Mask requirements have been removed.  Free mass testing is a thing of the past.  And for the first time since the spring of 2020, people can go abroad for vacations without ordering tests or filling out large forms.
This sense of freedom is widespread even as infections soared in Britain in March, due to the milder but more contagious variant of Omicron BA.2 spreading rapidly to Europe, the US and elsewhere.
The situation in the UK may foretell what will follow for other countries, as they loosen the coronavirus restrictions.
France and Germany have seen similar increases in infections in recent weeks and the number of hospitalizations in the UK and France has risen again – although the number of deaths per day remains well below the levels previously seen in the pandemic. .
In the US, more and more Americans are testing at home, so official case numbers are likely to be highly estimated.  The list of newly infected includes actors and politicians, who are regularly checked.  Cabinet members, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Broadway actors and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut were positive.
Britain stands out in Europe for rejecting all mitigation policies in February, including mandatory self-isolation for those infected.  The conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson is determined to stick to its “life with COVID” plan, but experts disagree on whether the country is doing well.
Some scientists argue that it’s the right time to accept that “living with COVID” means tolerating a certain level of disorder and death, just as we do for seasonal flu.  Others believe that the British government lifted the restrictions too quickly and too soon.  They warned that deaths and hospital admissions could continue to rise as more people over the age of 55 – those most likely to get serious from COVID-19 – become infected now despite high vaccination rates.
Hospitals are still under pressure, both from patients with the virus and from huge numbers of sick staff, said National Health Service medical director Steven Powys.
“Blinding ourselves to this level of damage does not mean we are living with a virus infection – quite the opposite,” said Stephen Griffin, a professor of medicine at the University of Leeds.  “Without adequate vaccination, ventilation, coverage, isolation and testing, we will continue to ‘live’ with disorders, disease and, unfortunately, death as a result.”
Others, such as Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, are more supportive of government policies.
“We are not yet at the point where (COVID-19) will be less harmful, but we have overcome the worst,” he said.  “Once a high rate of vaccination is achieved, it is of little value to maintain restrictions, such as social distance, because” they never finally prevent infections, they only delay them, “he said.
The UK’s official statistics office estimated that almost 5 million people in the UK, or 1 in 13, had the virus by the end of March, the highest figure ever reported.  Separately, the REACT study from Imperial College London reported that its data showed that infection rates in the country in March were 40 percent higher than the first Omicron peak in January.
Infection rates are so high that airlines have been forced to cancel flights during the busy two-week Easter break because too many workers were calling ill.
France and Germany have seen similar increases as restrictions eased in most European countries.  More than 100,000 people in France tested positive every day despite a sharp drop in tests, and the number of patients with viruses in the intensive care unit increased by 22 percent last week.
The government of President Emanuel Macron, which wants to encourage turnout in the April elections, is not talking about new restrictions.
In Germany, infection levels have dropped since the recent peak.  However, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach withdrew the decision to end compulsory isolation for infected people just two days after it was announced.  He said the plan would send a “completely wrong” message that “either the pandemic is over or the virus has become significantly more harmless than previously thought”.
In the United States, cases at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University are reinstating mask requirements on these campuses as staff seek quarantine.
Across Europe, only Spain and Switzerland have joined the UK in lifting self-isolation requirements for at least some infected people.
However, many European countries have facilitated mass testing, which will make it much more difficult to know how widespread the virus is.  Britain stopped distributing free quick home trials this month.
Julian Tang, an influenza virologist at the University of Leicester, said that while it was important to have a surveillance program to monitor for new strains and update the vaccine, countries were treating the flu without mandatory restrictions or mass testing.
“Eventually, COVID-19 will settle down to become more endemic and seasonal, like the flu,” Tang said.  “Living with COVID, for me, should mimic life with the flu.”
Virologist Ravindra Gupta from the University of Cambridge is more cautious.  Mortality rates for COVID-19 are still much higher than for seasonal flu and the virus causes more serious illness, he warned.  He would prefer “milder relaxation of restrictions”.
“There is no reason to believe that a new variant would not be more contagious or serious,” he added.
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Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Angela Charlton in Paris, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and other AP journalists across Europe contributed to this report.
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