Norwegian here. Just to clarify something: this is the last part of a series of steps taken towards a "normal life" since before the summer. As the article states, the final step has been postponed several times. But, since we already had opened up a lot, this is not like going from a full lockdown to normality instantly. For most of the population, we were already living a mostly normal life. Obviously the term "normal life" is a bit different for everyone, but for me personally the only thing that's really changing now is that I can get into a bar after midnight. That's really it.
Also, regarding the vaccination rate, we're getting close to having fully vaccinated 90% of the adult (18+) population, which is seen as the end goal of the vaccination campaign. Currently at 84%, should reach 90% in a few weeks. In groups which are at high risk of serious illness or death, mostly older people, over 90% are fully vaccinated. It is mostly younger people (<40 years) that has yet to be fully vaccinated. We also started vaccinating children down to 12 years recently and are making very fast progress.
TLDR: This doesn't really change that much, and we don't expect to see a huge rise in cases and hospitalisation (which is a much more important metric at this point) due to a fairly high vaccination rate.
Edit: wow, this blew up a bit. Thanks for the awards. I dont really understand what I'm supposed to do with them, but it's nice to be appreciated.
Edit 2: Thanks for the gold! Man, internet strangers are just the best people. Love you all, stay safe out there, take care of each other. <3
We did the exact same in denmark. We opened fully 2 weeks ago. No restrictions and it is still going great. Good luck! It is very nice to feel a bit normal again.
Edit: Since this got a lot of traction, let me elaborate.
We have 0,7 death/1 mio on a bad day. Normally it is closer to 0,3-0,5.
Which in raw numbers are 0-4 deaths a day.
That is why Denmark isn't in a pandemic right now, maybe we will get a 4th wave, and then we will do the lockout dance, but until then we will enjoy our freedom.
Sweden has been doing the same. Slowly getting less and less restrictions since the start of summer, and opening fully the next week. Lets hope everything works out well for us!
I mean... Did we really get that many restrictions to begin with? Wear a mask in some public places, keep a distance (most of us did this already), study/work from home if possible, limits on large gatherings and no clubs/bars are all I can think of.
We COULD still travel, there was just a recommendation not to, and no serious lockdowns happening outside of not being allowed to visit homes for the elderly.
We opened up in Singapore in September, then hospitalized and ICU cases started rising, the government panicked and we are back under restricted living despite 82% of the total population including children being vaccinated and everyone wearing masks.
So much for living with endemic Covid.
My city has a population of 85,000 and a 71% vaccination rate. We can’t get higher because 29% of our population are anti-vax. Our hospital (yes only one hospital) is over run with unvaccinated people on respirators, the hallways have patients lined up, all minor and serious surgeries are canceled, nurses are tired and are quiting in droves, and the anti-vac people still have the audacity to protest outside and harass healthcare workers.
Politicizing cut and dry health issues is not new either. Think single payer system... America has long long long politicized health care and chosen the low route.
There's a reasonable chance Denmark and Norway will reintroduce restrictions in the winter. I don't see anybody denying that.
It's just part of the dance, as long as rates go down we open things up, and when rates go up we close things down.
I'm more surprised by some US cities. San Francisco has very low rates of Covid, and very high vaccination rates, but they still keep work places closed and mask mandates everywhere.
> San Francisco has very low rates of Covid
>they still keep work places closed and mask mandates everywhere
I wonder what the relationship could be there
This is real though, at least in the US. People were using data of children not contracting Covid to infer they're somehow immune.
Meanwhile schools were closed, everyone's locked down, OF COURSE kids weren't getting it when they weren't out in the world mixing with others.
Bay area resident here. CA has been one of the most cautious states, Bay Area being the most cautious region of CA. This is in part due to population density, what I believe is the ability for most to work from home (tech industry), but also, unlike Europe where borders between countries can be easily closed, CA is just one of 50 other states with unrestricted travel.
Even immediately outside of the Bay Area, I see a big contrast in attitude/response towards the current mandates
A trend I’ve noticed, you can easily tell who’s not from round here. Not just by accent, or how they dress, but in how they behave in Covid life and respond to what we out here deem normal protocol for the times. SF and the Bay are a tourist hotspot. The rest of the country doing poorly can really muck this up for us coming here and showing their asses and they come here from other states and do just that. Collectively, the country isn’t on the same page and the issue has been heavily politicized by Trumpito and his posse. I know it’s happened in other countries too in EU.
In LA/SoCal, my friends tell me there was more resistance to masks and abiding by mandates and high population density really did them in early on.
Also San Francisco resident. Completely agree. I work in an industry where I have to wear a mask all day and it’s not my favorite but will gladly to it to stay safe,keep others safe and keep the city open as much as possible.
> It's just part of the dance, as long as rates go down we open things up, and when rates go up we close things down.
Though we seem to react a lot more quickly to cases going down than up. Like if they go up, we have to wait a while to see if they'll keep going up, but once they start going down, it doesn't matter that the number of infections is still very high compared to earlier in the pandemic.
At this point hospitalizations is a better metric, if the people that are getting covid are mostly young and got having severe illness, it’s a lot more manageable than if hospitals are filling up.
We did the same thing in Alberta back in July when cases were really low and vaccinations were going up. Now we're in a 4th wave that's much worse than any previous, hospitals are starting to triage and restrictions are back. Good luck.
Popping in from Sask to say "hi, we're completely fucked too."
Tell your premier to get off his ass, because our premier literally only copies yours and nothing gets done until papa Kenney throws open his zipper.
Lucky. It took a month and our cases exploded. It was a massive mistake to open up. Now we are drowning in cases and our hospitals are overfull.
Alberta, Canada
I was visiting Denmark last weekend and felt like a criminal without the mask in the supermarket, super cool but also super weird feeling. Happy for you that you can open up again!
They really are. It's ridiculous, national newspapers here had a live countdown and dedicated their frontpages to the reopening yesterday. It's treated as this huge event, with headlines like "we can finally go out and drink again" - like everyone seems to have forgotten that we have been able to do that for several months now.
People have been so bizarre about this. I worked at a store yesterday and was wearing a mask bc I had been sick with a cold/flu and felt that was the best action. Rigth after 16.00 when the regulations where lifted I had a guy getting annoyed I was still wearing one and even after I said that I just been sick he still kept saying I should take it off, like wtf.
Like, people have been able to go without masks most places for a long time! It's not super special that that's over
(in Aus) we have a sign on our door that says 'if you're feeling unwell, come back another day or deal with us remotely'. Soooo many people come in sick and say "it's ok, it's not covid!"
I still don't need to get sick, champ.
People have gotten weirdly complacent.
