Face coverings have been optional in most places in Jersey for several weeks now. I'd say (based on my anecdotal observations) around 1 in 8 people are still wearing a mask in enclosed general areas like shops.
They are still needed on the bus, in the airport, on planes and in heathcare settings. But that's pretty much it. I haven't worn a mask since we didn't have to do so, and I am happy with that decision because all our vulnerable people who wish to be/can be vaccinated have been vaccinated now (including nearly 80 under-17-year-olds who have had 2 doses, and 90 under-17-year-olds who've currently had 1 dose).
Almost all our active cases (and we have nearly 1,000) are in the 18-30 year group. As of Friday 2 people were in hospital, neither of them seriously ill. Being a Monday, we will get 3 days of data later today, undoubtedly with more increases in numbers, but also with more recoveries, but the only stat that matters now is how many are in hosptial. The rest of us are just getting on with things, and there is very little of the hysteria seen here that manifests of some Coronavirus threads here (e.g. @NannyAndJohn - I'd love to know how this person would cope living here right now!).
We have an excellent medical team who keep us updated and grounded in the data in frequent releases via the media. They are honest in that numbers will rise, but also have explained the way the numbers are working now, compared to how they were going just before Christmas. We know the medics have the best interests of the island at heart, and are not risking anything or anyone's health in pursuing this course.
The rest of the UK will have to do what we've done eventually. We really are 'living with Covid' now, but not living in fear. Not saying some aren't still wary, or worried, but no one is at the doom-mongering level of scaremongering I read about every day on these threads from certain posters.
I feel sorry for my friend in Australia. She'd give her right arm to be back here now, living a life where she can go about her day with 2 vaccinations (which she would have had back in early March, as she's in my age group), rather than the mess they are making of it now with a - frankly - piss-poor vaccination programme. (In NSW where she lives, the figures last week stood at 650,000 who'd had 1 dose, and only 350,000 who'd had 2.) Whereas they might have topped the table for their initial Covid response a year ago, they are now at the bottom of the global table for vaccinations. And trapped on the bottom of the world unable to get back to family in the UK. I don't think anyone really considers that a win now we know what we know about the efficacy of vaccines. My friend certainly doesn't think she's a winner right now. She wishes she was here with me! 