 Your friend needs to understand that restrictions are imposed to prevent the hospital systems from getting overloaded. Last year, restrictions ("non-pharmaceutical interventions" aka NPIs) were the only way to achieve that. (And it required the fewer restrictions, the more people did that on their own.) This year, we also have vaccines that are very effective at preventing people from getting hospitalized. So if everyone in the population does their best to not get sick, there is no need for restrictions. 