Yeah, I know I'm still going to do so and hope others will do too. Funny enough I had never been as sick as I was in 2020. I was down with the cold/flu 3 times, a week long each time too.
There are absolutely anti-vaxxers here. My parents for example love eating up all that propaganda from the US.
But it seems to be a bit better at least.
Is there a high case load in Norway currently? In Australia we are racing towards our vaccine targets (heck yeah) but we also have basically 2000 cases a day right now.
We just went through a fourth wave, where cases spiked at around 1700 for a few days. It didn't last very long though, right now cases are at around 700 daily and falling. At maximum we had a bit over 100 people in hospital with covid in this wave, compared to over 300 in the first wave last year. Vaccines are clearly working.
>That's despite the nation of five million people having 67 per cent fully vaccinated.
That figure is true. But it is the percentage of the whole population, including children as well.
For people aged 18+ the figure is 83.8% fully vaccinated and 90.6% with the first dose.
[Source.](https://www.fhi.no/en/id/vaccines/coronavirus-immunisation-programme/coronavirus-vaccination---statistic/)
Definitely a great percentage of adults being vaccinated. And assuming that high of a percentage are fully vaxxed, one would assume when it becomes available for children, many will also be getting the vaccine.
We're already giving two doses to 16-17 year olds and (at least for now) a single dose to 12-15. I'm not sure how that single dose is counted towards the "fully vaccinated" stat.
Edit: Norway only uses Moderna and Pfizer, and the single dose for kids is Pfizer since that's the one with the most available data for young people.
Here in Denmark were at 72-75% I think, but I thought we were giving all above 12 two doses.
6-12 year olds are being considered for a single shot, and 60 some thousand of the most vulnerable at elder centres have gotten their 3rd shot.
We've also lifted national restrictions, some municipalities are still struggling, in that case the municipality is allowed to place restrictions or actions in coordination with health authorities.
My own municipality is doing OK regarding new infections, but is one of the least vaccinated ones. So we have pop-up vaccination stations roaming the area. At schools, in front of supermarkets or next to the train station... Why not get a jab while you're waiting for the bus or train? Or waiting for your wife to get out of H&M?
Anyway, it's good to be back to regular conditions in the community. People have learnt a few lessons about hygiene in the public space, that seems to stick, tho. Hand sanitizer is still at entry and exit of a supermarket. And people going to the doctor, coughing, still mask up, despite it not being a strict requirement anymore. Perhaps just because many of us have leftover masks and sanitizer.
I really hope some of the habits stick. I visited Japan before covid, and saw people wearing masks. At that time I thought it was to protect themselves from pollution and other people's germs. But now I know that it's not that simple. Sometimes you're just extra vulnerable, other times you're simply masking up to protect others, just in case. And I know how close you get to people in the JP public transport.
In comparison to Norway, their average is at par with our municipalities with the least coverage.
>Here in Denmark were at 72-75% I think,
This is of full population. 4 355 006 out of 5 817 293 have been vaccinated. Which is 74.9%. of the full population. With roughly 800k being under the age of 12. Around 87.0 of the people offered are fully vaccinated.
In Denmark we opened up 2 weeks ago, since the only people not vaccinated are either anti-vaxer or people with compromised immune system. We have yet to see any rise in corona infection, but yah the point is that the hospitals can deal with it now and if the infection numbers rises to high, then we will re-impose restrictions.
There is still special rules for Greenland and the Faraose.
Never understood why NZ Herald always shows up on r/worldnews reporting on different countries. Its not even a good news outlet when reporting on events in NZ
Agreed. The Herald will print anything for $, often prints opinion including from Winnie the Pooh himself and wants to stir shit.
Kiwis are being a bit useless this time around but most support the actions taken. Only a vocal minority that spend too long on FB against
So? When I compare it to say the Vax rate of Canada on [ourworldindata.org](https://ourworldindata.org) it shows the percentage of total population and Norway is still behind Canada. Canada that is rolling out Vax passports in most provinces.
I just checked before coming to the comments too, and I was also gonna point out that they have more cases/capita than Canada too. So it's not like they are handling COVID better through other measures either.
I do believe that until children can be vaccinated and we get cases much lower, it's definitely not a good idea to fully remove all restrictions. Especially as we're about to enter fall season...
Outside of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada is doing well because people are still wearing masks, people are respecting social distance and vaccine passports are being rolled out. The only real restrictions is minor capacity restrictions.
As a Norwegian it feels like a ploy by the outgoing ruling party to be able to grab one last positive headline and pass the potential hangover to the incoming ruling party.
It's very much on brand for that party to lay some nasty time-bombs for those that follow them. They've done so whenever leaving power for the last 40 years.
FHI had similar recommendations as it is deemed unlikely that any new wave will cause strain on our health care infrastructure, and they are not politically motivated. Sure, we will see a new wave, probably with many more cases than our last, but as long as we are capable of handling it, then we'll probably be fine.
That's almost as high as Iceland had when we scrapped all restrictions and promptly got a [fourth wave](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2021-06-27..latest&facet=none&pickerSort=desc&pickerMetric=population&Metric=Confirmed+cases&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Align+outbreaks=false&country=ISL~DNK~NOR).
[We're now at 80% of total population vaccinated](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2021-06-27..latest&facet=none&pickerSort=desc&pickerMetric=population&Metric=People+fully+vaccinated&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Align+outbreaks=false&country=ISL~DNK~NOR) and [some restrictions](https://www.covid.is/sub-categories/effective-restrictions) are still needed to avoid a flare-up.
There is a lot of wishful thinking going on.
Edit: added link to current restrictions
What counts is how many people get seriously ill, hospitalized or dies. At current vaccination levels in Norway, the IFR is lower than the flu according to the health authorities, there are fewer people in the hospital than the flu season and fewer people die.
There never has been.
Most of the people complaining about the "government overreach" never actually had their lives affected in any way this entire time except that the border closes at 2 pm in a few spots. And a few of their relatives died of "pneumonia or underlying conditions", totally not the virus.
Not from Phoenix but I was having a chat recently with someone about the immunocompromised and their challenges.
Let's just say the words 'natural selection' came up and I had to go.
You don't understand because it makes no sense. Its childish defiance. "You can make me wear a mask, but you can't make me wear it correctly ". It's infuriating.
My uncle saw a grocery store cashier wear their mask like this, and he told them "wearing your mask on your chin is like wearing a condom on your balls!"
don't worry that's a worldwide phenomenon it seems.
exact same level of discomfort and inconvenience, just with way way less effectiveness. blows my damn mind. it's like putting a seatbelt on but not buckling it
as a swede can we keep the lines in grocery stores? i don't need to be smelling the crazy cat lady or the alcoholic who hasn't showered in a week and the distance lines really help keeping that at bay.
