SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

[africanspur]

I have even seen people who lost their relatives to covid negate it, and trying to sue hospitals for fabricating cause of death. There was one lady close to where I live who did not allow her husband to go to hospital with breathing difficulties because they were ‘anti covid’. He died at home and now she’s suing hospital for not helping him but still adamant it wasn’t covid because ‘what doesn’t exist can’t kill you’.

We will hit 200k death toll easily and possibly even more. Unfortunately it won’t be just the dumb fecks dying.

I'm really struggling to understand this bit of the story.

So she didn't take him to the hospital at any point but is sueing the hospital for not helping him? How on earth were they supposed to help him? Or did she finally take him when he was at death's door basically?

 

[Arruda]

I understand she has breathing difficulty.

How will the treatment differ if she is tested positive or negative?

You are doing a great job btw

Well she started on Remdesivir immediately. I don't know about Covid treatment, I iust work in A/E, but I presume it was because she was clinically unwell. Also elevated D-Dimers are a predictor of mortality. We discharge most Covid patients.

If she tested negative my guess is we wpuld keep pumping diuretics into her until her blood tests (or something like fever) ventually gave the suggestion of an infection, at which point she would start an antibiotic.

 

[Wolverine]

I have to be honest, I've never understood this particular attitude from some in the Muslim community. Its prevalent in my wife's Egyptian in-laws if they're very religious.

Yet they look before crossing the street. Surely if God has ordained that you won't die then, no point taking such precautions when crossing?

Similar with DNACPR discussions. 'We want everything done cos it is only god who can take away life'. I mean....surely your heart stopping beating is God's way of saying I'm taking away your life? And us jumping on top of your poor 90 year old relative and shocking her....is us trying to take that power away?

There is an element in my opinion of pseudoreligious reasoning given to cover for selfishness and laziness with regards to the former.

Deeply frustrating, I know people in certain postcodes in inner city who have not observed a single day of lockdown other than not going to work because of furlough. Gatherings have always happened unabated (Eid, celebrations, mourings). Not being able to do it "openly" is their version of obeying lockdown rules.There are many in families who have fallen out as a result because of the inevitable deaths.

Also this peculiar belief that going into hospital makes their condition worse and more likely to die as a result of hospitalisation. Not just the older people believing that but sadly have had few a quite 30-40s as well from flat out refusing hospitalisation until its too late.

 

[Arruda]

Im not a doctor but why would they triage an elderly patient with brethlessness as non-covid without doing a test? Seems silly to me..

Heart failure is by far the most common cause of breathlessness in the elderly here. Given that we have a low number of cases at the moment, and she didn't come from a risk situation, that choice was made. The person who triaged her might get some bollocking though, dyspnea is one of the "hard" criteria to go there (others are cough, fever, smell and taste changes). I suspect they'll play it safer from now on. In general suspected heart failures go to normal ER. Much like fevers in whom a Urinary Tract Infect seems likely. This is adaptable to circumstances, like incidence and which town/area the person comes from.

People leading the Covid teams keep looking for reasons to triage them to the no-Covid area. The workflow is easier, it's more comfortable for patients and doctors, etc. Also triage is a quick process, patients don't always tell the truth (or realize what they are supposed to say).

I've only caught one other Covid case in my area and it was a young woman with pleuritic chest pain, no other symptoms. I only asked for a test because she somehow mentioned she had a cold a few days before. She bollocked me and started to taunt me by implying I was a bad doctor if I thought her symptoms were Covid. From her house spread one of the largest chain of transmissions in my island. I'd love to have confronted her a few days later to see her face.

 

[Ecstatic]

Here you can see as time passes (top to bottom) that the proportion of cases in older age groups (right) drops significantly. Coincides with vaccine rollout.

The more we vaccinate old people, the higher the number of cases amongst children is

 

[Sarni]

I'm really struggling to understand this bit of the story.

So she didn't take him to the hospital at any point but is sueing the hospital for not helping him? How on earth were they supposed to help him? Or did she finally take him when he was at death's door basically?

