Five years on, what did COVID teach you?

Heroditas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123894999#Comment_123894999

Pretty much sums up my view. Just prior to COVID, I'd be dragging the kids out of bed at 7, leaving the house at 7.30 to drive the kids to crèche where they would then be driven back in the opposite direction to school by the crèche an hour later and I'd already be in the office staring out the window. They'd be in after-school care/crèche until nearly 6pm every day, I'd collect them, we'd have dinner and they'd be heading to bed. F**k that!! Instead we were able to walk them to and from school every day and spend proper quality time watching them grow up. I'll treasure those last few years.

Now the older one is in secondary school and the younger one is in 5th class. I work 3 days a week in the office and my wife works 2 days and our days don't overlap. The kids have one of us at home every day which is pretty cool.

GHendrix

It thought me how quickly the world can become hysterical. I mean, I literally wasn’t allowed into the hospital when my wife went into labour. Then when she advanced a bit it was suddenly fine to go in.

I remember having to show papers to get a cup of tea in Costa and world leaders discussing mandatory vaccination. Crazy times. And no calm heads.

But I think they lost the room when they started to admit that over half of the people in hospital with Covid weren’t in hospital because of Covid

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123897045#Comment_123897045

Well thank goodness that it never stopped you telling us what was good for us. 👍️

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123896057#Comment_123896057

diseasel drivers, I've never seen so many dopes sitting there with the engine running scrolling through their phone, do they not realise this is costing them money?

Baseball72

Working from home, in my case, has allowed me to continue on working in my job.

If I had to go to the office 5 days a week, I most likely would have called it a day. Now, i might go the office 5 days a week, if I felt the need to (covering for colleagues due to holidays, or on-boarding a new client with colleagues etc). Other weeks, I am either working from home the 5 days, or out with clients one or two days, and then at home following up on reports etc. I can choose (although my boss is not mad about it but I told him, in a nice way. to Foxtrot Oscar about having to be in the office 5 days a week).

I'm 71 and plan to continue, health permitting (which thankfully is good), and if I still find joy in what I do, until 75.

I discovered, too late, that my late sister, isolated through fear, and neglected medical check-ups - at a crucial time. It brings tears to my eyes at times, as I feel we were all robbed of more time together, her especially.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123897456#Comment_123897456

What life-changing activity did you take up and maintain during the pandemic?

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898451#Comment_123898451

This is bollox, yes the vaccine can (rarely) cause carditis, but Covid itself causes it more frequently and worse.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898544#Comment_123898544

A snow day means not having to work because work can only happen in the office and you can't / are not expected to travel in the snow. Red weather warnings, too.

With remote working, it's just another day provided your power and internet stay on.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123896259#Comment_123896259

I was in hospital for a week last week and I would echo that sentiment. Funnily enough I was in University Hospital Limerick which gets a bad rep in the media but I found it to be light years ahead of UCHG which unfortunately I also have experience of. It was clean, there were cleaners going around constantly. The person in the bed next to me left and his bed was stripped and remade literally minutes later. Without staff like that a hospital would be in chaos in about 2 days - if that long.

A global review of how tax is enforced is highly needed. There are plenty of rich people who dont own their home, instead have their company buy the house and then write any maintenance or enhancements off against tax. Wouldn't it be great if us normal people could do that?

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123899231#Comment_123899231

Ah ya good point

Lots of things....but the Irish media are absolutely shocking…

foolhardy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898455#Comment_123898455

I disagree. It wasn't a public health crisis at all. It was overblown way out of proportion by those in the Pharma industry who made billions from their 'vaccine'. If it was such a public health crisis why aren't we still shut down considering our hospitals are rife with Covid???

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123899716#Comment_123899716

Because the virus changed and people got vaccinated?

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898451#Comment_123898451

Equally the vaccine saved a larger number of people of getting side effects from Covid.

I am currently receiving chemo and my immune system is suppressed, so I have adopted many of the habits of Covid again and dug out the masks.

