some businesses are still asking customers to sign in, but as I have a sensible phone, not a smart phone I can only sign in if they still provide pen & paper or an ipad.

I still put my mask on before leaving my apartment, as I learnt from bitter experience during lockdown to carry spare masks in my handbag, shopping bag & shopping trolley when I had to buy a paper mask from the closest shop after skulking down the street with a red, bare face. I stood in the doorway & called & the man who knows me allowed me to scurry in, grab a mask & return to the sign-on folder at the entrance!

Sydney's streets & shops are full of naked faces, but there are lots of masks, too. Shops do not seem to have removed their QR codes & there are many places that still need masks & sign in, including medical & allied health premises.

NSW urged to reintroduce COVID-19 restrictions COVID-19 restrictions after state sets new national record of cases. KEY POINTS # NSW is relaxing rules at the same time as cases are hitting record numbers. # The head of the AMA calls that "bizarre timing" # NSW Health will no longer routinely carry out genomic sequencing for the Omicron variant ... Dr Khorshid said living with the virus did not mean letting it rip like in NSW, where instead of the curve being flattened, it was almost vertical.

"It's very bizarre timing from the New South Wales government to pull out a mask mandate just when you are seeing an incredible spike in cases that matches what's happening around the world," he said.

He said mandatory measures were urgently needed to protect the healthcare system and workers who had been "stepping up for an awfully long time now". (read on)

sandra (masked & socially distanced - my new signature)