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

It's been said before. Pompidou apparently said it more than once and there was a typical Gallic shrug to it. If it posed any risk to his reelection he'd hold his tongue. It is a fairly absurd situation that countries are pushing so hard on vaccination and boosters because of a reduction of efficacy in the vaccines they are trying to make people take again! Bring on the antivirals!

I got into a Back and forth yesterday over a Tennis Player getting special treatment to compete in the Australian Open, my stance was entirely based on the wink and nod treatment he got, the Shenanigans around letting him circumvent rules and NOT as some tried to twist, his vacination status.

I've long been appalled at the shocking treatment of those unvaccinated and indeed the continuing blame game that's apportioned to them. I've long stated there are large numbers who can not be vaccinated. I've not denied there is a high percentage of those hospitalised unvaccinated but instead of trying to understand why, they are treated like Paraiahs, almost sub human, its frankly disgusting.

This latest Surge was not caused by the unvaccinated and its perhaps Ironic, the likes of Macron and other leaders making all sorts of treats when they refuse to support Vacination of poorer countries, where infact its likely Variants will develop.

It's abundantly clear our own vaccination levels extraordinaryly high with a Tiny percentage of unvaccinated remaining and yet we seem no nearer to a way forward than we were a year ago.

This Pandemic has been a Blame game from start to finish, anything to deflect from quite astonishing miss management by numerous governments world wide.

In essence we're going around in circles.

Ciara Kelly had a good rant there a few minutes ago on Newstalk asking if we shouldn't be considering less restrictions at this stage given ICU numbers are stable and predominantly Delta whereas we've seen since December that Omicron is milder and not resulting in a surge in ICU admissions.

Shane of course taking the contrarian position of waiting a few more weeks to see if that continues to be the case.

I know it's a staged argument to drive texts to the station at 30c a pop, but his position is exactly the same hyper-cautious nonsense that will have this dragging on for months yet.

Those two weeks to flatten the curve really feel like they're dragging at this point.

They're reading texts out now and it's clear that there's far too many people that have been conditioned to this "2 more weeks" mantra, parroting back exactly the same lines we've heard from NPHET previously.

The damage to mental health and the loss of the ability to independently assess a situation based on empirical evidence and multiple sources/opinions is very clear in people like the above examples and far more serious and potentially damaging than the sniffles caused by Omicron.

These same people will cheerlead or just stand by as our liberties become increasingly conditional on going along with whatever a group of politicians (who for years and decades in this country have ranged from parochial incompetents to outright corrupt) decides based on what they themselves have been told by their "betters" (the EU/NPHET) as well.

It's genuinely a worrying time for our supposedly democratic and liberal country.

There are few of those leaders with the nasty little dictator streak running through them but then again what this pandemic has shown is just how much of a nasty streak there is folks and how willing they are to step on other folks just because those folks are questioning things or not just going with the flow. It also shows how 2 faced a lot of people are, most of those who are kicking or feeling superior to anyone who is not vaccinated are probably the same people who were out chanting "my body my choice" a couple of years ago or were lecturing people on how everyone needs to treated the same but now they have no problem ostracising unvaccinated and some on here seem to take great pleasure in doing it.

Good riddance.

Ah now, the evidence has always been published and clear, the unvaccinated have been taking up a disproportionate amount of the health system, typically 50% (Italy is currently running at 66% ICU and 50% general hospitalisation, Ireland about 33% on the last figures). The reason we have restrictions is to keep the health system functioning (and yes, it has issues every year, but COVID is extra pressure on top of that and it's happening in countries with much more health capacity than Ireland has). Having the passes in place allows us to have less restrictions at the cost that some people are still more restricted (by choice at this stage). They work by keeping those most likely to take up a hospital place away from some of the locations with a high chance of transmission.

And this isn't news, it was discussed on the very long COVID passport thread that was active on here over a year ago, so there's nothing unsurprising happening or goalpost moving other than the pandemic lasting longer than everybody wants it to, which means measures which everybody wanted to drop by now are being maintained (and comments by Macron feeds into the victim complex that a lot of people have even if it doesn't apply to Ireland).

Let's be clear, the pandemic is costing a lot, economically Ireland is in a good place, but many countries aren't, one of the big factors drawing everything out is lack of vaccination causing health systems to be under pressure, remove that issue by getting a high % vaccinated and countries can start getting back to normal.

But comments like this are ridiculous, science supports them, you may not like them, or the science (and personally, I think we'll see them dropped internally by Summer, I thought they'd have been long gone by now, but waning transmission effectiveness put an end to that), but the scientific evidence has always been clear for their use:

The only thing that can be argued is whether unvaccinated is the right pivot to use (age and underlying condition could also be used), but the 8:1 hospitalisation rate (the number can very from as low as 4 to as high as 20) shows the unvaccinated group is higher risk and people have a choice not to be part of it.

When the pandemic is over, they'll be gone, but if a variant as virulent as Omicron and lethal as Delta appears, expect new vaccines, new mandates and everything being dragged on longer, I don't think this will happen, but it's not an impossibility (and I don't believe there is a secret cabal planning it...).

Conspiracy theorists have a poor record at getting things right, but they throw so much mud that some sticks, but even what does come to pass has never been explained by their theory.

I think we should be dropping everything at the end of Jan if numbers remain as they are, there's no advantage to them other than being extra cautious (this includes the WFH recommendations).

I do understand that nothing can be dropped for at least a couple of weeks after the schools reopen and the day to day normalises after Christmas.

Everything? Mandatory masks, covid certs, the lot?

While I agree with you I don’t for a millisecond see that happening.

Masks and a certain level of social distancing will stay (they'll be last to go after the passes), the rest will depend on the hospitalisation rates in January, if pressure starts easing and with COVID in hospitals drops, they need to get rid of the 8PM limit, allow nightclubs to open fully (past midnight..) and remove the WFH recommendations.

I agree, it's unlikely that NPHET will agree, but if the trajectory on the numbers stays the same, then even their most pessimistic model will reflect that and means they'll have to put a near term timeline on getting everything back to normal again.

They may also start rolling back on where the pass is needed (e.g not needed for gyms, cinemas etc. but still needed for restaurants, pubs and nightclubs).