Please post sources. This needs to be shown to the sheep in other nations.
Sure. The country is the the tiny island of Malta. Basically the place everyone launders money into and is tied heavily with the Sicilians and the Brits. The most recent relevance that that this country has to America is that the transport secretary, Pete Buttigieg (Pete Buttplug) originates from here, with his father formerly being an academic tied to here. It is also a very small country where everyone is either related or knows someone else, and everyone talks and passes around information.
For covid 19, this place is/was the most restrictive in all of Europe. They have been a pain in the ass towards the European Union by implementing their own, tighter, more difficult entry bars into the country, and have had regulations such as mandatory mask wearing outside of the home, with it being a fine if caught without one (as in, outside your house for any reason what so ever) and so on. These measures reduced as covid cases dropped, but with the Omicron "scare", they got put back up.
This leads to the thing I mentioned in my previous post. Around just before Christmas time, the government announced that all restaurants, bars, clubs, gyms, spas, pools etc, would require a vaccination certificate to go in and use, again, on pain of the establishment being fined for not checking. In this case, vaccinated included the original 2 shots, followed by the booster (in light of Omicron). This regulation would happen after Christmas (because this place is heavily Catholic and the government would be burnt at the stake for either cancelling Christmas or fucking up with celebratory visits to these establishments).
To start-Article 1
Vaccination certificates will not be needed for entry into restaurants, snackbars and social clubs from February 7, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced in parliament on Tuesday.
From February 14, certificates will not be needed for entry to bars, gyms, spas, pools, cinemas and theatres.
They will continue for the time being to be needed for entry for mass events, sports events, gaming halls, night clubs and travel.
The vaccine certificates were first introduced on January 17 but have proved highly controversial with catering establishments.
Fearne said the measures were being reduced because 75% of people had now got the booster dose, COVID cases were going down, and the situation in hospitals was well under control.
Reduced quarantine
With COVID-19 cases going down, Fearne said Malta would soon be reaching a point when mandatory quarantine for primary contacts can be reduced from seven to five days, and even be eliminated completely.
For now, the quarantine periods will remain 10 days for positive cases and seven days for primary contacts.
He said it is still to early to announce when quarantine measures could be eased, but it could be as early as mid-February depending on positivity rates.
The health minister said that over the past weeks, one out of seven primary contacts were found to be positive during the seven-day quarantine period.
He said without this quarantine period having been put in place, community transmission would have been much higher.
Feasts for summer
The health minister said a meeting will be taking place with the curia and feast associations to analyse the "facts and factors" needed for feasts to go ahead this summer in a safe way.
Fearne said the government is in a position to start announcing its COVID exit roadmap because the facts and figures show the situation is improving.
Decisions are being taken not based on votes, but on science, he said.
Fourth booster
Fearne said the booster rollout had been a success, with two-thirds of the adult population having taken a third shot.
Hospital and ITU admissions remain low thanks to the high vaccination rates, and community transmissions are lower.
He said plans are in place for a fourth booster if needed but he did not commit to rolling it out.
PN welcomes government 'u-turn'
The Nationalist Party said Fearne's announcement amounted to a government u-turn that proved the PN right.
It recalled that the prime minister up to some time ago had hit out at the PN when it had voiced the concerns of thousands of people who felt discriminated by the vaccine certificate regulations.
Those measures had been excessive and discriminatory from the outset and constituted a burden on employers, the PN said.
It reiterated its call for everyone to take the vaccine and the booster shot, but it also insisted that individual freedoms should be respected.
The key details to draw from this article is the start date of the regulation, which is 17th Jan, and the date of the article, which is the 25th Jan. Not 8 days after this regulation was rolled out, the government immediately back-pedalled because of the massive shit storm they faced. Remember, everyone talks and knows everyone else in this place. The "official" date is next month on the 7th, but according to people I talk to and people I know who work in restaurants, by next week everyone is just going to ignore it. The date is just there to save face and hope that people forget that it was slightly over a week before they rolled back on this policy. Rest of it is just politicians talking garbage.
Second Article
Restaurants and café owners in Sliema and St. Julian’s who spoke to Times of Malta all welcomed the decision, describing it as a step in the right direction.
Some called the move ‘predictable’, especially after the backlash the measure received from the catering industry and many ordinary people when it was introduced last month.
The managing director of popular outlets Rabbit Hole, Crafty Cat and The Hatter, Shane O’Dwyer said he knew the measures would ‘not go down very well’ and the ease was therefore ‘predictable’.
