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Ending Restrictions When the Risk of Transmission Likely Explodes

Our authorities have decided to join the other countries taking similar measures and no longer extend the state of alert nor replace it with anything else, so as of today all restrictions related to COVID-19 are lifted. There seems to be some confusion about the requirement to fill the tracking form when entering the country, since that was implemented separately and seems to also need to be lifted separately, some conflicting statements coming from the authorities, but things are clear about everything else: Masks are no longer required anywhere, the certificate is no longer required anywhere, tests are no longer required for anything, all capacity or group size limits are removed, those who should be in quarantine or isolation will no longer be checked, businesses no longer need to close at a certain hour, school will once again only take place face to face, working from home can no longer be required… Using masks indoors, in public transportation and in crowded outdoor spaces remains a recommendation, but only a recommendation, along with avoiding particularly crowded places. As for the people who have symptoms and are confirmed to be infected, they’re expected to just be responsible and isolate themselves, and the regulations now only allow them to receive five days of medical leave anyway, unless they actually require treatment for a longer period, and family doctors no longer even have the legal framework to offer diagnoses, prescriptions or medical leave on-line. And it seems that not even that expectation of acting responsibly is left in case of those who don’t have obvious symptoms… Oh, and the remaining vaccination centers will soon close and all vaccinations are to be performed by family doctors.
No longer tracking people, by no longer requiring the certificate to be scanned in so many places, is the one good thing out of all of this, and those requirements for businesses to close at a certain hour weren’t particularly justifiable in the first place, the reason for them being that there were far fewer checks made at night and far fewer people would complain compared to those who’d complain about restrictions during the day, so it was a method of reducing some of the risk of transmission generated by those who’d ignore the regulations that far more would accept, but not a particularly effective one in itself. And those limits on the capacity, of 30% or 50%, also didn’t make that much sense in themselves, largely representing another case of taking the easy way, instead of enacting clear requirements that would directly reduce the risk of transmission, the maximum capacity being whatever results while respecting all of them.
Everything else, however… For one, mask requirements should have been the last thing to go, and I for one definitely hope that wearing them will remain at least easily affordable for all and socially acceptable permanently. Testing also helped, and instead of removing requirements and greatly reducing even the number of testing centers I’d have liked to see widespread testing for other easily transmissible diseases as well. And people known to be infected with such a disease, whichever it may be, should be required to isolate themselves, checked and severely punished if they don’t do so, as a permanent measure to protect public health. As for remote studying and work, that should be greatly encouraged and developed, and while plenty of businesses may take the matter into their own hands, having seen the benefits, educational institutions, higher ones in particular, are now facing quite a problem, even more so when you take into account the fact that some are now making rooms in their dorms available for Ukrainian refugees.
And the refugee crisis, which will only worsen as the war continues, and most probably last for quite some time after it’ll somehow end as well, makes the timing even worse, since all those people crowding together create a huge risk of transmission. And they’re suffering enough as it is, so you can’t, or at least you shouldn’t, add to their troubles and the restrictions they have to put up with because of this, so it’s the rest of us who should be required to be far more careful at this time, not less! And it’s not like the numbers themselves would really justify removing all restrictions anyway, as we’re just now dropping below 5000 cases and 100 confirmed deaths per day, while about a third of the maximum number of intensive care beds that can be used for COVID-19 patients are occupied.
So, yes, most cases are far less severe than before and the situation isn’t that desperate anymore, but it’s still more than bad enough to justify maintaining the regulations that make complete sense, such as masks, testing and isolation, improving those that weren’t such good ideas in the first place, such as the restrictions on capacity or opening hours, and supporting and offering aid to those who make use of this opportunity to implement measures that should have been implemented long ago anyway, such as those that reduce the risk of transmission of any disease or otherwise improve public health, those that reduce the need to travel or commute… Not to mention those reducing the need to work in the first place. Yet instead of that, they’re going in the opposite direction, and by “they” I mean authorities and the general public anywhere, not just here, of course, plenty of other countries having removed these restrictions even earlier. So we’re back to that Babylon 5 quote, which was in fact just about the response to infectious diseases: “That does seem to be the rule, doesn’t it? Analyze the problem, choose whichever strategy makes least sense and then do it.”

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