is QR code in the citizen app, which you get for being vaccinated by one of Russian vaccines or your covid case was registered by the govenment. QR code works for 12 months. You also get a QR code for a PCR test that works for 72 hours
Restrictions depend on the region. In Moscow you can go everywhere, except from museums and theaters. In Saint Petersburg you need QR codes to get into restaurants, gyms and shopping malls. In Kazan, you need a QR code to get on public trasport. However, the stricter the restrictions, the less enforced they are. E.g. a bus conductor cannot deasibly check QR-codes and passports without creating massive queues on bus stops.
There is talk about restricting access to public spaces, plane and raol travel nation-wide. However, the law was stopped after protests and people swarming internet with messages to Putin. There are rumours that the president popularity is not as high, as it was and Vaccine passports are not very popular with people.
There is also vaccine enforcement through employers. BTW it is typical way of doing unpopular things in modern Russia - through employers. E.g. Restaurants and Fast food joint must vaccinate 90% of perosnel by January. In one of steel companies, the CEO decided to enforce vaccine mandate by his won accord. Some Universities instituted vaccine mandatefor employees as well.
Overall most people don't trust the governement, but some people vaccinate, so that they continue living normal lives and keep their jobs. There are some hard-core pro-vaxxers among public health officials and liberals. Some telling stories. Russians, when given an option, typically choose 1-shot vaccines that give a QR code straight away. Most people don't care about efficiency etc.
Rural Georgia is very much like Florida. Some offices still ask you to wear a mask. Nobody does. Walmart still has them at the entrance. Nobody takes one. Now and then you hear that someone was sick, then recovered. Everything quiet here on the Eastern Front !
Depressing but very informative and helpful post. For the record, I’m in Phoenix AZ and everything here 95% normal. A few wear masks in shops. My employer requires Vax for office, but I work from home and retire in 2 weeks. A colleague at my Fortune 500 financial services company confided that many very senior people are pushing back on V mandate. Several senior counsel with the firm have warned company leadership of risks of such mandate.
A phenomenal report and I'll be reading this and the links throughout the day and then passing it all on. I think the most astonishing thing is that in this day and age of widespread and instantaneous access to information form around the world, people are still ignorant of the truth. It's especially appalling when seen in the young, who act as if they're oh so much more savvy and rebellious than we old folk.
You singled out a report by Bosanka from Bosnia that things are pretty chill and normal all across the ex-Yugoslavia. Coming from Slovenia, which used to be the northernmost republic of federal Yugoslavia, I can't help but differ.
Slovenia is as bad as it gets. AFAIK it was one of the first European countries to introduce 3G or even de-facto 2G rules (test payable and of limited use) besides Lithuania, way back in the beginning of September. They even attempted a vaccine mandate for all state employees back in the middle of September, the same time that Biden announced his, but the mandate was suspended at the very last day before coming into force by the Constitutional Court, but not so much as it would be found unconstitutional, only legally flawed (hastily written). Just one concrete example of idiocies connected to the 3G system here: since September, you can't even fuel up your car without showing a QR code AND now even your ID. Enforcement was lax for a few weeks at first and I felt mildly optimisric, but then they mobilised the whole bureaucratic terror machine (including the Slovene EPA, FDA, IRS; checking papers and literaly closing down noncompliant businesses, can you imagine that?) and now every business checks at the door of course. Tests are free again because the gvmt got scared of the current record wave of infections, but I find it morally unacceptable to participate in this 3G nonsense so I don't show my QR code even if I incidentaly have one in the system (you can view and download them from a gvmt website). Having to now have to show my ID to students and security guards hurts me the most, so I just stay away. The only exception I'm prepared to make is if I need to visit the dentist or doctor.
Bosanka also mentions Serbia, I'm not so sure about Serbia, but about Croatia I can say that it's now somewhere between Bosnia and Slovenia in terms of measure, I think they have a limited 3G system in place as well, but enforcement is probably lax as it was here in the beginning.
I honestly feel happy, no envy, for Bosanka and wish her many more years of peace. I was thinking of visiting Sarajevo for New Year's but now I don't know anymore, she appears to say gatherings in public squares will still be banned. Bosnia is also ironically my only kind of escape plan for now, if vaccination became mandatory in Slovenia, I have enough savings and opportunities as an IT engineer to telework from Bosnia for years at the very least.
Also, Eugyppius, you should really try to find a report from Lithuania, they appear to have the worst regime in Europe at the moment. Apparently they can't even shop anywhere without a 100 eur PCR test, not even for groceries, so the unvaccinated have had to resort to open-air impromptu markets (farmers selling produce from the trunk of their cars). Surreal, back in the USSR I guess.
