UK plans to scrap all COVID-19 laws and moves to accept the virus like the flu: Report to Daily Mail

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly planning to do away with all COVID-19 laws in the United Kingdom as case numbers drop and the country learns to treat the virus like a seasonal flu.

The government is considering ending all legally enforced policies in England and is instead moving to a guidance-based system, a source told the Daily Mail. Laws that have existed since the beginning of the pandemic, including enforced self-isolation after an infection, could come to a halt, the source said.

Emergency COVID-19 laws put into effect at the beginning of the pandemic are already scheduled to end in March, according to a timetable created before the omicron variant outbreak.

Officials are reportedly discussing scrapping policies, such as the enforced use of COVID-19 passports, as early as later this month.

Johnson is said to have made the decision based on the country's plummeting infection rate and hospitalization rate.

Scotland is following suit, lifting all omicron-related restrictions as of next Monday , First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced. Sturgeon cautioned the country to remain careful, as the rate of COVID-19 infections "is still high," though it is beginning to drop.

"From Monday, we will also lift the guidance asking people to stick to a three-household limit on indoor gatherings," she said. "However, it is important to stress this point: Notwithstanding the improving situation, the level of COVID infection circulating in the community is still high."

"So, to minimise the risk of us getting the virus, it would be sensible for all of us to remain cautious in our social interactions at this stage," she added.

Saturday 22 January 2022 there are protests against covid restrictions worldwide, under the umbrella of -

WORLD WIDE RALLY FOR FREEDOM

London is at 1pm outside BBC Portland Place.

there are supposed to be at least 40 countries participating.

cannot find any web page for the US. C’mon USA.

all the websites I have found are badly designed and difficult to access/read.

word needs to spread.

in Australia, and in many parts of Europe, it is not only the right who join the protests. everyone needs to come together if we are to end this tyranny.

spread the word.

an awakening of sorts?

18 Jan: UK Telegraph: ‘Wildly incorrect’ Covid modelling bounced Boris Johnson into second lockdown, MPs told
Model predicting 4,000 deaths per day was leaked to the press before it could be challenged, says Steve Baker
By Sarah Knapton
Modelling from Cambridge University and Public Health England (PHE) had suggested that without immediate restrictions there could be 4,000 deaths per day by the end of December.

Mr Baker said that he had told Mr Johnson to challenge the model, and Prof Tim Spector, of King’s College London, and Prof Carl Heneghan, of Oxford University, were called into Downing Street to go over the data.
But by the time the models were shown to be inaccurate, it was too late to stop public calls for restrictions...
“It is monstrous that millions of people were locked down, effectively under house arrest, their businesses destroyed, their children prevented from getting an education.
“The situation is now perfectly plain that even our most basic liberties can be taken away by the stroke of a pen, if a minister has been shown sufficiently persuasive modelling that tells them there is trouble ahead.”...

Mr Baker, the MP for Wycombe, called for the establishment of an Office for Research Integrity within the Cabinet Office to challenge the data coming from modelling...

Mr Seely (Bob Seely, the MP for the Isle of Wight), warned that the “doomsday public health scenarios” had been used to create a “despicable” and “unforgivable” climate of fear, based on “a sort of glorified guesswork.”
“Never before has so much harm been done to so many, by so few based on so little questionable and potentially flawed data,” he said.
“We had a nervous Government presented with doomsday scenarios which panicked it into a course of profound acting with shocking outcomes.
“I believe the use of modelling is pretty much getting up there for a national scandal.”...
“Why did we think it was in our nation’s interest to create a grotesque sense of fear to manipulate behaviour?”, he added.
“Never again should the Government rely on dubious modelling.”...

Miriam Cates, the MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said far too little attention had been paid to the collateral damage of lockdowns.
“This wasn’t just a paper exercise,” she said. “These models and the weight they have been given has caused serious destruction to lives,
“Who was modelling the outcomes of child abuse, of poverty, of loneliness and despair and fear?”...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/18/wildly-incorrect-covid-modelling-caused-boris-johnson-bounce/

We (USA) are just a few weeks behind the UK, in our Omicron wave.

The USA seems to have just passed our peak. Omicron elsewhere has gone up very quickly, and back down quickly - like an “ice pick” shape on the graph

In a month, our new case numbers will likely be about one tenth of the peak, and well over 95% of our population will have some immunity from vaccination, infection or both.

The State of the Union speech has been delayed until March, likely to make it a triumphal victory speech over COVID. If they have not done so already by then, the Biden Administration should lift the remaining American COVID restrictions by then as well.

“Why wait?”

Assuming this is true...

A new law or policy goes through a process. It gets approved in principle and then it gets drafted. The draft is reviewed and approved, a process that could take weeks. Then it gets published and disseminated. A date is set for when it takes effect. This process has to be followed as the various organs of the government do not take verbal orders. Whatever law is on the books is the law until it has completed the process and been disseminated.

Let’s say the new law says no spitting on the sidewalk, but this law sunsets at noon tomorrow. If organizations took verbal orders or said, “Heck, it won’t be the law this time tomorrow so I won’t’ enforce it.” then in some areas and by some police it would be enforced and in other areas it would not. This would create chaos as people filed lawsuits. People who had been cited would point at people who had done the same thing and had not been cited. The courts would then ask, “was it illegal at the time? Then guilty.” This is an overly simplistic example but scale it in your mind to all the myriad problems it might cause in the various rule driven organs of government if verbal orders were allowed. This is The Rule Of Law. The fact that it moves slowly is, overall, a huge advantage.

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