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Apr 2, 2022Liked by epimetheus

Today, April 2nd, the mask mandates in shops are gone in most German states. My five-shop empirical investigation led to something like 20% unmasked / 80% masked customers. We'll see how this goes...

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If Norway may be any guide (but keep in mind that there were never such drastic and harsh mandates in the first place), it took 2-4 weeks for almost all people to take off the masks.

About half, I guess, of all travellers and employees at Schiphol wore masks (where a mandate for them was still in place), something like 1/3 in Dublin (where no more mandates were in place).

I recall Jordan Peterson (of all people) commenting on the post-Exodus Israelites and their 40 years in the desert (on Joe Rogan's podcast) that 'it takes three generations to overcome totalitarianism'.

I don't know about the number of weeks or years, but I suppose it's anywhere between 2-4 weeks and three generations, I suppose.

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Today, most of the employees in the shop (Aldi) wore their masks under their chins.

My guess: people around here are particularly anxious at the moment because the easter holidays will start next week, and they don't want to miss the opportunity to enter a plane and have their long-anticipated Mallorca/Ibiza/Teneriffa holiday...

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Apr 2, 2022Liked by epimetheus

At this rate, they'll have to start censoring maps and the internet, otherwise people might look to the north and see how in Scandinavia, what's left of Covid is the Omikron BA2-variant, puttering along at a much lower rate than the seasonal flu.

Staffing shortages are everywhere in the businesses our governement decided were dangerous "spreader events": bars, pubs, restaurants, ski resorts and the entertainment industry. Stockholm's subway was apparently not a place where Covid could spread, nor the long distance trains ad buses.

So for the past half year all those businesses have been clamouring for staff, because those laid off at the start of the panic have moved on and are not coming back. My son is a chef and puts it like this: "I haven't the time to spend my wage, we are that overworked". Apparently, waitresses and such are where the demand is highest.

Funnily enough, places such as McDonalds and similar did not "count as" restaurants (it has to do with whether or not the place has a permit for serving alcohol) so all burger joints, falafel digs and schnell imbiss could keep open, only the "real" restaurants suffered.

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Apologies for the delayed reply.

At these rates, that may be the case. Or it won't. You know that the internet may never forget, but that the powers-that-be (and their lackeys in the legacy media) may simply 'move on' or 'leave it there'.

Staffing shortages--it's so 'funny' you mention this: last week, when I was in Dublin, there were so many 'vacancy notes' in virtually all stores, ranging from restaurants to pharmacies to supermarkets, incl. desperate in-store notes ('apply with CV here').

I'll comment on the seasonal flu issue in my next dedicated post, o.k.?

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I hate living in Vienna…. 😞 I cannot take it any longer, to be honest….

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Oh my, I'm truly sorry about this.

Perhaps a change of venue isn't such a bad idea?

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Apr 6, 2022Liked by epimetheus

Not really possible at the moment. Well, I see it as some kind of possibility for spiritual growth but at the moment it‘s a rough time. And also this, too, shall pass…

Btw, have you noticed that Hacker/Ludwig have passed mandatory EU bidding for PCR gargle tests worth 1.4 billion Euros in February? No consequences…

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Apr 6, 2022·edited Apr 6, 2022Author

I haven't seen this, right now I'm more worried about the EU Commission's sneak move to extend the Covid Passport crap for another year, which I'll write about tomorrow.

I doubt that Hacker and Ludwig would be punished--the courts are almost worthless by now. Furthermore, as one Vienna-based friend who's also a GP told me when I asked about, say, labour laws about 8+ hour-long mask wearing of their staff: 'the pandemic trumps everything'.

It's not an entirely lawless situation, but a mind-boggling shift in how our societies work, replete with the veneer of the rule of law. Most people are apparently o.k. with it, though, which sickens me.

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We are truly heading into a New World Order…

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deletedApr 2, 2022·edited Apr 2, 2022
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Apr 6, 2022·edited Apr 6, 2022Liked by epimetheus

People are completely desperate and don’t know to handle their sniffles anymore. My 3-4 times vaxxed colleagues have been sick one or several times for the past months, they really suffer from their symptoms. And don’t manage to test negative for 10+ days, so they stay home for full quarantine period or even longer. And if I tell them that they should listen to their body and not a stupid test, they don’t get me - at all. If I tell them, that they should stay at home when they feel sick and go to work again when they feel fine, they block and don’t want to hear this stupid advice. Most of them freak out when they test positive and so I totally agree with you - the nocebo effect takes its toll.

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This is so weird: I always tell people that I don't know if I 'had' Covid-19; all I 'had' was a 'positive' test. Since no doctor was involved, I don't 'have' a diagnosis, hence: I don't know.

Typically, people don't care about these 'semantics', though, which makes it even worse.

Also, speaking anecdotally, all who are 2-3 times injected all 'suffered' far worse from 'getting' Covid-19 (i.e., testing positive) than I did.

Strange world.

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