Acceptable Covid death rates

But you do accept that face masks and social distancing reduce a respiratory illness?

People aren't wearing them jacdaniel. That is why the numbers are going up. Do you not realise that numbers were much less when people were observing guidelines properly?

It's analogous to you deciding that seatbelts don't work, yourself and your three passengers refusing to to wear one and then, when the one in the passenger seat gets a serious injury in a relatively minor tip, going and suggesting that that is proof that they don't work.

Have you honestly been on public transport recently? People are wearing them where it is actively enforced. It isn't being enforced on public transport. The handful of times I have used it over the past few months, there has been I'd say a 20-30% noncompliance with proper mask wearing.

Are you counting people with no masks or people no wearing their masks properly? The last time I was on the train there were two people in my half of the carraige with one mask hook over one ear. So they had masks, just not wearing them. One got on like that and stayed like that, the other got on like that. but settled down to snooze on the train and unhooked from one ear. Another two who had them down around their chins and pulled them up and down intermittently. Another one who had the mask covering her mouth but not her nose. The gas thing was that when the last one got on and sat beside one of the ones who who was pulling hers up and down intermittently, she stopped pulling it up and down and kept it up. Whereas she hadn't minded pulling it down when there was an older lady seated across from her who was wearing her mask properly!

The latter example is why I would propose specific "no mask" carraiges. I expect that many of the patriotic anti-maskers are only brave when everyone else is doing the work for them.

he already knows the answer, so there is no point in me telling him what he already knows.

and jack, you are really in no position to call anyone's posts nonsense, now, tbh.

I am aware, but our health service was always in that state because of the working conditions here so the buck stops with the government. They drove the potential staff out before the pandemic!

Fair enough. If that is what you saw then that is what you saw. I can only go on what I saw which was a lot of people not wearing them at all or not wearing them properly.

our doing grand (it wasn't grand in reality) before the mask mandate was simply that we were only at the start of the pandemic here.

the mask mandate came in before cases started seriously rising and there is no doubt they have helped minimise virus spread.

cases are rising fast in the UK currently.

But you're ignoring the scientific data that masks reduce spread, not 100% but a significant amount (and depending on the type of mask and how the person wears it).

You're trying to use anecdotes to back up your position.

As a low cost, easy to implement solution, they're fairly effective.

You're asking questions here that have been answered to both you and Fintan over and over on the main thread .

And you wonder why nobody answers you?

Are you actually really denying that masks and social distancing reduce respiratory illnesses ?

Look at the lack of flu last winter if you need any confirmation.

100% agree.

It is absolutely crazy to think there was a time they were enforcing restrictions which kept people to within 2km of their houses, and also visiting a loved one outside to talk to them through a WINDOW was banned, but yet hardly anything about encouraging people to stay healthy or boost immunity!

I remember Varadkar laughing at the idea of Vitamin D and that was well into the pandemic. Not enough research to support the use of vitamin D apparently 🙄

Cases are not "rising fast" in the UK - they're going the opposite way

Looks that way, maybe because of boosters 🤔

Well hope we all get there .in the end .

By excusing their "unacceptable death rate " because people are not complaining , in your circle of friends anyway ,about relaxation of restrictions there ( we all have different experiences , in that I think , possibly due to age , idk?) does that mean that that is what Ireland should aspire to ?

I could not live or work through that . I know nursing colleagues in the UK who have left during this time , broken and completely burnt out .

That does not mean I , or people I work with or socialise with , aren't sick of this and want it to end , asap .

But I recognise that for many who find our restrictions oppressive they too feel that they can't live through much more of this .

Do you think if it was put to a vote, the majority here would be in favour of accepting more deaths , rather than Covid passes and masks and continuing social distancing as is now ?

I don't equate the two . It's your post that is dishonest to claim that.

I am responding to another poster and it is applicable to the point of this thread .

As for " emotive coercion " if I can even understand what you mean when you say this , sounds like more hyperbole .

Those restrictions are all that is essentially left , restriction wise , which as you appear to agree , is not that onerous .

So the question posed by the op was that do people agree with the assertion by Paul about fixing an acceptable death rate figure and dispensing with the present regulations ?

I think we will definitely have immunocompromised people dying at a high rate ( as they are now unfortunately) if the extra doses do not give them adequate protection and this viral transmission continues to circulate at the rate it is without some restrictions .

These are the people presently very ill in ICU ( as well as unvaccinated ) which is why the op was so concerned about that article.

However if cases do fall generally as result of boosters and remaining restrictions we will reach a point where people may have to make such a decision .

My opinion is that that time is not now .

That was my point , no hidden agenda or " emotive coercion '!

There is no way to talk about this issue without an emotive aspect I don't think.

The fact that you think that that is coercive is your problem really .

We had a very relaxed attitude to passes last year because basically they didn't exist.

Compare death figures to this time last year. Yeah.

BTW - if you use a phrase like 'The evidence suggests..." it is often considered polite on the internet to present that actual evidence in your post.