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

shoes43

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118488752#Comment_118488752

My employer has advised me that come February I will be down to a 1 day working week as the EWSS will be reduced to €203 and I can claim the days I don't work on Jobseekers. I would much prefer if everything opened up as the sooner it does hopefully the sooner I can get back to working a 5 day week. Getting totally fed up with this keeping society closed and telling businesses what time they have to close a

Quags

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489376#Comment_118489376

Nail on the head here, as I have said before. People wont give a fcuk about others losing work, suffering until it starts to affect them personally, Kind of like when people were agreeing with the mandatory vaccine story cause they already had the vaccine but not knowing if that law was ever brought in then any vaccine could have pumped into them or their kids

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489862#Comment_118489862

You'll probably have some middle aged lad who works from home telling you that there are barely any restrictions and some anal, pettiness about saying society is closed.

noraos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489614#Comment_118489614

This would be the dream, and not just for us, but for the entire world.

bloopy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489903#Comment_118489903

There is a certain vindictiveness or vengeance thing going on with the ones still pushing for mandatory vaccination or the continuation of the certs. Just look at the lunatics over on journal.ie

Most people, as you say, don't care as long as they still get to go to the pub.

These nasty little rules will hang around longer than they need to through apathy on the one hand and bitterness on the other.

ShadowTech

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489376#Comment_118489376

I had this same experience with a friend of nearly two decades. He’s comfortable working from home along with his wife and kids. He’s said he’s fine with the restrictions as long as they don’t interfere with his life and at the moment they aren’t. He has a vague, abstract concern for all the people who’ve lost their livelihoods and/or whose quality of life has been greatly diminished but it’s the same kind of concern one has when reading about a natural disaster on the other side of the world. “Oh, isn’t that awful!… I wonder who won the football.”

Quags

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489997#Comment_118489997

Its mind boggling how we have actually got here, how the country have being divided by the Gov/MSM and the affect of this deadly virus. I feel personally some members of the public who are vaccinated and maybe boosted got the vaccine cause the word was "get vaccinated & this is over" but cant let down appearances now so got boosted to keep in line per say. All we can hope for is some sort of closure this year for the majority of the world and keep the boosters, anti viral drugs and whatever else they for those most at risk

noraos

France are tightening their restrictions in relation to the passes..

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/france-tightens-covid-19-measures-for-everyone-including-tourists/

Austria want to set themselves us with a higher vaccination rate for autumn of next year for new variants..

https://www.euronews.com/2022/01/16/austrian-government-presents-mandatory-vaccination-law-coming-in-next-month

''“All experts believe that we will need high overall immunity in the population next fall as well,” Mueckstein said.''

Yeah, restrictions arent going anywhere if this current thinking on the mainland.. I really hope MM and co, look to the UK and not the EU.. 🤞

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490046#Comment_118490046

The Irish government will look to follow whoever is the most strict in terms of restrictions.

Its not about evidence, or favouring one country over another, just about being cowardly and trying to justify it.

brickster69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490046#Comment_118490046

You can add Greece to the list as of today also. They have all lost the plot totally now, total loons !

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/01/17/europe-kicks-off-some-of-the-worlds-most-sweeping-vaccine-mandates-and-fines/?sh=74ede7b9547e

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489922#Comment_118489922

I work from home, my pay is guaranteed and I'm 100% against the restrictions and have been long before the majority were.

It doesn't have to be a case of self preservation, some of us can see what does and doesn't make sense.

Floppybits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490046#Comment_118490046

Not a chance on this good green earth that the government will look to the UK and follow their lead and mainly it will be because Boris is such a buffoon, no way could they be seen following a buffoon like him. No they will do what they always do and probably go into competition with other EU countries so that they can be the best in class.

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490057#Comment_118490057

The UK are the model they will look at here especially as it appears we've passed the peak and our cases look to be taking a tumble. There may be something to be said for being so close to them and importing all that Omicron! It's hard to say how those currently enforcing vaccinations will deal with the summer tourist season. Right now other countries are looking like a much better place to book.

setanta1984

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490474#Comment_118490474

Why would you think they will look at the UK? They had the perfect opportunity to do that last summer when the UK removed everything fully, while we went the complete opposite direction and imposed certs to eat indoors, on top of everything else. All previous evidence does not align us with the UK.

Those news stories about what is happening in France, Austria, Italy etc. are the most depressing point of the whole last 2 years. If Europe goes any further down this route, despite all the evidence around the current variant, it will take years and years if not decades to get out of the hole of mandates, passes and discrimination. It's already crossed the rubicon imo. It's so depressing to think we are part of a union with countries who can go down these paths and what that could mean for us.

walus

Right now probability of dying from Omicron is 50 times lower than dying from flu. There are no medical reasons fir anybody who is not vaccinated to go and get the jab, especially kids. There is also no medical reasons for which all of current restrictions should continue on. Not to mention fabulous ideas for mandatory vaccinations.

