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

Graham

gozunda wrote: »

The system here is a hell of a lot more straightforward imho.

And I reckon it will stay that way when indoor reopens next Month.

+1

and it's looking pretty promising so far

Graham

Graham wrote: »

It's the only thing I can see (currently) that might put a brake on our progress so it's something I'd keep an eye out for.

Delta has fallen.

PTH2009

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Delta has fallen.

Wheres Geard Butler to save the president ?

PTH2009

PTH2009 wrote: »

Wheres Geard Butler to save the president ?

Surely Tony H has the role for this sequel…

niallo27

gozunda wrote: »

I did mention France btw re table limits etc. But you stated re Germany that "only a handful of regions require a test before, of course you know this though."

That doesn't seem to be the case atm. But no a lot of those requirements are also for outdoor dining

Not suggesting "keeping restaurants shut" at all. Most restaurants around I know are open and serving outdoors and / or takeaway. Imho the German system is a nightmare for customers and restaurants owners alike. The system here is a hell of a lot more straightforward imho.

And I reckon it will stay that way when indoor reopens next Month.

I agree with you there in fairness, it does sound like a nightmare although I believe germans are allowed one rapid test a week which might make it a bit easier.

RunningFlyer

I actually cannot fathom what the hell is going on right now.

<60 people in hospital
<20 in ICU

>50% first dose
>31% (most vunerable) FULLY vaccinated

….and we are meant to be grateful for outdoor dining and an absolutely pathetic outdoor music event at the Iveagh Gardens that could have conducted last May!? 2000 in Croke Park at the weekend??

Seriously, the NPHET attitude this week against antigen tests, advising non vaccinated people (who gave up so much to save the vulnerable already) not to travel and the arrogance has gone too far.

Surely - SURELY - government ministers are watching the Euro 2020 and seeing EVERY single stadium with fans. SURELY an alarm bell must be ringing in their heads now thinking what are we doing???

We are absolutely screwed if the direction does not change by the end of this month.

Graham

RunningFlyer wrote: »

Surely - SURELY - government ministers are watching the Euro 2020 and seeing EVERY single stadium with fans. SURELY an alarm bell must be ringing in their heads now thinking what are we doing???

Perhaps they're watching what's happening in the UK and Portugal and thinking it would be a good idea not to follow their path.

RunningFlyer

Graham wrote: »

Perhaps they're watching what's happening in the UK and Portugal and thinking it would be a good idea not to follow their path.

What’s happening there? Are hospitals overwhelmed? Or are cases rising amongst the unvaccinated who were eligible (and thus took the risk not to) and young who in vast majority of cases have mild symptoms?

What’s your suggestion then? Wait until every adult has been fully vaccinated before resuming life?

RunningFlyer

RunningFlyer wrote: »

I actually cannot fathom what the hell is going on right now.

<60 people in hospital
<20 in ICU

>50% first dose
>31% (most vunerable) FULLY vaccinated

….and we are meant to be grateful for outdoor dining and an absolutely pathetic outdoor music event at the Iveagh Gardens that could have conducted last May!? 2000 in Croke Park at the weekend??

Seriously, the NPHET attitude this week against antigen tests, advising non vaccinated people (who gave up so much to save the vulnerable already) not to travel and the arrogance has gone too far.

Surely - SURELY - government ministers are watching the Euro 2020 and seeing EVERY single stadium with fans. SURELY an alarm bell must be ringing in their heads now thinking what are we doing???

We are absolutely screwed if the direction does not change by the end of this month.

That's why you need opposition. In the US Fauci has been relentlessly criticised for months. As have the CDC. In Ireland there has been zero criticism, and NPHET are never challenged. A country with no fourth estate isn't a functioning one. That's why Ireland has had the harshest restrictions in the world. Or close to the harshest. It's ridiculous because about a third of the country is conservative and are voiceless.

niallo27

Graham wrote: »

Perhaps they're watching what's happening in the UK and Portugal and thinking it would be a good idea not to follow their path.

Great let's follow them, they both have indoor dining open. Why not be some bit optimistic, why always pick the worst country. Why not pick Denmark, Why did you choose portugal, we have mandatory quarantine, we didn't allow people travel here on holidays.