Bredabe

Breda's Learnings through COVID, Education edition!

I saw first-hand how people struggled when information was delivered in a new format or at a different time—meltdowns everywhere. Lecturers presenting online couldn’t get their act together. As someone with dyslexia, I face this kind of chaos daily, and no one gives a toss. I’m expected to deliver regardless.

Very few educators learned from the experience. Information is still being presented in the same rigid way, even though they know better. Some now collaborate with me to make content more accessible for people with specific learning differences, but it’s a missed opportunity overall.

I earned an Honours Degree because the information was accessible and constantly available. I also had a peer group who’d happily clarify anything I got stuck on (they were bored, and it helped them feel useful). That support helped me finally be seen as “normal,” which was a huge relief after decades of being made to feel stupid by an education system that couldn’t see past its own limitations.

That said, some banging music came out of the lockdowns!

facehugger99

I learned that most Irish people love being told what to do.

It’s no wonder the Catholic Church kept such a grip on the place for so long.
The amount of nonsense Covid-theatre that people indulged in would have been funny if it wasn’t so worrying.

I learned RTE are an absolute disgrace who gave up any pretence at journalistic balance and never held the Government to account for the decisions they were making. I haven’t watched RTE since.

I learned the freedoms you take for granted can be removed at the stroke of a bureaucrats pen without a whimper of protest.

I learned fear is a great way to control people.

Hasbaralies

I've learned that some vaccines have thicker needles than others, arm is still sore form the pfizer vaccine

rtron

COVID thought us that when the world is under threat we can be bandi together, stop the wars and work together to find a solution. 👍

We truly have become a progressive society in that regard...

Mister Vain

There's absolutely fúck all within 5km of my house.

bladespin

The governement are idiots - doesn't matter what party, though hardly a revelation.

Our so-called independent news is no such thing.

You're not allowed to question.

People will take as gospel anything a scientist states despite the fact that science is based on disproving the last scientific theory.

Most of us (myself included) will risk an untested vaccine for a bit of freedom and a holiday, yes, yes, scientists etc but anyone working in/alongside FDA regulated companies knows there's not a snowball's chnace in hell any of the vaccines received the proper testing.

Life's awful without interraction.

Facebook and amazon own us.

kaahooters

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898451#Comment_123898451

swing and a miss there buddy, none of that is true.

i learned a lot of people have covid psycosis after havingmultiple cases "of the sniffles" and them going missing multiple times for multiple weeks over the first 3 years.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901801#Comment_123901801

the irish government actually done pretty well, when compared to other, apparently advanced nations governments, i.e. the us and the uk! of course mistakes were made, but all governments made mistakes, but some truly fcuked up, again, the us and the uk!

again, the irish media is actually pretty decent, when compared to others, again, the us and the uk!

question away, nobodies stopping you!

yup, scientists fcuk up, like us all, but again, the scientific community done some bloody good work throughout the pandemic, saving many lives, the speed of development of the vaccine was pretty astonishing, yes again, corners were but, but they had to be, or there would have been far more deaths.

less interactions were great for some of us, but being autistic, im gonna say that, the peace and quiet during the pandemic was bliss

yup, major operations do certainly own us, we truly fcuked this one up, but that was occurring long before the pandemic, but it has just accelerated since

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901840#Comment_123901840

Complete air-shot: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/waterford-soccer-player-23-died-five-days-after-covid-19-vaccine-from-catastrophic-brain-bleed/a1340519691.html

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901870#Comment_123901870

Mistakes were made alright, the government flapping abot like a dying fish didn't help at all either way, the public guilting of anyone who travelled (quite legally) was devisive and horrible, they issued advisory notices instead of travel bans dodging compensation for anyone who had booked a holiday before it all kicked off.

Lockdown to christmas rush opening caused the biggest spike in infections of the whole thing! Utter gombeenism.

Get off it about the media, there was no impartial reporting at all, all news was completely one-sided and fera mongering, especially the 'numbers' reported each day; Covid related deaths were reported yet our death rates actually dropped duirng the pandemic??? Go figure.

