I'm going to sound like a stuck record but what is the end game for Germany? The Covid situation is about as good as it's likely to be so that implies masks will remain indefinitely. England hasn't had them for most of the past nine months and yet nothing bad has happened.
Indeed. Just as when we were in lockdown, it's the lack of a roadmap out of restrictions that is almost the most depressing. I couldn't imagine living in one of those countries, not knowing if I'd ever be allowed on a train maskless again.
Also why are some UK airlines still so keen on them? Are they suggesting that planes are less safe than pubs, trains, shops, theatres etc.?
Ryanair and Aer Lingus are, AFAIK, the main carriers flying to/from the UK that still mandate masks on all flights. The
Irish Times claims that they are required to do so under Irish aviation regulations, but that sounds utterly bizarre to me seeing as all domestic and travel restrictions have been lifted.
Most of the others have dropped masks where both the origin and destination countries don't require masks, whilst Jet2 has gone one step further by scrapping the mandate on all flights.
The fact that Jet2 are evidently 'getting away' with that policy suggests that other airlines are effectively choosing to mandate masks longer than necessary.
I'm not boycotting anywhere, but the Italian government's differential treatment depending on what side of 50 you are (
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/05/italy-makes-covid-vaccinations-compulsory-for-over-50s), and the Netherlands' government's differential treatment depending on your EU citizen status, both annoyed me intensely as examples of blatant prejudice. The blatant ageism of the Italian government in particular is really shocking. Imagine if they had differentiated treatment of people based on race or sexual orientation.
It's certainly discrimination, but not all protected characteristics are protected equally. At least in the UK, the Equality Act provides a surprisingly low level of protection against age discrimination, due to the wide-ranging exceptions which service providers etc. can take advantage of. Similarly at an EU level.
Out of all the various forms of discrimination and restrictions that were imposed during the pandemic, age based vaccination mandates were certainly amongst the most unpalatable. However, they did at least have an arguable medical basis - generally speaking, the older you are the more likely you are to become seriously ill and therefore end up in hospital.
Like all restrictions and mandates, there were always going to be perverse edge cases, but I don't think it can be attacked (like the "substantial meal" rule, for example) for being fundamentally unscientific. It's just that it struck at the heart of one of the key human freedoms - medical autonomy.
