Earlier this week we discussed the news that Sweden was putting an end to free COVID testing for all of its citizens and also terminating most COVID-related restrictions and mandates. That idea seems to be catching on in that part of Europe because now their neighbors to the west in Norway are following suit. The Norwegian Prime Minister announced yesterday that “almost all remaining COVID restrictions” are being lifted as his government no longer sees a major health threat to the citizens of his country. Some members of the EU are still holding out, but this seems to be quickly turning into a pattern. So are they “following the science” or just realizing that their people are simply done with this and may settle the matter for themselves before long? (Associated Press)
Norway says it is lifting almost all remaining COVID restrictions as it doesn’t see a major health threat to citizens any more, even though the omicron variant is still spreading in the Nordic nation.
“This is the day we have been waiting for,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere during a news conference in Oslo on Saturday. “We are removing almost all coronavirus measures.”
He justified the move by saying that Norwegians are well protected by vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic and the proportion of citizens who end in up in hospital has remained low despite the spread of the omicron variant.
Starting today, Norwegians are no longer required to wear masks, even in crowded public spaces. Anyone still wishing to wear a mask is free to do so, but nobody will be accosted by law enforcement if they choose to go maskless. The country’s three-foot social distancing rule is similarly abolished. Also, there will no longer be a requirement for forced self-isolation and quarantine rules have been dropped. Now the government simply “recommends” that anyone testing positive stay home for four days.
Was that really so difficult? They’ve vaccinated all of the people who are willing to take the vaccine and that’s about the best that they can do. Everyone is being tasked with being responsible to make their own choices and live with the results. (Or not live with them in some cases, unfortunately.) Norway has been faced with increasingly loud public protests against such restrictions just like many other nations. It sounds as if the Prime Minister wanted to get out in front of the problem before he wound up with a Freedom Convoy on his hands.
While this sort of common sense has yet to take hold in the American federal government, private entities seem to be coming to the same conclusion. In New York City, the New York Stock Exchange dropped its mask mandate for vaccinated workers and visitors yesterday and several of the largest investment banking firms on Wall Street did the same.
The New York Stock Exchange is withdrawing its mask mandate for fully vaccinated people effective immediately, a source said on Friday, after several large U.S. banks also dropped their mask requirements at their U.S. offices.
The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), is now making masks optional on the trading floor and other public areas for fully vaccinated personnel and visitors, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, adding that the existing COVID-19 policies would still remain in place.
There will still be some restrictions in place on Wall Street, particularly for those without proof of vaccination. But we always knew this was going to happen in stages. These firms can’t afford to permanently lose the number of people they would drive away with permanent mandates, particularly if some of their competitors remove restrictions entirely and begin hiring them all. And we’ve already seen this happening in other market sectors.
It’s hard to avoid the feeling that a reckoning is on the way. Those in power, both in government and in the private sector, can see the writing on the wall. The country has to get back to normal and they will not live in fear under a state of emergency forever. I will confidently predict that we’ll see a different sort of reckoning this November for those who continue to cling to these autocratic powers.
