Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110890#Comment_118110890

BINGO!!!!

Covid Theatre...Full House.

HalfAndHalf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110501#Comment_118110501

It’s a bit strong to say I’ve got that backwards when I’ve read (and pasted info from one) articles that say exactly the opposite.

another poster also showed that the HSE now shows their high accuracy.

the middle ground is the majority of the main manufacturers show high 99% accuracy for negative results.

that is however if they’re used properly, which as someone who has used around 80 of these tests in the past 4 months is to dig the swabs in as though you’re trying to remove your tonsils and drill your adenoids out, mix well for over a minute in the solution then wait over a minute before applying to the test.

they’re a great way forward and something we should have been doing for months now.

if NPHET and the HSE still think they’re so poor why are they now relying on them?

Vicxas

Unfortunately i smell another lockdown Christmas coming.

Nyero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110995#Comment_118110995

Ah now Jimmy you know in your heart and soul that this wear a mask to the jacks is pure covid theatre, its not based on science.

Wear a mask for about 1/60th of the time I spend in a busy pub, absolutely pointless.

It's merely politicians making it look like they are doing something. They have no scientific report or analysis to rely on.

If the government order me to wear a mask in this manner I am entitled to seek the science behind the decision.

Same as their multiple tables of 10, where is the science?

Working class heroes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111059#Comment_118111059

That's just covid **** up your sense of smell.

CruelSummer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110118#Comment_118110118

Can you? If they disable Covid Certs? Talk of the ‘unvaccinated’ not being allowed access to so many services, etc - idiots here not seeing they too will soon be ‘unvaccinated’ until they get their boosters like in Israel. Do you agree with this? Do you agree that everyone who took two shots should then be discriminated against if they don’t get the ‘booster’? Of a vaccine so effective that it needs a booster just a few months after the second. ‘Professors’ stating all over 12’s would need it yesterday. They’ve truly lost their moral compass, their medical ethics and their duty of care to the population to make such a false suggestion.

There is absolutely no evidence that any healthy person under 60 needs a booster.

lee_baby_simms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118105386#Comment_118105386

I had to have my son tested yesterday. Both of my kids sent home from crèche on Monday. No symptoms. Was told he had a persistent cough. He doesn’t. They won’t allow both kids back until he gets a negative pcr test. I’m currently on unpaid leave to look after them as I’ve no annual leave left. The delay in getting an appointment and the result is causing chaos in this house. All for nothing.

Myself and the wife are considering taking them out of crèche permanently as this isn’t sustainable. Madness.

Nyero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111090#Comment_118111090

Absolutely. I took my 2 shots and won't be taking any more.

It will mean I am restricted to the places that are not enforcing this rubbish.

It's incredible the way the likes of RTE constantly roll out celebrity medics but never people who challenge it.

I've said it before but just look at how the swine flu vaccine backfired with law suits in this country.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111107#Comment_118111107

Had to bring my son to hospital twice now because doctors refused to see him without a negative test even though it was clear he didn’t have Covid.

Its disgraceful at this point. Any symptom at all and the crèches don’t want them and the doctors won’t see them.

Society can’t function like this.

floorpie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110041#Comment_118110041

Right exactly, so what would've happened if they instead waited until now to have that "freedom day" like we did? Why would we expect a better result for our winter, versus theirs now? Our vaccination rate isn't that much higher than theirs was during their summer spike in cases

lee_baby_simms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111153#Comment_118111153

When Holohan listed off those 14 symptoms I knew we were bollixed.

There’s absolutely zero support for working parents.

Nyero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111178#Comment_118111178

We are in this together.

We are in our fcuk.

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111153#Comment_118111153

You're right, it can't function like that. But its not going to change, creches aren't going to start magically accepting kids with symptoms anytime soon, nor are doctors going to start seeing patients with cold symptoms. So what's the answer ? Its not going to be let rip and come what may, because creches will still not accept sick kids and GPs still won't see patients with head cold symptoms.

Maybe its in all our interests to supress it as much as possible while its on its journey to being endemic and that will involve inconviences.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111239#Comment_118111239

It IS ripping though!Whether it is being let or not doesn't matter, it is everywhere.Have only just heard of a 4th family whose toddler has caught it.I knew nobody with covid til the end of September just gone, and that is 4 families now including my own, where all or almost all members have caught it.In addition to the teachers in our preschool, who also got it (not from the kids, and not passed to the kids).We are all going to catch it, that's just how it is.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111178#Comment_118111178

There is zero support for parents full stop.

lee_baby_simms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111239#Comment_118111239

It’s a bit more than inconveniences. I’m not getting paid this week. And I still have to pay almost €1700 quid a month to the crèche while my kids are at home. I have no annual leave days until next April.

So it’s actually not sustainable.

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111271#Comment_118111271

It is, you're right, but that's still not going to make businesses or services function and start accepting symptomatic people, and that's going to be inconvenient.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111284#Comment_118111284

Which is also true,I agree.But part of the key there (to refer to a post I made earlier) is to stop making people wait 24 hours + for results for starters.

We may apparently not be able to produce ICU beds out of thin air but surely - at this point, all the money and almost 2 years later - shortening the processing of tests should be a possibility..