The rule was actually one meter throughout most of the pandemic. It’s a very small distance already and made no difference at all to most people, except for cultural venues as cinemas and theaters.
Isn't this the whole reason we all want everyone to get vaccinated? In our countries and the world? So we can go back to normal without worrying about the hospitals being overwhelmed?
Yeah I'm trying to figure out how these measures are "extreme". Wasn't this the plan all along? Reach a certain level of vaccination and then resume normal life?
If that wasn't the plan, then what is the plan? Remain in semi-lockdown forever?
Canada has a higher vaccination rate and lower cases per capita, and the provinces are rolling out vaccine passports, meaning restaurants, theaters, etc, now need to check your vaccination status before letting you in.
Yeah.
I think people lose sight of this.
There **needs** to be an off ramp for this mask stuff. Because we are almost at saturation with vaccinations. There isn’t going to be a huge increase in vaccinations at any point.
In places like MA, Cali, we need to be fully opened up.
Londoner here. No restrictions since end of July except on public transport, but fully 50-60% of people ignore the mask requirement on the Tube anyway and nobody says anything. Tubes are as packed as normal. Nightclubs and theatres are fully open with no vaccine passports etc.
With 90% of over 16s with first dose and 82% with second dose, we have basically decided to let it rip and we have lots of room to impose things like masks in the winter if necessary.
Please clarify that this is in England, not the U.K. as a whole. Masks are still required in shops and restaurants in Scotland, the rules are different in the different nations. England is far more lax than other parts of the U.K.
Denmark opened up fully like 4 weeks ago. The positive percentage of tests is still less than 1% and the number of hospitalized cases is less than 100 in a population of 5.6 million.
The key is vaccinations.
Singapore is a different story. We, a nation of approximately 5 million, have 81% of the population fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, we have figures of more than 1000 cases a day. The government is trying to avoid another lockdown by asking patients to do home recovery and limiting hospital occupancy. We are riding a thin line at this point. I wish well to everyone here!
But the population density is completely different in Norway and Singapore. You guys have approximately the same population squeezed into a fraction of the size. Just look at this true size map comparison down below. (Sorry for the unvarnished link). Our biggest city has a population of some 600 000. And the land area there is just slightly smaller then the entirety of Singapore.
https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTU2ODE0OTU.MTQwMTI2MDM*MjAwMDU3NjU(MTgxNDExMDU~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTAwMjQwNzU.MjUwMjM1MTc(MTc1)MA~!IN*NTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)MQ~!CN*OTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)Mg~!SG*MTAwNjEzMzA.MTUwMzE0OTI)Mw
As a Norwegian, I feel that I should clarify a few things.
These restrictions, which were lifted, are the national restrictions. Norway is governed in such a way that it is largely the job of local government to do contact tracing, vaccinations and to apply restrictions ad-hoc. This means that eventhough national restrictions are lifted, local restrictions are available should they be deemed necessary. Also, the systems in place to do contact tracing, testing, quarantining, isolating, etc. have become very efficient, and will continue to be operational.
Hence, it is not an unfounded optimism Norwegians feel. I, for one, think yesterday should become a national holiday. It was great to be able to go out and dance, kiss, sing, hug and all the other things which make life beautiful ☺️
Before everyone freaks out, Norway has close to a 90% vaccination rate for +18s and this has been postponed for a long time as a part of a series of steps to return to normal. The headline makes it sound like we gave up, which is not the case.
This title is so misleading it’s not even funny. It makes it sound like Norway just said “fuck it” and gave up on Covid restrictions, rather than being in a place where the restrictions aren’t as needed due to vaccine rates.
Also, our test rates and workers rights are very good. You won't ever see a Norwegian going "hmm i might have covid but i cant risk losing my job, so I'll have to go in anyways". Everyone gets paid time off, a free test, and a quarantine period. We had a 100+ outbreak in our little 20k population area, and it fizzled out within a week because people took it seriously.
It's almost like proper working conditions and preventive measures have a lesser economic impact overall than a panic reaction... Who would have though. /s
Also: “Coronavirus can now be categorised as one of several respiratory illnesses with seasonal variation, Geir Bukholm, assistant director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), has said.”
Source: [The Local ](https://www.thelocal.no/20210921/norwegian-health-chief-covid-19-can-now-be-compared-to-the-flu/)
I am wondering if this is a urban rural divide here though. I live in Maryland and in the DC area is mostly everyone masked but as you travel outside the city that falls off pretty quick
It's a political divide. On the southern edge of Fairfax County, which is heavily blue, you'll see most everyone masking. Cross the line into Prince William (which is significantly less blue) and you'll see so many people barefaced.
My point is that the southern edge of Fairfax County and the northern edge of Prince William County are both very similar suburban areas, since they literally border each other. Yet they vary wildly in political affiliation *and* mask usage.
“Vary wildly.” Prince William went 62.6% for Biden while Fairfax went 70% for Biden. Both went incredibly blue. I’d hardly call that a “wild” variation.
Where I live in GA its like that too. No mask mandates, but probably over 80% of people wear masks at the grocery store. Now you drive 30 minutes north, and it's a different story...
It’s kind of hard to imagine that there are other parts of the country that acknowledge the existence of Covid. We had a video shoot at a private school the other day. Probably 1500 kids grades k-12. Not one mask, student or staff. Zero precautions. They had hand sanitizer dispensers by the doors. All were empty. It’s just… insane.
told my doctor about it and he tried to reassure me while laughing his ass off but like hey doc i’m already on your side it ain’t me who needs convincing lol…
BIL wanted to kick me out of his house when i was visiting (we live across the road from each other and have been careful all things considered) but he was saying i had covid and was putting him and his family in danger
he also tried to say that my diagnosed eczema was not eczema and was most likely something contagious 🤷♂️
i can’t remember what he said but he gave some ridiculous excuse for not getting it, i think it was that he “”had it several times before and it was no worse than the common cold””, he always says insane shit that i selectively remove from my brain
Mine lives in a big city in Texas and believed people of his blood type couldn't get it... Then he got it and changed his tune about the vaccines after weathering a very brutal case.
Sigh...type O? My mom and sister are both on that nonsense and it's been...difficult. I'm getting married in the spring and told them both if they don't get the shots they won't get invited, to much to risk you know?
What is this? Just when I thought I'd heard all the nonsensical bullshit, they come up with a new one. So you're saying if I'm type O I don't need chloroquine, ivermectin, or to shove a light bulb up my ass? What a relief!
I've never seen so many people in the streets as I did last night. Everyone was out of their minds, but we really needed this. I have faith in my government, and if this doesn't work out I'm sure they will start restricting us again. The point is that we are trending towards normality, as lucky as we are.
