When will it all end?

Real Donald Trump

Real Donald Trump wrote: »

When all the vulnerable groups are vaccinated.

I wish that would be the case, but I think they’ll move the goalposts from ‘protect ICU capacity’ to ‘eliminate long COVID in the young’

46 Long

niallo27 wrote: »

But we had one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the whole of Europe, our deaths from covid is actually really low. They way people are talking you would think we were on the piss for the last year.

This is what happens when you lockdown five million people for months at a time even when numbers were down in double digits. The second restrictions are lifted they party like there's no tomorrow, knowing full well that NPHET are itching to clamp down on things again in a few short weeks.

As shortsighted, unstainable approaches go this is up there with an obese person starving themselves for months to lose weight and then piling back on the pounds and more the second they come off the crash diet.

Alf Veedersane

niallo27 wrote: »

But we had one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the whole of Europe, our deaths from covid is actually really low. They way people are talking you would think we were on the piss for the last year.

That doesn't mean you open up as much as they did as quickly as they did. The same thing happened before. Too much too soon and numbers grew too quickly.

Its highly transmissible. The guidance on minimising close contacts went out the window. I do appreciate to some extent that people want to meet people and experience a degree of normality when the circumstances allowed.

But you have to exercise cop on with that as well and a lot of people didn't. The virus was still circulating to a larger degree than was anticipated.

NPHET had targeted <100 daily cases by the end of November and said the lower the numbers got, the more options might be open for relaxation of restrictions. But the government decided to continue on the same course as if there were <100 daily cases and left themselves hostages to fortune.

Poor decision-making from government and from too many people created a lot of opportunity for transmission so here we are.

Deaths from covid is not the only metric that's important. The number of hospitalisations at present has some hospitals bursting at the seams. ICU capacity may be an issue before long because it's not only having beds and people able to train the but the capacity to make sure covid patients in ICU are separate from other patients in ICU.

So the fact that the lockdown was strict isn't hugely relevant because of what has happened since.

Alf Veedersane

46 Long wrote: »

This is what happens when you lockdown five million people for months at a time even when numbers were down in double digits. The second restrictions are lifted they party like there's no tomorrow, knowing full well that NPHET are itching to clamp down on things again in a few short weeks.

As shortsighted, unstainable approaches go this is up there with an obese person starving themselves for months to lose weight and then piling back on the pounds and more the second they come off the crash diet.

Perhaps the obese person shouldn't be given access to so much food and perhaps they should exercise some discipline.

mean gene

Speakerboxx wrote: »

When will things go back to normal?

With vaccines now available will we be here In January 2022 with covid dominating the news headlines? I would love to know.

september

SpacialNeeds

Enter name here wrote: »

Covid will be with us for a whole generation. That is because unfortunately the Irish are inherently stupid and think they know it all.

Until the Irish decide to pull their heads out of the arses nothing will change.

One of the worse infection rates in the world per capita all because people wanted a pint and to have Christmas with their mammies.

What gives you immunity from that? Are you from darkest Peru or Fugging, Austria? Or maybe Lake Titikaka? Oh no you must be resident in Doody Bottoms.

niallo27

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

That doesn't mean you open up as much as they did as quickly as they did. The same thing happened before. Too much too soon and numbers grew too quickly.

Its highly transmissible. The guidance on minimising close contacts went out the window. I do appreciate to some extent that people want to meet people and experience a degree of normality when the circumstances allowed.

But you have to exercise cop on with that as well and a lot of people didn't. The virus was still circulating to a larger degree than was anticipated.

NPHET had targeted <100 daily cases by the end of November and said the lower the numbers got, the more options might be open for relaxation of restrictions. But the government decided to continue on the same course as if there were <100 daily cases and left themselves hostages to fortune.

Poor decision-making from government and from too many people created a lot of opportunity for transmission so here we are.

Deaths from covid is not the only metric that's important. The number of hospitalisations at present has some hospitals bursting at the seams. ICU capacity may be an issue before long because it's not only having beds and people able to train the but the capacity to make sure covid patients in ICU are separate from other patients in ICU.

So the fact that the lockdown was strict isn't hugely relevant because of what has happened since.

The same thing did not happen before, the last time we opened restaurants there was a very moderate increase in the 6 weeks after. Do you think they should have kept non essential shopping closed as well.

yerwanthere123

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

In some ways it doesn't really "end" OP.

The virus will never be eliminated in our lifetimes.

Some changes will be permanent like mask wearing in certain indoor environments, cultural changes in dining out, in my opinion "wet pubs" will never reopen, social distancing measures in shopping venues (although I see this being relaxed in 2022), distancing in work places, those plastic barriers separating customers from till operators etc etc etc...

Yearly vaccinations for everybody is a real possibility already flagged in the UK and other countries.