The reason why people are still getting vaccinated and why restrictions will continue to be in place is political and commercial. As the saying goes “never waste a good crisis” and so what we are experiencing is not going to end anytime soon. If this was all for medical and health reasons we would be opening up tomorrow.

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490543#Comment_118490543

Last summer it was agreed we would wait until we'd finished vaccinations and we did start until Delta put a stop to it. In terms of culture and social life they are the best example to look at and we have been sort of tracking them for months. As for the EU, well we are still ahead of almost all of them on vaccination without the need to threaten people, domestic COVID passes notwithstanding. TBH I don't know where the likes of France and Austria ends up. It may remain permanently or it could all just go away overnight. That said one can understand their concern at present with huge cases numbers however brutally they are approaching it.

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490616#Comment_118490616

The French election might change things too!

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490694#Comment_118490694

Unfortunately it doesn't look like it. The challengers are all over the place and squabbling amongst themselves. Polls show him beating any of them.

setanta1984

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490616#Comment_118490616

Cultural closeness won't come into it, these are political decisions and there is zero chance of our lot being seen to side with the UK, who regardless of evidence will always be branded a pariah. Our lot will never want to be aligned with that.

They have no problem with making Ireland an outlier when it is deemed to be on the "righteous" side. Most restricted - look at us being so tough and brave and correct. Most open - which we would be if we did what we should at the end of this month (which is remove everything, including masks and certs) - no way, couldn't be seen to be so out of lock step with the rest of the EU. We will never want to an outlier on the other side.

They take their cue from those we are in a union with. For now at least there doesn't seem to be imminent EU level diktats to members - the ultimate worry is that this is happening behind the scenes and only a matter of time for it to emerge fully. This is now what I am most worried about, and pray it won't happen.

can't emphasise enough how much I hope I am wrong.

brickster69

Talking of France, the new laws passed last night after a bit of chaos in parliament over the last 2 weeks due to 600 new ammendment being added.

Like i mentioned a while ago from the 15th of February a booster will be required 4 months and not seven months from the second dose or the Covid pass will expire.

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20220117-health-pass-becomes-vaccine-pass-details-of-france-s-tough-new-anti-pandemic-bill?ref=tw

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490725#Comment_118490725

The UK do the same things as us, pubs, social activities etc. and are a few weeks ahead so they are a useful indicator of the progress of Omicron, far more than the surging cases elsewhere in the EU. The only things we have really copied from the EU are the certs and our fairly daft curfew idea. Our cases are on the way down, quite quickly perhaps so that plays into tracking the UK more. Hospitals have peaked at 1,000 so the health system is saved for another winter!

zom

"booster will be required 4 months and not seven months from the second dose or the Covid pass will expire."

Teach your children Chinese and biotechnology people!

Father Hernandez

Does anyone have any information on how the latest Omicron forecast modelling scenarios in December by Philip Nolan has played out versus actual real life data?

Surely if we know how Omicron has played out (in terms of cases being massively high but the actual effect on people has been just a really sore throat for the vast majority), is there any scenarios being created to show how this relatively positive news can play out on our hospitals and population and get us back to pre pandemic normality? Or is that too optimistic or positive?

Again, surely if we know the effects are minimal to the vast majority of the population, why is there little to no 'real' noise about opening up society properly and simply getting on with it?

Fatigue?

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490727#Comment_118490727

You're back?

Richard Hillman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490757#Comment_118490757

Absolutely bonkers. Macron is trenching down for the long term with this nonsense. Vaccine passports are not going anywhere for at least a few years.

Good luck with their tourism industry, especially from the UK and US who will be moving on from it. Not getting a booster every 4 months.

This is why he will be pushing the EU to standardise this around the states. He won't want any outliers. Tourism is one of their biggest industries and there are a lot of people around the world that have been itching to go on holiday.

is_that_so

Speaking of the French, here's a paper from Nature from last week on the effectiveness of the measure and the usefulness of the restrictions associated with it. Unlike a lot of COVID papers this is a straightforward read.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01661-7

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118490860#Comment_118490860

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXeeY9D9u94

darconio

Some french restaurants changed their status into private club: you can obtain a free membership card on the spot and in this way they are not obliged to enforce the covid cert to their customer. Not sure what's the Irish regulation for what regards private clubs, could this be done over here?

PTH2009

https://twitter.com/MichealLehane/status/1483123631328796680?s=20

I'm guessing Covid will still come out after 12

FFS going back into these phases and will no doubt be dragged out till maybe after Paddy's Day. No doubt 100% attendance's for indoor and outdoor are still not been considered and for what scientific reason might that be ??

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118491032#Comment_118491032

There are casinos which open til 4am in the middle of Dublin right now.

Many casinos in this country are private clubs, and were open even while 'casinos' officially had the same status as nightclubs (Level 1?)

I could see private cinema clubs becoming a thing here if certs aren't got rid of.