Yes. Hospital said they wouldn’t take him without a covid test and they refused a covid test because they did not believe covid existed. So they couldn’t take him and now she’s suing them for denying him help. She also refused to allow him to be treated for covid (because it doesn’t exist, obviously) and is mad that they wouldn’t tell her what was really wrong with him.

 

[Sarni]

It is always interesting to see cultural, regional variations in response to covid. We've got our versions of believers in conspiracy theories too.

There are still a few in my extended family who still believe that the ones who have died from or get severe covid are being punished for past sins. Others who think taking infections precautions is futile because everything is planned by a higher power anyway.

Illustrated below this tweet from recent cancellation of a lucrative cricket tournament due to an inevitable covid outbreak

Most here think that you can’t die from this unless you are almost terminally ill anyway because of the way data is reported. They always quote deaths of people with secondary diseases present separately and it’s approx. 80% of deaths mostly. What those morons don’t understand that it can be diabetes or minor heart issues that you could easily live with for years, and also that in the 50+ age group about 70% people have some sort of secondary disease anyway so the proportion is the only possible one.

 

[GloryHunter07]

The more we vaccinate old people, the higher the number of cases amongst children is

Reading is hard, isnt it?

 

[Ecstatic]

Reading is hard, isnt it?

Yeah overly hard

 

[GloryHunter07]

Yeah overly hard

Clearly

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

Some sense

I like the message of questioning everything, Corona has become like a religion you can't question

Brilliant message in that video. We have to question everything and think critically. Unfortunately the vast majority of people will believe everything they hear on the news without doing further research.

Joe Rogan says it best there, same as I've been saying for the past few weeks... that one year later we are still treating this virus like from when we first heard about it. Let me remind you that when we first heard about covid, they predicted that 10% of the population would die. Before you say "well yeah it would've if we didn't lockdown", how can you say that when the CDC shows us 0.05% mortality rate!

Rogan says it right there in that video, only 6% of deaths resulted only from pure covid deaths, the other 94% of deaths with 2.6 average co-moborbity. So when we have this data now, you have to ask WHY we are still treating this virus like we did from day 1.

I have a friend who went to get tested with her daughter... they registered to get tested, waited in line....unfortunately it took over 4 hours to wait so they said "screw it we'll come back another day" so they left without getting tested...... the next day they got an email saying they "tested positive" from their test. QUESTION EVERYTHING.

You think this is still about a virus at this point? This seems like governments flexing their power now.

That's Madness although i have to say i dont see the point in restrictions anymore while cases are rising sharply, people are just doing what they want. There is now a call from one minister to scrap the 9pm curfew because.............wait for it.............the clocks go forward next week and with longer days it will be harder for young people to follow the curfew rule. Yeah thats the way to go, if no-one is following the rules then just abandon them. All i can do is protect myself and feck everybody else, just let them get it and suffer.

Ah yes, the curfew argument. Not only have we seen covid tell the flu to take a vacation, tell cancer that it's not important anymore, it also now knows when to come out. So covid is activated past 9pm, but before that if groups congregate it won't be prevalent as much. See what I mean this might not be about the virus anymore?

The decision making of politicians and governments (flip flopping, moving of goal posts, etc) has made rational human thinkers question the RESPONSE to covid.

If anyone believes Covid is NOT real or doesn't exist, they are completely dumb.. we very much know that is real. Questioning the response is fair game.

In Japan for example, more people died from SUICIDE in October alone - which was more people than had died from Covid-19 over the entire 10 months in to date (SOURCE - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessic...s-what-that-means-for-the-us/?sh=53c2b6de6d75)

In Ontario (my province in canada) more than 85% of deaths came from nursing homes, we have the longest lockdown (toronto) out of anywhere in north america, and suicides went up 4x amongst teenagers. We are now starting to do more harm than good with this virus that has a 0.05% mortality rate (Sourced by CDC).

Watch me be called a conspiracy theorist for bringing alternative views to this thread though... it doesn't fit their narrative of making this virus seem like it's so deadly!

 

[Ecstatic]

Clearly

A link for you

https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

 

[Hellboy]

Brilliant message in that video. We have to question everything and think critically. Unfortunately the vast majority of people will believe everything they hear on the news without doing further research.