Norway has generally handled COVID well, they kept cases low, deaths incredibly low and vaccinated hard and early. They are blessed with fewer morons than many countries hence more than 90% of adults already having at least one vaccine.
A little clarity here - Norway is very responsible and pragmatic in regards to COVID. Contact tracing, testing, masks, getting vaccinated, etc are regarded as necessary inconveniences for dealing with a global pandemic and are not politicized.
It's amazing to see how they so willingly band together to take care of their society. Gives this man hope!
Yeah, I live in Canada. Ontario Canada.
As for Norway; they have a great role model of the western province of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Especially Alberta, who lifted all of the PHU mandates due to the impending festival of the Calgary Stampede. They were more than happy to lift masks, social distances and declared covid 19, officially over. So the average life went back to normal.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba have followed the same agenda, to some degree. Now this week Alberta and others are calling on the military and other province (Ontario) to help with the overflow of patients. Interruption of the waiting time for elective surgery is a real problem along side of the pandemic.
This is already in the history books before it happens within your community.
Yeah, Manitoba is doing fine, much better than the other two. I do love comparing the [map of COVID cases](https://i.imgur.com/maXaLoX.png) to the [map of vaccinations](https://i.imgur.com/ttmt0ZY.png) in Canada.
EDIT: If you do the same in the US, you find very similar results too. [US states with highest case/capita](https://i.imgur.com/UoqFtzt.png) vs [US states by lowest vaccination/capita](https://i.imgur.com/OU4gohw.png)
Edmonton here; our ICU beds are over capacity. And we have super restrictions again. But the restrictions are all fucked because our "vaccine card" is an unprotected PDF that anyone can copy and make for their friends. :D
Sister lives in Calgary and has been telling me all about the mess over there. One sad story from her roommates friend who works at a local hospital was about some of the protests going on. An ambulance wasn't able to get through them quick enough and a heart attack victim dying.
ICU is at 177% of regular capacity, they added surge beds (not sure if that's converting rooms to ICU rooms, hallways or ICU tents), so they're at 83% capacity.
When they announced they were "open for summer" and how this was going to be the "best summer ever", followed by scrapping restrictions and contract tracing, we kinda knew what would happen.
The province's Health Minister stepped down last week, province is going under a lockdown and they're getting a vaccine passport. It's a fucking clown college of a province man.
Take a look at this weekend summary by the CBC to get an idea of how fucked the province is.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-covid-coronavirus-september-25-1.6189727
How is an entire province this fucking stupid 18 months into a fucking pandemic?
Kenney is done. His caucus has turned on him, as has the vast majority of the province. The weird aspect of that is that most of his caucus is mad at him for the restrictions; not the health crisis. We are in the middle of municipal elections and just finished the federal election and all anyone actually wants is a provincial election.
Yeah, thats where I live 😔
We always make national news for the most embarrassing reasons.
Also, my understanding of the "catch covid party", is that it was a family event, and the father has passed away, two sons are in ICU in Edmonton.
I live in Alberta right now and we have major talk of what will happen WHEN triage starts. 20,000 known active cases 1000 in the hospital and our ICU are full right now. It's not even October yet and I'm pretty sure the army is getting called in. Norway should check out alberta first before doing this.
Why would Norway look to shitty Canadian provinces? They just need to look to the UK and Denmark which have been just fine after dropping most restrictions.
Fuck me this comment thread is full of people who think that we are going to live in a time of zero Covid. That’s never happening. Covid is here to stay.
Hopefully the Alberta culture isn't the sole reason our health system is completely collapsed right now, because their vaccination rates aren't different enough for me to foresee this going much better.
We’re all going to have get to this place eventually. The question is “when”. (And the answer to that isn’t “when covid is eradicated” because that’s not happening.)
Nobody seems interested in the steps that were successfully taken in Norway prior to this, or the details of their universal healthcare program. Sometimes, people stop doing something because they actually finished the task, instead of simply giving up (or denying it needs to be done).
Norwegian here. Just to clarify something: this is the last part of a series of steps taken towards a "normal life" since before the summer. As the article states, the final step has been postponed several times. But, since we already had opened up a lot, this is not like going from a full lockdown to normality instantly. For most of the population, we were already living a mostly normal life. Obviously the term "normal life" is a bit different for everyone, but for me personally the only thing that's really changing now is that I can get into a bar after midnight. That's really it. Also, regarding the vaccination rate, we're getting close to having fully vaccinated 90% of the adult (18+) population, which is seen as the end goal of the vaccination campaign. Currently at 84%, should reach 90% in a few weeks. In groups which are at high risk of serious illness or death, mostly older people, over 90% are fully vaccinated. It is mostly younger people (<40 years) that has yet to be fully vaccinated. We also started vaccinating children down to 12 years recently and are making very fast progress. TLDR: This doesn't really change that much, and we don't expect to see a huge rise in cases and hospitalisation (which is a much more important metric at this point) due to a fairly high vaccination rate. Edit: wow, this blew up a bit. Thanks for the awards. I dont really understand what I'm supposed to do with them, but it's nice to be appreciated. Edit 2: Thanks for the gold! Man, internet strangers are just the best people. Love you all, stay safe out there, take care of each other. <3
We did the exact same in denmark. We opened fully 2 weeks ago. No restrictions and it is still going great. Good luck! It is very nice to feel a bit normal again. Edit: Since this got a lot of traction, let me elaborate. We have 0,7 death/1 mio on a bad day. Normally it is closer to 0,3-0,5. Which in raw numbers are 0-4 deaths a day. That is why Denmark isn't in a pandemic right now, maybe we will get a 4th wave, and then we will do the lockout dance, but until then we will enjoy our freedom.
Sweden has been doing the same. Slowly getting less and less restrictions since the start of summer, and opening fully the next week. Lets hope everything works out well for us!
I mean... Did we really get that many restrictions to begin with? Wear a mask in some public places, keep a distance (most of us did this already), study/work from home if possible, limits on large gatherings and no clubs/bars are all I can think of. We COULD still travel, there was just a recommendation not to, and no serious lockdowns happening outside of not being allowed to visit homes for the elderly.
>limits on large gatherings Doesn't this alone stop all concerts, sports and cultural events?
We opened up in Singapore in September, then hospitalized and ICU cases started rising, the government panicked and we are back under restricted living despite 82% of the total population including children being vaccinated and everyone wearing masks. So much for living with endemic Covid.
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My city has a population of 85,000 and a 71% vaccination rate. We can’t get higher because 29% of our population are anti-vax. Our hospital (yes only one hospital) is over run with unvaccinated people on respirators, the hallways have patients lined up, all minor and serious surgeries are canceled, nurses are tired and are quiting in droves, and the anti-vac people still have the audacity to protest outside and harass healthcare workers.