RunningFlyer

RunningFlyer wrote: »

I actually cannot fathom what the hell is going on right now.

<60 people in hospital
<20 in ICU

>50% first dose
>31% (most vunerable) FULLY vaccinated

….and we are meant to be grateful for outdoor dining and an absolutely pathetic outdoor music event at the Iveagh Gardens that could have conducted last May!? 2000 in Croke Park at the weekend??

Seriously, the NPHET attitude this week against antigen tests, advising non vaccinated people (who gave up so much to save the vulnerable already) not to travel and the arrogance has gone too far.

Surely - SURELY - government ministers are watching the Euro 2020 and seeing EVERY single stadium with fans. SURELY an alarm bell must be ringing in their heads now thinking what are we doing???

We are absolutely screwed if the direction does not change by the end of this month.

Good stuff. So let us all know what you plan to do about it.

niallo27

Deleted User wrote: »

Good stuff. So let us all know what you plan to do about it.

The poster can do **** all, we are been run by spinless cowards.

Graham

RunningFlyer wrote: »

What’s happening there?

Let's take a look at the timeline for Portugal

12th May - UEFA seek guarantees over fan access to Portugal for Champions League final

27th May - Portugal relaxes Rules for the fans

30th May calls on the PORTUGESE GOVERNMENT TO apologise “to the Portuguese people” for allowing the situation to run so dangerously out of control “in the midst of the fight against the pandemic”.

17th June - Travel in and out of the Lisbon metropolitan area is to be banned over coming weekends as Portuguese authorities respond to a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the region around the capital

RunningFlyer wrote: »

What’s your suggestion then? Wait until every adult has been fully vaccinated before resuming life?

Nope.

A measured reopening with a watch on the Delta variant while more of the population are vaccinated.

It doesn't look like our timetable for relaxing restrictions is under threat. Personally I'd like to keep it that way.

RunningFlyer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Good stuff. So let us all know what you plan to do about it.

I can’t do anything. However, my opionion is with the current stats there’s no reason we should have such harsh restrictions (I do agree with many) and I don’t see the reluctance for antigen testing that every other country are using for the last year!

I’ve contacted my TDs and that’s all I can do but that exactly is my point - there’s no leadership or decision making from government - they’re hiding behind NPHET who are naturally ultra-cautious and completely risk-adverse. There needs to be a balance to ensure economic stability and recovery but at the moment there is no sign of that.

Just look around the world - ignore case numbers for a second and look at the photos of people resuming their lives.

niallo27

Graham wrote: »

Let's take a look at the timeline for Portugal

12th May - UEFA seek guarantees over fan access to Portugal for Champions League final

27th May - Portugal relaxes Rules for the fans

30th May calls on the PORTUGESE GOVERNMENT TO apologise “to the Portuguese people” for allowing the situation to run so dangerously out of control “in the midst of the fight against the pandemic”.

17th June - Travel in and out of the Lisbon metropolitan area is to be banned over coming weekends as Portuguese authorities respond to a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the region around the capital




Nope.

A measured reopening with a watch on the Delta variant while more of the population are vaccinated.

It doesn't look like our timetable for relaxing restrictions is under threat. Personally I'd like to keep it that way.

Yet they can still eat inside. Are you blaming a few thousand fans who flew in and out on the same day for a spike in cases.

niallo27

Graham wrote: »

Let's take a look at the timeline for Portugal

12th May - UEFA seek guarantees over fan access to Portugal for Champions League final

27th May - Portugal relaxes Rules for the fans

30th May calls on the PORTUGESE GOVERNMENT TO apologise “to the Portuguese people” for allowing the situation to run so dangerously out of control “in the midst of the fight against the pandemic”.

17th June - Travel in and out of the Lisbon metropolitan area is to be banned over coming weekends as Portuguese authorities respond to a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the region around the capital




Nope.

A measured reopening with a watch on the Delta variant while more of the population are vaccinated.

It doesn't look like our timetable for relaxing restrictions is under threat. Personally I'd like to keep it that way.

Of course it's not under threat, it's the slowest in Europe sure. How could you possibly delay something thats weeks and months behind other countries.