Southern England here, just outside London, among my friends family and clients I would never have known there was a pandemic if I had not have watched the news. The vast majority of people I know who have had covid have had it mildly, as in milder than a mild cold, vaccinated or unvaccinated, I know no one who has died of it. People I know who have had covid are still obsessively testing on a regular basis, just incase. The worst people for this are the middle class desk job types, people who work in shops/restaurants and the trades are not as bad.
I have been lucky in that I have gotton away with not wearing a mask through the majority of this as you can self exempt yourself.
The biggest worry is the vaccine passports, a total farce, as we all know and are being bought in for large events, and probably for more places in the new year, the majority of people think that if you are double or triple vaxxed you cant get covid or it is unlikely so they are going out ill, thinking they just have a cold, happily spreading it around, where as unvaxxed, you have to have a test.
I spent months on end with no income as my business got closed and I did not qualify for any financial support, as did over 3 million others. Luckily I am back in work now and as a white fair haired 40somthing everyone just assumes I have had the jab.
To all the fellow freedom fighters around the world, especially those in very restrictive circumstances, I think about you every day. Stay strong, and know that you are not alone!
From Lagos, Nigeria:
- COVID vaccine compliance is pretty much low. In fact, in some cases, people only take one dose and not the 2nd. Even though the Federal Government recently approved the "booster" shots, I'd dare say such efforts are dead on arrival
Although some people take it "for convenience", due to the "no jab, no X" stick being weilded by governments across the world for an increasing number of services/sectors (you probably heard about "Edo", another state in Nigeria, from a few months back, where that ignorant governor tried to go full Australia...based on your analyses of similar countries, you can probably guess the predictable results there too...)
- "social distancing" and mask mandates are pretty much for show. Some shops/businesses have a "no mask, no entry" policy, but it's largely ignored. Or, in cases where a security guard is present at the entrance, it serves like an ID badge: you can walk up to the door maskless, put one over your face, and then immediately remove it on entry. Lord knows how many people walk the streets with masks on their chins...
- that being said, the news, government and media stations — which basically just copy/follow the West — have managed to convince many, and it is with sorrow that I report that despite there being no such mandates, some schools still make (or at least don't discourage) children from wearing masks. Such cases are not in the majority, thankfully, but they're still there.
I don't think I've seen any public figure push back against the COVID madness...(emphasis on *I*, I might be the one not looking hard enough...)
- interestingly, some so-called "law enforcement" use this COVID idoicy as excuses to extort like the mafia e.g. they can walk into an event centre and lock it up, claiming lax distancing and mask compliance, "but we'd be willing to re-open your business, if you made us an offer we couldn't refuse...$$"
Shocking reading. I’m not quite sure of my emotions about it all. I’m almost embarrassed to say I selfishly feel blessed to not be living in Canada... it all seems very strange indeed. If you’re vaccinated and test positive you don’t need to isolate in the Czech Republic? Seems to say it all...
Hello Eugyppius.
Romania:
- General situation: the vaccination rate plummeted. People were partially scared, partially forced to get a vaccine in October and November, when the Delta wave hit the peak, but today almost nobody cares about vaccines. The wave is gone. We don't want to get the vaccine. Everybody knows somebody that either died, either had an unpleasant side effect and so on. So, we try to avoid these vaccines as hardly as we can.
- Hovewer, as unvaccinated people, we have many theoretical restrictions. Tehcnically we are barred to enter in restaurants, in shopping malls, in non-food shops and in official buildings. Practically, restrictions are mild. I have a fake certification code (from a friend) and I can go everywhere, the guards just look at it and let you go, nobody verifies the codes. Small shops don't care about restrictions, everybody can shop inside. The same with postal offices, banks etc. Technically, they should enforce the rules, but nobody cares, they don't want to lose clients. In Bucharest every tax can be paid online, so there is no need to enter in any official building, and in small cities and towns, and in rural areas, nobody cares. One can enter into the mayor's building like he or she enters his own house.
- My wife was yesterday at the beauty saloon, nobody asked her for the Covid certificate (she is, of course, unvaccinated).
- The new government will try to impose the vax certification at work. Very big companies - multinationals - were among Government's most trusted partners. Many organised "vaccination sessions" for their employees. But with SMM Romanian companies, things are different. I have among my clients two of them with over one hundred employees and millions of EUR turnover. They already said "F... OFF, nobody will vaccinate us by force". Simply put, they won't comply. One of them is in top 20 companies in his county - nobody would dare to close him! He already had Covid, TWICE. He is a healthy 40-something yrs guy, he had no problems from it (only a couple of days loss of smell and some headache, the first time; the second one it was like a very mild flu). Another one is very religious, for him these vaccines are coming from the Devil and definitely opposes any mandate for him or for his employees. He had Covid in January 2021. He is older (59 years), he was in the hospital. Still not willing to get the jab.
