Off Topic Thread 5.0

Stheno

thomond2006 wrote: »

Whoever organised that is a clown.

Apparently it was one of the local pubs

Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea?

Former Former

Stheno wrote: »

Apparently it was one of the local pubs

Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea?

You've answered your own question there I'd say.

CatFromHue

Clegg wrote: »

Hundreds (thousands?) of people have converged on the Walkinstown roundabout today for Jack Charlton's funeral. Like, he meant a lot to the people of Ireland, but have we completely forgotten about social distancing and the killer virus that's out there?

I think at this stage a mass gathering outside isn't much of a risk for transmission of the virus.

Indoors is a different story but outdoors not so much.

Clegg

CatFromHue wrote: »

I think at this stage a mass gathering outside isn't much of a risk for transmission of the virus.

Indoors is a different story but outdoors not so much.

I think you're right and I probably overreacted. AFAIK we haven't heard about any cases arising from the gatherings in Dame Lane or from the BLM protests a few months ago. Fingers crossed we've suppressed the virus to such a low level that it's not out there amongst the general population.

sydthebeat

CatFromHue wrote: »

I think at this stage a mass gathering outside isn't much of a risk for transmission of the virus.

Indoors is a different story but outdoors not so much.

outside for say 30 mins... yeah not overtly risky....


outside with the same group for a few hours is a different story

Former Former

Clegg wrote: »

I think you're right and I probably overreacted. AFAIK we haven't heard about any cases arising from the gatherings in Dame Lane or from the BLM protests a few months ago. Fingers crossed we've suppressed the virus to such a low level that it's not out there amongst the general population.

Absolutely no chance of that and it's incredibly dangerous to think it's possible.

It's possible that there will be no new infections as a result of what we saw today. The problem is that people behaving like that won't be observing any other Covid restrictions either in any aspect of their lives. Every time someone goes out without a mask, or goes to the pub, or to a house party, the individual risk is small, but add it up for hundreds of thousands of people and suddenly the risk is huge.

We've become incredibly complacent about it and we're going to pay a price.

Clegg

Former Former wrote: »

Absolutely no chance of that and it's incredibly dangerous to think it's possible.

It's possible that there will be no new infections as a result of what we saw today. The problem is that people behaving like that won't be observing any other Covid restrictions either in any aspect of their lives. Every time someone goes out without a mask, or goes to the pub, or to a house party, the individual risk is small, but add it up for hundreds of thousands of people and suddenly the risk is huge.

We've become incredibly complacent about it and we're going to pay a price.

It would've been better to have said it's hopefully not amongst the public ilat that particular gathering. It's definitely still out there to some degree.

jacothelad

This has more infor on the race for a vaacine. It's interesting.


https://www.statnews.com/2020/07/20/study-provides-first-glimpse-of-efficacy-of-oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine/?hConversionEventId=AQEAAZQF2gAmdjQwMDAwMDE3My03MWY0LWRmMTktYjQ4OS02MjE2M2VjNmE0YTbaACRlMjVjZGViMi02MWU3LTRlODgtMDAwMC0wMjFlZjNhMGJjYzbaACQ3M2U4NDAzMC1jOWNiLTRmNDUtYTM2Ny1kOWE2YjgzMmE5ZjWwReOthPUWz6heCccBsGNbWktoLU6Bl3KdgIEpwZbiMw

Dunney848

jacothelad wrote: »