People won't notice the changes as much as they would have last year because they are now so use to it.

The world has changed in many ways from January 2020.

Although it is important to point out that many things haven't changed. When we can do away with tough restrictions the above are just irritants for most people but inconsequential overall.

Do some people get some kind of a kick out of trying to scare the sh*t out of people on the internet? Such weird behaviour.

saabsaab

Mask wearing was normal in big Asian cities for a while now.

Kermit.de.frog

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Do some people get some kind of a weird kick out of trying to scare the sh*t out of people on the internet? Such weird behaviour.

The only thing that scares me is how right I have been through out

Spooky

niallo27

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

The only thing that scares me is how right I have been through out

Spooky

You have said hospitals were 2 weeks away from being overwhelmed 5 times in the last 9 months.

bucketybuck

46 Long wrote: »

This is what happens when you lockdown five million people for months at a time even when numbers were down in double digits. The second restrictions are lifted they party like there's no tomorrow

I wonder why there is this narrative that we "partied like there was no tomorrow" over christmas, or why the pubs that were open for about 10 minutes before being shut again christmas eve are the cause of the spike in numbers?

Did I miss the party or something, I don't quite recall Coppers being open on New Years eve?

Was there more socialising done over christmas than there was in September? Probably.

Was it the free for all that some people want to try and make it out to be? No ****ing chance.

Cases are now exceeding the numbers from last March. Just think about that for a second, last February/March the virus was here and the pubs were fully open and operating. Cases reached X number. Now the nation is much better informed, pubs are closed and restaurants are a bastardised version of their prior selves. Yet cases are exceeding the numbers of last March?

Not to be a smartarse, but clearly there is another factor at play here.

Silentcorner

bucketybuck wrote: »

I wonder why there is this narrative that we "partied like there was no tomorrow" over christmas, or why the pubs that were open for about 10 minutes before being shut again christmas eve are the cause of the spike in numbers?

Did I miss the party or something, I don't quite recall Coppers being open on New Years eve?

Was there more socialising done over christmas than there was in September? Probably.

Was it the free for all that some people want to try and make it out to be? No ****ing chance.

Cases are now exceeding the numbers from last March. Just think about that for a second, last February/March the virus was here and the pubs were fully open and operating. Cases reached X number. Now the nation is much better informed, pubs are closed and restaurants are a bastardised version of their prior selves. Yet cases are exceeding the numbers of last March?

Not to be a smartarse, but clearly there is another factor at play here.

We spent the first 6 weeks only testing people with two or more symptoms, there were probably thousands of people who were sick from Covid who were never tested.

I do think it is more serious this time, largely because it is the time of year, our immune systems are at their weakest...how many people do we know catch a flu over the Christmas every year...and our hospitals tend to be overflowing in the depths of winter.

I absolutely agree with you, people did not go nuts over the Christmas in pubs...they were closed by 11pm.

Our Covid numbers are a mirage really, a massive percentage of our positive cases were healthy people, who wouldn't have experienced so much as a sniffle.

Coybig_

Could it be that the virus is seasonal, as admitted by Leo Varadkar on Today FM, and that in winter our cases are going to be far, far higher than in Summer and Spring?!

Nah it's definitely all the takeaway pints. That sounds right.

forumdedum

bucketybuck wrote: »

I wonder why there is this narrative that we "partied like there was no tomorrow" over christmas, or why the pubs that were open for about 10 minutes before being shut again christmas eve are the cause of the spike in numbers?

Did I miss the party or something, I don't quite recall Coppers being open on New Years eve?

Was there more socialising done over christmas than there was in September? Probably.

Was it the free for all that some people want to try and make it out to be? No ****ing chance.

Cases are now exceeding the numbers from last March. Just think about that for a second, last February/March the virus was here and the pubs were fully open and operating. Cases reached X number. Now the nation is much better informed, pubs are closed and restaurants are a bastardised version of their prior selves. Yet cases are exceeding the numbers of last March?

Not to be a smartarse, but clearly there is another factor at play here.

Agree there has to be another factor. Perhaps social distancing should be more than 2 meters now. Perhaps the virus is even more airborne now. I know I read a small droplet of the new variant can cause more problems etc

helimachoptor

At what point do the government consider the vulnerable to be vaccinated in order to open things up?

Everyone over 65 + anyone else with an underlying condition?

copeyhagen

helimachoptor wrote: »

At what point do the government consider the vulnerable to be vaccinated in order to open things up?

Everyone over 65 + anyone else with an underlying condition?

this, once the vulnerable are vaccinated, open everything up and let the res of us get on with it.

those that want to stay at home and ring the guards over the guards themselves, could be free to do it

mcburns07

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Kermit is kinda our pet Apocalypto. You have to take anything from him with a pinch of salt.

