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

I've never seen this thread so quiet!

Here's a fairly comprehensive study pre-vaccine rollout on the effectiveness of masks at reducing R (there's lots of others):

Now, you're question of whether they're worth the cost is interesting, we've seen the countries with lower infection rates and death rates generally have fared better economically than those that didn't, Ireland had some of the harshest lockdowns yet our economy is in rude health compared to others.

Now, the starting point of this is that the lockdowns and restrictions were an effective way for countries to manage themselves through a pandemic and will be likely to repeat such actions were another pandemic to occur (though favouring restrictions due to medical advances).

If you oppose any and all restrictions, then none of this will make a difference to your thought except the knowledge that pretty much every functioning country on both sides of the political spectrum followed these measures including the mask wearing. Medical studies support the actions, science support the actions, it doesn't leave a very credible place to go to claim otherwise (but lots of shouting and fist slamming).

And on the rubbish aspect, are face masks, increasing in any meaningful way the amount of waste produced by a person? Probably not, you'd need to be throwing away a lot of masks to have any substantial effect either in weight or in volume. Are they more visible? Yes, because of where people discard of them, the type who will leave a mask on the street will likely be throwing other rubbish on the street as well.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/long-covid-a-lot-of-people-are-suffering-in-silence-unable-to-return-to-full-capacity-1.4799748

Physios making a landgrab for "long Covid", the orthodontists must be kicking themselves for not getting in there faster ;-) 

Of course, there was never any "THINK OF THE CHILDREN" from the open-up crowd during any of this, oh no...

Does anyone know what the story is with bringing kids to the test centers, both me and my daughter tested positive on antigens yesterday, she has no symptoms, I have very mild ones, I'm over 40 so gonna get a PCR, it's just me and her isolating together, no one else in the house so I will have to bring her to the test center, I'm presuming there's no issue with that.

If it's a drive through you'll have no problem. If it's a walk in centre, she'll probably have to wait in the car.

Judging by how quiet they are at the moment, you'll probably be in and out in 5-10 minutes.

Bring her with you . Explain she cant be left alone

i have seen people with buggies in the queue

Last time I was in Citywest (which was last year to be fair), they had a drive-through that they were using for people with children and limited mobility. As above, let us know what part of the country you're in and someone with local knowledge might know where has a drive-through.

I'm in dublin, so can go anywhere in Dublin, had a look at the hse sight were you book tests, doesnt say which ones are drive through or not, Citywest doesn't seem to be in use anymore either

Why now?

https://epi-covid-19-hpscireland.hub.arcgis.com/

The test center in Ballycoolin was really really quiet when both myself and boss went on separate occasions this week. Can't see how this will stay open.

The teachers unions are letting their members down yet again trying to pressure NPHET over masks.

In my older one's class, half of the kids are just not bothering any more and the teachers don't care.

She told us she "forgot" to put her mask on for the whole day in school yesterday. Clearly nobody said a thing to her.

I'd say the teachers' unions are way out of step on this one. More than half of teachers have probably had covid at this stage anyway, they don't care anymore.

They'll likely replace it all with public health advice, but I think it would be important to put protections in place for people who wish to continue to wear masks.

That is, to make it unlawful for an employer to refuse to allow a mask to be worn unless there's an obvious safety issue, and to make it illegal to refuse access to a shop/pub/etc if someone is wearing a mask. Niche concerns, but there are enough weirdos out there taking umbrage at people wearing masks. People should be permitted to continue wearing masks if they feel it is necessary for their own or others' protection.

Just incase my work were to ask for proof, I don't think they would but best to have it on the off chance they do, otherwise I wouldn't bother