Herd immunity is not going to happen

We still have a load of cases, more people are dying than during the Troubles, there really is a problem. Michael Martin cannot just make a speech banishimg the virus from the country, he isn't St Patrick.

Something like 86 people die every day in Ireland?

And on average covid deaths are currently <1 of those 86?

Thats definitely bed wetting territory right there, we should definitely be hiding for another few years yet.

No I remember hearing about that variant in December and being absolutely furious in the months that followed at the restrictions that we had in place here for the citizens, while the government didn't bother to ban travel from India or introduce mandatory hotel quarantine. They knew the variant existed and did nothing to try to stop it coming over here.

@Jackben75 wrote

ORLY?

Ireland has come along way in battling this pandemic and that's hard to deny, the vacinne roll out has been remarkable albeit I have to wonder about the HSE relentless tweets stating this percentage, that percentage, actually its another new percentage of the population fully vaccinated, its deliberately bewildering.

But here's the thing, it would seem, and for whatever reason, some people think Vacination will end this pandemic, Vacination will stop you being infected, indeed stop transmission, when clearly it won't.

People also get very animated when a discussion on varients starts and yet its actually the fact this virus can mutate, is the key problem. Yes Vacinnes minimise serious illness in most cases, but not all.

I look at American news channels a lot, less than a month ago, Coronavirus barely featured on news broadcasts, 6 months ago, it was the lead story and the numbers were shocking. In the past two weeks the number of cases and deaths have sky rocketed and its the number 1 story again. Yes, vacinne hesitancy, appalling misinformation, down right crazy conspiracy theories a lot to blame but the point being, let your guard down, become complacent and it's not too difficult to see what happens.

Here, it's clear Government, NPHET and main street media seem to have lost interest or perhaps feel we are over this. NPHET hasn't met for weeks, I've not heard a whisper from Stephen Donnelly in weeks and at best a few minutes of a mention of enormous case numbers on main evening new bulletins.

So, thankfully, Vacinations are helping, ICU numbers whilst rising don't appear to leading to high death rates, new cases very high but apparently not much serious illness but to answer the Threads primary question, Yes we're in for this Sh1t for a few more years and incidentally the financial cost and impact of this pandemic has actually not even hit us yet, watch for an economic shock in the very near few months.

'If anything is wrong with my math let me know, thanks'

Its maths, not math.

Don't worry, it can be math or maths, it's typically math in North America, and maths over here (Europe).

The numbers missing are what the transmission rate is like when fully opened between vaccinated and unvaccinated people and what the reinfection rate is like and how long the immunity (antibodies and T-Cells) last.

I didn't have a plan. It's not up to me to make plans 😂 However if I had been in government I certainly would have had a plan. I wouldn't have had the citizens locked down for months while letting others travel here and not have any restrictions in place.

To say it's pointless because of the UK/NI is a cop out, I remember that argument at the time when they were stalling about the quarantine hotel....we could say that all measures were pointless then if that was the case. What was the point in closing shops if it could still be spread in supermarkets for example?

So it definitely wasn't pointless, because we've been told the measures are to slow the spread, rather than stop it completely.

It also would have been a gesture to the citizens that they were taking it seriously, and that they appreciated our efforts! That was the point for me when I couldn't take the government seriously anymore, and it was the same for many others, who then started questioning why the government were handling it that way!

I find incredibly frustrating when people talk about excess death in Brazil and try to compare their situation with ours. There are huge differences between living standard and all what that entails between us and them. Also there was lockdown and social distancing in Brazil and what make your "measures" argument false is that Brazil actually required masks even outdoors which was never the case here for example.

There is no PUP scheme in place over there and people who barely had enough to eat before covid had nothing during their lockdowns. Poor countries fared much worse than western countries and comparing Ireland and Brazil excess death patting itself on the back about how well we managed this virus is just sad.

People are living in cloud cuckoo land. It absolutely was sold as preventing transmission. That was the "primary goal" originally! It went from this:

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday, "Vaccinated people do not carry the virus — they don’t get sick,” . That’s “not just in the clinical trials, but it’s also in real-world data.”

To this:

"Our vaccines are working exceptionally well," Walensky told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They continue to work well for Delta, with regard to severe illness and death -- they prevent it. But what they can't do anymore is prevent transmission."

From this:

"Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday there is mounting evidence that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the amount of virus in a person, indicating people who receive the shots will not only be protected but less likely to spread the pathogen to others. "

To this:

" Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, on Sunday discussed new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data that showed the levels of coronavirus in breakthrough cases of the delta variant among those who are fully vaccinated are "almost identical" to the levels seen among unvaccinated individuals."

All in the space of 6 months, give or take. . It's the very definition of gaslighting to say that no one ever said it would prevent transmission. They did.

I'll be banned for "misinformation" now for posting actual quotes from public health officials.

I think Donald Trump is goosed from long covid. It's not like him to be so quiet.

Exactly, and I get that. But the people saying "oh no one ever said that/they were never supposed to do x, you anti vaxxer. misinformation!", just grind my gears tbh

Maybe you'd prefer to base the discussion on what we don't know.

Yeah, that's the case all over the US.