New Zealand Ends Most COVID Mandates in Admission They Don't Really Work

The government of New Zealand abruptly ended most COVID mandates recently, tacitly acknowledging that none of their restrictions work.

New Zealand had been one of the most draconian countries on earth with regards to mask and vaccine mandates. They hung onto mandates long after most parts of the world had moved on. They continued to enforce them deep into 2022.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden previously said that no one should listen to anything other than what the government tells them when it comes to COVID:

New Zealand reverses course on mandates

But now, according to Reuters, the sole arbiter of truth has declared that COVID restrictions are ready to come to an end:

"Finally, rather than feeling that COVID dictates what happens to us, our lives, and our futures, we take back control."

"For the first time in two years we can approach summer with the much needed certainty New Zealanders and business need, helping to drive greater economic activity critical to our economic recovery."

People wearing masks walk in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, on April 15, 2022. New Zealand reported 13,636 new community cases and 30 deaths of COVID-19 in the past two days, said the Ministry of Health in a statement on Saturday. (Photo by Zhao Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Mask mandates have been dropped outside of healthcare and elder care facilities. Vaccine mandates to enter the country have also been lifted. This, well over a year after it was abundantly clear that vaccines did nothing to slow the spread.

The country's obsessive focus on "controlling" the virus led to disturbing police crackdowns on dissent that were defended by Arden.

Their strategy of closing down to the world until vaccines became widely available was also a failure. Deaths in the country surged with mask mandates and one of the world's highest vaccination and booster rates:

Mandates are ineffective

By ending requirements now, even as cases remain substantially higher than they previously were, the government is admitting that they're entirely unable to "control" COVID.

While the country's entering its spring and summer period, cases will almost certainly remain low. But more concerning, is what happens when fall and winter return. Or if a new variant emerges, and cases rise once again?

The true test of whether society will actually move on from mandates won't be faced until further increases are ignored.

Mandates are completely ineffective, and the end of useless restrictions on normal life are always a cause for celebration.

Yet when politicians like Arden truly believe they work, it's hard to feel safe that mandates will ever fully be a relic of a delusional, anti-science past.