Covid 19 Part XXXIV-249,437 ROI(4,906 deaths) 120,195 NI (2,145 deaths)(01/05)Read OP

podgeandrodge

I double checked to see if this Irish Times article was from last July or August, but no, it was yesterday, and it says 2021.

"Mr Martin was being interviewed as part of a series on reimagining Ireland and it was put to him that what many people wanted was a return to normality.

“To have a pint”, Mr Martin said adding: “Won’t it be wonderful”.

He was asked if he could see himself, by the end of 2021, attending a championship match and having a pint on the way home or attending a wedding.

Mr Martin said: “At the end of 2021 I can”.

He said: “There will be a bit of nervousness around the autumn and winter period because I do believe there’s a seasonality attached to this virus.

“I think we need to just tread with a bit of caution through the winter, but I do think we can open up over time. And I think we need to do it cautiously to be frank.”

Caution through the winter. And we're only in April. Christ!

Normal One

Depressing

blade1

Normal One wrote: »

Was just in Tesco. I can buy a ****ing Avengers costume for a 12 year old but not a t- shirt for myself. But at least we're holding firm.

Just buy an Avengers costume for yourself.
You know you want to and you'll never again have a better excuse!

shtpEdthePlum

podgeandrodge wrote: »

He was asked if he could see himself, by the end of 2021, attending a championship match and having a pint on the way home or attending a wedding.

Mr Martin said: “At the end of 2021 I can”.

He said: “There will be a bit of nervousness around the autumn and winter period because I do believe there’s a seasonality attached to this virus.

“I think we need to just tread with a bit of caution through the winter, but I do think we can open up over time. And I think we need to do it cautiously to be frank[/I].”

So keep people locked up all year and only let them out in the darkest and coldest months.

What an insipid creature that man is.

Sanjuro

podgeandrodge wrote: »

I double checked to see if this Irish Times article was from last July or August, but no, it was yesterday, and it says 2021.

"Mr Martin was being interviewed as part of a series on reimagining Ireland and it was put to him that what many people wanted was a return to normality.

“To have a pint”, Mr Martin said adding: “Won’t it be wonderful”.

He was asked if he could see himself, by the end of 2021, attending a championship match and having a pint on the way home or attending a wedding.

Mr Martin said: “At the end of 2021 I can”.

He said: “There will be a bit of nervousness around the autumn and winter period because I do believe there’s a seasonality attached to this virus.

“I think we need to just tread with a bit of caution through the winter, but I do think we can open up over time. And I think we need to do it cautiously to be frank.”

Caution through the winter. And we're only in April. Christ!

To be fair, there is a question remaining about how seasonal this virus will be. But if the majority of the population is vaccinated, we should not see a return to to the kinds of lockdowns we’ve experienced over the last 12 months should there be an increase in infections in the winter. The big question will be over hospitalisations and deaths. If 50,000 people contracted Covid in the winter but there were no hospitalisations or deaths, then there’d be no issue.

Normal One

blade1 wrote: »

Just buy an Avengers costume for yourself.
You know you want to and you'll never again have a better excuse!

I had to buy 2, thanks lockdown fatness.

eagle eye

Vaccines are about to ramp up, things are going to improve sooner rather than later. All these people looking to open up and take chances are careless and need to understand that it's only a couple of more months.
What's frightening is the amount of people that keep mentioning pubs opening. I think it suggests we have lots of people in this country with untreated mental health issues, obviously untreated addiction too.

firemansam4

robbiezero wrote: »

I think people obeying restrictions probably contributed more to the spike.
Don't forget what was allowed in December.

I can just give 1 example that I know of where I live that could easily have contributed to the large spike.

A business breaking rules...

A pub serving food and drink was on the face of it practicing all the requirements in its main lounge.
Yet in a back function room had a very large crowd all gathered close together getting very drunk. Had to be about 20 people at least. If one of them had the virus then it would have probably spread to them all.

This kind of breaking of restrictions is a big reason why things got so bad after Christmas, and the thing about it is that it only takes a minority of people or businesses doing this to cause such a large spike in cases.

GeorgeBailey

prunudo wrote: »

To be fair any of their posts I've seen are referencing bad parking, asking for people to be considerate and not block gates or narrow roads.

Not sure who to embed tweets but the one I saw had the text below which even kindly includes a hashtag telling people to stay home:

"
@gardainfo
With good weather forecast this weekend, An Garda Síochána is asking everyone to continue acting responsibly and stay safe.

Gardaí are continuing high visibility patrols at public amenities, parks and beauty spots across the country this weekend.