Joe Rogan says it best there, same as I've been saying for the past few weeks... that one year later we are still treating this virus like from when we first heard about it. Let me remind you that when we first heard about covid, they predicted that 10% of the population would die. Before you say "well yeah it would've if we didn't lockdown", how can you say that when the CDC shows us 0.05% mortality rate!

Rogan says it right there in that video, only 6% of deaths resulted only from pure covid deaths, the other 94% of deaths with 2.6 average co-moborbity. So when we have this data now, you have to ask WHY we are still treating this virus like we did from day 1.

I have a friend who went to get tested with her daughter... they registered to get tested, waited in line....unfortunately it took over 4 hours to wait so they said "screw it we'll come back another day" so they left without getting tested...... the next day they got an email saying they "tested positive" from their test. QUESTION EVERYTHING.

You think this is still about a virus at this point? This seems like governments flexing their power now.



Ah yes, the curfew argument. Not only have we seen covid tell the flu to take a vacation, tell cancer that it's not important anymore, it also now knows when to come out. So covid is activated past 9pm, but before that if groups congregate it won't be prevalent as much. See what I mean this might not be about the virus anymore?

The decision making of politicians and governments (flip flopping, moving of goal posts, etc) has made rational human thinkers question the RESPONSE to covid.

If anyone believes Covid is NOT real or doesn't exist, they are completely dumb.. we very much know that is real. Questioning the response is fair game.

In Japan for example, more people died from SUICIDE in October alone - which was more people than had died from Covid-19 over the entire 10 months in to date (SOURCE - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessic...s-what-that-means-for-the-us/?sh=53c2b6de6d75)

In Ontario (my province in canada) more than 85% of deaths came from nursing homes, we have the longest lockdown (toronto) out of anywhere in north america, and suicides went up 4x amongst teenagers. We are now starting to do more harm than good with this virus that has a 0.05% mortality rate (Sourced by CDC).

Watch me be called a conspiracy theorist for bringing alternative views to this thread though... it doesn't fit their narrative of making this virus seem like it's so deadly!

Yes thanks for brining these alternative views.

Personally started travelling when the pandemic started last March, worst time to travel for sure, but having the time of my life travelling in Mexico for 6 months now and met loads of like minded people (lot of canadians) who refuse government restrictions and control.

 

[Judas]

"like minded people" certainly is one way to describe them.

 

[NinjaFletch]

"like minded people" certainly is one way to describe them.

Would affluent and like minded be the other?

 

[golden_blunder]

Brilliant message in that video. We have to question everything and think critically. Unfortunately the vast majority of people will believe everything they hear on the news without doing further research.

Joe Rogan says it best there, same as I've been saying for the past few weeks... that one year later we are still treating this virus like from when we first heard about it. Let me remind you that when we first heard about covid, they predicted that 10% of the population would die. Before you say "well yeah it would've if we didn't lockdown", how can you say that when the CDC shows us 0.05% mortality rate!

Rogan says it right there in that video, only 6% of deaths resulted only from pure covid deaths, the other 94% of deaths with 2.6 average co-moborbity. So when we have this data now, you have to ask WHY we are still treating this virus like we did from day 1.

I have a friend who went to get tested with her daughter... they registered to get tested, waited in line....unfortunately it took over 4 hours to wait so they said "screw it we'll come back another day" so they left without getting tested...... the next day they got an email saying they "tested positive" from their test. QUESTION EVERYTHING.

You think this is still about a virus at this point? This seems like governments flexing their power now.



Ah yes, the curfew argument. Not only have we seen covid tell the flu to take a vacation, tell cancer that it's not important anymore, it also now knows when to come out. So covid is activated past 9pm, but before that if groups congregate it won't be prevalent as much. See what I mean this might not be about the virus anymore?

The decision making of politicians and governments (flip flopping, moving of goal posts, etc) has made rational human thinkers question the RESPONSE to covid.

If anyone believes Covid is NOT real or doesn't exist, they are completely dumb.. we very much know that is real. Questioning the response is fair game.