Anyone who questioned the lockdown logic was immediately branded subversive, remember the horrir of the gatherings on the quays??? Or Golfgate (even the politicians couldn't take it seriously).

Scientists didn't fcuk up at all, they did what scientists do, publish the best theory until a better one comes along, they advise on opinion, that's all they can do, thaing their findings as devine law especially on something new is stupid.

The interraction thing suited some but for the majority it had far reaching consequences.

MrMusician18

What was striking about that time was the absolute lack of individual resilience shown a substantial portion of the population. They couldn't handle what was asked on them. Wilful ignorance of the motivation behind what was trying to be achieved was on show in many places.

I recall the substantial meal debacle in particular which was a measure intended to limit the amount of socialising happening as a society. You had clowns either delighting in circumventing the rule but worse were those wilfully misrepresenting it: NPHET thinks the presence of a meal prevents disease spread.

Worse than COVID perhaps was the brain rot it has introduced.

chrissb8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123898662#Comment_123898662

I wrote a whole big reply to this, but I'll keep it even more simple. I was able to keep myself entertained of my own volition.

I had a keyboard, video games, a kitchen, endless access to movies/music and any interest I fancied giving a go.

One thing I did take up was programming which led to a new career. So. There you go.

I was only observing. If you can't entertain yourself in this day and age, you're probably the boring one.

Bredabe

Granted I live in a bubble, one of the things I noticed during covid, was that amount of Irish and Irish named scientists the world over.

One of my male siblings was disgusted when he found out that a woman from a few miles up the road from him, played a significant part in formulating the base formula for what was later used as the covid immunisation.

Hoboo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902414#Comment_123902414

Covid vaccination.

Immunisation wasn’t realised from the vaccine. Plenty of other side effects but immunisation wasn’t an outcome.

Bredabe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902437#Comment_123902437

Immunisation doesn’t mean invisibility—it means your body’s not caught off guard.

daithi7

Yeah, the good:

- Ireland is a great little country & we have great people living here (sadly slightly fewer cos of the covid pandemic mind)

• The Irish people were by&large very good & very well behaved throughout covid e.g. no looting, riots, etc, etc
• That most Irish people saw the benefit of getting vaccinated for both themselves & others (with very high vaccination rates, etc)
• We managed the covid crisis far better than they did in the UK & the US for instance
• That the vaccine was administered strictly on a medical needs basis only e.g. the Taoiseach waited in line like the rest of the population
• That vaccine was developed & administratered effectively in record time globally
• This bodes well for further vaccines against other horrible diseases & maybe even including some cancers (e.g. using mrna therapies, etc)
• The vaccine programme in Ireland was excellent & well run
• Remote working worked and has made Ireland a better place to work imho

And the bad:

- that Tony H & some of the public health docs let power & fame go straight to their heads e.g. daily press conferences & 'zero covid' proponents (remember the rubbish from those loonies

• Ireland was too conservative & far too risk adverse at times (e.g. First summer opening up, etc, etc)
• Many of the gross errors were in the management of our healthcare system itself e.g. moving covid cases out to nursing homes, staff moving, etc etc, etc
• The banning of sports such as running, cycling, tennis, golf, etc, etc etc was just nuts
• That lockdown went on too long & was too restrictive e.g. 5Km limits, schools closed !? , etc
• The fact that advertising messaging was so scary for some (old) people, that some struggle to get back out & about into the world & their old lives to this day
• That the dept of Education still can't rectify the inflated grades & points awarded because of covid to this day, like wtf , & so some students who score top grades need to enter a CAO lottery to get into their preferred courses (now this is just totally thick!!)

So there was a bit of the good, the bad & the ugly during & due to covid imho. However, overall the impressive global coperative development & rapid implementation of effective vaccines, and also, the general response of the Irish population to the challenges of covid & lockdowns are massive positives to take from the whole 'experience' imho.