- In Northern Moldavia (Bucovina), where people are very religious, the vaccination rate is only 25%. Bucharest is the champion, with 55% (or something). I'm from Bucharest (among the other 45%). In the city centre most people are putting on the mask, including the children, but in the more peripheric quarters (the "banlieues") people are more relaxed. Until a few days ago the mask was mandatory on the street. I never put it on. Nobody fined me or asked me something. Policemen just pass by me. In general, we use the masks only inside the shops.
- Politicians, ... I mean "Pfi$$er's sales agents"..., are desperate because of the low vaccination rate. In order to make us to accept the vaccines, they litteraly depleted the hospitals from any medication, they did NOTHING to prevent the Delta wave, they put gas on fire at the beginning of September by organising some huge festivals with little rules put in place, and so on. The Delta wave was huge, was bad, but also fast. Now is gone. They managed to convince / to force another 2 million to get the jab, especially after Oct.25 when they announced the restrictions. Many people were forced to get the jab in order to be able to enter into the working place (for example, people working in shopping malls). The vast majority opted for J&J because it is in single dose. However, after approx. 2 weeks it was clear for everyone how to trick the system (by getting a fake vaccination certificate from a vaccinated friend) and the initial scare was gone. Now, many refuse to get the booster. In a little bit over 2 months, only 1,7 million accepted to get a booster dose. So, out of 16,8 million elligible persons we have now 5,6 million fully vaccinated and another 1,7 vaccinated with 3 doses.
- We don't care about omicron.
- I think I had the Covid, but I don't care. I never had the curiosity to measure my antibodies. But I measured instead my D vitamin level and I found out that I need more. Instead of focusing on Covid antibodies, I prefer to focus on what it really matters.
Ontario here, compliance capital of the world. I have tried, throughout, to put forward a non-nutty-person form of resistance, to make it a smaller psychological leap for acquaintances when they find themselves exasperated. One of my older friends who used to say things like "we eradicated Polio, for god's sake!" came to me first when Omicron broke -- he wanted to know if it's really a big deal. I said it's doubtful but that probably won't change our policy trajectory. He was still reluctant to go to the cinema, so I took him to see Dune last week when the cinema was completely empty. He settled right in and the paranoia simply evaporated.
Every time things are looking better, they go harder. Canada had the most expensive lockdowns in the world, with the Federal government paying everyone's bills and enabling our Provincial premiers to act like cowboys and lock everything down for months and months at a time. Now the Feds are tapped out and won't bankroll more shutdowns, so the provinces must decide between letting Covid go or embarking on ever more personal surveillance at an unprecedented level of detail.
I cross the US border for work occasionally, and US guards don't even ask about my vax status. Coming home an hour later, I need to log into a government app, outline my "quarantine plan" and list members of my household, upload my passport and vax certificate, and even then they still asked for my negative PCR result. Failure to cooperate means two weeks in a quarantine hotel.
I had a bad cardiac reaction to my shots, but when I bring it up with my doctor she gets flustered and acts like her office is bugged. "It's just speculation... probably no connection... would have been worse without it..." Finally, finally she referred me to a cardiologist the same day Canada admitted there may be an issue with Moderna.
Every boomer I encounter is in love with all this. They've lived their lives coasting on the stolen valour from their parents' participation in the war, and have unlimited faith in the government. They squandered 70 years of peace and prosperity and now spend their retirement calling the cops on kids playing basketball.
Everyone here seems to think they are some kind of authority, and they exert this with unblinking dishonesty. Early on, a sign went up in my building claiming that Covid lives on fabrics for up to a week. Yesterday I got an email from the building manager about the "many complaints" he's gotten since I stopped wearing a mask in the elevator -- the bylaw expired in August -- and warning me they would call the city to fine me for breaching a non-existent rule. When the law expired I assumed people would be elated, but no: the signs stayed up and the masks stayed on. Yesterday our Health officer announced an explosion in school outbreaks despite no increases.
However, in private businesses, everyone seems to have formed maskless cohorts amongst themselves. Visitors mask out of courtesy until they're invited to remove them. It's really only in public that the aggressive masking continues, like we're all playing along to appease the people who haven't noticed that everyone is in on the joke but them.
From Sweden:
Despite very low levels of death with Covid19, the government has switched much of its policies towards containment.