In Japan for example, more people died from SUICIDE in October alone - which was more people than had died from Covid-19 over the entire 10 months in to date (SOURCE - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessic...s-what-that-means-for-the-us/?sh=53c2b6de6d75)

In Ontario (my province in canada) more than 85% of deaths came from nursing homes, we have the longest lockdown (toronto) out of anywhere in north america, and suicides went up 4x amongst teenagers. We are now starting to do more harm than good with this virus that has a 0.05% mortality rate (Sourced by CDC).

Watch me be called a conspiracy theorist for bringing alternative views to this thread though... it doesn't fit their narrative of making this virus seem like it's so deadly!

Let me ask you this one thing, in which way do governments, I say plural cos the whole world is at it, benefit from locking people down for a year?

 

[One Night Only]

"people believe everything they see in the news but don't do their own research"

Then the research these people do consists of looking at random feckin webpages from nutjobs and Facebook posts.

 

[Cait Sith]

Politicians are incompetent rather than having an evil conspiracy plan. 9 out of 10 politicians are grifters that are in it for their own careers and easy compensation while the country and economy basically runs itself in normal times. During a crisis like Covid-19 they have no clue what to do and why would they? Half the parliament in Germany consists of economists and lawyers. What do they know about science, biology, medicine? They rely on saying and doing what their consultants tell them to do but the "elite" consultant companies that consult parliaments also consist of 100 % careerists that are mostly lawyers and economists. So what we get is this:

1. "No need for masks in private, that's silly, only a correctly applied FFP3 mask helps anyway. Don't take them away from professional healthcare workers."
2. "No, wait, masks for shopping now. And a normal scarf is completely fine as well, just cover your face, everything helps."
3. "Hold on, from today on only a medical mask is allowed, no more scarfs."
4. "Masks outside are silly. There is almost no way you get infected outside."
5. "Masks required outside in certain areas as well."
6. "Total lock down, you can go into the small supermarket where 2 people hardly fit into the same passage but the gigantic hardware store where you barely meet another person within 50 m^2 has to be closed."
7. "Lock down restrictions taken back, numbers looking better, yay."
8. "Wait, maybe not that good of an idea, back into full lock down again, numbers going up!"
9. "Vaccinations? Sure, sure, in 2026 maybe we'll have enough for everyone."
10. "Hmm, AstraZeneca is suspected to cause a rare form of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Maybe stop AZ for now until further research."
11. "Whatever, just continue with AZ, just because."

Etc.

 

[Brwned]

I like the message of questioning everything, Corona has become like a religion you can't question

Asking questions is very easy, asking good questions is what makes a meaningful contribution to the world. That requires a base understanding of the things you’re enquiring about. Otherwise you’re just doing what toddlers do.

Would you praise someone for asking whether the sun is the centre of the solar system, based on what we know?

 

[Massive Spanner]

@Pogue Mahone not looking great with the schools is it?

Have to wonder where the feck we go here.

 

[2cents]

@Pogue Mahone not looking great with the schools is it?

Have to wonder where the feck we go here.

I live right in city centre Dublin. In normal times it’s pretty much always noisy on my street/out my window with general revelry, shouting, motorists removing clamps with hammers, the odd fight, etc. Obviously for the last year it’s been really quiet. However in the last three weeks or so the noise pollution has been slowly returning to pre-Covid times, despite pubs still being closed. I’m hearing parties in my building, drunken idiots singing and smashing shit on my doorstep, and the ubiquitous late night/early morning screaming which gives life in Dublin 1 so much character (I’m counting the seconds til I can get out of here).

I think we’re pretty much at the end of mass compliance in this city.

 

[McGrathsipan]

I posted a while ago about a house party full of older women in the house behind mine.
Well the woman of the house died last Tuesday.
Her funeral is today. I've counted about 50 people in the yard having a funeral party. I took a photo.
Police just arrived.
Mashed into a small back yard and not a mask in sight

There is no more compliance.
People are done

 

[Wumminator]

Yes thanks for brining these alternative views.