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111281#Comment_118111281

I totally agree and absolute sympathy, but what's the answer ? You can't force creches to accept sick kids, so where do we go with this ? I don't know the answer, I doubt anyone does tbh, this is one of the biggest events in our history - of course there have been pandemics before with way more serious illnesses but the impact on our modern world that this one is having is unprecedented.

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111298#Comment_118111298

100% agree. Its shyte all round, I tried to book a test earlier for a relative and there's not one single slot available anywhere in Dublin today, that's pathetic (or a sign that its everywhere).

lee_baby_simms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111305#Comment_118111305

Some kind of proportionality should be at least considered.

Every month or so since March this house has been plunged into a quasi lockdown for 3 to 4 days over a 1 year old with a runny nose or a sneeze.

It’s easy for the crèche. They still get paid. Just send all the kids home.

It’s easy for the GP. Refer for a covid test every time.

Its the kids and the parents who are left to shoulder everything.

Jimi H

Is there anything being done to increase hospital capacity? So disappointing to hear talk of restrictions being reintroduced. I was listening to Colm Henry earlier. The tone of conversation has changed so much from a couple of months ago when there was optimism and vaccines being a way out to a much more cautious and uncertain attitude. Also, any news on side effects of boosters? I was so fatigued for weeks after my second shot I’d be reluctant to get a third.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118110803#Comment_118110803

Correct. Pre-vax the lag was always like clockwork, 4-12 days after cases started increasing, hospital numbers kicked in.

Now it's far less certain. Cases have been slowly rising for the last 4-12 days, but hospitals numbers are dropping fast. Down to 460 this morning - a drop of 55 in 48 hours. It's also worth pointing out that yesterday's big case number was at least 30% backlog, about 1,000 cases. So it's not a sudden jump in reality; there's not a big wave of hospitalisations about to hit.

Overall this is awkward timing for a government who are looking for reasons to extend emergency powers. They could point to the "uncertainty" as their justification, but if discharges were to continue as is, we could be back under 400 cases by the end of next week. Donnelly will keep trying wax on about "hospitals at bursting point" when the data says the exact opposite.

Cork2021

Big change in hospital numbers! Was 458 last night only 460 this morning! It’ll be a drop of 33 announced with the case numbers later…

downward trend continues! We’ve 3 full nights of discharging. Like Seamus said but I think sooner we’ll be below 400 by Saturday morning… optimistic but very possible

shesty

It's very hard for them to model because the vaccines have broken links to an extent, but it isn't really a predictable level.

They might be able to stab at a model of case numbers but I think hospital and ICU numbers are a shot in the dark, off the back of vaccinations.

I'd be taking any predictions with a pinch of salt tbh.

Martina1991

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111050#Comment_118111050

From that same article you took a snip from:

"In people with confirmed COVID-19, antigen tests correctly identified COVID-19 infection in an average of 72% of people with symptoms, compared to 58% of people without symptoms. Tests were most accurate when used in the first week after symptoms first developed (an average of 78% of confirmed cases had positive antigen tests). This is likely to be because people have the most virus in their system in the first days after they are infected.

How reliable were the results of the studies?

[b] Sometimes studies did not perform the test on the people for whom it was intended and did not follow the manufacturers’ instructions for using the test. [/b] Sometimes the tests were not carried out at the point-of-care. Nearly all the studies (97%) relied on a single negative RT-PCR result as evidence of no COVID-19 infection. [b] Results from different test brands varied, and few studies directly compared one test brand with another. Finally, not all studies gave enough information about their participants for us to judge how long they had had symptoms, or even whether or not they had symptoms. [/b]"

You just picked good results from one device. Which is made in Korea.

You're assuming the results from that Korean device means the tests in Circle K or Lidl or wherever perform the same. They don't.

You said another poster showed hse data and yet you didn't see that the manufacturers claimed accuracy is always lower in the real world.

The hse assessed tests in people with symptoms and the tests were performed by professionals. Again, you're assuming people using them on themselves or with no symptoms are just as accurate. They're not.

floorpie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111455#Comment_118111455

The hse assessed tests in people with symptoms and the tests were performed by professionals. Again, you're assuming people using them on themselves or with no symptoms are just as accurate. They're not.

The HSE report somewhat goes through this, and shows that the same test was less sensitive when self-collected, albeit, it was self-collected when asymptomatic only. Sensitivity was 51.9% when self collected for 1 brand when asymptomatic, and 78.6% for same brand when symptomatic. That seems like a very promising tool to me for cutting down on transmission from asymptomatic cases.

c.p.w.g.w

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111639#Comment_118111639

Is it just more likely when those people were asymptomatic they had less viral load, and the load increased as the virus progressed and gave symptoms

HalfAndHalf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111455#Comment_118111455

That was one article out of over 20 I’ve read.

you’re obviously the expert on antigen testing so I’ll leave you to advise everyone and steer them in your ‘they’re not reliable’ direction then.

you should probably get on to NPHET as well so they stop wasting money sending them out to people 👍

floorpie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118111679#Comment_118111679

I don't know, but looking at the table I don't think so. At least, assuming that one accepts cycle threshold as a proxy for severity/viral load:

It looks like there were asymptomatic and symptomatic cases with CT in the range 25-30, for example. The sensitivity was less in the case of asymptomatic, even with same CT