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

Nobody was forced to get a vaccine. Nor should they be.

Equally, no-one who chose to get a vaccine should be forced to share a high-risk environment with those people who chose not to get a vaccine. So it's entirely appropriate to keep unvaccinated people away from those of us who chose not to be absolute dicks about it.

Young people didn't need to be forced to get the vaccine, all they needed was a very gentle nudge and it worked. Thankfully most of them are very well educated and saw the benefits and filtered out all the noise from people like yourself.

"Forced to share a high risk environment with those who chose not to get a vaccine"

But vaccines don't stop transmission? And the vaccinated people aren't high risk? And nobody is ever forced to go to a restaurant?

Your post makes no sense whatsoever.

Jesus this is exhausting, my 5G chip is overheating. Good luck with the overthrow of society, I'll leave ye to it.

I normally agree with you but not this time , Seamus .

25% of positive tests over the last 14 days have been in the 0 to 18 age group .

That is increases positivity .

It is not translating to increased illness or hospitalisations though , but I don't agree that testing these children is unnecessary .

We need more testing capabilities if there is difficulties with these numbers but until it is known that these " coughs and sniffles " are nothing more than the common cold those parents and schools and creches don't know what they are dealing with .

As said yesterday by Dr Nabarro, special envoy on Covid to WHO , testing is an essential component even when Covid is endemic as pockets can grow and mutate if left unchecked.

And how will we know if we are not testing ?

We have had this discussion over and over .

It really doesn't matter if the cases are severe or not , what age they are or whether we are vaccinated or not . All symptomatic people need testing .

It's not as if anyone is saying we need to shut down again because of high positivity but we are the highest level in the EU at present so it is veering towards anti science to say " we're vaccinated enough , to hell with it , Stop Testing " .

That is normally the cry of the" let it rip " and " open all up regardless , it's just a flu" people !

( Which I am sure does not apply to you )

At the very least it needs to be determined if it is decreasing in fact , or increasing in certain age groups so that mitigation measures can be put in place .

Anyway even those very much symptomatic cannot attend their GP but have a phone referral .

Children only back 2 weeks .

Lets come back to this in 2 more weeks and discuss cases among children.

25% currently under 18 but with 12 to 18 year olds getting vaccinated fully it will be only the little ones left to get infected .

But sure why bother testing them, they don't get that sick , eh? Only upsetting them and their parents if they get a positive . Best not to be doing that , yeah ?

Ignorance is bliss .

You are using the fact that transmission has always been lower in children now to say that Delta is not that infectious ?

Also the people getting infected which you appear to be claiming, is not the same thing ,

as the severity of illness in those people .

The sickest people in hospital at the moment with no underlying conditions are young people UNVACCINATED . Median age 27 !

Lots of people with vaccination but immunocompromised either through disease or medication sick also but numbers in all of those that would have been badly affected without the jab greatly reduced.

However without it we would have been a lot worse than January . I really don't understand why you think otherwise?

Didn't some states in the US actually run out of pediatric ICU beds?

I don't think the capacity here in Ireland is particularly high and we don't want their usage to impact other services.

@timmyntc You know I don't agree with that either .

I will leave you to it , no point trying to have a sensible conversation or debate with that level of reply .

 Hospitals at 309, 60 in ICU. Should see it drop well below 300 this week and hopefully ICU heading towards 50 more quickly.

As I said in my previous reply to you , infection numbers are not the same as illness .

The group you picked ( over 60s) are the most likely to have more than one underlying condition along with reduced immunity , and would not as a group have the same level of VE as you quote .

Read the trial data .

Arguing against restrictions as some do here is one thing , and a lot of it is personal opinion .

Posting numbers and percentages and arguing with people unless you understand what you are posting about ?

That requires a little more reading .

I don't want to be arguing with you , just making a point that we can't be flippant about children and testing . .

I think if children need testing they should be tested and not ignored because it is more inconvenient .

And if not vaccinating we need to take care that they don't suffer any long term issues , be it from Covid , or missing school unnecessarily .

You unfairly say I don't have children . I do, although older and one has missed a good chunk of schooling over the last year .

I am also a Paediatric nurse as well as General , so I do advocate for children, and disagree with the " only a cough or a sniffle " labelling of what can be a very nasty infection , even in those little ones mildly affected during the first phase of it .

We don't know enough yet about this to be brushing it off so easily especially in a group so unprotected .

Back to school at the moment while totally essential, imo , is still an experiment with the youngest in society being the subjects , make no mistake about it .

They have to go back , they need to be mixing and playing , then they definitely need testing to ensure we keep as many safe as we can .

I do and it never got that awful, thankfully.

That quite ' small pool 'is largely unprotected by vaccination.

I think I said by mid October , because ICU follows behind numbers , but again will be happy to be proved wrong .

Fair dues for remembering 👍

Oh I was talking about under 12s ..but agree with you about those others .

Anecdotal stuff from vaccinator that pockets of unvaccinated folk are now turning up for first doses.

Back from holidays abroad maybe ?

Or want to go abroad ?