[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Wow really? I had no idea, I assumed everything there was back to normal. What a shame. My good friend from Seattle just spent a month traveling around there, he's 22 and it's his first visit to Europe. He didn't complain, but I guess he had no idea what to expect. What a terrible experience to see Spain without all the vibrance it typically has.

Endemic Covid-19 Has Arrived in Portugal. This Is What It Looks Like.
By Eric Sylvers | Photographs by Daniel Rodrigues for The Wall Street Journal
Updated Oct. 24, 2021 1:43 pm ET

LISBON—In this soccer-crazed capital of a soccer-obsessed nation, the stadiums are full again. Portugal, a country ravaged earlier in the year by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, now has the highest Covid-19 vaccination rate in Europe and offers a glimpse of a country trying to come to grips with what is increasingly looking like an endemic virus.

Tens of thousands of screaming soccer fans crammed into the Estadio da Luz here Wednesday to watch hometown favorites Benfica take on Bayern Munich. They amassed on the subway to the stadium, at the entrance as officials patted them down and, after the game, at food trucks where they downed sandwiches and beer as they tried to forget the drubbing their team had just received.

The government recently lifted a 30% capacity limit at stadiums imposed to control Covid-19. But things haven’t returned to what they were: Fans need a certificate showing they are vaccinated, recently recovered from the disease or tested negative. Masks are obligatory throughout stadiums.

Close to 100% of people over the age of 50 have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Portuguese government. For those between the ages of 25 and 49 it is 95% and from 12 to 17 it is 88%. Some 89% of Portugal’s entire population of 10 million has had at least one vaccine dose, not far behind the rate in the world-leading United Arab Emirates, compared with 65% in the U.S. and 73% in the U.K., according to Oxford University’s Our World in Data.

Portugal has been averaging six deaths a day for the past month, compared with almost 300 at the peak in January. Adjusted for population, the current rate equates to about 200 in the U.S. The deaths plunged to one or two a day in May and June before rising to 20 in July. The number of new daily recorded infections and hospitalizations has been trending down since the summer. The country is now averaging about 750 new cases a day, compared with almost 13,000 in January. There are about 320 people hospitalized, down from almost 6,700 at the peak.

On Oct. 1, Portugal ditched most of its Covid-containment rules, but in many ways life in Lisbon is a throwback to the deepest days of the pandemic. Hand pumps dispensing disinfectant gel are ubiquitous and some churches still rope off seats to ensure social distancing even though it is no longer obligatory. The Covid-19 certificate is required at large events and masks are still mandatory on public transportation, in schools for students 10 and older, and for employees in shops, restaurants and bars.

Masks are still mandatory on Lisbon’s subway and other public transportation.
At the same time, subways are full. Lisbon’s fleet of rickshaw taxis, known by the Thai term tuk-tuk, whisk tourists along the narrow streets of the city’s old town. Nightlife pulsates in various parts of the city all week, tram lines popular with tourists skip stops because they are bursting with passengers and almost every day finds a new massive cruise ship docked at the harbor.

Portugal’s cautious return to normality, despite a vaccination rate that is the envy of public-health officials around the world, is being watched as a possible way forward for other countries as their vaccinations inch higher and they contemplate when to ditch their remaining restrictions. The Portuguese approach contrasts with the U.K.’s, where a combination of fewer vaccinated people and almost no restrictions has led to a surge in infections and a rising death rate . . . .

https://www.wsj.com/articles/endemic...d=hp_lead_pos7