RunningFlyer

Graham wrote: »

Let's take a look at the timeline for Portugal

12th May - UEFA seek guarantees over fan access to Portugal for Champions League final

27th May - Portugal relaxes Rules for the fans

30th May calls on the PORTUGESE GOVERNMENT TO apologise “to the Portuguese people” for allowing the situation to run so dangerously out of control “in the midst of the fight against the pandemic”.

17th June - Travel in and out of the Lisbon metropolitan area is to be banned over coming weekends as Portuguese authorities respond to a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the region around the capital




Nope.

A measured reopening with a watch on the Delta variant while more of the population are vaccinated.

It doesn't look like our timetable for relaxing restrictions is under threat. Personally I'd like to keep it that way.

The difference though is Portugal have allowed perks for a long time since winter such as outdoor/indoor dining, events, travel etc that we have not had the benefit of.

That’s my gripe. All these other countries have had certain levels of freedom before the Delta variant caused concern whereas we have been in an perpetual lockdown since Xmas with no ambition to actually try anything other than strict lockdown/closures until cases and hospitalisation are low. (eg. Antigen testing)

It’s grim here. But the majority seem happy to go with the status-quo as they are either unaffected or petrified.

Graham

RunningFlyer wrote: »

The difference though is Portugal have allowed perks for a long time since winter such as outdoor/indoor dining, events, travel etc that we have not had the benefit of.

and now Portugal are imposing new restrictions and for what.

RunningFlyer wrote: »

All these other countries have had certain levels of freedom before the Delta variant caused concern

We can't time travel and we can't ignore the Delta variant not with a porous border and case numbers in the UK.

We're a couple of weeks away from the next easing of restrictions and everything indicated they're not under threat. That's a good thing.

RunningFlyer

Graham wrote: »

and now Portugal are imposing new restrictions and for what.

For weeks and weeks of normality or being able to meet with friends outdoors/indoors for coffee/meal/beer or event.

We're a couple of weeks away from the next easing of restrictions and everything indicated they're not under threat. That's a good thing.

Fingers crossed but how many times have the goalposts been shifted? The daggers are already been drawn again for international travel despite being told the EU digital cert will apply from 19th July.

We are completely out of sync with every other EU country and the worst thing is we have an open border with less restrictions so it’s fruitless to keep us closed when the back door is wide open!

gozunda

niallo27 wrote: »

Great let's follow them, they both have indoor dining open. Why not be some bit optimistic, why always pick the worst country. Why not pick Denmark, Why did you choose portugal, we have mandatory quarantine, we didn't allow people travel here on holidays.

Never quite realised the amount of restrictions Denmark had put in place over the last year and a half - up to and including closing its borders to everyone except residents early in 2020

https://travelbans.org/europe/denmark/

Even though they're rolling back some of their restrictions atm - the current restrictions list remains very very thorough.

https://en.coronasmitte.dk/rules-and-regulations/national-measures/events-and-gatherings

Graham

RunningFlyer wrote: »

For weeks and weeks of normality or being able to meet with friends outdoors/indoors for coffee/meal/beer or event.

You can meet with friends for coffee/meals/beer and it's not looking like we'll need to roll back.

RunningFlyer wrote: »

Fingers crossed but how many times have the goalposts been shifted? The daggers are already been drawn again for international travel despite being told the EU digital cert will apply from 19th July.

The only cloud at the moment appears to be the Delta variant and that's not a major issue here.

We've also agreed to implement the green cert/covid passport on Jul 19th (iirc) I've seen nothing to suggest that's under threat.

RunningFlyer wrote: »

We are completely out of sync with every other EU country and the worst thing is we have an open border with less restrictions so it’s fruitless to keep us closed when the back door is wide open!