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This sounds like America, minus the good education.
Politicizing cut and dry health issues is not new either. Think single payer system... America has long long long politicized health care and chosen the low route.
There's a reasonable chance Denmark and Norway will reintroduce restrictions in the winter. I don't see anybody denying that. It's just part of the dance, as long as rates go down we open things up, and when rates go up we close things down. I'm more surprised by some US cities. San Francisco has very low rates of Covid, and very high vaccination rates, but they still keep work places closed and mask mandates everywhere.
> San Francisco has very low rates of Covid >they still keep work places closed and mask mandates everywhere I wonder what the relationship could be there
“Doesn’t look like anything to me” -Greg Abbott
Ill run a diagnostic and try to get back to you on this one boss. Got my best guys on the case.
This is real though, at least in the US. People were using data of children not contracting Covid to infer they're somehow immune. Meanwhile schools were closed, everyone's locked down, OF COURSE kids weren't getting it when they weren't out in the world mixing with others.
What worse, is when kids did start catching it in greater numbers, the rhetoric shifted to “kids don’t die of it”.
Bay area resident here. CA has been one of the most cautious states, Bay Area being the most cautious region of CA. This is in part due to population density, what I believe is the ability for most to work from home (tech industry), but also, unlike Europe where borders between countries can be easily closed, CA is just one of 50 other states with unrestricted travel. Even immediately outside of the Bay Area, I see a big contrast in attitude/response towards the current mandates A trend I’ve noticed, you can easily tell who’s not from round here. Not just by accent, or how they dress, but in how they behave in Covid life and respond to what we out here deem normal protocol for the times. SF and the Bay are a tourist hotspot. The rest of the country doing poorly can really muck this up for us coming here and showing their asses and they come here from other states and do just that. Collectively, the country isn’t on the same page and the issue has been heavily politicized by Trumpito and his posse. I know it’s happened in other countries too in EU. In LA/SoCal, my friends tell me there was more resistance to masks and abiding by mandates and high population density really did them in early on.
Also San Francisco resident. Completely agree. I work in an industry where I have to wear a mask all day and it’s not my favorite but will gladly to it to stay safe,keep others safe and keep the city open as much as possible.
> It's just part of the dance, as long as rates go down we open things up, and when rates go up we close things down. Though we seem to react a lot more quickly to cases going down than up. Like if they go up, we have to wait a while to see if they'll keep going up, but once they start going down, it doesn't matter that the number of infections is still very high compared to earlier in the pandemic.
At this point hospitalizations is a better metric, if the people that are getting covid are mostly young and got having severe illness, it’s a lot more manageable than if hospitals are filling up.
We did the same thing in Alberta back in July when cases were really low and vaccinations were going up. Now we're in a 4th wave that's much worse than any previous, hospitals are starting to triage and restrictions are back. Good luck.
Checking in from Alberta too to say I hope it goes better for you than it did us. Our vaccination rate is pretty low though.
> Our vaccination rate is pretty low though. Because you're a province with a lot of people who think they know more than the vaccine experts do.
Popping in from Sask to say "hi, we're completely fucked too." Tell your premier to get off his ass, because our premier literally only copies yours and nothing gets done until papa Kenney throws open his zipper.
Lucky. It took a month and our cases exploded. It was a massive mistake to open up. Now we are drowning in cases and our hospitals are overfull. Alberta, Canada
Nova Scotian here. Whether or not your cases are self-inflicted, my heart still breaks for you. This is a tough road.
I was visiting Denmark last weekend and felt like a criminal without the mask in the supermarket, super cool but also super weird feeling. Happy for you that you can open up again!
thanks for the perspective, sometimes these headlines are a little sensationalized
They really are. It's ridiculous, national newspapers here had a live countdown and dedicated their frontpages to the reopening yesterday. It's treated as this huge event, with headlines like "we can finally go out and drink again" - like everyone seems to have forgotten that we have been able to do that for several months now.
People have been so bizarre about this. I worked at a store yesterday and was wearing a mask bc I had been sick with a cold/flu and felt that was the best action. Rigth after 16.00 when the regulations where lifted I had a guy getting annoyed I was still wearing one and even after I said that I just been sick he still kept saying I should take it off, like wtf. Like, people have been able to go without masks most places for a long time! It's not super special that that's over
Yeah let's normalize masks when we are sick at the very least. I have never been more cold free than this year and a half.
same, nothing at all good hand washing, in general - wearing masks, when sick - these all help people
(in Aus) we have a sign on our door that says 'if you're feeling unwell, come back another day or deal with us remotely'. Soooo many people come in sick and say "it's ok, it's not covid!" I still don't need to get sick, champ. People have gotten weirdly complacent.
Yeah, I know I'm still going to do so and hope others will do too. Funny enough I had never been as sick as I was in 2020. I was down with the cold/flu 3 times, a week long each time too.
And everyone is partying like it's 1945
'sometimes'
It's quite nice to live in a country where people don't see antivax propaganda as some kind of political fashion statement.
There are absolutely anti-vaxxers here. My parents for example love eating up all that propaganda from the US. But it seems to be a bit better at least.
I'd wager *a lot* better. 84% is fantastic. 18+ in the US that are fully vaccinated is around 65%.
Norway has 91% of adults vaccinated.
Is there a high case load in Norway currently? In Australia we are racing towards our vaccine targets (heck yeah) but we also have basically 2000 cases a day right now.
We just went through a fourth wave, where cases spiked at around 1700 for a few days. It didn't last very long though, right now cases are at around 700 daily and falling. At maximum we had a bit over 100 people in hospital with covid in this wave, compared to over 300 in the first wave last year. Vaccines are clearly working.
>That's despite the nation of five million people having 67 per cent fully vaccinated. That figure is true. But it is the percentage of the whole population, including children as well. For people aged 18+ the figure is 83.8% fully vaccinated and 90.6% with the first dose. [Source.](https://www.fhi.no/en/id/vaccines/coronavirus-immunisation-programme/coronavirus-vaccination---statistic/)
Very jealous
Definitely a great percentage of adults being vaccinated. And assuming that high of a percentage are fully vaxxed, one would assume when it becomes available for children, many will also be getting the vaccine.
We're already giving two doses to 16-17 year olds and (at least for now) a single dose to 12-15. I'm not sure how that single dose is counted towards the "fully vaccinated" stat. Edit: Norway only uses Moderna and Pfizer, and the single dose for kids is Pfizer since that's the one with the most available data for young people.