Vaccine passports are required for certain (not all!) indoor gatherings with more than 100 people.
Vaccine passports are to be implemented far more broadly in long distance public transport, primarily long-distance trains and buses (not however for airlines or ferries, the latter more or less relevant only to the island of Gotland) in the event of larger spread.
Vaccine passports in the event of larger spread, may (will) also be implemented in areas of commerce (grocery stores, postal delivery points and public libraries are to be exempted, as will be health service, dentists and veterinaries) in the current draft ordinance.
Vaccine passport is in German terms an "1G" policy, i.e. recovery from covid or negative tests do not count.
Face masks are required in the public transport during rush hours (however with limited effect).
The new Swedish PM and the new director-general of the Swedish public health authority have obviously changed the policies. It is not due to any dramatic surge in infections, hospitalisations, ICU or deaths, but seems to be some kind of adaptation to the policies in Germany.
Increasing number of Swedish local governments require vaccination for potential employees. Formally that is more difficult in central government agencies, but where these things will end up is not clear at the moment.
Arizona USA: no restrictions or mandates of any kind. People are living life normally. Economic activity is booming in an unbelievable way. You’ll occasionally see someone with a mask and that’s it. The health systems immediately encourage use of the monoclonal antibodies if you’re diagnosed. Clinics are walk-in and free for the antibodies.
I live in Oak Park, Illinois- a deep blue suburb west of Chicago.
The people at my local gym wear their masks IN THE POOL while doing their water aerobics.
Have been snarled at twice this week by 2 local Kens on the street to "wear your mask!".
I refuse.
I am definitely in a very small minority here.
Everyone and every store and restaurant requires them.
By the way, Illinois has the highest population exodus rate of all the states...so that's a good sign...
I would like to see that map for the US be broken down by state. I appreciate the data points for the US above but I live in Pennsylvania which is split 50/50 red/blue (free/tyranny) and in the rural areas where I live it's fine but a couple towns/miles over they are hardcore fanatics insane for tyrannical lockdowns. I need to know where I can move to get away from this insanity. We can't all move to Florida or Texas although their the top of my list.
So glad I live in Texas. Like De Santis, Greg Abbott panicked early on and let himself get rolled by local politicians in bigger blue cities (and the media) but most of the nonsense has ended everywhere now. The people are all done with covid.
Most of the United States - even the blue states - have it better than pretty much the entire rest of the developed world and that is for two reasons: federalism - which is real and still exists - and the high prevalence of firearms ownership in America. There is no national government to bully people and they know better than to try if they did.
Somewhere else in the developed world it is eventually going to come to violence and it will spread quickly to other countries. It will be just like communism falling in the late 1980's but on an even wider scale.
Hi! Here is some news from Russia.
There is a saying that in Russia the strictness of law is balanced by leniency of enforcement. Corona is a case in point. As well as that, measures vary by region. Curiously Moscow, which was the sricte
Masks. In theory mandatory indoors. In practice most people wear them in shops and public transport. Very few people bother to cover their noses, though. There is some enforcement through employers, who make shop clercs, taxi-drivers and couriers to wear them. But enforcement record is patchy.
Vaccination rates and deaths. Vaccination rates are low. Excessive deaths are high, especially among the old. It is unclear if these deaths are due to covid per se, or due to weaker healthcare system, less access to treatment in general. Would be interesting if you could share some ideas on how to look at the problem.
Vaccine passports. There is QR code in the citizen app, which you get for being vaccinated by one of Russian vaccines or your covid case was registered by the govenment. QR code works for 12 months. You also get a QR code for a PCR test that works for 72 hours
Restrictions depend on the region. In Moscow you can go everywhere, except from museums and theaters. In Saint Petersburg you need QR codes to get into restaurants, gyms and shopping malls. In Kazan, you need a QR code to get on public trasport. However, the stricter the restrictions, the less enforced they are. E.g. a bus conductor cannot deasibly check QR-codes and passports without creating massive queues on bus stops.
There is talk about restricting access to public spaces, plane and raol travel nation-wide. However, the law was stopped after protests and people swarming internet with messages to Putin. There are rumours that the president popularity is not as high, as it was and Vaccine passports are not very popular with people.
There is also vaccine enforcement through employers. BTW it is typical way of doing unpopular things in modern Russia - through employers. E.g. Restaurants and Fast food joint must vaccinate 90% of perosnel by January. In one of steel companies, the CEO decided to enforce vaccine mandate by his won accord. Some Universities instituted vaccine mandatefor employees as well.
