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

We'll probably get a good indication from today's swab numbers whether it's additional capacity or a drop off in tests.

Per Examiner yesterday:

"Mr. Martin said that the government will "certainly not" be considering a change to 8pm curfew for hospitality this week"

It's not that it surprises me. It's the use of "certainly not", like to do so would cause armageddon, even though there hasn't been any evidence that closing a few hours early has led to anything other than packed establishements in the suburbs from 6pm to 8pm.

EDIT:

Also, from Irish Times, referrring to same speech:

"Mr Martin said he was particularly conscious of the impact of the 8pm closure rule for the battered Irish hospitality and entertainment sectors.

"We want to give it another week or two. We have not peaked yet (with the latest Covid-19 wave) and the pandemic has had many twists and turns. But I am confident that if we maintain the same focus we can get through this wave,” he said."

Functionally no change in hospital numbers, down 1 to 1062 😁

Monday can historically be a bit of an "off" day; lower discharges than the rest of the week, higher admissions. Decent discharge number yesterday still though. 7-day admission rate is flat while the discharge rate is climbing fast.

Tonight should see the start of good progress this week.

I'm not sure you understood the graph on either occasion. It's looking at rates per 100,000, so the percentage unvaxxed is irrelevant.

Can you substantiate any of the statements you make in respect of the 40 unvaccinated people with Covid currently in ICU (out of a total cohort of 306,000)?

What we can substantiate is that 80% of folk in ICU with Covid have underlying conditions, and about 50% are not vaxxed which means at least 60% of unvaxxed folk in that group have underlying conditions. Put another way, out of the 40 people there at present, at least 25 likely have underlying conditions. The other 15 we don't know.

Do you have any actual information to supplement these facts?

No.

Be careful lads..

Pat Kenny's wife's friend heard a story from their cousin about someone healthy who died after getting Covid.

3 week lockdown?

Nearly 2k tests available still in Dublin. Surely we’re not seeing that much of a drop in demand?

Great to see considering the massive spikes in cases, just need to ride the wave out.

Interesting to see death rates so low in certain countries compared to others.

Top 10 lowest Covid death rates (per 100,000) in Europe (Dec 28 - Jan 10)

1. Sweden 1.0

2. Iceland 1.2

3. Ireland 1.2

4. Albania 1.6

5. Norway 1.8

6. Malta 2.0

7. Netherlands 2.1

8. Spain 2.1

9. Austria 2.3

10. Portugal 2.4

An interesting site showing what Iceland did on the vaccination front. It's looking more and more likely that AZ stood up very well in preventing serious illness in countries that handed out a lot of it to those most at risk especially the older people.

The WHO have stated today that more than 50% of Europe's population is expected to contract Omicron within the next 6-8 weeks.

If we aren't at the "living with covid" point now, we never will be. Normal closing time!

~21,000 positive swabs on ~40,000. These are the swabs taken on Sunday (9th).

First time since 13th December that the 7-day positivity rate hasn't increased.

Positivity rate tomorrow will tell us where we are.

Hey Goldengirl,

A belated Merry Christmas to you and everyone on the covid forum.

I got covid on Christmas day, then after 12 days of coughing and fatigue I made a full recovery.

No post-viral syndrome symptoms so I am lucky in that regard.

According to Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert from the University of East Anglia, the Covid pandemic will become 'endemic' after Omicron wave subsides in the country, provided no other variants emerge, Daily Mail reported. Yet Hunter noted that Covid would "almost certainly" get weaker every year as people develop natural immunity and eventually become a common cold that kills only the very vulnerable further down the line. "Once we're past this Omicron peak, excluding another unexpected variant that reverses all of our progress, then we'll be close to the point of endemic," he was quoted as saying. Currently, about 130 people are dying from the Covid every day in England at what is believed to be the peak of the the Omicron outbreak, compared to 1,300 last January before vaccines were widely available, the report said.

While infection rates more than quadrupled since September following the emergence of the ultra-transmissible variant, daily deaths have barely changed during the same period. On the other hand, government estimates show there were more than 400 influenza deaths per day at the peak of the last bad flu season in 2017/18, and almost 300 daily fatalities the previous year. Just like this winter, hospitals were forced to cancel routine operations and patients were told to steer clear of A&E units during both of those outbreaks, the report said. The figures showed that the burden of Covid is now comparable to flu, Hunter said. Hunter's comments came as top experts today claimed that the end of the Covid crisis was "in sight" and UK ministers claimed Britain is on a path to "living with" the virus. David Nabarro, from the World Health Organization, said the coronavirus would pose a very difficult situation for the next three months "at least" but insisted "we can see the end in sight". Meanwhile, Professor Graham Medley, No10's chief modeller, warned Covid "can't be an emergency forever" as he said "government decisions" would need to be made about scrapping mass free testing and vaccinations, the report said.

Im no virology expert like most of the people on Twitter, but if a virus mutates to be less severe, can it go back to being more severe?

Like if we have Omnicron now, could it mutate to back being as severe as Delta? Or is it a sliding scale down?