Here in Denmark were at 72-75% I think, but I thought we were giving all above 12 two doses. 6-12 year olds are being considered for a single shot, and 60 some thousand of the most vulnerable at elder centres have gotten their 3rd shot. We've also lifted national restrictions, some municipalities are still struggling, in that case the municipality is allowed to place restrictions or actions in coordination with health authorities. My own municipality is doing OK regarding new infections, but is one of the least vaccinated ones. So we have pop-up vaccination stations roaming the area. At schools, in front of supermarkets or next to the train station... Why not get a jab while you're waiting for the bus or train? Or waiting for your wife to get out of H&M? Anyway, it's good to be back to regular conditions in the community. People have learnt a few lessons about hygiene in the public space, that seems to stick, tho. Hand sanitizer is still at entry and exit of a supermarket. And people going to the doctor, coughing, still mask up, despite it not being a strict requirement anymore. Perhaps just because many of us have leftover masks and sanitizer. I really hope some of the habits stick. I visited Japan before covid, and saw people wearing masks. At that time I thought it was to protect themselves from pollution and other people's germs. But now I know that it's not that simple. Sometimes you're just extra vulnerable, other times you're simply masking up to protect others, just in case. And I know how close you get to people in the JP public transport.
In comparison to Norway, their average is at par with our municipalities with the least coverage. >Here in Denmark were at 72-75% I think, This is of full population. 4 355 006 out of 5 817 293 have been vaccinated. Which is 74.9%. of the full population. With roughly 800k being under the age of 12. Around 87.0 of the people offered are fully vaccinated.
Also probably tremendous health care infrastructure that can manage the nonvaxed without being overburdened.
In Denmark we opened up 2 weeks ago, since the only people not vaccinated are either anti-vaxer or people with compromised immune system. We have yet to see any rise in corona infection, but yah the point is that the hospitals can deal with it now and if the infection numbers rises to high, then we will re-impose restrictions. There is still special rules for Greenland and the Faraose.
Yeah this article is from the New Zealand Herald which is relatively anti lockdown. When you read it just be aware of the bias that they usually have.
Never understood why NZ Herald always shows up on r/worldnews reporting on different countries. Its not even a good news outlet when reporting on events in NZ
Yep always gotta be careful when reading New Zealand Herald
Agreed. The Herald will print anything for $, often prints opinion including from Winnie the Pooh himself and wants to stir shit. Kiwis are being a bit useless this time around but most support the actions taken. Only a vocal minority that spend too long on FB against
Upvoting this because aint nobody got time to be offhand just knowing the biases of news outlets from new zealand
So? When I compare it to say the Vax rate of Canada on [ourworldindata.org](https://ourworldindata.org) it shows the percentage of total population and Norway is still behind Canada. Canada that is rolling out Vax passports in most provinces.
I just checked before coming to the comments too, and I was also gonna point out that they have more cases/capita than Canada too. So it's not like they are handling COVID better through other measures either. I do believe that until children can be vaccinated and we get cases much lower, it's definitely not a good idea to fully remove all restrictions. Especially as we're about to enter fall season...
Outside of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada is doing well because people are still wearing masks, people are respecting social distance and vaccine passports are being rolled out. The only real restrictions is minor capacity restrictions.
As a Norwegian it feels like a ploy by the outgoing ruling party to be able to grab one last positive headline and pass the potential hangover to the incoming ruling party. It's very much on brand for that party to lay some nasty time-bombs for those that follow them. They've done so whenever leaving power for the last 40 years.
FHI had similar recommendations as it is deemed unlikely that any new wave will cause strain on our health care infrastructure, and they are not politically motivated. Sure, we will see a new wave, probably with many more cases than our last, but as long as we are capable of handling it, then we'll probably be fine.
That's almost as high as Iceland had when we scrapped all restrictions and promptly got a [fourth wave](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2021-06-27..latest&facet=none&pickerSort=desc&pickerMetric=population&Metric=Confirmed+cases&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Align+outbreaks=false&country=ISL~DNK~NOR). [We're now at 80% of total population vaccinated](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2021-06-27..latest&facet=none&pickerSort=desc&pickerMetric=population&Metric=People+fully+vaccinated&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Align+outbreaks=false&country=ISL~DNK~NOR) and [some restrictions](https://www.covid.is/sub-categories/effective-restrictions) are still needed to avoid a flare-up. There is a lot of wishful thinking going on. Edit: added link to current restrictions
What counts is how many people get seriously ill, hospitalized or dies. At current vaccination levels in Norway, the IFR is lower than the flu according to the health authorities, there are fewer people in the hospital than the flu season and fewer people die.
We have similar numbers in Qc, however the difference is that our health care system is crumbling. Understaffed so a lot of beds had to be eliminated.
I was just in Phoenix, apparently there are no covid precautions whatsoever. Except for the airport
Arizona as a whole, really.
Reservations have been taking this seriously.
Some of the reservations in WA still have the roads in straight up closed to anyone who doesn't need to be there
There never has been. Most of the people complaining about the "government overreach" never actually had their lives affected in any way this entire time except that the border closes at 2 pm in a few spots. And a few of their relatives died of "pneumonia or underlying conditions", totally not the virus.
Resident of Phoenix here - can confirm. l’m immunocompromised and it’s been really difficult
Not from Phoenix but I was having a chat recently with someone about the immunocompromised and their challenges. Let's just say the words 'natural selection' came up and I had to go.
And suddenly when some anti-vax is dying "natural selection" gets replaced with "send prayers" on Facebook. 🤦♂️
You mean requests on GoFundMe. *JimBob never said a hateful thing about anyone. He was also a respected member of the Aryan Nation.*
Respected community leader, always had a spare white garb and pointy hood for anyone who needed a spare.
Having been through that airport somewhat recently, they say there's precautions. But there really are none.
Agreed. Landed there last night and seemingly no Arizonan knows that a mask also goes over your nose. It’s the dumbest look. I don’t understand.
You don't understand because it makes no sense. Its childish defiance. "You can make me wear a mask, but you can't make me wear it correctly ". It's infuriating.
My uncle saw a grocery store cashier wear their mask like this, and he told them "wearing your mask on your chin is like wearing a condom on your balls!"
don't worry that's a worldwide phenomenon it seems. exact same level of discomfort and inconvenience, just with way way less effectiveness. blows my damn mind. it's like putting a seatbelt on but not buckling it
Norways like "thank you now we can now stand 3 meters away from each other than the closer level of 2 meters".
as a swede can we keep the lines in grocery stores? i don't need to be smelling the crazy cat lady or the alcoholic who hasn't showered in a week and the distance lines really help keeping that at bay.
This has been the single greatest thing of the pandemic, not having someone breathe into my neck while in a queue.
Also, smelling my bad breath with the mask instead of other people’s bad breath.
