Governments began easing restrictions imposed months ago. The hypothesis is emerging that the end of the pandemic emergency will arrive in the short term, bringing with it the start of a phase of more or less peaceful coexistence with the virus
The Omicron variant continues to circulate throughout the continent but the peak of infections seems to have passed almost everywhere. Health systems are holding up well, thanks, above all, to the effectiveness of vaccines and the lower severity of this virus mutation. Thus, governments began easing the restrictions imposed months ago. The hypothesis is emerging that the end of the pandemic emergency will arrive in the short term, bringing with it the start of a phase of more or less peaceful coexistence with Covid. In several European countries we can see the archiving of now habitual measures such as masks, from tomorrow no longer mandatory outdoors even in Italy, vaccination passes and even tampons.
United Kingdom
Once again, the United Kingdom is leading the way, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a possible “normalization by the end of February”. Infections are decreasing: in the last 24 hours about 66 thousand, far from the more than 150 thousand per day at the beginning of January. Mortality is also decreasing (276 deaths yesterday) and hospitalizations, at the lowest of the last two months. Analyzing these numbers, yesterday Boris Johnson, in Parliament, announced that “we will be able to abandon the latest restrictions, including the obligation of isolation for positives, a month in advance”. So not on March 24, as per the current deadline, but on February 21, when the premier will present a plan to “live with the virus”. Last month, the UK’s conservative government lifted most of the restrictions, from face masks (now mandatory only on public transport) to the need for a vaccination pass on premises.
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France
Another similar announcement comes from across the Channel: the French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said that “between the end of March and the beginning of April” the vaccination pass could be revoked “and maybe even advance on the question of the mask. The step-by-step process of lifting restrictions in France started in recent days, in line with what many other countries are doing, from Italy to Spain, from Holland to Belgium. “There is a beginning of improvement in hospitals and there are projections that can give hope”, said Attal, who recalled that “the French government adapts the restrictions to the level of infections”. moreover, there are 235,267 new cases in the last 24 hours, 35% less than seven days ago. So the obligation to wear an outdoor mask was already lifted on February 2, discos and concerts will reopen on February 16, in March the health protocol could be relaxed in schools.
Poland
Poland will also be moving towards the lifting of the restrictions from March: the Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski, in an interview, speaks of “a realistic prospect, if the pace at which the infections decrease remains the same”. The obligation to wear a mask indoors could only become a “recommendation”; the school in the presence “priority”; the mandatory days of isolation for the infected, from ten to seven. Already from today, then, the pass will no longer be necessary to enter public places and hairdressers in the Czech Republic. “And from 1 March the majority of the other anti-Covid restrictions still in force will be skipped”, assured Prime Minister Petr Fiala .
Denmark and Sweden
Denmark has also filed masks and Green Passes since 1 February. The Swedish government has removed the limits on the hours of restaurants and clubs, and the masks on public transport. Even the swabs will be filed, or almost, in the two Scandinavian countries. Denmark reduces the limit of molecular drugs administered daily, from 500,000 to 200,000 and has blocked free blanket tests from 6 March. Sweden has suspended large-scale tampons even for symptomatic patients, dismantled many centers and left the right to a free PCR only to health professionals, the elderly and the vulnerable. Tampons, expensive for public health, are no longer essential if the prevailing variant is the “mild” Omicron: this is the rationale for the measures explained by the two governments.
Italy
From tomorrow there will no longer be the obligation to wear a mask outdoors and from March 31st also indoors. On March 31, with the end of the state of emergency, the government will have to evaluate whether to abolish the obligation of the Green Pass, also according to the contagion curve: the Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa, yesterday, promised “easing in this sense of here shortly ».
United States. In New York, the obligation to wear a mask indoors
In the United States, the exceptional winter surge is also easing. For Anthony Fauci, the combination of vaccinations, treatments and healings should soon make Covid more manageable, and the White House advisor for the pandemic has called for an end to the squeeze in the coming months. In New York, meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul lifted the requirement to wear masks indoors (but not at school and on public transport) and the obligation on the part of merchants to ask customers for vaccination certificates. Other states, from New Jersey to California, have already moved, others are ready to do so.
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