Personally started travelling when the pandemic started last March, worst time to travel for sure, but having the time of my life travelling in Mexico for 6 months now and met loads of like minded people (lot of canadians) who refuse government restrictions and control.

fecking hell. I wonder why you are trying to justify actions of selfish people?

 

[McGrathsipan]

I live right in city centre Dublin. In normal times it’s pretty much always noisy on my street/out my window with general revelry, shouting, motorists removing clamps with hammers, the odd fight, etc. Obviously for the last year it’s been really quiet. However in the last three weeks or so the noise pollution has been slowly returning to pre-Covid times, despite pubs still being closed. I’m hearing parties in my building, drunken idiots singing and smashing shit on my doorstep, and the ubiquitous late night/early morning screaming which gives life in Dublin 1 so much character (I’m counting the seconds til I can get out of here).

I think we’re pretty much at the end of mass compliance in this city.

Its coming to an end everywhere - when the vaccine role out is having zero effect on the cases you have to wonder.

Where do you live ? Is it down by Montpelier Hill or closer to the centre? Our offices are on Ormond Quay and I go in the odd day and can see more activity lately

 

[Port Vale Devil]

I posted a while ago about a house party full of older women in the house behind mine.
Well the woman of the house died last Tuesday.
Her funeral is today. I've counted about 50 people in the yard having a funeral party. I took a photo.
Police just arrived.
Mashed into a small back yard and not a mask in sight

There is no more compliance.
People are done

Well she is definitely done.

 

[Stanley Road]

I posted a while ago about a house party full of older women in the house behind mine.
Well the woman of the house died last Tuesday.
Her funeral is today. I've counted about 50 people in the yard having a funeral party. I took a photo.
Police just arrived.
Mashed into a small back yard and not a mask in sight

There is no more compliance.
People are done

Yeah, I see no point in unpoliced lockdowns anymore. Let everyone get on with it and I'll protect myself.

 

[Ecstatic]

I posted a while ago about a house party full of older women in the house behind mine.
Well the woman of the house died last Tuesday.
Her funeral is today. I've counted about 50 people in the yard having a funeral party. I took a photo.
Police just arrived.
Mashed into a small back yard and not a mask in sight

There is no more compliance.
People are done

Why did you take a photo?

 

[2cents]

Where do you live ? Is it down by Montpelier Hill or closer to the centre? Our offices are on Ormond Quay and I go in the odd day and can see more activity lately

I’m just off Parnell St between O’Connell and Gardiner St.

 

[McGrathsipan]

Why did you take a photo?

to count the amount of people.

Why am i staying in my fecking house for 13 months when this shower are constantly having parties. They have been at it all year. Even at a funeral. Which I hear was Covid related.

 

[Massive Spanner]

I live right in city centre Dublin. In normal times it’s pretty much always noisy on my street/out my window with general revelry, shouting, motorists removing clamps with hammers, the odd fight, etc. Obviously for the last year it’s been really quiet. However in the last three weeks or so the noise pollution has been slowly returning to pre-Covid times, despite pubs still being closed. I’m hearing parties in my building, drunken idiots singing and smashing shit on my doorstep, and the ubiquitous late night/early morning screaming which gives life in Dublin 1 so much character (I’m counting the seconds til I can get out of here).

I think we’re pretty much at the end of mass compliance in this city.

Yeah definitely. But I guess that's what happens after a year of some of Europe's strictest restrictions, a botched vaccine rollout, a total failure to increase ICU capacity, and no clear plan or communication from our shitty government about what is next.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yeah definitely. But I guess that's what happens after a year of some of Europe's strictest restrictions, a botched vaccine rollout, a total failure to increase ICU capacity, and no clear plan or communication from our shitty government about what is next.

Batched roll-out aside (and the UK is the one and only exception in Europe on this) everyone is in the same shit. We’re dealing with a virus that has become nearly twice as contagious and puts a higher % of people in hospital at a time when everyone is sick to the back teeth of lockdowns and large sections of society have basically stopped trying. It’s an absolute nightmare. What do you think have been done differently to prevent us ending up where we are now?