“It was poorly executed as we only had two days’ notice to get things prepared and to get all the equipment we needed to scan the certificates,” O’Dwyer said.
“We received a lot of negative backlash from customers about being discriminatory. I have no problem with asking for vaccination certificates, but once you include the booster it all gets very complicated and you end up spending a lot of time checking different certificates and exception letters.”
He said that there was still a ‘grey area’ in view of the distinction in the new rules between bars or restaurants.
When asked if he had seen a dip in customers during the past few weeks, he said it was difficult to tell since January was always quiet.
“Having said that, many of our regulars were not sure what the regulations are. Really we just hope for a proper COVID-19 exit roadmap. Will we be allowed to celebrate St. Patrick’s day for example? Can we have people ordering at the bar and singing karaoke? That is what I want to know.”
Muhannad Shembesh, director of Sliema café Segafredo said staff were shocked at the number of clients they had to turn away during the past two weeks since the vaccine certificate became an entry requirement.
“We are glad the need for the vaccine certificate will be scrapped, as business has been down for the past few weeks,” he said.
Romerio Camilleri said his family followed all the rules and regulations but is glad measures are being eased. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Romario Camilleri, who along with his parents, runs Bistro Thirteen on Sliema front also said he lost a number of regulars since the introduction of the vaccine certificate requirement.
“I had regulars who we haven’t seen for the past two weeks because they refused to take the booster. For us this means less work, but we still need to pay our employees and our rent. Removing the measure means we can have these clients back and recover.
No inspections
All owners said that no one turned up to check that they were following the vaccination rules.
Establishments which allow unvaccinated customers in their premises are liable for a fine of €500.
Irma, a manager at Chalet Terrace said she agreed but also disagreed with the removal of the vaccine certificate so soon.
“I feel it’s unfair because many people rushed to get boosted so that they could go to a restaurant or the gym. Also many people did it so as not to lose their jobs. At the same time, I am in favour of the booster, and all of the staff here are vaccinated, as I agree that since we work so close to people we should be protected.”
‘Logistical nightmare’
Eden group general manager Kevin De Cesare said he was glad the restrictions will be eased.
Speaking about the situation at the popular gym, Cynergy, he said most clients were vaccinated and had the booster jab but the company still faced some backlash from COVID-19 skeptics.
“Although most of the clients had the right vaccination certificate, It was still a logistical nightmare for our employees initially. We finally just got the hang of it, but at the same time we are glad that we are moving forward.”
‘Night economy is still in the dark’
The head of the tourism section within the Chamber of SMEs, Philip Fenech, welcomed the easing of restrictions but said the Maltese ‘night economy’ had been left in the dark.
"Late night bars, social events and their supply chains are still left in the dark as there has been no mention whatsoever about the lifting of the curfew," he said.
Establishments currently have to close by 1pm.
“These business owners need to know what the plan forward is so as to plan large-scale events. Events take months to plan,” Fenech said.
‘Treat the situation as an epidemic not a pandemic’
Tony Zahra, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, said the announcement was a step in the right direction and was in line with what was expected.
“Now, we need to take bolder steps, and to start lifting all the other restrictions. We need to start treating the situation as an epidemic, not a pandemic,” Zahra said.
The Association for Catering establishments (ACE) also praised the removal of the vaccination certificate.
‘Stop discriminating against our audience and businesses’
On the other hand, members of the entertainment industry said they were disappointed at the announcement, which, they said, was discriminatory in that it did not mention their sector.
The Malta Entertainments Industry and Arts Association said that such measures should be eased ‘across all sectors’.
“The entertainment sector, specifically operators of events and clubs have borne the brunt since the pandemic broke out, and most are still unable to operate. We cannot accept a situation which is discriminatory once again to an integral part of our industry.”
Their pleas were echoed by singer and songwriter Ira Losco, who said she was ‘very disappointed’ that the vaccine certificate would still remain an entry requirement for music and sporting events.
“Very disappointed that music and sport as always will be suffering the injustice of not having equal measures as some other sectors. I would like to ask why?” she said on social media.
“The reason and logic (or lack of) behind it will always baffle me.”
Key things to take away from this. Establishments were given only 2 days notice that a check would require an official scanner, making it a massive pain in the ass to get. Logistics were a problem because you had people who were boosted, people who were on 2 shots but maybe had an official exemption/were waiting to get the booster and couldn't because of the backlog, people who had taken shots and decided "enough is enough" and not taking any more. It became a pain in the ass to monitor.
