Covidistan Annals XXII: 'freedom's just another word…'--many mandates will end on 5 March, the injection mandate perhaps 10 days later; an election is more likely now, and I think it'll come in spring

Turns out 'freedom' is as fake as 'news' these days: mandates will be suspended, at best, with Big Pharma and the régime itching to reinstate them after the summer holidays, incl. a mandated 4th jab

Apologies to the bard.

Well, the cat is out of the bag: Covidistan’s putschists will ‘restore’ most civil liberties by 5 March 2022. While this outcome of yesterday’s big meeting between the Committee of Public Safety, the nine governors, and the civil-military advisory panel (GECKO) is certainly welcome, the injection mandate was upheld, including specifically the ‘prospect’ of a forced fourth injection before autumn.

As reported breathlessly by all of Covidistan’s legacy media of both state and de facto state garden variety as the meeting went on, yesterday’s decisions are quite far-reaching in some areas while other decisions were deferred. For a ‘review’ of the press briefing, you may click here.

There are but two main points to make, which can be divided into what’s changing and what isn’t. Having declared 5 March ‘Freedom Day’, ORF (same link as above, emphases mine) summarised the results as follows:

The turquoise-green [party colours of both ÖVP and their partners] federal government, after massive pressure from many sides, will rescind most Covid mandates. Only the mask (FFP2) and injection mandates are kept on the books for time being. With the exception of Vienna, which will keep the Covid mandates for its citizens a bit longer, all other [eight] federal states are supporting the government.

This means what it says: most illegitimate limits on individual freedoms and civil liberties are to be restored within two weeks, and the city-state of Vienna will hang on to its harsher mandates a bit longer. Yet, it also signifies that the one thing that drove sustained mass protests against the régime—the injection mandate—will not be suspended (yet).

I will spare you (most) of the rationalisations of those in power, with the exception perhaps of a few of the grossest inanities.

For the moment—let another thought sink in: like in neighbouring Switzerland, whose government has decided to end most mandates (exceptions are masks) now, with a complete end to all remaining mandates by the end of march, the Committee of Public Safety is dismantling the majority of the mandates. Even Germany has seen the light, as reported also by ORF, and will begin ‘small steps’ towards the end of the mandates, with full abrogation of them to be achieved by 20 March.

So, even in the most hard-core mandate areas of Europe (which, oddly, coincide with the most fervent believers in Nazi ideas; and yes, that includes Hitler’s camp followers in both Alpine republics), the Covid coup appears to be failing.

But is it?

Let’s briefly take a closer look at what Covidistan’s régime said and did yesterday to determine the veracity of this statement.

Key Decisions incl.

• No more curfews or limits on what’s lovingly referred to as ‘night hospitality industry’, i.e., bars, restaurants, and night clubs that serve meals after 10 p.m.

• No more mask mandates, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, and all other shopping areas of daily necessity, in addition to public transport, hospitals, nursing and retirement homes.

• No more Covid Passport obligation for anyone anywhere, with the exception of ‘vulnerable settings’ (hospitals, nursing and retirement homes).

• So, if you’re up for vacation in Covidistan, just remember that you need to produce proof of injection, recovery, or a negative PCR test upon entry (3G).

Please allow me, however briefly, to comment on this (incl. sarcasm, though):

While I personally welcome the abrogation of these illegitimate mandates, and whereas I don’t want to spoil anyone’s excitement about them, this is why I think this is a snake oil sale (on fire):

• Good to know that I may now get drunk while partying hard at an underground night club while eating out until the morning—all without injection status checks and masks.

• So, I do need to wear a mask if I venture out into the public the day after to buy breakfast or aspirin, though, which is odd given the fact that I’d probably spend way more time (hours) in the fictional above setting (indoor partying with lots of booze) compared to the 20-odd minute trip to the supermarket. (I’d also propose that the night-clubbing segment of the population is much, much smaller than the share of the population that doesn’t attend these localities, which makes a mockery of the triumphant ‘end of the mandates’ celebration by the putschists, doesn’t it?)

Speaking of masks, they do make a certain amount of limited sense in a hospital, nursing or retirement home setting (and they did so prior to 2019/20), so there are no objections on this one—as long as this doesn’t result in staff telling elder citizens to wear them once the ‘inmates’ dare to venture outside their rooms or inside hospital rooms with more than one bed (which I fear will be the result in some, if not most, cases).

One more word about the Covid Passport in these ‘vulnerable settings’: this is tantamount to an injection mandate through the backdoor, as you won’t get a job in these industries without proof of injection. I suppose that this new ‘rule’ will be enforced to also incl. contractors, such as (temp) staff of external cleaning and janitorial services, thereby extending very far beyond its theoretically rather limited confines. (I also expect this to be the one injection mandate that will survive the coming debate about the possible suspension of this abominable piece of legislation, on which see the dedicated section below.)