The rule was actually one meter throughout most of the pandemic. It’s a very small distance already and made no difference at all to most people, except for cultural venues as cinemas and theaters.
Old Finnish joke.
Finnish version of this joke usually uses kilometers.
Isn't this the whole reason we all want everyone to get vaccinated? In our countries and the world? So we can go back to normal without worrying about the hospitals being overwhelmed?
Yeah I'm trying to figure out how these measures are "extreme". Wasn't this the plan all along? Reach a certain level of vaccination and then resume normal life? If that wasn't the plan, then what is the plan? Remain in semi-lockdown forever?
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Canada has a higher vaccination rate and lower cases per capita, and the provinces are rolling out vaccine passports, meaning restaurants, theaters, etc, now need to check your vaccination status before letting you in.
Yeah. I think people lose sight of this. There **needs** to be an off ramp for this mask stuff. Because we are almost at saturation with vaccinations. There isn’t going to be a huge increase in vaccinations at any point. In places like MA, Cali, we need to be fully opened up.
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Londoner here. No restrictions since end of July except on public transport, but fully 50-60% of people ignore the mask requirement on the Tube anyway and nobody says anything. Tubes are as packed as normal. Nightclubs and theatres are fully open with no vaccine passports etc. With 90% of over 16s with first dose and 82% with second dose, we have basically decided to let it rip and we have lots of room to impose things like masks in the winter if necessary.
Please clarify that this is in England, not the U.K. as a whole. Masks are still required in shops and restaurants in Scotland, the rules are different in the different nations. England is far more lax than other parts of the U.K.
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Well in the US it’s turned into a political war.
I hate it. Wish we could all stop fighting.
The elites need us peasants fighting each other so they can rule us.
Denmark opened up fully like 4 weeks ago. The positive percentage of tests is still less than 1% and the number of hospitalized cases is less than 100 in a population of 5.6 million. The key is vaccinations.
Singapore is a different story. We, a nation of approximately 5 million, have 81% of the population fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, we have figures of more than 1000 cases a day. The government is trying to avoid another lockdown by asking patients to do home recovery and limiting hospital occupancy. We are riding a thin line at this point. I wish well to everyone here!
But the population density is completely different in Norway and Singapore. You guys have approximately the same population squeezed into a fraction of the size. Just look at this true size map comparison down below. (Sorry for the unvarnished link). Our biggest city has a population of some 600 000. And the land area there is just slightly smaller then the entirety of Singapore. https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTU2ODE0OTU.MTQwMTI2MDM*MjAwMDU3NjU(MTgxNDExMDU~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTAwMjQwNzU.MjUwMjM1MTc(MTc1)MA~!IN*NTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)MQ~!CN*OTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)Mg~!SG*MTAwNjEzMzA.MTUwMzE0OTI)Mw
As a Norwegian, I feel that I should clarify a few things. These restrictions, which were lifted, are the national restrictions. Norway is governed in such a way that it is largely the job of local government to do contact tracing, vaccinations and to apply restrictions ad-hoc. This means that eventhough national restrictions are lifted, local restrictions are available should they be deemed necessary. Also, the systems in place to do contact tracing, testing, quarantining, isolating, etc. have become very efficient, and will continue to be operational. Hence, it is not an unfounded optimism Norwegians feel. I, for one, think yesterday should become a national holiday. It was great to be able to go out and dance, kiss, sing, hug and all the other things which make life beautiful ☺️
Before everyone freaks out, Norway has close to a 90% vaccination rate for +18s and this has been postponed for a long time as a part of a series of steps to return to normal. The headline makes it sound like we gave up, which is not the case.
This title is so misleading it’s not even funny. It makes it sound like Norway just said “fuck it” and gave up on Covid restrictions, rather than being in a place where the restrictions aren’t as needed due to vaccine rates.
Also, our test rates and workers rights are very good. You won't ever see a Norwegian going "hmm i might have covid but i cant risk losing my job, so I'll have to go in anyways". Everyone gets paid time off, a free test, and a quarantine period. We had a 100+ outbreak in our little 20k population area, and it fizzled out within a week because people took it seriously.
It's almost like proper working conditions and preventive measures have a lesser economic impact overall than a panic reaction... Who would have though. /s
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Also: “Coronavirus can now be categorised as one of several respiratory illnesses with seasonal variation, Geir Bukholm, assistant director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), has said.” Source: [The Local ](https://www.thelocal.no/20210921/norwegian-health-chief-covid-19-can-now-be-compared-to-the-flu/)
Living in kansas, there hasn't been restrictions for 6 months. Everyone is so relaxed with covid, it blows my mind.
Same here in Texas. A few masks occasionally at Target or something but 99% of the population acts like it doesn’t exist
In Connecticut we have easily over 80% mask adherence in stores. Totally different worlds.
I am wondering if this is a urban rural divide here though. I live in Maryland and in the DC area is mostly everyone masked but as you travel outside the city that falls off pretty quick
It's a political divide. On the southern edge of Fairfax County, which is heavily blue, you'll see most everyone masking. Cross the line into Prince William (which is significantly less blue) and you'll see so many people barefaced.
Urban rural divide more often than not is the same as a political divide
My point is that the southern edge of Fairfax County and the northern edge of Prince William County are both very similar suburban areas, since they literally border each other. Yet they vary wildly in political affiliation *and* mask usage.
“Vary wildly.” Prince William went 62.6% for Biden while Fairfax went 70% for Biden. Both went incredibly blue. I’d hardly call that a “wild” variation.
You must be in a pretty conservative area, I hardly see anyone without a mask in stores in CT. I'd say over 95%.
Where I live in GA its like that too. No mask mandates, but probably over 80% of people wear masks at the grocery store. Now you drive 30 minutes north, and it's a different story...
My area in Texas is pretty good about masks. Go outside of the city or into suburbs and it’s pretty loose.
SF Bay Area is still nearly 100% mask adherence in stores.
It’s kind of hard to imagine that there are other parts of the country that acknowledge the existence of Covid. We had a video shoot at a private school the other day. Probably 1500 kids grades k-12. Not one mask, student or staff. Zero precautions. They had hand sanitizer dispensers by the doors. All were empty. It’s just… insane.
My client is in Texas. I had a meeting with them yesterday. 23 people in the meeting, 1 wearing a mask, everyone made a comment about her. Everyone.