We do have an open border, I'd imagine it's one of the reasons we have to keep a watch on what's happening the other side of it.

niallo27

gozunda wrote: »

Never quite realised the amount of restrictions Denmark had put in place over the last year and a half - up to and including closing its borders to everyone except residents early in 2020

https://travelbans.org/europe/denmark/

Even though they're rolling back some of their restrictions atm - the current restrictions list remains very very thorough.

https://en.coronasmitte.dk/rules-and-regulations/national-measures/events-and-gatherings

My taking from Denmarks approach they went with strict restrictions and because of these restrictions they are opening up i wouldn't even say early but in line with most other European countries now. We should be in a similar position, we had incredible harsh restrictions and but none of the bonuses now. We should be very similar to Denmark.

scamalert

scamalert wrote: »

Amazing sounds like the type response who would strangle his wife and kids just because she didn't put a fork on a table and use similar version as excuse seeing no wrong, sums up how reality in regards covid is and how gov sees action required. We're going near 6 months with getting all at risk and not vacc, yet somehow gov spouts as we're ****ed worse then year before.

This place has well and truly lost the plot

Graham

Delta variant.

Graham wrote: »

It's the only thing I can see (currently) that might put a brake on our progress so it's something I'd keep an eye out for.

Not sure what "keeping an eye out" achieves (this was said to someone who said they try to avoid following Covid news)

Graham wrote: »

It doesn't look like our timetable for relaxing restrictions is under threat. Personally I'd like to keep it that way.

Hold fast. Stay the course. Double down. You're great. Incredible effort. More required. Not out of the woods yet. Now more than ever.

_Kaiser_

So the IT have a poll out this morning that says just over half agree that the reopening of society and business should proceed as quickly as possible, with almost the same again concerned about that.

Even more disturbing is a question that says two thirds want things like masks in shops to remain even after most are vaccinated. Why??

A virus that the vast majority of people living here are at little to no risk from, with only approx 5k deaths "with" (not necessarily from) covid in a population of 5 million after 15 months, and with those who are actually vulnerable now almost entirely vaccinated, and this poll suggests that significant numbers are still afraid of getting life back to normal.

Of course, you have to also look at the motives behind the poll, the questions asked and the motivation of some of the respondents - eg: other polls suggest 90% want to retain work from home whereas business groups are putting pressure now on Government to get people back into the cities. It's not surprising then that those not keen on that idea would want to delay that happening, so who knows how accurate this poll actually is. On the face of it, it certainly wouldn't seem to reflect life on the ground anyway.

Newstalk were just discussing the pace of reopening as I type this and the presenter made a good point - we've become institutionalised. The constant fear peddling, the selective daily stats designed to maximise the fear (as evidenced by NPHET's "worry meter"), Tony Holohan's iron grip on Government policy etc have clearly caused significant and lasting damage to the national psyche.
On top of that of course is the Irish tendency to defer to authority regardless and the national sport of begrudgery and envying what others are doing or "getting away with" which the Covid responses have absolutely magnified.

However you cut it though, this poll shows a massive division of public opinion, and a fractured society that it seems will be be with us for a long time to come.

zackory

ecoli3136 wrote: »

Hold fast. Stay the course. Double down. You're great. Incredible effort. More required. Not out of the woods yet. Now more than ever.

The next 2 weeks are............ C R U C I A L........

CruelSummer

NPHET coming out suggesting that we discriminate via age on sections of our society.
30’s and under - don't travel and don’t socialise.
After 6 months of lockdown and brighter days ahead - this is what’s thrown in people’s faces.
Why on Earth should younger people at much less risk from the virus not travel under the EU Covid cert scheme, or even socialise here?! Society locked down to protect the vulnerable - now those who are not at risk must continue to live in Covid misery? I don’t think so.
What planet are these people on?

zackory

zackory wrote: »

The next 2 weeks are............ C R U C I A L........

There can still be a meaningful (check calendar and insert something) but we must act now to protect our (something).

Boggles

RunningFlyer wrote: »

It’s grim here.

The only thing that is grim is my Friday hangover.

Drank and dined with about 250 people last.

Not a doom-monger in sight.

Stormyteacup

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This place has well and truly lost the plot

It’s odd that you would pick out one post in a few pages of fairly balanced posts and decide it shows thread has lost the plot.

These days I sometimes have to check whether I’m in relaxations thread or main Covid thread. I reckon the most devoutly in agreement with any and all government/NPHET recommendations are becoming worried by the increasing challenging of the reasons for our slow pace of reopening.