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

Yep get vaccinated and get on with it with, like you say it's clearly working.

Scare tactics ramped up to the max today.

Holding back of swabs for a few days, just as the legislation is being extended.

State broadcaster out peddling the fear again with Miriam the icing on the cake tonight.

I was on a community meeting this evening online and literally the only thing, was de numbers, oh the numbers. We can’t do this, we can’t do that etc. Some of the members were in genuine fear.

Oh I think I will stay away from people until I get my booster and de numbers come down. Don’t feel safe out there.

It’s such a sad place that some folks have been beaten into. It’s going to take years to get some peoples mental health back on track.

There are so many swabs for the lab technicians to examine. Therefore, it takes days to get test results.

My favourite is the general..

Well I'm bored of this and too ignorant to contribute to any solution so let's declare it over and move on or else this thing will last for eternity.

Believing that everyone else in the world is as incompetent as them so there will never be progress.

It's great to see that hospital and ICU numbers haven't at least disimproved since last week - it's a welcome reprieve - but I will be, frankly, fcking amazed if it stays that way. I really think the succor people are getting from that is by no means guaranteed to be long term.

The question is whether they'll go up in a manner we can cope with or whether they will go up and up and up to the point where we can't.

We're heading into a period now that can't be adequately predicted. 90% vaccination, but, equally the virus spreading fairly liberally, approaching the traditional season for colds and flu - with society more or less open. It's uncharted territory and anyone that tells you with 100% certainty that they categorically know the score and can predict the future is absolutely full of shít.

We may muddle through, hopefully we will, I don't want to endure lockdown again or for people to become seriously ill or die on account of Covid, or on account of delayed procedures etc because our hospitals can't cope beyond dealing with Covid.

But, I'll be honest, I think cases are going to rise and rise and we'll get to a pinch point soon enough. It could be the end of this month, it could be in January - that's just the most likely scenario I can see potentially playing out. Is it guaranteed? No, but it's my gut feeling.

Even though vaccinations have, clearly, made a huge difference and the situation now isn't the exact same as 2020/early 2021 I do get a bad sense of deja vu reading through the thread and seeing a lot of "hospital numbers haven't gone up" type posts and people being very certain.

Stay safe, this is us, brighter days ahead they should all be first to go, sure we spent over €300k on fcuking badges what a bunch of nut jobs running the country.

You have that backwards. Antigen tests have poor sensitivity. The danger is the high false negative rate they generate from users who are asymptomatic, or don't use the device correctly.

And the assumptions people make from the results. A negative antigen test does not mean you don't have the virus. Not to mention the assumptions people make about these tests performance, like you have.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7240272/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/25/uk-health-regulator-concerned-over-use-of-coronavirus-rapid-tests

The HSE report seems to verify the manufacturer's claims re: accuracy for at least one brand. Low false negatives. Although just for symptomatic

Right but laypeople's assumptions notwithstanding, HSE verified extremely high accuracy for at least a few brands, very low false negatives etc. I presume they could advocate the use of these specific brands, or discourage use of poor brands.

“” The incidence of the virus among over-75s has begun falling. That's cause for optimism. A continued fall in cases among that age group would seriously benefit our hospital system.””

just sayin’

You are right that there is a lag between cases and hospitals of I think about 4/5 days but there are also other variables at play.

• the profile of those who are getting Covid.
• age
• vaccination status - unvaccinated, one shot, 2 shots, booster shot.
• underlying health issues.

It seems that a lot of the growth is in schools. This is having a further knock on effect in respect to work forces where parents will isolate as close contacts but there will be some slippage on this.

Ah I don't see current restrictions effecting Christmas too much.

Just no steps backwards please. Would be tough to take.

Maybe more will take up vaccine and help with the hospital pressure.