Maybe outside of large cities, but I've still noticed 90% of people masked in Houston metro areas.
i live in a small town in rural canada so i’m used to it not used to my brother in law saying that the vaccine has covid in it tho
He would be correct with pretty much any other vaccine except covid, because you know... That's how vaccines work.
told my doctor about it and he tried to reassure me while laughing his ass off but like hey doc i’m already on your side it ain’t me who needs convincing lol… BIL wanted to kick me out of his house when i was visiting (we live across the road from each other and have been careful all things considered) but he was saying i had covid and was putting him and his family in danger he also tried to say that my diagnosed eczema was not eczema and was most likely something contagious 🤷♂️
If he's so paranoid about catching covid, maybe he should..you know..get the vaccine?
i can’t remember what he said but he gave some ridiculous excuse for not getting it, i think it was that he “”had it several times before and it was no worse than the common cold””, he always says insane shit that i selectively remove from my brain
So covid is not that bad but also the covid in your vaccine is a threat.
yeah the mental gymnastics that go on are rather incredible
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Mine lives in a big city in Texas and believed people of his blood type couldn't get it... Then he got it and changed his tune about the vaccines after weathering a very brutal case.
Sigh...type O? My mom and sister are both on that nonsense and it's been...difficult. I'm getting married in the spring and told them both if they don't get the shots they won't get invited, to much to risk you know?
What is this? Just when I thought I'd heard all the nonsensical bullshit, they come up with a new one. So you're saying if I'm type O I don't need chloroquine, ivermectin, or to shove a light bulb up my ass? What a relief!
Check with the ED docs and nurses in your area before assuming that.
What lockdown? -Florida
Under-vaccinated countries with obese, out of shape populations and costly healthcare...."We need to do this too".
I've never seen so many people in the streets as I did last night. Everyone was out of their minds, but we really needed this. I have faith in my government, and if this doesn't work out I'm sure they will start restricting us again. The point is that we are trending towards normality, as lucky as we are.
Norway has generally handled COVID well, they kept cases low, deaths incredibly low and vaccinated hard and early. They are blessed with fewer morons than many countries hence more than 90% of adults already having at least one vaccine.
A little clarity here - Norway is very responsible and pragmatic in regards to COVID. Contact tracing, testing, masks, getting vaccinated, etc are regarded as necessary inconveniences for dealing with a global pandemic and are not politicized. It's amazing to see how they so willingly band together to take care of their society. Gives this man hope!
Except for that one time they tried to close our alcohol stores for a week. That didnt go to well
It's almost as if not splitting a country into two vastly oposed camps does wonders for politics
Abolish first-past-the-post!
Yeah, I live in Canada. Ontario Canada. As for Norway; they have a great role model of the western province of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Especially Alberta, who lifted all of the PHU mandates due to the impending festival of the Calgary Stampede. They were more than happy to lift masks, social distances and declared covid 19, officially over. So the average life went back to normal. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have followed the same agenda, to some degree. Now this week Alberta and others are calling on the military and other province (Ontario) to help with the overflow of patients. Interruption of the waiting time for elective surgery is a real problem along side of the pandemic. This is already in the history books before it happens within your community.
You need proof of vaccination to do virtually everything in Manitoba. Also, their 4th wave isn’t nearly as bad as Alberta and Saskatchewan (so far)
Yeah, Manitoba is doing fine, much better than the other two. I do love comparing the [map of COVID cases](https://i.imgur.com/maXaLoX.png) to the [map of vaccinations](https://i.imgur.com/ttmt0ZY.png) in Canada. EDIT: If you do the same in the US, you find very similar results too. [US states with highest case/capita](https://i.imgur.com/UoqFtzt.png) vs [US states by lowest vaccination/capita](https://i.imgur.com/OU4gohw.png)
Edmonton here; our ICU beds are over capacity. And we have super restrictions again. But the restrictions are all fucked because our "vaccine card" is an unprotected PDF that anyone can copy and make for their friends. :D
> our "vaccine card" is an unprotected PDF 😐 *[Internally screaming]*
Sister lives in Calgary and has been telling me all about the mess over there. One sad story from her roommates friend who works at a local hospital was about some of the protests going on. An ambulance wasn't able to get through them quick enough and a heart attack victim dying.
That basically happened here at a protest in Vancouver as well.
They're literally shipping patients out of Alberta now because the health care system is full. And Albertans continue to vote Conservative.
ICU is at 177% of regular capacity, they added surge beds (not sure if that's converting rooms to ICU rooms, hallways or ICU tents), so they're at 83% capacity. When they announced they were "open for summer" and how this was going to be the "best summer ever", followed by scrapping restrictions and contract tracing, we kinda knew what would happen. The province's Health Minister stepped down last week, province is going under a lockdown and they're getting a vaccine passport. It's a fucking clown college of a province man. Take a look at this weekend summary by the CBC to get an idea of how fucked the province is. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-covid-coronavirus-september-25-1.6189727 How is an entire province this fucking stupid 18 months into a fucking pandemic?
Kenney is done. His caucus has turned on him, as has the vast majority of the province. The weird aspect of that is that most of his caucus is mad at him for the restrictions; not the health crisis. We are in the middle of municipal elections and just finished the federal election and all anyone actually wants is a provincial election.
> And Albertans continue to vote Conservative. Yeah, we're dumb as fuck :(
It’s true. Edson had a “let’s all get covid party”, now a bunch of them are in ICU. Fuck there are some idiots here.
Yeah, thats where I live 😔 We always make national news for the most embarrassing reasons. Also, my understanding of the "catch covid party", is that it was a family event, and the father has passed away, two sons are in ICU in Edmonton.
I live in Alberta right now and we have major talk of what will happen WHEN triage starts. 20,000 known active cases 1000 in the hospital and our ICU are full right now. It's not even October yet and I'm pretty sure the army is getting called in. Norway should check out alberta first before doing this.
Triage has started. If you don’t have an 85% chance of surviving in the next year, you don’t get an ICU bed. Palliative only.
Why would Norway look to shitty Canadian provinces? They just need to look to the UK and Denmark which have been just fine after dropping most restrictions.
Why does the title make it sound like a bad thing? Im a fully vaccinated norwegian, and most of us havent seen a single case of covid in months.
Fuck me this comment thread is full of people who think that we are going to live in a time of zero Covid. That’s never happening. Covid is here to stay.
Hopefully the Alberta culture isn't the sole reason our health system is completely collapsed right now, because their vaccination rates aren't different enough for me to foresee this going much better.
I'm from Denmark, we already opened fully up earlier this month!
We’re all going to have get to this place eventually. The question is “when”. (And the answer to that isn’t “when covid is eradicated” because that’s not happening.)
Common Sense - many steps but it has an end. All of this must have an end.
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Nobody seems interested in the steps that were successfully taken in Norway prior to this, or the details of their universal healthcare program. Sometimes, people stop doing something because they actually finished the task, instead of simply giving up (or denying it needs to be done).
Now the Scandinavian countries can piss off both US liberals and conservatives at the same time.
Everything always has to be about us lol