As to the tourism-related entry rules, I expect the hospitality and foreign tourist spending-dependent states—in winter that’s mainly the skiing areas in the Tyrol, Salzburg, and Styria, augmented by the summer vacation hotspots elsewhere (in particular the City of Salzburg and Vienna)—i.e., rest of the country, to pressure the régime by, well, yesterday I suppose, to ‘work out a strategy for the summer season’ that will allow Covidistan to compete with neighbouring countries (such as Italy, which was very outspoken about the abrogation of these entry rules not to ‘lose out to competitors’).

What does this all mean?

First, the régime has admitted that some criticism would be ignored by them, which is tantamount to a tacit admission that sustained mass protests work.

The second main take-away is hidden, albeit in very plain sight, by which is meant the sustained resistance by the self-styled ‘progressives’ over on ‘the [pseudo] left’, as evidenced by SPÖ-ruled Vienna, which intends to uphold the infamous 2G rule after 5 March, which will trigger, in all likelihood, a number of suits in short order, to say nothing about the faux-progressive-but-really-fascist Greens.

Yet, further proof of my judgement on this one (see here or, of older vintage, here) is provided by the ÖVP’s main cheerleader in the legacy media, (partially) bought outlet Österreich, specifically, it’s ticker from yesterday’s meeting; my emphases):

10:14: injection mandate shall be suspended

10:17: mask mandates largely rescinded

10:28: no more 3G rule from 5 March onwards

10:36: Mückstein resists, esp. the end of the mask mandates: ‘Mückstein is unpredictable’, one of the participants is quoted, ‘but he will be outvoted by the state governors’

10:51: the results are in [see the above summary], but Vienna’s mayor-and-governor Michael Ludwig warns of the ‘wanton destruction of a well-functioning testing system’. In addition, and much to the surprise of many governors, Mückstein favours an end to free testing.

Brief comment before we move on: note that Vienna’s mayor has handed out the contract for the ‘free’ testing system to his political friends over at Lifebrain, hence for that SPÖ-friendly company, this is a threatening development. Here’s a link to Der Standard’s coverage of Michael Ludwig’s presser in which he tried to explain his course of action in the following way (and as a bonus feature, see if you can spot the evidence-based logic in this):

‘According to our intimation, these steps are taken bit too early.’

You saw that correctly: that is all there is in terms of ‘splainin’.

Moving on to the press briefing after the ‘freedom summit’, here’s again Österreich on this (source as above, emphases mine):

13:07: no decision on the injection mandate.

13:10: Nehammer: ‘The virus is extremely flexible [no kidding, even though I’d like to get more comments on a single RNA-stranded pathogen’s agency here], hence the mandates must be adjusted swiftly.’ And, at 13:15, he added: ‘The mask [mandate] remains in force where it is necessary to protect the vulnerable and high-risk groups.’

13:17: Nehammer: ‘No expert is able to predict what will happen in autumn.’ [I’m not making this stuff up, by the way.]

13:19: Mückstein: ‘An overload of our healthcare system by way of Omicron is unlikely, all prognostications are optimistic. Omicron has brought about a paradigm shift: we must think anew [lol]. It is possible to rescind some mandates, spring is in the air, but: the pandemic isn’t yet over; we must not make that mistake [of last summer] again.’

Once a liar, always a liar, Mückstein continued:

13:25: ‘Come 5 March, all mandates will revoked, including the Covid Passport. Still, we must protect the vulnerable individuals.’ Testing strategies will be amended, which means, in practice, that after 31 March, no more free testing will be available. This, of course, belies all the nice, but empty, talk about an end to the mandates.

13:28: ‘We must use the summer months for injections, thus we shall keep the injection mandate on the books’, said Mückstein.

So far the ever-lying political hacks, who turned over the mikes to appointee. First up was Katharina Reich, ‘Chief Medical Officer’ in the Health Ministry: ‘Come March, we’ll enter a lighter phase of the pandemic.’

And at 13:35-37, Major Gen. Striedinger, Reich’s military counterpart, appealed to the population to actually keep up the existing rules until 5 March, adding that a second booster injection will be needed before autumn, reiterating Mückstein’s statement: ‘Summer must be used for injections.’

I’ll spare you the pointless few ‘questions’ by legacy media representatives, because these court stenographers didn’t ask a couple of relevant questions that came to my mind:

1. If we’re supposedly going for a second booster (i.e., a fourth injection), what biological product shall be used?

2. As a follow-up to this one, if I may, there are indications from the UK where the dedicated Omicron booster was tested on monkey—and it performed even worse (!) than the original injections.

