Canadian truckers had tied up traffic on the Ambassador Bridge connecting Ontario and Detroit all last week. In protest of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination mandates, Canadian truckers blocked the busiest international border crossing in North America, tying up millions of dollars in goods being shippped between the U.S. and Canada.

On Sunday, after a Canadian judge had ordered the protests to end, police arrested those who remained on the bridge. But their protest continues in the Canadian capital, and their message remains clear. They don’t want government intruding in their lives with pandemic emergency orders.

It’s a message that protesters in the U.S. and in Europe are sending as well. People are tired of mandates. They don’t see the omicron variant as a dangerous threat –not like the delta variant or the original COVID-19. They don’t want the government telling them what to do and impinging on their lives.

Government does have a role to play in significant public health threats, and early in the COVID pandemic, mandates saved a lot of lives.

But at some point, people want to live their lives, as the Canadian protests show. Government mandates should be subject to frequent, ongoing assessments as to how necessary they may be.

These protests would not be necessary if more people took advantage of the protections provided by vaccinations.