Bear in mind we’ve already seen exactly how quickly this runs away from us if the restrictions are eased even slightly. From lowest cases per capita in the EU to the highest, in the space of a few weeks. All the evidence you need that we don’t have an ounce of cop on between us and can’t be trusted to use our common sense in a less rigorous lockdown.

ICU capacity is a red herring. It can’t be magic’d up out of thin air. It can take years to train the necessary personnel to staff any extra beds. Plus if you have ICUs filled to capacity you basically have to shut down most of your normal hospital services. Which this long lockdown was aiming to avoid.

 

[McGrathsipan]

Batched roll-out aside (and the UK is the one and only exception in Europe on this) everyone is in the same shit. We’re dealing with a virus that has become nearly twice as contagious and puts a higher % of people in hospital at a time when everyone is sick to the back teeth of lockdowns and large sections of society have basically stopped trying. It’s an absolute nightmare. What do you think have been done differently to prevent us ending up where we are now?

Bear in mind we’ve already seen exactly how quickly this runs away from us if the restrictions are eased even slightly. From lowest cases per capita in the EU to the highest, in the space of a few weeks.

ICU capacity is a red herring. It can’t be magic’d up out of thin air. It can take years to train the necessary personnel to staff any extra beds. Plus if you have ICUs filled to capacity you basically have to shut down most of your normal hospital services. Which this long lockdown was aiming to avoid.

So we are in endless lock down then?
Vaccine roll out here will take 2 years at this rate

 

[Pogue Mahone]

So we are in endless lock down then?
Vaccine roll out here will take 2 years at this rate

The vast majority of us will be vaccinated before the end of summer.

I honestly don’t know where we go from here with the lockdown. At this stage I’m mainly furious with selfish pricks who couldn’t defer bags of cans at their friends house for another couple of months. I think we’ll stay with our current level of restrictions for the foreseeable future and our hospitals will still get overwhelmed, with as many people dying from avoidable non-covid deaths as die from the virus.

Shite state of affairs but we reap what we sow.

 

[Ecstatic]

to count the amount of people. Why am i staying in my fecking house for 13 months when this shower are constantly having parties. They have been at it all year. Even at a funeral. Which I hear was Covid related.

I understand your frustration on this.

I hope you take care of your mental health despite the constraints.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Batched roll-out aside (and the UK is the one and only exception in Europe on this) everyone is in the same shit. We’re dealing with a virus that has become nearly twice as contagious and puts a higher % of people in hospital at a time when everyone is sick to the back teeth of lockdowns and large sections of society have basically stopped trying. It’s an absolute nightmare. What do you think have been done differently to prevent us ending up where we are now?

Bear in mind we’ve already seen exactly how quickly this runs away from us if the restrictions are eased even slightly. From lowest cases per capita in the EU to the highest, in the space of a few weeks. All the evidence you need that we don’t have an ounce of cop on between us and can’t be trusted to use our common sense in a less rigorous lockdown.

ICU capacity is a red herring. It can’t be magic’d up out of thin air. It can take years to train the necessary personnel to staff any extra beds. Plus if you have ICUs filled to capacity you basically have to shut down most of your normal hospital services. Which this long lockdown was aiming to avoid.

I think I've already made it quite clear that we are being ridiculously restrictive for the sake of opening the school's up even though it's pretty obvious by now the schools are a worse transmitter than outdoor dining, retail, hairdressers etc. Just look at construction, 10k homes will not be built now this year if it's not opened up which would be an absolute disaster.

I also think that if people are already all breaking the restrictions then what more harm can actually be done by opening up some things within the county limit?

Yes the new variant is a bitch, I totally understand that, but we've spent 3 months in lockdiwn getting hospital admissions way, way down to a good level yet here we still are in the same position so what do we do here? Dublin has been in level 5 for 27 out of the last 29 fecking weeks!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I think I've already made it quite clear that we are being ridiculously restrictive for the sake of opening the school's up even though it's pretty obvious by now the schools are a worse transmitter than outdoor dining, retail, hairdressers etc. Just look at construction, 10k homes will not be built now this year if it's not opened up which would be an absolute disaster.

