I'm surprised so many people are still on "zoom." The elders have been given instructions to vet each request to see if valid reason and there is some "password" you have to get from them. Like they did when there were phone connections.
To my knowledge, that's not what's happened at all, and certainly not in the Britain branch area.
I remember it was speculated for some time on here that restrictions would be brought back once the COVID pandemic had subsided, but perhaps surprisingly, the GB has not gone down that route. Then again, as was also discussed here at length, there are good reasons why they would go softly, softly. They know that if they came down hard on it, attendance figures would almost certainly fall dramatically. Better to have a small but significant % still on Zoom than lose those numbers altogether. Maintaining Zoom also gives them backup options if some governments get tougher on them (restricting meeting or confiscating halls) and/or if the Org decides to sell off or scale down more halls in some countries or regions.
From my observations, in my part of the UK things are much as LaFrancia and St George stated:
A small but significant proportion of the congregation stay on Zoom, many of whom do not actually need to be on there for chronic health reasons. I'd estimate it varies between 25-40% of total attendance, depending on if it's the weekend or midweek meeting, what the weather's like, etc.
Attendance in person had been gradually increasing (and Zoom attendance gradually falling), but seems to have stabilised now. However, as others have noted, barely anyone on Zoom has their camera on during the meeting. There have been a few local needs talks about returning to meetings in person but they don't seem to have significantly shifted the balance, and it's not a major source of contention in the cong, so I get the impression those items are just put on there by the prompting of the branch or CO who would prefer to see higher attendance numbers across the territory. What does tend to get people back in numbers is the CO visit - then they go back to Zoom again the week after!
Overall attendance is down, but only slightly. Pre-pandemic, the congregations in my immediate area each averaged a bit over 100 attendance. Since the return to meetings, combined attendance (online and in person) has risen to the 80s+. And all those attending in person generally seem more engaged with the meetings than prior to the return. Again, not to the extent of the "old" pre-COVID days, but close to it.
So overall, a slight decline is observed in my area, but no sign of any panic collapse in numbers or significant decline in engagement. No recent hall closures in this circuit either, but I am in a major city. Attendance at the circuit assemblies and the last regional convention were similarly down - noticeable but not dramatically so. Last Memorial attendance was about the same as pre-COVID.
Ministry support is different though. Group numbers are more significantly down, I'd say about 50% across the board. As some have noted, people's ministry - if they do it at all now, with no need to report hours - seems much more fragmented and casual. Those that are keen to do it come to the group with "their own arrangements" already agreed and leave with their partner(s) - the rest you just don't really see at all. 🤣