3. Also: will data from, say, Israel play a role in these deliberations?

The Régime is Flying Blind

In the short-term, there is an expectation, as per Österreich again, that the injection mandate will be at least suspended (which isn’t nearly good enough) before enforcement and fines become mandatory in mid-March. This ‘news’ follows repeated calls from some governors to do so, but the way the mandate is formulated, the régime may only do so after a yet-to-be convened advisory board will recommend such a course of action. Nehammer assured Österreich that this advisory board will recommend ‘something’ before 15 March.

Chief Medical Officer Reich went on national radio earlier today (17 Feb.), calling the régime’s current stance ‘let’s see how this works out’ (Schauen wir, wie es läuft…), which, to me at least, is a wonderful statement when it comes to the expertise of the ‘technocracy’ that wishes to rule over the hoi polloi, according to a brief write-up over at Der Standard (emphasis mine):

Even without the mandates, vulnerable people or those who cannot get an injection are well-protected [so, why the mandates then? Also: can’t you guys stay on the same message for, say, at least 24 hours?], Reich claimed, for the mask remains ‘one’s everyday companion’. She added: ‘I’m unsure if a mandate is needed for everything’, even though ‘communicating these changes is not easy’.

This would be almost comically funny, if it weren’t for the injection mandate, which, in legal terms and let’s not mince words, is an (aggravated) assault on one’s bodily integrity, to say nothing about human rights and moral consequences.

In the medium-term, Moderna’s CEO Stéphane Bancel announced—threatened—more injections, according to the same Standard feed (Bancel had recently cancelled his bird-poop account; the original of Bancel’s statement via here):

We believe a booster will be needed. I don’t know yet if it is going to be the existing vaccine, Omicron-only, or bivalent: Omicron and existing vaccine, two mRNA in one dose.

So, there you have it: I’ve been right about this (admittedly, that wasn’t a hard or difficult call to make), as per my piece from 6 Feb.:

even if mandates are revoked during spring, be prepared for the roll-out of combined Covid+Flu mRNA shots—and mandates—later this year

The only thing that I’d add at this point is: the Constitutional Court might throw a monkey wrench into these plans, as Mückstein’s answers are due tomorrow.

So, how will the Court’s questionnaire affect the state of affairs?

I think that the revocations of the mandates and Nehammer’s announcement that a committee will come to one or the other recommendation about the injection mandate before fines will be levied will ‘discourage’ the Court from actually holding hearings.

I further suppose that there is frenetic, if private, communication between the main actors in the Committee of Public Safety and the Constitutional Court going on as I type this. The main aim of these exchanges, though, is not to avoid embarrassment of the régime in principle; I think the main aim is to make the Greens look super bad, incompetent, and malign (all of which are actually true).

The Road Ahead

What, then, would be the game-plan, as perceived by the ÖVP? I think the most likely avenue pursued by the conservatives (albeit in name only, hence shame on them) is to let Mückstein, Kogler, and their ilk look so super bad, incompetent, and malign that the Greens think their best way out of this mess is—new elections.

This would then afford the ÖVP the opportunity to call them ‘chicken’, ‘anti-patriotic’, and ‘anti-freedom’ (oh, the irony). Furthermore, Nehammer would be receiving a lot of (bought) praise in the legacy media for suspending the injection mandate before mid-March.

Don’t worry about the suspended mandates, they shall return in autumn—but only after a late-spring snap election.

Last words on the election date: I think late spring is the most likely period, just before everyone leaves for the summer holidays in high spirits. For once people return home, the ‘get your next booster’ agit-prop (enforcement) will ramp up again, thus rendering an election later this year very unlikely for political reasons. This has the ‘added benefit’ for the ÖVP to get rid of the parliamentary hearings dedicated to uncover the ÖVP’s systemic corruption, scheduled to begin in early spring, which will be overshadowed by positive media spin and the electoral campaign ‘reporting’.

Hence—I think the ÖVP grandees will push the Greens to the brink, a campaign that will likely begin over the next couple of days due to Mückstein’s answers to the Constitutional Court. This will allow Nehammer to call for suspension of the injection mandate even before the committee will be convened (all of which is, of course, completely undue pressure on the ‘experts’, but then again, there’s absolutely no chance in hell that these ‘experts’ will reach recommendations that diverge from Nehammer’s wishes).

Once the immediacy of all matters Covid-19 recedes by mid-March, we will quite likely see a ‘return’ to pre-Covid mainly domestic politicking—with a vengeance, perhaps by dragging back into the limelight immigration or school policies (such as the issue of the veiled Muslim teaching staff, i.e., a veritable no-go for the Greens).

Stay tuned for rapid change—and many, very unhappy and disllusioned, Greens and their supporters.