Matt Handoncock, Health Scapegoat and amateur haemorrhoid was forced into making a Commons statement following Boris The Bewildered’s rather optimistic, "We'll all be home by Christmas" drivel. Pinnochio Blunder Bunter gave a Santa Claus press conference last week saying the UK would basically be back to normal in time for Christmas. Shades of 1914 as the fuhkwit's nose grows and grows with every stupid utterance. Presumably the technophobic scrote masquerading as prime minister still hasn’t got round to reading the report from the Academy of Medical Sciences that suggested the country could be facing a further 120,000 deaths over the course of the winter. It contains sentences that have more than three words in them. This throws the ruptured goat's testicle in No. 10 into blind panic until he gets the real P.M. Dominic Coming and Going to give him a happy ending by reading a chapter of Noddy and Big Ears to him just like Nanny used to do.
Matt Handjob looked defeated from the start as he tried to channel Mr Blooby's mindless optimism. The track-and-trace system was working brilliantly he lied because it had managed to track down 180,000 while missing an equal number of contacts. Realising that was the only even vaguely good news on offer, Handoncock tried to claim the early reported successes of the Oxford and Imperial vaccine trials as a triumph for the government, rather than for the scientists. “We have a plan and it is working,” he said, fooling no one but himself.

Matt Handjob? I think you missed your calling as tabloid headline creator. Genius

I'm coming to the conclusion that winter is going to be pretty bad and I think we're going to be in lockdown for much of it.

Unless there is a genuine vaccine breakthrough that is an actual game changer I can't see schools staying open.

irishbucsfan

I think the biggest issue is a massive lack of investment in giving people more outdoor recreational spaces and special licensing laws. Get people out socialising in safer outdoor surroundings. If it means closing main streets in towns and letting pubs serve to people sitting there then that’s a minuscule price to pay in comparison to the alternative.

That’s been the biggest difference I’ve noticed since I came back. Where I was in Portugal had almost no community cases bar one outbreak. That outbreak happened before they reopened at a private party. Since they reopened, just by the nature of everything being more geared to outdoor seating, the illegal parties mostly stopped and everything became safer. If you don’t give people somewhere to socialise safely, they’re far far more likely to do it dangerously than not at all.

I’d take a similar view to this green list. A complete waste of time. People will ignore the green list and they will ignore the self isolation on return. I have just returned from a country deemed not safe enough to make the green list, I have not been called once. I should have been physically checked on at random to make sure I am where I said I would be and it should be a criminal offense if I am not without good reason. They’re just losing legitimacy more and more as their approach becomes softer and softer.

Former Former

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm coming to the conclusion that winter is going to be pretty bad and I think we're going to be in lockdown for much of it.

Unless there is a genuine vaccine breakthrough that is an actual game changer I can't see schools staying open.

If we stick to the idea that any cough or fever means self-isolation for you and all your close contacts, the schools simply won't be able to manage.

We've been lucky that our first wave came after the flu season so there wasn't much overlapping between the two. That won't be the case come winter.

Winter cannot mean anything other than lockdown IMO.

sydthebeat

IBF, was there any notification on tuned country that you came from that you had to self isolate for 14 days on entering Ireland?

Anecdotally I hearing that tourists coming into Ireland are only hearing about this on entering the country

Tomtom364

sydthebeat wrote: »

IBF, was there any notification on tuned country that you came from that you had to self isolate for 14 days on entering Ireland?

Anecdotally I hearing that tourists coming into Ireland are only hearing about this on entering the country

To be fair in the current Climate any tourists should be checking what the country they are entering are publishing on their own websites.
But then again any current tourists are unlikely to follow said direction anyways considering they are being pig headed enough to travel during a global pandemic anyways.

irishbucsfan

sydthebeat wrote: »

IBF, was there any notification on tuned country that you came from that you had to self isolate for 14 days on entering Ireland?

Anecdotally I hearing that tourists coming into Ireland are only hearing about this on entering the country

Yes you are emailed by Ryanair in advance and the email is explicit and includes the form if you want to fill it out in advance. I guess maybe not everyone reads their emails

irishbucsfan

Tomtom364 wrote: »

To be fair in the current Climate any tourists should be checking what the country they are entering are publishing on their own websites.
But then again any current tourists are unlikely to follow said direction anyways considering they are being pig headed enough to travel during a global pandemic anyways.

Again the flight I was in was 100% full on a Monday. People are travelling in numbers and I heard multiple discussions about people not putting it on social media lest they be “judged”

I’ve multiple friends who run restaurants and bars down there. Theyre serving Irish tourists every night.