Overall most people don't trust the governement, but some people vaccinate, so that they continue living normal lives and keep their jobs. There are some hard-core pro-vaxxers among public health officials and liberals. Some telling stories. Russians, when given an option, typically choose 1-shot vaccines that give a QR code straight away. Most people don't care about efficiency etc.
Rural Georgia is very much like Florida. Some offices still ask you to wear a mask. Nobody does. Walmart still has them at the entrance. Nobody takes one. Now and then you hear that someone was sick, then recovered. Everything quiet here on the Eastern Front !
Depressing but very informative and helpful post. For the record, I’m in Phoenix AZ and everything here 95% normal. A few wear masks in shops. My employer requires Vax for office, but I work from home and retire in 2 weeks. A colleague at my Fortune 500 financial services company confided that many very senior people are pushing back on V mandate. Several senior counsel with the firm have warned company leadership of risks of such mandate.
A phenomenal report and I'll be reading this and the links throughout the day and then passing it all on. I think the most astonishing thing is that in this day and age of widespread and instantaneous access to information form around the world, people are still ignorant of the truth. It's especially appalling when seen in the young, who act as if they're oh so much more savvy and rebellious than we old folk.
You singled out a report by Bosanka from Bosnia that things are pretty chill and normal all across the ex-Yugoslavia. Coming from Slovenia, which used to be the northernmost republic of federal Yugoslavia, I can't help but differ.
Slovenia is as bad as it gets. AFAIK it was one of the first European countries to introduce 3G or even de-facto 2G rules (test payable and of limited use) besides Lithuania, way back in the beginning of September. They even attempted a vaccine mandate for all state employees back in the middle of September, the same time that Biden announced his, but the mandate was suspended at the very last day before coming into force by the Constitutional Court, but not so much as it would be found unconstitutional, only legally flawed (hastily written). Just one concrete example of idiocies connected to the 3G system here: since September, you can't even fuel up your car without showing a QR code AND now even your ID. Enforcement was lax for a few weeks at first and I felt mildly optimisric, but then they mobilised the whole bureaucratic terror machine (including the Slovene EPA, FDA, IRS; checking papers and literaly closing down noncompliant businesses, can you imagine that?) and now every business checks at the door of course. Tests are free again because the gvmt got scared of the current record wave of infections, but I find it morally unacceptable to participate in this 3G nonsense so I don't show my QR code even if I incidentaly have one in the system (you can view and download them from a gvmt website). Having to now have to show my ID to students and security guards hurts me the most, so I just stay away. The only exception I'm prepared to make is if I need to visit the dentist or doctor.
Bosanka also mentions Serbia, I'm not so sure about Serbia, but about Croatia I can say that it's now somewhere between Bosnia and Slovenia in terms of measure, I think they have a limited 3G system in place as well, but enforcement is probably lax as it was here in the beginning.
I honestly feel happy, no envy, for Bosanka and wish her many more years of peace. I was thinking of visiting Sarajevo for New Year's but now I don't know anymore, she appears to say gatherings in public squares will still be banned. Bosnia is also ironically my only kind of escape plan for now, if vaccination became mandatory in Slovenia, I have enough savings and opportunities as an IT engineer to telework from Bosnia for years at the very least.
Also, Eugyppius, you should really try to find a report from Lithuania, they appear to have the worst regime in Europe at the moment. Apparently they can't even shop anywhere without a 100 eur PCR test, not even for groceries, so the unvaccinated have had to resort to open-air impromptu markets (farmers selling produce from the trunk of their cars). Surreal, back in the USSR I guess.
Southern England here, just outside London, among my friends family and clients I would never have known there was a pandemic if I had not have watched the news. The vast majority of people I know who have had covid have had it mildly, as in milder than a mild cold, vaccinated or unvaccinated, I know no one who has died of it. People I know who have had covid are still obsessively testing on a regular basis, just incase. The worst people for this are the middle class desk job types, people who work in shops/restaurants and the trades are not as bad.
I have been lucky in that I have gotton away with not wearing a mask through the majority of this as you can self exempt yourself.
The biggest worry is the vaccine passports, a total farce, as we all know and are being bought in for large events, and probably for more places in the new year, the majority of people think that if you are double or triple vaxxed you cant get covid or it is unlikely so they are going out ill, thinking they just have a cold, happily spreading it around, where as unvaxxed, you have to have a test.
I spent months on end with no income as my business got closed and I did not qualify for any financial support, as did over 3 million others. Luckily I am back in work now and as a white fair haired 40somthing everyone just assumes I have had the jab.
To all the fellow freedom fighters around the world, especially those in very restrictive circumstances, I think about you every day. Stay strong, and know that you are not alone!