#StayHomeStaySafe #HeretoHelp
"

Drumpot

Normal One wrote: »

Depressing

Hopefully the vaccines will do what we plan, that any changes required (mutations) can be quickly done by the pharmaceutical companies and at worst this becomes endemic but at worst comparable with the flu. I’m generally optimistic but I believe it’s naieve to think it’s going to be a linear recovery.

There is a chance of some hangover effects of this maybe for a year or more, on what level I do not know but nobody knows how this is going to play out. People keep posting in here like humans are 100% in control of this , but we are not and the response and actions of society are not making it easier to manage.

I’ve said it before that the saddest thing about this is that people in general have learned nothing. The majority of the focus has been on “getting back to normal” instead of caution and making sure we implement more sustainable and prudent ways of living to manage future crisis better. Reflection on what has happened , why it’s happened and the things we need to do to make sure we are better prepared for future crisis would be a more productive way of responding.

And before somebody goes off on a tangent rant about the government, I’m not defending how they have managed things. I’m just fed up that whenever a crisis happens , people point the fingers everywhere else and we learn nothing as a society , it’s always somebody else to blame.

FrankN1

When is the earliest outdoor dining could be allowed?

GeorgeBailey

FrankN1 wrote: »

When is the earliest outdoor dining could be allowed?

When is a piece of string is the unhelpful, muddled but honest answer.

km79

FrankN1 wrote: »

When is the earliest outdoor dining could be allowed?

Late May

robbiezero

firemansam4 wrote: »

I can just give 1 example that I know of where I live that could easily have contributed to the large spike.

A business breaking rules...

A pub serving food and drink was on the face of it practicing all the requirements in its main lounge.
Yet in a back function room had a very large crowd all gathered close together getting very drunk. Had to be about 20 people at least. If one of them had the virus then it would have probably spread to them all.

This kind of breaking of restrictions is a big reason why things got so bad after Christmas, and the thing about it is that it only takes a minority of people or businesses doing this to cause such a large spike in cases.

Some was from people breaking restrictions, some was not, but it wasn't just a few selfish people.

For what its worth, I think people piling back into pubs indoors right at this point would be risky (nowhere near the level or risk of December mind) and needless, but I also think we are stupidly far behind where we could be in terms of opening restrictions and this is going to push everything out.

The Euros decision is just symptomatic of an ultra conservative, arse-covering, spineless approach to dealing with this virus. If we are not going to be in a position to manage a couple of thousand people attending an outdoor event suitably distanced in 6 weeks time. We can't manage that, yet we can have the utter idiocy of Garda patrolling parks and beauty spots all over the country today.

robbiezero

FrankN1 wrote: »

When is the earliest outdoor dining could be allowed?

About 6 weeks ago.

corkonion

eagle eye wrote: »

Vaccines are about to ramp up, things are going to improve sooner rather than later. All these people looking to open up and take chances are careless and need to understand that it's only a couple of more months.
What's frightening is the amount of people that keep mentioning pubs opening. I think it suggests we have lots of people in this country with untreated mental health issues, obviously untreated addiction too.

Yes, or perhaps it’s just that some people like to socialise and enjoy a nice meal out followed by a jar with good company?
Not everybody has been convinced that living like we currently do is acceptable.

corkonion

km79 wrote: »

Late May

Knowing our government, that’s late May 2023

Faugheen

I love the way some people say the case numbers don't matter if they're high, but once they're low then they matter a lot.

Can't have it both ways, folks.

FintanMcluskey

eagle eye wrote: »

Vaccines are about to ramp up, things are going to improve sooner rather than later. All these people looking to open up and take chances are careless and need to understand that it's only a couple of more months.
What's frightening is the amount of people that keep mentioning pubs opening. I think it suggests we have lots of people in this country with untreated mental health issues, obviously untreated addiction too.

A very sad post

podgeandrodge

eagle eye wrote: »

Vaccines are about to ramp up, things are going to improve sooner rather than later. All these people looking to open up and take chances are careless and need to understand that it's only a couple of more months.
What's frightening is the amount of people that keep mentioning pubs opening. I think it suggests we have lots of people in this country with untreated mental health issues, obviously untreated addiction too.

I'm gonna have to accept that I've got untreated mental health issues and also an untreated addiction so. Ah well.

DebDynamite

FintanMcluskey wrote: »

A very sad post

I’d say it’s a post indicative of someone married with children, who has all the company they need at home and a happy family life. Perhaps if they were single and lived alone during this pandemic they would have a very different opinion.

iamwhoiam

My daughter is in a hotspot area of cases in UK .The uptake is poor and so they opened a walk in clinic .She just queued up and got the vaccine .
Same happened in towns in Canada .Should they do that for hotspots here I wonder ?