Schools closed and construction open? Considering how many people benefit from keeping kids in school vs benefit from construction that’s not a trade off that society is willing to make. Might not be your personal preference but we can’t please everyone. And it’s definitely not obvious that schools are a worse transmitter than dining, retail, hairdressers etc seeing as cases stayed flat for three weeks with half the school years back (and the new variant completely dominant) while we saw exponential growth during/after school Christmas holidays when the pubs/restaurants/shops were at their busiest, with at least half the cases caused by the original much less contagious covid.

I also think that if people are already all breaking the restrictions then what more harm can actually be done by opening up some things within the county limit?

Yes the new variant is a bitch, I totally understand that, but we've spent 3 months in lockdiwn getting hospital admissions way, way down to a good level yet here we still are in the same position so what do we do here? Dublin has been in level 5 for 27 out of the last 29 fecking weeks!

Like I said. It’s a nightmare. I don’t know what to do. I’m all out of ideas. I suspect NPHET/the government are too. I’m still waiting for suggestions about how we could be in a better position than we are now? All you’ve suggested are loosening restrictions which will obviously have accelerated the deterioration.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Schools closed and construction open? Considering how many people benefit from keeping kids in school vs benefit from construction that’s not a trade off that society is willing to make. Might not be your personal preference but we can’t please everyone. And it’s definitely not obvious that schools are a worse transmitter than dining, retail, hairdressers etc seeing as cases stayed flat for three weeks with half the school years back (and the new variant completely dominant) while we saw exponential growth during/after school Christmas holidays when the pubs/restaurants/shops were at their busiest, with at least half the cases caused by the original much less contafcovid.



Like I said. It’s a nightmare. I’m still waiting for suggestions about how we could be in a better position than we are now? All you’ve suggested are loosening restrictions which will obviously have accelerated the deterioration.

Ah come on, you mean in December when they opened up county wide travel and everybody fecked off back home for Christmas, in the middle of freezing weather where the virus is most transmissible? Surely September and October after the schools came back are much better examples seeing as things were relatively under control during the summer before then. I mean cases go up any time the schools go back and down any time they're off so.. what more evidence do we want here?

I'm assuming you have kids which is why you're in the "schools back above all else" stance, grand, that's understandable. I don't so frankly I'd like to see other areas opened up or at least some sort of hybrid. I'm not sure where the obsession which schools being the main priority above everything else came from to be honest. I mean I know plenty of primary teachers and absolutely none of them want to be back there cause they think it's utterly pointless and overly risky.

Look, we could ease restrictions and vases could rise and we could end up in another lockdown when hospitals start coming close to capacity but.. so what? Isn't that essentially what every single other country is doing bar us? They open up so people can live some semblance of a life for at least a while and then lock back down when it becomes too dangerous again, like France and Italy. Why are we perennially locked down even though hospitals are absolutely nowhere near capacity now? It hasn't given us a lower death rate than any of those countries so why are we being so much more restrictive than them all?

Right now the whole media seem to be saying that we'll need to stay in this ineffective lockdown for six months til we're all vaccinated. What the feck like? That's madness. What's the point? Why not open up for a few months if we are going to be back into a lockdown regardless?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Ah come on, you mean in December when they opened up county wide travel and everybody fecked off back home for Christmas, in the middle of freezing weather where the virus is most transmissible? Surely September and October after the schools came back are much better examples seeing as things were relatively under control during the summer before then. I mean cases go up any time the schools go back and down any time they're off so.. what more evidence do we want here?

I'm assuming you have kids which is why you're in the "schools back above all else" stance, grand, that's understandable. I don't so frankly I'd like to see other areas opened up or at least some sort of hybrid. I'm not sure where the obsession which schools being the main priority above everything else came from to be honest. I mean I know plenty of primary teachers and absolutely none of them want to be back there cause they think it's utterly pointless and overly risky.

I’ll tell you where the obsession comes from. It’s because as a society, we should aspire to do what’s best for the most vulnerable. I also have friends who are teachers and the ones who work in underprivileged areas are horrified by what’s happening to the kids they’re supposed teach. Many of them have not engaged at all during lockdown. Literally done no schoolwork for almost a whole academic year. I hate my kids being home from school because I hate them being denied that social interaction but at least I’m privileged enough to be able to make sure they keep on top of their work. Because, believe me, the gap between the haves and have nots gets wider with every week of home-schooling. And that could leave scars on an entire generation.

