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Customers at the fishmarket in Torvehallerne in Copenhagen on Tuesday, as Denmark becomes the first EU country to lift coronavirus restrictions.
‘No longer a socially critical disease’: Denmark and Norway lift most remaining Covid rules
Masks no longer required as high vaccination rates allay concerns over rising cases
Norway and Denmark have lifted most of their remaining Covid-19 restrictions despite reports of rising coronavirus cases in both countries.
Mask mandates no longer apply, nightclubs can reopen and businesses can decide whether to check customers’ vaccine certificates.
n Norway, working from home will no longer be required, and the cap of 10 visitors in private homes is ending, prime minister Jonas Gahr Store said.
Both countries are dealing with recent spikes in cases because of the Omicron variant. Neither has seen a corresponding rise in hospitalisations.
“Even if many more people are becoming infected, there are fewer who are hospitalised,” Mr Store said. “We’re well protected by vaccines.”
The Danish government said it no longer considers Covid a “socially critical disease” – a political designation that allows officials to enforce broad measures such as business closures and mask mandates – in part because of the country’s high vaccination rate.
A mutated version of the Omicron variant known as BA. 2 has been fuelling a surge in Denmark, the Statens Serum Institut recently reported, and the country has recently averaged about 44,000 new cases a day, about 70 per cent more than two weeks ago.
About 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated and about 60 per cent have had a booster dose, according to Our World in Data, a project at the University of Oxford.
Denmark is among the first European Union members to abandon pandemic restrictions in favour of treating the virus as endemic. Austria ended its Covid-19 rules for unvaccinated people on Monday, and the Netherlands is relaxing the restrictions it adopted in December, which were among the strictest in the EU. – This article originally appeared in <HThttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/01/world/covid-19-cases-vaccine/denmark-lifts-most-covid-rules-despite-soaring-cases>The New York Times.
Finland to lift COVID restrictions from February 14
Crowd limits at cultural and sports events will be lifted in Finland from February 14, the prime minister said on Wednesday, with most remaining coronavirus controls to end on March 1.
The government will issue advice to local authorities “to make events, culture and sports possible in all their forms”, from February 14, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said after cabinet discussions on the country’s coronavirus strategy.
In addition, restaurants and bars, which must currently end alcohol sales at 8:00 pm, will be able to serve alcohol until 11:00 pm from mid-February, but nightclubs will remain closed until the start of March, Marin said.
On Wednesday the Nordic country of 5.5 million passed the half-million mark of recorded coronavirus infections, and reported 2,012 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, maintaining some of the EU’s lowest incidence rates.
But the Omicron variant led to a huge increase in infections at the end of 2021, which authorities worried would overwhelm the country’s healthcare system.
Marin said on Wednesday that the burden on healthcare appeared to have stabilised, meaning restrictions were no longer “essential” and must be lifted.
Denmark on Tuesday became the first EU nation to scrap nearly all remaining coronavirus restrictions.
It was followed later in the day by neighbouring Norway, where Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said society must “live with” the virus.
“Finland is lagging about two weeks behind other countries’ epidemiological developments,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin said, adding that the mid-February date would allow officials to observe how the lifting of restrictions in Denmark and Norway plays out.
Press Release: Iowa Governor Announces End of Covid Restrictions
https://governor.iowa.gov/press-release/gov-reynolds-announces-expiration-of%C2%A0public-health%C2%A0proclamation%C2%A0changes-to-covid-19
Governor Reynolds signed the final extension of the state’s Public Health Disaster Emergency Proclamation today, announcing it will expire at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, February 15, 2022. The signed proclamation can be found here.
The proclamation was first issued in accordance with the Governor’s executive authority on March 17, 2020, to enable certain public health mitigation measures during the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, it included hundreds of provisions assembled in the midst of an emergency to quickly address a pandemic the nation knew little about. Today, the remaining 16 provisions focus primarily on lingering workforce issues exacerbated by the pandemic that are best addressed outside of emergency executive powers.
The State of Iowa is working with stakeholders in an effort to address pervasive workforce issues through more permanent solutions like legislation, rule changes, and grant programs.
“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely. After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” stated Gov. Reynolds. “State agencies will now manage COVID-19 as part of normal daily business, and reallocate resources that have been solely dedicated to the response effort to serve other important needs for Iowans.”
(Read more: https://governor.iowa.gov/press-release/gov-reynolds-announces-expiration-of%C2%A0public-health%C2%A0proclamation
Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney setting a date to end vaccine passports – with strings attached
Harley Sims, True North, February 4, 2022
(https://tnc.news/2022/02/04/kenney-setting-a-date-to-end-vaccine-passports-with-strings-attached/)
Facing a possible revolt in his own caucus and a stand-off with dozens of farmers and truckers blockading the Coutts border crossing, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced Friday that he would be cancelling Alberta’s version of the vaccine passport – eventually, and with strings attached.
“Early next week, the COVID cabinet committee will approve a plan for the careful lifting of public health measures beginning with the Restriction Exemption Program,” Kenney said in a video posted online.
Kenney said a firm date for the suspension of the Restriction Exemption Program (REP) would be announced “early next week” and that a plan to stop almost all public health measures against COVID-19 would be announced later this month – but only “as long as we see a trend of declining pressure on our hospitals.”
Kenney added that the COVID shots and mandates had been “very effective at limiting transmission and infection” of earlier variants of COVID-19 and that the REP had been a success.
“We introduced this proof of vaccination program reluctantly to avoid a catastrophe in our hospitals during the Delta wave in September when Alberta and Saskatchewan were hit hardest because we had the lowest level of vaccination in Canada. When the REP was introduced, vaccines were still very effective at limiting transmission and infection.”
“The REP also led to a major increase in Alberta’s vaccination rates, which honestly has saved many lives and helped us to avoid cancelling thousands more surgeries during both the Delta and Omicron waves, so, the Restriction Exemption Program has done its job,” Kenney said.
But, Kenney said, the shots were waning in their efficacy partly because some Albertans hadn’t gotten a booster shot.
“Most Albertans got their last vaccine shot – typically their second shot – last summer, and they have not yet received the more recently available booster shots. Let me be clear – vaccines are still tremendously powerful at preventing severe outcomes like hospitalization and death,”
Kenney defended his vaccine passport program system, saying that it only applied to discretionary events and not to essential work such as trucking.
“The REP applied to discretionary social activities which were higher risks of transmission. We did not apply it – we DID NOT apply it – to essential low risk work activities, like, well, for example, driving a truck. And the REP in Alberta has allowed for a negative test option for discretionary activities like going to a nightclub or a casino or an NHL game,” Kenney said.
Kenney’s announcement comes three days after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced that “government restrictions on your rights and freedoms will be ending and ending very soon.”
To date, Moe and Kenney are the only premiers who have announced that ends are coming to their provinces’ COVID restrictions.
A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that 54% of Canadians agreed or strongly agreed that restrictions should be ended and for people who are at risk to self-isolate. All regions except for Atlantic Canada reported majority support.
Protests opposing vaccine mandates and other restrictions continue in Ottawa, in addition to weekend protests planned for major cities across Canada.