Happydays2020

iamwhoiam wrote: »

My daughter is in a hotspot area of cases in UK .The uptake is poor and so they opened a walk in clinic .She just queued up and got the vaccine .
Same happened in towns in Canada .Should they do that for hotspots here I wonder ?

Paul Cullen in the IT today mentioning that people should be able to choose AZ. Germany is doing this it seems.

TheDoctor

FrankN1 wrote: »

When is the earliest outdoor dining could be allowed?

I would guess 24 May.

That’s the date indoor is scheduled currently to reopen in the North.

Throw us outdoor as an option to avoid an exodus across the border.

TheDoctor

This is the current roadmap for our northern friends on the island.

23 April
Close contact services, such as hairdressers and barbers, can reopen.
Outdoors visitor attractions reopen.
Driving lessons can resume. Theory and practical driving tests resume.
Outdoor competitive sport will be allowed with numbers not exceeding 100. No spectators allowed.
Equine assisted learning and therapy can take place outdoors and indoors, limited to 30 people.

30 April
All remaining non-essential retail to reopen.
Self-contained tourist accommodation, such as caravans and rented holiday homes, can operate.
Licensed and unlicensed premises can serve customers in outdoors settings in groups of six from no more than two householders.
Removal of curfews on takeaways and off licenses.
Reopening of gyms.
Limit on outdoor gatherings in domestic gardens increased to 15 people from no more than three households.

24 May (indicative date)
Licensed and unlicensed premises can operate indoors.
Rest of tourist accommodation.
Domestic gathering indoors.
Indoors visitor attractions reopen.
Return of indoor group exercise, with numbers limited to suit the size of venue.

shtpEdthePlum

Imagine if it wasn't illegal to have someone in your garden here.

Stormyteacup

Drumpot wrote: »

Hopefully the vaccines will do what we plan, that any changes required (mutations) can be quickly done by the pharmaceutical companies and at worst this becomes endemic but at worst comparable with the flu. I’m generally optimistic but I believe it’s naieve to think it’s going to be a linear recovery.

There is a chance of some hangover effects of this maybe for a year or more, on what level I do not know but nobody knows how this is going to play out. People keep posting in here like humans are 100% in control of this , but we are not and the response and actions of society are not making it easier to manage.

I’ve said it before that the saddest thing about this is that people in general have learned nothing. The majority of the focus has been on “getting back to normal” instead of caution and making sure we implement more sustainable and prudent ways of living to manage future crisis better. Reflection on what has happened , why it’s happened and the things we need to do to make sure we are better prepared for future crisis would be a more productive way of responding.

And before somebody goes off on a tangent rant about the government, I’m not defending how they have managed things. I’m just fed up that whenever a crisis happens , people point the fingers everywhere else and we learn nothing as a society , it’s always somebody else to blame.

But of course the focus is in getting back to normal or close as. An event has massively interrupted our way of living, but ultimately that’s all it is, an interruption.

It’s prudent to take lessons away for better planning in the event of future crises, and perhaps for a more sustainable way of life, as a choice.

The problem is, anyone with an eye on events outside Ireland can’t help but notice other countries in EU (those in improving situations like here) and with higher case positivity rates, higher hospital numbers, no MHQ for their EU neighbours and a similar timescale for vaccination rollout, are far ahead in their reopening plans.

Austria is reopening for tourism, granted with many restrictions, but their hospitality will be open to international tourists by mid-May.

Why are we so slow to reopen our economy here, even with the expected heavy restrictions?

Is it the case that we have better informed experts or exclusive access to important scientific data, or a smarter government?

We can navel-gaze on lessons learned and reflect on where blame lies for decades to come, right now we should be doing much more to jumpstart recovery.

newboard

Jesus, how could anyone scream 'scamdemic' at this stage with the images/videos coming out of India. Only going to get worse over the next couple of weeks.

There but for fortune go you or I..

castletownman

I don't know how anyone could use what's happening in India, as awful as it is, as a case study to what could happen to us if we open too soon.

Let's be honest, India wouldn't be renowned for it's hygiene standards, equality among rich or poor or state of the art medical treatment. I'm sure things like dysentery and typhoid are still a problem there.

Chalk and cheese.

corkonion

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Imagine if it wasn't illegal to have someone in your garden here.

I live in number 1 virusville, my friend frank lives in number 3, we like to meet for a chat, and we are allowed, just not in our own back garden, luckily number 2 virusville is owned by franks brother, so he allows us to use his back garden. I think following this guideline will save thousands of lives, so folks, be a good neighbour, offer to let your neighbours to use your back garden when they want to meet, it’s these simple basic rules that save so many. Cheers.