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

I know at least one global corporation with thousands of staff in Ireland, who make everyone who enters their buildings do daily testing, which I assume is happening in many places other places, which is likely making the situation seem far worse than it is, at least in comparison to times when there wasn't as much testing.

I thought there was an overwhelming sense of deja-vu in the air alright, never mind Covid!

We can pick any specific date as you say, and the admissions for the day you picked based on that days admissions to ICU, while being very much an outlier, still show a 4 times greater risk of requiring ICU treatment if unvaccinated.

What are the hospitalised figures for those vaccinated and unvaccinated are you talking about and on what date ?

From next Wednesday there is a two week break, so probably as good as a circuit breaker. You would also expect people to be a bit more cautious over Christmas. All things considered this is fortuitous timing and will certainly help.

Already posted and still available on HSPC for anyone to see. For the month of October 3 times more likely to be hospitalised, 11 times more likely to be admitted to ICU.

Why do people still die even with flu jabs? Why is it that with seatbelts and airbags people still die in car crashes?

Sometimes people die - you cant help that. The most vulnerable people have had a covid vaccine (several at this stage)

They cannot get any more protected, there isnt any more we can do. We do have to accept the fact that some people cannot be saved - people die, they always have, and always will.

Averages such as the month of October? Sufficient to establish a recent trend imo.

Not stroppy just calling out misinformation when it’s peddled - as the old saying goes ‘don’t give it if if you can’t take it’.

Vaccines afford protection against serious illness and death.

You are not 12 times more likely to be hospitalised if you are unvaccinated.

People, the vulnerable, die from flu because they are not fully protected, I think the strongest flu jab we have is the AstraZeneca one which is about 60% effective

Things like a quick antigen test before a night out in the pub will protect the vulnerable, but no this is ireland where we believe it's not as viable as restrictions on our lives haha!

A vaccine will limit the spread in the early months, still about 50% reduction 3 months later. A negative antigen means you're not contagious when you take the test.

So for the vast majority of us who got our second dose over 3 months ago your statement is true

Ideally people should have a negative test and a vaccine so that the few breakthrough cases cause a mild cold

I'm heading to a couple of gigs this weekend. On Saturday night I was supposed to be staying at a hotel with a friend but he has pulled out at the last minute. He's double vaxxed and boosted but doesn't want to take the chance of going to a sold out gig and risk contracting it a few days before Christmas. He has a few vulnerable contacts that he would like to see over Christmas. Fair enough. I'm not vaxxed but recovered. I don't agree with the passes but thankfully they're accepting a negative LFT in the north. That's how it should be done. Driving up and back now.

From those stats it is impossible to work out the likelihood of being hospitalised due being unvaccinated as opposed to being vaccinated for October as they do not give the numbers, just the percentages and the percentages only add up to 65% for both.

What we do know is that from ICU figures for October 1st. it is 15 times more likely to require ICU treatment if you are unvaccinated, so I do not see how any point can be made on hospitalisations not being greatly skewed by those unvaccinated.

A child in my family has been sick with an ear infection since the weekend. She has a history of suffering from these, and has no flu/cold symptoms. She just has a very sore ear and a slight temperature.

Her mam rang the doctor, the doctor wouldn’t even entertain seeing the child without a negative PCR.

Mam assured the clinic that there were no flu symptoms and she just needed an antibiotic for the ear infection but the doctor wouldn’t budge.

The test unsurprisingly came back negative today, but because they wouldn’t let her book an appointment without a negative test, they now can’t fit the child in for an appointment until Tuesday…By which time she might have covid symptoms. So her appointment on Tuesday was only booked under the condition that ANOTHER negative PCR result is obtained before then.

She is now booked for another PCR test tomorrow.

How much are GP’s getting for referrals these days? I don’t think the test numbers would be so high if doctors were refusing to see patients for non respiratory issues without a negative test.

The poor child has missed school all week and is in agony with her ear, but obviously getting the referral fee was more important than seeing a sick child.

This system is farcical.

This must surely be having a knock on effect on A&E departments, parents with sick kids having no other option, even though they only really need to see a GP.