Relaxation of Restrictions, Part XII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

Correct, he mentioned the winter readiness plan that would include a comprehensive roll out of flu vaccines with the possibility of boosters for some being part of the overall plan. Nothing to do with lifting the remaining restrictions on the 22nd.

I did find his original speech full of guff and very little detail. It was only in the follow on press conference that he clarified this. I'm sure a lot of people just watched his announcement and not the full presser. He really should have given a lot more detail and clarity in his original speech as it required a number of follow on questions from journalists to get to the meat and bones.

As much as I disagree with some of Gortanna's posts, you can't dispute (but you appear to be trying to) that the pandemic has had a massive affect on people's mental health, businesses have gone to the wall, the vax pass does create a two-tiered society and there is a constant threat of lockdown. Yes, the government have stated that they don't want to go back into lockdown but they can't rule it out so the threat is there.

They have been posted multiple times on multiple threads and I'm pretty sure on threads you were responding to and reading (and undoubtedly ignoring), you can also do your own internet searches and find them quite easily (Monica Gandhi is nice enough to collate multiple studies for people).

If you still can't find them, I'll post them for you, but I would sincerely worry about your sources of information if they elude you still.

Is there anything about visitor bans in hospitals being removed?

Without getting into a debate about it, I think it's just a big unknown. Sure, anecdotally we can say that there are people who've really had a tough time, especially in lockdowns, the constant fear in the media has driven some people (older people especially) a bit potty, having routines disrupted again and again, etc.

At the same time, there are loads of people who've found much of the change beneficial. No need to be forced to have interactions with co-workers, less or zero commute, more time for hobbies and exercise, more time for family, time to rethink/quit the job they hate and realise they don't actually need it. The realisation that you might actually hate doing something (like foreign holidays) but kept doing it because you felt like you had to. And so on.

As an animal, we are a social creature, and I would have no doubt that on balance, the quality of everyone's mental health has dipped during this time, in the absence of your every day social interactions. But as that comes back, things will improve.

We are at the biggest danger point now, as restrictions start to lift. We should make an extra big effort at this stage to go see family and friends, to check in on them. This is the point when people will start to actually feel "alone"; as they see the world move on with their lives while they feel like they're being left behind. Even if you have texted someone every day of the pandemic, but haven't actually seen them face to face, make the effort to reconnect with a coffee or dinner or drinks.

94% efficacy against infection is a big statement - doesnt seem to match what most studies are saying. A claim that bold could do with a source.

Most studies point to 70% or lower efficacy against infection with delta variant. So curious as to where your 94% figure came from

Hospital's will have discretion to implement whatever policy they see fit according to Donnelly.

So you keep saying. But cases are not translating to hospital admissions as before. Without the vaccines it would be much worse. Yes, there are a lot of Covid cases in hospital, but the hospitals should be able to manage, this is living with Covid. We as a society do not have the bear the brunt anymore.

The point I am making is this obsession with cases has to stop. The media have pushed this narrative for so long that people can't look beyond "de numbers". The numbers we need to look at are hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths - granted they are increasing but not in proportion with cases as before. In fact, I'd argue that these metrics should not even be in the public domain anymore, we never obsessed over flu admissions in the past.

Say hello to MU

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0901/1244013-coronavirus-variant/

Source! for your studies, here's mine (last table, links available in documents below):

COVID-19 Vaccines | HIV, ID and Global Medicine (ucsf.edu)

Again, I would be worried about where you're getting your information if you weren't able to find that (or ignoring data that doesn't suit a narrative), you're quickly falling into the willfully ignorant category.

Nature have some of the data in a more easily digestable format, the headline is that the data for delta isn't in yet, so it's unknown what the transmission reduction will be, but that there will be a transmission reduction (my own bet is gt 50% lt 80%, depending on when vaccination occurred), this is compounded by delta having a much higher R0 than other strains sans vaccine, so we could still hit a 90% reduction if the R0 is 10 and it gets reduced to 1 (which is where Ireland is hovering).

COVID vaccines slash viral spread – but Delta is an unknown (nature.com)

It's a 'variant of interest' not a 'variant of concern,' as are four others. Don't worry yourself.

I agree the media are absolutely desperate. They seem sad covid is very nearly over. Current headline on RTE "3000 daily cases by September in NPHET's best case scenario". Load of sh*te. I visit an elderly lady who is terrified every time there is talk of booster shots, reduced efficacy etc. RTE are directly responsible for robbing her of the time she has left, as she's still scared to leave the house despite being double vaccinated for months (she has health conditions which compound this worry).

Let's not forget that NPHET's "best case scenario" in July predicted 250 deaths, thousands hospitalised, 100 in ICU. In fact, we've seen 50-60% of this, at most, with the numbers decreasing. Their "worst case scenario" was so ludicrous that I won't even mention the figures here.

Stop publishing every figure NPHET pull out of their collective arses as complete gospel.

Another one we could have issues with is Lambda, currently just a VOI but researchers have said it's vaccine resistant

The real question that needs to be asked is HOW vaccine resistant this and any other variant is... We know for example that Delta reduces efficacy of the current vaccines, but only by about 5% so not much to worry about