4 of every 5 Canadians are vaccinated, provincial and territorial governments continue to enforce strict policies and mandates. It is obvious that people are experiencing “pandemic fatigue,” and frustration with this fatigue is only exacerbated as there is an uneven divide between how Canada is going about its next steps in comparison to other countries. Within Canada, the majority of provinces and territories continue to maintain strict regulations like 50% capacity limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings as well as requirements for proof of vaccination in order to access most indoor facilities. It was only recently that provinces began to slowly lift vaccine passport and masking requirements, and this greatly falls short compared to other countries that acted much earlier. In the United States, New York was firm and took action to drop its indoor mask mandates for businesses at the beginning of February and quickly after this, nine other states sensibly followed suit and announced their plans to reduce mask-related policies as they take measures towards returning to normalcy. As of March, nearly all states have been declared as fully open with no gathering limits, mask requirements, or even vaccine passports. Several European countries also made moves towards loosening their pandemic policies much earlier. Sweden was bold in being among the first countries to lift its restrictions for THE OBSERVER
travellers entering the country, including vaccination and recovery status. Norway has followed this example as well, announcing in January that the quarantine requirement for travellers was removed as well as self-isolation rules regardless of vaccination status, with France rationally following shortly thereafter. Countries like Ireland also removed all COVID-related requirements for both citizens and even travellers, allowing people to move much more freely within the country. Besides the differences in policies regarding COVID mandates, Canada has significantly lower vaccination rates when it comes to the booster shot. In Denmark, more than 60 percent of the population has received their third doses and in the U.K, 65 percent, both compared to just over 40 percent in Canada. This substantial difference between Canada’s rates and those of other countries is one of the many reasons behind the increasing loss of trust in how the federal and provincial governments are handling the country’s next steps. Unlike other places around the world which have addressed recovering from this pandemic in much more solid and substantial methods, Canada has not been as consistent nor stable with its attempts to immunize its population and lift restrictions. Even now as of XVIII.3
8.
