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

Most pubs did close voluntarily, and most were closed a week or more before the lockdown started on March 23rd.

Once we get to 85/90% of adults vaccinated, and 70% of the population overall vaccinated (incl under 18s) I think I would be comfortable enough with a "Level 1" (remember that?) style opening up.

No restrictions on outdoor crowds. Social distancing of 1-2m on indoor crowds unless the entire audience has proven vaccination or tested negative. Masks on public transport.

I understand the fear that the restrictions will be imposed forever. I understand that they were initially only implemented with the proviso that it was "only until we could scale up the health service capacity to cope with the surge" etc etc. And I understand that people feel betrayed by that 15/16 months later.

The problem is, when all that "this is temporary, it is only until we can prepare the health service" meant something different in March 2020 than it does now. If you remember, the "prepare the health service" meant get Irish doctors and nurses home, cancel non-emergency procedures, train up ICU staff and get every qualified individual into the hospitals. Once they realised, around July/August last year, that Covid was not going to be eliminated and that we would get further waves, it became obvious that "prepare the health service" meant something different. Now, it is clear that - even in a society where 80% of the population is vaccinated - a very transmissible variant (such as Delta) will mean that we may have 50-60,000 infections at any one time, with hospitalisations being 1/2% of that.

So what does this mean for us right now, and on a permanent basis? Well, it means that we probably have to staff the equivalent of two or three new permanent covid hospitals - if we are to keep carrying out non-emergency procedures in the same way as we did before covid. Now, you can - with the right political will - build a hospital within a year. The problem isn't the physical beds and the roof, it's the staff. You cannot magic up hundreds of qualified consultants, doctors, and nurses. Even in 15 months. It takes 4 years to train a nurse, 7 years a doctor, 12 years a consultant. And I don't think we can poach them from abroad - every one is hanging on to their own qualifed medical workers for dear life.

So here we are - stuck between a rock and hard place. Vaccinations are part of the answer, but a fully opened economy will lead to Covid freely flowing through the population. Even with vaccinations we will get surges. Not ones that result in people dying in ambulances or doctors having to choose who gets the ICU bed, but surges that result in someone hysterectomy being cancelled for the fourth time, or back surgery being put back again for another six months. Not an acceptable situation to be in.

So then we're left with a choice. Either accept occasional reimpostions of restrictions, so that the health system can continue to operate, or accept that the health system will occasionally grind to a complete halt. I think most people would reluctantly accept the first option - but crucially only on the proviso that permanent expansions to the health system, i.e. the new hospitals, were in progress. I see no talk of that from our government.

Level 5 won't be back unless there is a game changing variant.

What you might see is hospitality vaccine passes extended to other sectors

Is this the new campaign now to segregate society to extend this Covid pass crap to other sectors even though some of them like gyms have been open for a while now with no outbreaks that we have heard off. Removing the covid pass should the first item on the agenda when they come back to the Dail.

Yes it is. You maybe ok with giving your rights away but I am sure there are many who are not. Maybe we should all wear badges to indicate the level of vaccination that we are at, you would love that.

It was always bound to happen they have been closed for the guts of 15 months they would agree to anything to be allowed open legally. Once they were open then they can flout the rules. Sure who is going to check for covid certs in a packed pub?

I really can't see anything other than increased restrictions coming in when we approach the Christmas period again, regardless of what the vaccination rate may be by then.

The Health system in this country is going to be hitting a major crisis with the workload of cancelled procedures and operations due to the pandemic.

So we have that and then we have a possible bad flu season to contend with this year. So then throw into the mix a high covid infection rate due to the festive season, and even if hospitalizations and the death rate is much lower, it will still put the health service under massive pressure due to having to isolate covid patients in wards.

I know its not what people want to hear but I think anyone thinking that restrictions are done with are going to be very dissapointed comming into this winter. And that isn't even taking into account the possibility of worse variants emerging by then either.

What right do you have to go to a gym?

I can't believe this is where we've ended up. Depressing.

Because they were getting enormous amounts of money to stay closed.

€15k a week and this is how publicans repay society?

If you don’t like the way pubs are being run you should probably just mind your own business and not go to pubs. Let the rest of us get on with life.