Buer

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Again the flight I was in was 100% full on a Monday. People are travelling in numbers and I heard multiple discussions about people not putting it on social media lest they be “judged”

I’ve multiple friends who run restaurants and bars down there. Theyre serving Irish tourists every night.

Yup, I've colleagues who had holidays booked and have gone very quiet on the topic in recent weeks. Their annual leave bookings remain in place and it's clear they'll be off on those weeks and back in work the following Monday.

I imagine a significant number of people will lose their money if they choose not to go on these trips. I don't see too many people putting the greater good ahead of their own financial loss. Even for those who won't miss out financially, I don't see them putting the greater good ahead of their own holiday.

kuang1

Buer wrote: »

Yup, I've colleagues who had holidays booked and have gone very quiet on the topic in recent weeks. Their annual leave bookings remain in place and it's clear they'll be off on those weeks and back in work the following Monday.

I imagine a significant number of people will lose their money if they choose not to go on these trips. I don't see too many people putting the greater good ahead of their own financial loss. Even for those who won't miss out financially, I don't see them putting the greater good ahead of their own holiday.

So does the opposite of a spray-tan exist?
If not there's a business opportunity right there.

Imagine the shame of showing up in work after 2 weeks off all bronzed up?!

Dave_The_Sheep

Buer wrote: »

Yup, I've colleagues who had holidays booked and have gone very quiet on the topic in recent weeks. Their annual leave bookings remain in place and it's clear they'll be off on those weeks and back in work the following Monday.

I imagine a significant number of people will lose their money if they choose not to go on these trips. I don't see too many people putting the greater good ahead of their own financial loss. Even for those who won't miss out financially, I don't see them putting the greater good ahead of their own holiday.

The thing is, they know themselves that they shouldn't be going, but are going anyway. Even those who I know have followed the guidelines and rules stringently and take it as a point of pride they did are going on holiday to the continent (including places going through a second wave).

While personal responsibility is absolutely a thing, I primarily blame the "softly softly" approach of the government on this. It's all "people should not", instead of making it impossible for people to do it. It's that there "might be" or "could be" restrictions on travel instead of actually going ahead and doing it.

I recognise there's a tightrope to walk as regards public health, the reopening economy and the needs of airlines and refunds, etc. I just wish they'd stop with the wishy washy bull**** and actually enforce things.

Buer

Yup. The mixed messages of the whole green list is BS. You cannot tell people they should not travel abroad and simultaneously give them a list of countries deemed safe to travel to. There's no logic in it whatsoever.

Not only will people continue on with their holidays to Spain and Portugal, you can be certain that bookings for trips to Greece, Malta and Italy are seeing a huge jump since the announcement that they're now "safe". The lines will get blurred very quickly between going to safe places and restricted places.

Former Former

Yes, it has not been handled very well.

However, it doesn't take that long to figure out what the advice is;
1. Don't travel unless necessary
2. If travel is necessary, you must self-isolate for 14 days upon return.
3. You can only avoid self-isolation if you go to a green country.

There is absolutely and 100% a willful ignorance at play here. People who won't forego their sun holiday for one f**king year are going to do whatever the hell they want anyway. No one could possibly think that the green list is a government approved thumbs up for 2 weeks in the sun, except those who only hear what they want to hear.

I agree with the above observation that personal responsibility won't work because we have too many people in this country who don't give a shyte about the common good, and who think the rules only apply to other people. The people getting onto packed planes to sit beside a crowded pool and drink in crowded bars are exactly the same ones who'll be bitching when the schools can't re-open.

awec

They actually aren't even advising self isolation for non-green countries from what I could see. Its reduced movement or something.

Dave_The_Sheep

It doesn't help that they've moved all those countries from "avoid non-essential travel" to "normal precautions". Eg, Italy. Jesus wept.

No f*cking essential travel is the bare ****ing minimum at the moment, surely.

Former Former

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

It doesn't help that they've moved all those countries from "avoid non-essential travel" to "normal precautions". Eg, Italy. Jesus wept.

