Monday Oct 11 is Freedom day Mark 1 for New South Wales, but only for Double Vaxed people.For most of the pandemic we've had an almost normal life here in Australia as we locked the rest of the world out. Life was normal so most people didn't bother getting vaxed. Once the Delta variant got in and it couldn't be eradicated we've been locked in coming on 4 months now with non essential retail shut and only online, click and collect or takeaway available - you couldn't even get a haircut.

Then the state government got aggressive and said that the only way out of lockdown was getting a high percentage of the population double vaxed, as well as mandating workers to get vaxed, or lose their jobs. Well, it worked. We passed the 70% double vax rate mid week so we'll be free to wander out from Monday, and retail will be able to open with limited amount of patronage per square feet, but only for double vaxed.

When we get to 80% double vaxed in a fortnights time we'll have more easing of restrictions for fully vaxed people, and when we get to 90% we ... 91% of the population have now had one jab so most will probably get their second one. We were told over and over that only those who are vaxed will be allowed all the freedoms. After seeing what was happening in France where the police were checking outdoor cafes to see if people were vaxed, and you had to be vaxed to get into shopping malls, and what was happening in Canada and New York it looked like the same would happen here, but there was a bit of a back flip / leniency of some sort.The Police commissioner said they weren't going to be checking peoples status and would only respond to a call for assistance.

The big surprise was when the recently exited Premier said that as of December 1 even the unvaxed will be allowed all the same freedoms as the vaxed - except for workplaces where it's mandated, and employers who demand all their staff be vaxed, or only allow vaxed patrons in. Of course everything is subject to change on a moments notice but we have a new Premier and he's more for getting back to normal.

I had my second shot today so from Monday I'm '' free ''. We still have to wear masks on public transport and indoors shopping, etc. but hopefully we can get rid of those soon. We also have a new Premier and he wants to get things back to a more normal, and now he refers to our situation as an '' Economic as well as a health crisis '', which is what it should have been all along, but the people making decisions were all employed and didn't care about everyone else.

Quote
BJ
Monday Oct 11 is Freedom day Mark 1 for New South Wales, but only for Double Vaxed people.For most of the pandemic we've had an almost normal life here in Australia as we locked the rest of the world out. Life was normal so most people didn't bother getting vaxed. Once the Delta variant got in and it couldn't be eradicated we've been locked in coming on 4 months now with non essential retail shut and only online, click and collect or takeaway available - you couldn't even get a haircut.

Then the state government got aggressive and said that the only way out of lockdown was getting a high percentage of the population double vaxed, as well as mandating workers to get vaxed, or lose their jobs. Well, it worked. We passed the 70% double vax rate mid week so we'll be free to wander out from Monday, and retail will be able to open with limited amount of patronage per square feet, but only for double vaxed.

When we get to 80% double vaxed in a fortnights time we'll have more easing of restrictions for fully vaxed people, and when we get to 90% we ... 91% of the population have now had one jab so most will probably get their second one. We were told over and over that only those who are vaxed will be allowed all the freedoms. After seeing what was happening in France where the police were checking outdoor cafes to see if people were vaxed, and you had to be vaxed to get into shopping malls, and what was happening in Canada and New York it looked like the same would happen here, but there was a bit of a back flip / leniency of some sort.The Police commissioner said they weren't going to be checking peoples status and would only respond to a call for assistance.

The big surprise was when the recently exited Premier said that as of December 1 even the unvaxed will be allowed all the same freedoms as the vaxed - except for workplaces where it's mandated, and employers who demand all their staff be vaxed, or only allow vaxed patrons in. Of course everything is subject to change on a moments notice but we have a new Premier and he's more for getting back to normal.

I had my second shot today so from Monday I'm '' free ''. We still have to wear masks on public transport and indoors shopping, etc. but hopefully we can get rid of those soon. We also have a new Premier and he wants to get things back to a more normal, and now he refers to our situation as an '' Economic as well as a health crisis '', which is what it should have been all along, but the people making decisions were all employed and didn't care about everyone else.

Well, that's good news for Australia! Thanks for the update. So the Police are not accosting the citizens like previous video clips showed?

That's not Australia, only the State of New South Wales where I live. In Victoria they're still in lockdown and if they protest or don't wear masks and masks are required the Police are still there. Most of the other states are Covid free so there's no issues if you're in there, but you can't get into them. It's easier to get into North Korea than it is to get in to some of the other states at the moment.
Canberra our Capitol ( you're Washington equivalent ) is also in lockdown . Even our Prime Minister has to do 14 days quarantine every time he heads overseas and comes back, only he doesn't do it in a hotel but can stay in his residence in Canberra ( and he's fully vaxed ).

Hopefully in a couple of months time we'll all be free here in New South Wales.