"Nobody cares about Covid anymore"

I would agree to a point. This is why M. Martin does not want a review as he is `afraid everyone will be looking over their shoulder`.

I am wary of Covid tbh and I believe everyone acted in good faith but some did lose the run of themselves completely (on all sides) and the response became too political at times and became an ar*e covering exercise more times from one side or another.

This is why I believe it is critical we have a review. Fundamental to a good review, for me, has to be a review of the good, the bad and the ugly in all of this and fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your point of view) must include criticism too as there has been too much of a one sided narrative in all of this. I am not looking for anybody`s head in this either. I want us to be ready and be in as best as possible of a position as we can possibly be for the next one. There were some good things accomplished out of this and it is important that both good and bad are acknowledged.

There was some desperate nonsense too and not just in Ireland. Like I said I believe it got too political and the very one sided narrative in media really annoyed me and I believe a one sided narrative always leads to conspiracy theory's! At the very least have an open debate among experts and question figures/beliefs and debunk any nonsense from both sides.

Such a review needs to include:

• HSE Response including major reform or disbandment of HSE (not just because of Covid) as we have brilliant front line staff but they are leaving due to poor conditions, management is poor and getting worse every year Covid or no Covid! Its frustrates me to think over 2 years we were subjected to HSE management continuously on media and the airwaves despite their abject failure in managing the health service yet they were managing our lives!
• Nursing homes and why patients were transferred there and how to protect them in future. I know it happened worldwide but we still need to know the basis for the decisions at the time and plan for the future to mitigate against a repeat. I know that it didn`t happen after but it still needs to be investigated.
• Means used to determine the relaxation/increasing of restrictions/lockdowns? How were these determined, what data was used, what was the evidence provided for this data? The mixed messaging at times.
• Travel restrictions, both internal and external, how they were decided. basis for decisions.
• School closures, building site closures when and if they should have been closed.
• Data and Figures used by Government/NPHET in arriving at their decisions.
• The use of testing including why the reticence in using Antigen testing for so long.
• Media behaviour throughout, rehashed multiple times throughout these threads.
• Why was there no proper adult mature reflection or debate about Irelands response be it good, bad or indifferent?
• Why was our response so tunnel visioned at the expense of everything else including health (screening etc), did it have to be and alternative approaches that could be used.
• Vaccination and vaccine passports. What went well and what didn`t.
• What the government spent on supports, PPE etc. as part of the Covid response.
• The laws enacted during Covid and proper scrutiny of same for potential civil rights infringements as highlighted by Catherine Connolly during the pandemic.

Like I said I don`t want heads to roll however mechanisms must be put in place so that at least proper balance can be maintained and we can have a better, successful and more balanced response and none of the nonsense. It is a once in a lifetime event so that is an ideal opportunity to review and learn from it with todays tools.

Anyhow I hope you and yours have have a great Christmas/Holiday.

No. Nobody really cares. Good to see that Dublin airport is very busy and is comparable to pre pandemic numbers this Christmas . Family and friends all being reunited for Christmas. I’m actually flying out myself on Stephens day.

Of course if i was sick i would keep my distance from people and stay home. I have no problem with that but as long as i feel ok life will be normal.

You can see from the graphs here that ages 0-14 have had quite a significant amount of excess deaths this year in europe, and ages 15-44 have been raised for most of the year. Light blue is 2022

The mean age of those that died from or with COVID, whatever they're saying, is the mean age for dying in Ireland in general. This means that it is more likely that the vast majority of those that died from or with COVID simply died of old age.

I genuinely can't tell the trolls from the lunatics any more, but this is just all kinds of wrong.

Leaving aside the absolute misrepresentation of statistics, is there any more terrifing sentiment that better reflects the rancid core of a person than "they're only old people, so f**k them"?

The flu is not nearly as contagious as Covid, there have been vaccines for years and everyone has had natural exposure to it. It's a totally different beast to Covid in 2020 and early 2021

But being guided by emotion is exactly what you're doing.

You are ignoring all the science and twisting the stats to say things they do not, because you are bitter and angry.

'Life won't be normal again' - wife of Long Covid patient” a big article about it on their RTE news app

And why not?

You've lads on here saying all Covid did was speed up a few old people in shuffling off a few months early.

That poor bastard was young and healthy, and thanks to Covid he'll be on a ventilator the rest of his life.

Tell his wife that Covid only affects old people.

Can't really argue sure it's just old people and people who will die any way. Then go on about people dying alone , oh the humanity in the same breath.