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

Probably the best "Covid is Yesterday" piece comes from Gergal Bowers in todays Irish Indo. It's a well crafted piece,in which you can sense almost a great sigh of.........well,not quite relief...but rather a sad prolonged au revoir to an old accquaintance...One can feel his reluctance to part company with the mask,representing,as it does the badge of compliance,decency & concern.

It is almost as if Fergal sees the return of ordinary Life as something to be suspicious of.....🤔

Sadly,Fergal writes for so many people in Ireland & elsewhere,who have become comfortable with a Soviet style governance.

Fergal,being foremost a wordsmith,slips the shiv silently into Irelands corpus.....

Did Fergal ask these anxious people,if not at this point....then when ? ...at what point will their anxiousness become liveable with ? will their Covid bug EVER be at a level commensurate with normal human co-existance ?

That is a question,which needs to be increasingly asked as the 28th Feburary 2022 draws inwards upon us all.....

Let it,and your communicants,go Fergal...they will soon be restored to the true levels of Faith in Humanity they deserve,and in time,will slip the piece of cotton & elastic or the box/s of medical grade covers into a bottom drawer someplace.

The real,concrete and obvious threat to Human health and wellbeing is currently growing bolder by the day,and none of our Masks,Vaccines or Lockdowns matters a whit to it.

Fergal,if you want another end-of-days scenario to start documenting in a new diary then simply pull the curtains and look to the East !! 😲

It's finally here!

Just stuck on the headlines and while the situation in Ukraine rightly dominates the news, there was that much awaited mention that masks are no longer mandatory from today.

It's finally over - domestically anyway!

Hopefully the EU likewise realises there's far more important things to worry about now than Covid passports and masks on flights.

I don't even care that it's Monday! 😊

That's what I thought as well but according to the headlines it's effective from this morning.

One of my team just called me to let me know he'll be late as he's on a train that's delayed due to "operational difficulties", but he says most are still wearing masks this morning. I think it'll take day or two for it to sink in for most.

He also mentioned that PCR tests aren't free anymore and cost up to 90 quid now? I think that'll accelerate the end as well as we won't be seeing big case numbers if people have to shell out that sort of cash.

I have no idea what happened to IR during covid but it's worse now than ever.

Every single occasion over the last few months that I've had reason to take the dart or commuter service, it's been delayed and significantly so.

Really is hard to fathom how public transport in Ireland isn't a real electoral issue

PCR tests are still free, they've just changed the criteria to get one.

If someone wants a private test which they've been able to get throughout then it varies from 60-90 quid depending where you go.

Ah OK, ta!.. is that the thing about free testing now being limited to over 50s or did I imagine hearing that somewhere?

Thanks for that. Seems about right and makes sense given where we are now IMO.

Ah it wouldn't be a weekday without Pat Kenny's regular worry/hand-wringing (washing) slot.

He did devote the first half hour to Ukraine, but then it was over to a School Principal who is maintaining some of the measures around primarily hand washing as far as I could tell. Pat seemed a bit deflated that there wasn't a push on masks in the school. Seems to be left up to people to decide themselves (as it should be)

As the masks get discarded into the bin and pretty much the final restrictions have eased from today, I wish to bow out of following and posting the odd time on this thread.

Thank you for your company over the last few years. Many will not have agreed with my view that from May last year that we should have been in the same place as we are now today with the responsibility passed onto individuals and not dictated to by the State. That certs and passes were a huge over reach etc. but nevertheless here we are at last today.

I am glad to see, to my surprise, that Ireland is in the leading pack to officially ease all the restrictions in Europe. Enjoy life, enjoy people, enjoy the smiles and enjoy the beautiful country that we have.

Slán

It was so good to get on the bus this morning and not have to wear a mask! First time in 2 years. Then to walk into work and actually see my colleagues faces, 2 who only started in December and honestly hadn't seen them without a mask! Its a good day...thank feck, goodbye masks

He has his regular anti-cycling stuff to fall back on in an emergency.

You cant get herd immunity though, The virus is similar to the flu, there is no herd immunity.

People have picked up covid twice in the last 6 weeks