No f*cking essential travel is the bare ****ing minimum at the moment, surely.

It's right there on the webpage you linked to:

Avoid non-essential travel until further notice:
The Irish Authorities advise against all non-essential travel overseas until further notice.

Dave_The_Sheep

Former Former wrote: »

It's right there on the webpage you linked to:

However, it also has this on the top left. Spain for example is the orange "Avoid Non-Essential Travel".



People will (willfully or otherwise) assume that that means that it's OK to travel to Italy for non-essential purposes. It's mixed messages at it's finest.

Buer

Former Former wrote: »

Yes, it has not been handled very well.

However, it doesn't take that long to figure out what the advice is;
1. Don't travel unless necessary
2. If travel is necessary, you must self-isolate for 14 days upon return.
3. You can only avoid self-isolation if you go to a green country.

There is absolutely and 100% a willful ignorance at play here. People who won't forego their sun holiday for one f**king year are going to do whatever the hell they want anyway. No one could possibly think that the green list is a government approved thumbs up for 2 weeks in the sun, except those who only hear what they want to hear.

You need to allow for modern society/human nature. There is absolutely willful ignorance here but don't underestimate active, genuine ignorance either. Plenty of people out there don't listen to or watch the news. They get their news from Facebook or their friends. Some people will 100% believe that it is now ok for them to travel to Greece on the lash for a week because it's on the list.

The green list is creating a vehicle for ignorance and ambiguity. Other people that know better (and fall more into the bracket you highlight above) will question whether is it really that bad to go on holiday if the government are saying you don't have to quarantine. They will interpret things differently and their own bias will influence their opinions.

stephen_n

jacothelad wrote: »

Possibly some better news.....a vaccine that shows promise in producing antibodies. Phase one human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by researchers at the University of Oxford suggest it triggers two types of immune response. Not only does the jab trigger the production of antibodies – proteins that can bind to the virus, preventing it from entering cells and flagging it to immune cells – but it also seems to result in the production of “killer” T cells – immune cells that attack infected human cells.


What about in the mean time? Treating those before a vaccine arrives.

Trials of an experimental drug inhaled by patients have found a significant reduction in hospital patients with Covid-19 needing to be put on a ventilator or dying from the disease, according to researchers
The drug, called SNG001, is delivered via an inhaler and is based on interferon beta, a protein produced naturally in the body that plays an important role in coordinating the body’s antiviral response.
Researchers have announced the results of an initial trial which found the odds of Covid-19 patients needing ventilation, or dying, while being treated in hospital were reduced by 79% among those given SNG001 compared with those given a placebo.
What is more, the team behind the trial say those given the drug were just over twice as likely to show “no limitation of activities” or “no clinical or virological evidence of infection” during the 16-day study period – in other words, the chance of recovery was boosted. Those given the drug also showed a reduction in breathlessness.
SNG001 is not the first drug to show promise in treating coronavirus patients: a cheap steroid called dexamethasone has previously been shown to reduce deaths in those requiring help with breathing, while the antiviral drug Remdesivir cuts recovery time.
While Remdesivir was thought to be focused on coronaviruses, SNG001 has a more general effect, meaning it may also benefit patients with winter viruses such as flu.

Is that the same interferon they use for treating hepatitis C?

irishbucsfan

If they just actually enforced the 2 weeks it would hugely cut the travel. Make it absolutely necessary and unavoidable. Im doing it right now and it’s awful

Stheno

irishbucsfan wrote: »

If they just actually enforced the 2 weeks it would hugely cut the travel. Make it absolutely necessary and unavoidable. Im doing it right now and it’s awful

I'd a friend in another country who caught the virus (their partner is a healthcare worker)

Where they live, if you test positive you have to stay home until you test negative two days in a row.

My friend kept testing positive until 57 days later, when they had the two negative tests

57 days stuck in an apartment :eek:

I think I would have lost my mind.

At what point are you over the virus and cannot spread it further? Do you get another test once you feel better?