Are we doing a good job?

positivenote

Listening to recent figures re: Deaths/Cases. But with 60% of cases in residential homes, 27% are health care workers. Does that mean if the govt gave a crap about the elderly and vulnerable we’d actually be doing okay? If the HSE had listened to advice and the cases for those in residential homes mirrored the cases among the general public the curve would be exponentially lower than it currently is.

Or have I got all this wrong?

Downlinz

I think we're somewhere in the middle in an international sense. We reacted a bit slowly, mismanaged care homes and tested far too slowly at a critical time but kept a consistent message and generally provided accurate and transparent data.

Germany, South Korea and Iceland were some countries that did much better than us in containing through heavy testing at an early stage while New Zealand showed how early preventative action can prevent a large spread entirely.

But on the positive side side we don't have a lunatic in charge promoting herd immunity, claiming it as a hoax, a flu or advocating cures such as sauna's and vodka so avoided the very worst outcomes.

ednwireland

i think the problem was the were pictures of new hospitals been built in wuhan, overloaded icu in italy, which panicked the government into diverting all resources into trying to prepare the hospitals. that didnt happen (so good job there) unfortunately they diverted PPE away form nursing homes to do that.
so nursing homes were just left hence the problems there, although its still 30% of homes.

Nursing homes have been hard hit in most countries. Stands to reason that they would be... since proper lockdown or quarantines weren't implemented early, and the elderly are the most vulnerable.

While I have extremely little respect for Irish political parties, I don't think its a case of them not caring. It's just the way things are.

BMurr

There's lessons to be learned as to how some nursing homes managed to keep Covid19 out thus far.

flazio

If I had to rate the effort of the country and the caretaker establishment, I'd give Ireland an 8.5 out of 10.
We've done really well so far overall. Not perfect but I bet even Germany and others made small mistakes somewhere along the way.

flazio

flazio wrote: »

If I had to rate the effort of the country and the caretaker establishment, I'd give Ireland an 8.5 out of 10.
We've done really well so far overall. Not perfect but I bet even Germany and others made small mistakes somewhere along the way.

Well, if we're handing out scores, I'd go with a 6.

There was plenty of time to implement better controls even before Italy exploded. The signs were all there about the seriousness of covid, and Ireland has a sizable Chinese community, with students factored in. The information about the risks was available to the government but they delayed implementing controls for fear of offending people. Irish people should have been prevented from going to Cheltnam or the large groups of Italians coming into Ireland... That alone makes them lose a few points in my eyes.

The lateness in slowing down or shutting down countrywide traffic is another issue I have. They could have done so much to limit the spread, but they, once again, delayed.

Not the worst reaction, but they could have responded so much quicker.

hmmm

positivenote wrote: »

Does that mean if the govt gave a crap about the elderly and vulnerable we’d actually be doing okay?

Why kind of statement is that? Of course the government cares about the elderly and vulnerable, we all do, why do you think we're all locked in our houses for weeks on end?

hmmm

ednwireland wrote: »

i think the problem was the were pictures of new hospitals been built in wuhan, overloaded icu in italy, which panicked the government into diverting all resources into trying to prepare the hospitals. that didnt happen (so good job there) unfortunately they diverted PPE away form nursing homes to do that.
so nursing homes were just left hence the problems there, although its still 30% of homes.

There was never going to be enough PPE for nursing homes, there is a global shortage and it was all sent to the hospitals. We don't have enough PPE for our hospitals yet, and are not likely to have enough PPE anytime in the near future to equip all staff in every nursing home.

When I look at the way the country has worked hard to practice social distancing, the Guards haven't been heavy handed, quick decisions were made by the government, our hospitals have retrained staff and created lots more beds, we got an early PPE order in, we have massively ramped up testing - yes we've done a great job.

Where we've failed is the usual Irish thing of being great at responding to an incident, but not great at preparing for it. Once this is over we'll go back to day to day politics, and we've very few politicians who get rewarded for putting plans in place for the future - that's the fault of us all.

Atlantic Dawn

I think it's important we follow Italy, Spain and Germany in their exit approach, they have about 2 weeks ahead of us so we have ample time to study their mistakes before implementing their solutions. No point in us going on our own and keeping this lockdown for 4 or 5 years until not a single person dies from it per week.

BMurr

Indeed Cheltenham and the Italian soccer fans were two opportunities missed. Government has been very diligent once they got off the starting blocks. I think as a nation we are sticking to the regulations but that a certain cohort have ignored some of the regulations and this makes the task of enduring restrictions more difficult for those who comply. Stiffer penalties such as fines need to be put in place to discourage those who seek to break the rules, especially those who have hastened the spread across the country and in to remote areas by travelling to holiday homes or driving the length of the country on non-essential journeys. The stiffer penalties will take a bit of bravery from the politicians who should stand together as a group in dealing with this and not give in to the temptation to play political football with that.