@BreakForTheLight - We ALL think it is idiotic, believe me. All it does is make the stores busier on the days where there is more freedom to go out and when you can purchase what you need. It compresses 7 days of purchases into 5. Because of this stupidity, the malls got even more packed than usual during the week before Christmas, which has probably led to the increase in cases. Many malls weren't keeping track of how many people were going in. Stores were limiting entry, but people had to line up to get in, which defeated the purpose of the limits within the stores.

A few other stupid things:

- Nike announced the launch of a new shoe, and there were hundreds of people waiting outside of Nike stores in malls today to be the first to buy them. They should have made people make appointments or only have sold them online.

- Our state bank announced that people had to exchange their debit cards with the metallic strip for chipped cards. A lot of people can't get a regular bank account in this country. They can only get a basic account from the state bank. So, of course everyone freaked out and went to the bank in person, causing huge lines. Later they clarified that people had until the end of the year to switch their cards and there are ways to request the change online. The bank should have really made it MUCH clearer from the start that people didn't have to deal with it immediately. People here tend to go running right away to the business or government office in question when things like this are announced. It's like when they permitted people to take funds out of their retirement plans. That caused massive lines as well even though you could do it online and have a year to request the transfer. A lot of people interviewed while waiting in line were on their smartphones but said they didn't trust requesting it online. So silly. Both my husband and I withdrew our money online with no issue.


But then this is the government of clowns that bought us the Sinovac vaccines and now is trying to do damage control and tell everyone how great they are. That was the topic of today's press conference. If they are so great, why aren't the healthcare workers getting them? Why aren't the US, Canada, Europe, etc. using them?

I think I am as grumpy as @AzulOscuro haha! I guess after my birthday I am a grumpy old lady!