If this wasn't the internet/boards but the real world Kermit would be the guy who stands all by himself in a busy square stood on a soapbox with a large 'the end is nigh' placard in his hands.

In fairness, as much as Kermit can seem to be OTT at times, he was saying last year that it would continue well into 2021 and had the same criticisms levelled at him. Nobody knows for sure.

El Sueño

El Sueño wrote: »

Given that not every member of the population can possibly be vaccinated every single year and that

Says who?

Alf Veedersane

niallo27 wrote: »

The same thing did not happen before, the last time we opened restaurants there was a very moderate increase in the 6 weeks after. Do you think they should have kept non essential shopping closed as well.

I think they should have been more cautious across the board. You could see the difference between now and then.

Its highly transmissible. The numbers were not particularly low and that should have been borne in mind but imo I don't think it was and now we are where we are. 65,000 cases in 2 weeks and getting too close to a tipping point in some of our hospitals.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. Thats just how I see it. If you disagree, then we'll just agree to disagree.

sabat

Saturday May 1st after a day of violence across Europe.

bucketybuck

helimachoptor wrote: »

At what point do the government consider the vulnerable to be vaccinated in order to open things up?

When they stop dying.

That is a serious answer. If non vaccinated people are still dying then clearly not enough vulnerable people have been vaccinated. When enough of them are, the death rate would be expected to fall accordingly.

So the government doesn't open up based on how many are vaccinated, but on how few are dying.

niallo27

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I think they should have been more cautious across the board. You could see the difference between now and then.

Its highly transmissible. The numbers were not particularly low and that should have been borne in mind but imo I don't think it was and now we are where we are. 65,000 cases in 2 weeks and getting too close to a tipping point in some of our hospitals.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. Thats just how I see it. If you disagree, then we'll just agree to disagree.

I'm not arguing with you at all, we have different opinions, it's perfectly normal. I think even if hospitality had not opened we still would have seen an explosion in cases. Nobody knew at the start of December about this new strain and how things would explode.

Lundstram

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

The only thing that scares me is how right I have been through out

Spooky

If you throw enough sh1t, some of it will stick.

Alf Veedersane

niallo27 wrote: »

I'm not arguing with you at all, we have different opinions, it's perfectly normal. I think even if hospitality had not opened we still would have seen an explosion in cases. Nobody knew at the start of December about this new strain and how things would explode.

I don't think it would happen to the same degree. Lots of people indoors with an airborne virus is basically the recipe for transmission. The virus looks at that recipe like Nigella looks at a chocolate fondant.

MrStuffins

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

In some ways it doesn't really "end" OP.

The virus will never be eliminated in our lifetimes.

Some changes will be permanent like mask wearing in certain indoor environments, cultural changes in dining out, in my opinion "wet pubs" will never reopen, social distancing measures in shopping venues (although I see this being relaxed in 2022), distancing in work places, those plastic barriers separating customers from till operators etc etc etc...

Yearly vaccinations for everybody is a real possibility already flagged in the UK and other countries.

People won't notice the changes as much as they would have last year because they are now so use to it.

The world has changed in many ways from January 2020.

Although it is important to point out that many things haven't changed. When we can do away with tough restrictions the above are just irritants for most people but inconsequential overall.

You need help pal!

Bit cynical

There will be lingering effects on society longer than people expect. This will not be so much due to the virus but because very risk-averse types have gained ascendancy and will not give up power easily.

begbysback

Bit cynical wrote: »

There will be lingering effects on society longer than people expect. This will not be so much due to the virus but because very risk-averse types have gained ascendancy and will not give up power easily.

Coupled with media outlets which make no money unless they print worse case scenarios, all of the residue will carry on far longer than necessary.

nj27

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

In some ways it doesn't really "end" OP.

The virus will never be eliminated in our lifetimes.

Some changes will be permanent like mask wearing in certain indoor environments, cultural changes in dining out, in my opinion "wet pubs" will never reopen, social distancing measures in shopping venues (although I see this being relaxed in 2022), distancing in work places, those plastic barriers separating customers from till operators etc etc etc...

Yearly vaccinations for everybody is a real possibility already flagged in the UK and other countries.

People won't notice the changes as much as they would have last year because they are now so use to it.

The world has changed in many ways from January 2020.

Although it is important to point out that many things haven't changed. When we can do away with tough restrictions the above are just irritants for most people but inconsequential overall.

In addition to roving teams of Army Rangers marksmen who will snipe people from 1500m if they remove their mask.

carq

helimachoptor wrote: »

At what point do the government consider the vulnerable to be vaccinated in order to open things up?

Everyone over 65 + anyone else with an underlying condition?

700,000 - > end of march according to Donnelly