Look, we could ease restrictions and vases could rise and we could end up in another lockdown when hospitals start coming close to capacity but.. so what? Isn't that essentially what every single other country is doing bar us? They open up so people can live some semblance of a life for at least a while and then lock back down when it becomes too dangerous again, like France and Italy. Why are we perennially locked down even though hospitals are absolutely nowhere near capacity now? It hasn't given us a lower death rate than any of those countries so why are we being so much more restrictive than them all?

The UK variant has only recently started to sweep through mainland Europe. That’s why they’re all heading into lockdown now. Before that, they were like us last autumn. Able to keep a lid on things while keeping society relatively open. We’ve already seen what happens when you do that with the UK variant dominant. Highest cases per capita in the whole of Europe. Our cautious approach now is because of how fecked we were in January/February. The weather won’t save us. It’s been lovely these last two weeks, right?

Right now the whole media seem to be saying that we'll need to stay in this ineffective lockdown for six months til we're all vaccinated. What the feck like? That's madness. What's the point? Why not open up for a few months if we are going to be back into a lockdown regardless?

The reason we can’t “just open up” (and I’m repeating myself here) is because we know what happens if we do that. Our hospitals came damn close to going under just two months ago. We don’t the same (or worse) to happen again. Every avoidable covid death we accept now is even harder to take with a vaccination program already under way (and yes, I know it’s a shit show, although mainly for reasons completely out of our hands)

 

[Massive Spanner]

I’ll tell you where the obsession comes from. It’s because as a society, we should aspire to do what’s best for the most vulnerable. I also have friends who are teachers and the ones who work in underprivileged areas are horrified by what’s happening to the kids they’re supposed teach. Many of them have not engaged at all during lockdown. Literally done no schoolwork for almost a whole academic year. I hate my kids being home from school because I hate them being denied that social interaction but at least I’m privileged enough to be able to make sure they keep on top of their work. Because, believe me, the gap between the haves and have nots gets wider with every week of home-schooling. And that could leave scars on an entire generation.



The UK variant has only recently started to sweep through mainland Europe. That’s why they’re all heading into lockdown now. Before that, they were like us last autumn. Able to keep a lid on things while keeping society relatively open. We’ve already seen what happens when you do that with the UK variant dominant. Highest cases per capita in the whole of Europe. Our cautious approach now is because of how fecked we were in January/February. The weather won’t save us. It’s been lovely these last two weeks, right?



The reason we can’t “just open up” (and I’m repeating myself here) is because we know what happens if we do that. Our hospitals came damn close to going under just two months ago. We don’t the same (or worse) to happen again. Every avoidable covid death we accept now is even harder to take with a vaccination program already under way (and yes, I know it’s a shit show, although mainly for reasons completely out of our hands)

I agree about the most vulnerable completely but.. that's not limited to schools is it? There are plenty of other vulnerable people in society stuck at home right now. My point was that what you want open really is selfish for everyone including you. Schools are the best thing to be open for you. It's all just justifying them being open over other important things in order to make us feel better at the end of the day isn't it?

I think I've already made it clear that I don't expect us to open up like we did in December, if I haven't then sorry but I thought that was obvious. To me opening up means removing county wide (not country wide) restrictions, sending more people back to work and allowing some sort of outdoor dining in the summer months as long as the venue's have good measures in place. I don't think doing that would cause cases to rise as exponentially as they did in winter. If it fails, go back into level 5 and everyone, me included will hopefully then realize that we'll just have to stay here til at least September and so be it.

 

[Steven Seagull]

I’m 33 and live in a mainly rules respecting area in a 50/50 lab-con, 50-50 brexit split. I’d say the mixing has gone up ten fold this month. Mainly elders going to see grandkids etc.

I don’t blame them at all but the increase in cases is inevitable. Unless the vaccines are a preventative measure