A lot of regulars stopped turning up, usually because the people going out were "unvaccinated", either because they haven't taken any shots, or stopped before taking the 3rd. Those tended to be the people who went out, and not those fully boosted. This removal has also led to calls from other sectors, like arts, theatre, cinemas etc, who also want the regulations removed for them, since they are hurting as well.
You will notice that in spite failing to check being a fineable offence, no one from the arms of the government turned up to check. This is because...
Article 3
A magistrate has ruled that LESA cannot enforce quarantine regulations, in a case where he revoked hefty fines issued to two individuals.
Magistrate Victor Axiaq ruled that no local council, regional committee or agency for local enforcement has the power to enforce or bring proceedings against any person accused of breaching COVID-19 quarantine rules.
He was deciding on separate appeals filed by a man and a woman who were fined by officers from the Local Enforcement Systems Agency.
Peter Paul Micallef was slapped with a fine of €10,000 after he was caught breaching quarantine rules on October 30, 2020 at 1.15pm in Ta’ Xbiex.
Pavla Stejskalova was fined €3,000 after failing to appear before the Commissioner for Justice over a fine issued by a LESA officer on November 16, 2020 in Kirkop, when she was alleged to have breached one or more of the conditions relating to quarantine.
The magistrate noted that although the quarantine regulations fell within the competence of the Commissioners for Justice, they were not listed among offences community officers could enforce.
“Given that such power is not expressly provided for in the law… then the Local Enforcement System Agency cannot bring forward proceedings and prosecute persons for a breach of the regulations in question,” the magistrate said.
He, therefore, declared the proceedings against the two as null and void and cleared them of the charge.
LESA is among the agencies, including police, Malta Tourism Authority and Transport Authority, that hands out fines for breach of various COVID regulations, such as failure to wear masks or to respect social distancing rules.
It is not known how many fines LESA has imposed for breach of quarantine rules so far.
This court case got awarded in favour of two individuals. What had been happening over the past 2 years is that the government had been relying on an arm called LESA (Local Enforcement System Agency) to whack people and establishments with fines for covid related things, such as quarantine violations, not having masks on, etc. LESA is basically like the police, but not. They enforce any laws, byelaws or regulations that have been delegated to regional committees or city councils (yes, this tiny island has cities/regions, and lots off them) that don't require the police to deal with.
These usually amount to traffic fines, monitoring road construction/block off traffic, basically anything that they can fine you with, that's LESA's role. They are not armed, they cannot arrest you, only hand fines, and you can dispute it in court (which, if you ever bother to do so for most things, they wave it off unless it's really egregious/obvious you did it). The official police in contrast, are there for
when shit might go hot/violent, and they do not fuck around.
LESA (well, really anything related to government, they are like Italy in that sense) are also known for being massively corrupt, ranging from giving and logging into their system parking fines for legally parked vehicles, to, as came out in the papers recently,
wiping out hundreds of fines from their database for politicians and businessmen. So of course, these are guys who the government told to go around fining people for covid quarantine violations and anything else related to covid that can be fined....and that court case, along with the database tampering leak, just blew that idea right the fuck up. So these guys are nowhere to be seen.
In addition to all of this, the day before the new regulations dropped,
17 businesses filed a court case asking for an injunction to stop the regulation coming into play. Got delayed, but now is pretty much a moot point. Having a court case to defend before the regulation even gets put into law was a pain in the ass. Average price of groceries have also jumped up by 17% from December to January, which has no doubt pissed off people and led to pressure being put on the government to start dropping things.
So overall, for Europe, does this mean much? Probably not if you are a Kraut or Frog, but it does signify for me at least a shift in the attitudes of the average person. Remember, the main problem they were having here was not from a "pandemic of unvaccinated", but from people who had followed and believe in the vaccine, and were told that in spite following everything, it was not enough, and eventually a good number of them said no more, which trickled upwards to pressure being put onto government, and rules being dropped. With places like the UK also seemingly dropping restrictions, the answer for now seems clear, hit the politicians where it hurts, their numbers, their worry that they won't have a job come next by-election, and put pressure on them. It's also been really funny to watch corrupt politicians shoot themselves in the foot, so that's nice.
IDK about the rest of the world and whether they are getting sick of these rules, but I think slowly and surely we will see more and more backlash as time passes by. Anyways, writeup over.
www.theguardian.com
Pahahahaha. Pahahahahhahahaha. Seethe, cope and dilate, vaxxybois and girls.
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www.theblaze.com
