In middle November 2021 my education colleague in the United Arab Emirates replied to my own anecdotal observations from Covidy Michigan in the USA. The fourth surge since March 2020 is in full swing and hospital networks here and there are moving to a Condition Red so that the inflow of serious health threats from Covid can be addressed; elective surgeries are postponed and staff are burdened with too many patients to give full attention to them all at all times. According to the news stories in west Michigan, at least, about 80% of the Covid patients are unvaccinated — either never before infected, or previously surviving an infection but now with natural immunity that is overcome by the aggressiveness of the Delta (or Delta+) variant this time. Here are my colleague’s empirical observations from the UAE, together with some of the posted rules, subject to change without notice, according to testing results throughout the land.
=-= begin UAE observations, including at university campus
The situation here is quite strict — face masks are mandatory outdoors, in malls etc. No one is allowed in a shopping mall, restaurant, public venue etc. without being able to show their AlHosn app pass (a pass to show that you are ‘green’ i.e. have had covid-19 vaccinations within the previous 6 months and also a negative pcr within the last 30 days) and at all public places security guards check the app as well as your temperature. Restaurants, cinemas etc. are only at 30–50% capacity — depending on their situation. Hand sanitizers are everywhere and signs all around reassure us that everyone we are in contact with — shop assistants, waiters etc. get their health checked regularly, have to wear gloves, sanitise our seats, tables etc. between users.
Not having a green pass on your AlHosn app basically means you can’t go anywhere or do anything so everyone keeps theirs green with regular PCR tests.
I have to wear a mask in my classrooms — as do all my students — we are not allowed to move around the class once there, and all classes are spaced out — so student density is half of what it was before covid per room. All rooms now have upgraded air conditioners to filter the air. Many of our faculty meetings remain on Zoom and in person ones are limited so people either attend in person and when total permitted numbers for in person gatherings are reached everyone else has to go online. The same applies to public lectures now — a hybrid of in person and Zoom as numbers in person are capped in relation to the size of the room used.
I am not allowed to print and hand out any paper to my students — they can print their own if I send them materials electronically — all campus photocopiers come with hand sanitsers and wipes we have to use before and after touching the machines. This is pretty much the case across the country right now.
But, at least we are now allowed to go out to visit friends and you are now allowed to have up to 10 people in your home — until recently it was no more than 6 and they had to be relatives only.
There is no forgetting that covid is around and we get weekly updates on the campus situation and reminders of the regulations on campus and across the country.
It is also mandatory to have a covid-19 vaccination booster shot every 6 months. And this appears on your green pass — without it your pass goes grey and you are stuck.
[Second email addenda: Reviewing the most recent published rules and advice for Covid-19 response from the U.A.E. authorities]
…I see, for example, the tracking bracelet (restricting me to my home) I had to wear on my return to the UAE [from overseas] in the summer is no longer a requirement for fully vaccinated arrivals but is still in place for anyone who tests positive.
As I don’t go to mosques I wasn’t clear about the regulations in place for worshippers… And I was wrong about cinema capacities etc. — or rather I was out of date — the 30% capacity has now been increased to 80% but beaches and pools remain at 50%.
Different emirates [within the UAE] also have slightly different rules.
I have had colleagues try to get their car registration renewed and who have been turned away from the government offices because they needed a negative PCR that was less than 48 hours old to be allowed entry — so some places maintain stricter requirements than others (or at least did until a few weeks ago). And, of course, here things can change rapidly so the rule today may not be the same as the rule tomorrow.
[about university campuses] … our university year began on Zoom until all the faculty and students had been fully vaccinated and had been quarantined after arrival from other countries. We are now teaching in person but that was only possible several weeks after the start of the semester.
=-= end UAE observations
On balance the total control by the UAE authorities for each of the emirates and the high rates of compliance by residents has given good public health results. Much of pre-Covid life is able to proceed at present. Perhaps the global state of virus transmission and variant mutations going forward without end means that controls and compliance that is witnessed in the emirates will have to go on indefinitely. By contrast the incompetence and underwhelming response in the USA at the start, worsened by patchwork, ad hoc, and voluntary responses locally has led to hundreds of preventable deaths daily. At the standard cemetery burial densities currently of 500 to the acre, that is between 2 and 3 acres per day that is filled with fresh burials (although cremation is increasingly resorted to). And each needless death touches those connected to the person for years to come. As the USA death mark heads toward the 1 millionth fatality (770,691 as of November 15, 2021, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/cumulative-cases), and acknowledging that each death sends ripples to all who are directly involved and those indirectly related, too, perhaps a truer estimate of the scale of the catastrophe is more like 10 million lives adversely affected and futures altered — owing largely to the criminal negligence of the national elected leader failing to lead, along with many others of lesser authority continuing to obstruct public health efforts.
Perhaps these observations from the UAE will hold up a mirror for considering how to stomp out Covid water droplet transmissions inside and outside the USA. The scale and infrastructure differ in the two nations, but Covid is Covid when it comes to stopping or allowing transmission.
