Relaxation of Restrictions, Part V - **Read OP for Mod Warnings**

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Masker just got sucker punched, who's actually fighting who hard to make out, umbrella lad : )

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Not at all.. in fact our economy is very much exposed to what happens in the rest of the world. It's why the crash was much harder from 2008 onwards, and why the recovery was so much faster from about 2014 on.

However, the course we are now following is making that situation much worse and will take a lot longer to recover from as a result. You're not wrong in your analysis by the way - the current strategy of "extend and pretend" won't last indefinitely, but I'll flip it around on you.. how do YOU propose we pay for everything we can't cut in the meantime if we continue to have lockdowns and businesses closed and people out of work?

No-one has said there's no risk. Please point out where I said that. There's risk in everything we do, every day! But, like those activities the risk from CV-19 is known to be worst for those who are elderly or with underlying conditions, and significantly less so for most everyone else. That's the point... those who are at greater risk need to take responsibility for that and restrict their movements/interactions as much as possible. Those who are at less/minimum risk need to get on with things as much as possible so as to help support themselves and the first group.

And ultimately, the numbers don't lie... 6 months into this event in Ireland we still have less than 2000 deaths, small numbers critically ill, and many people not even realising they have it if they do catch it. I honestly do not understand why people like yourself can't see this for the extremely positive news it is - especially given the predictions at the start.

To be blunt.. Zero deaths from CV-19 is a fantasy. It would be great if it was so, but then it wouldn't really be a pandemic would it? Luckily we know who is most at risk though and it's those people we need to target our resources to.

Even the Government have (albeit several months late) started to come round to the idea that excessive restrictions are just not workable outside a theoretical model or medical lab. In a real world living country with all the demands therein, we need to consider the welfare and needs of the many as well as the more serious needs of the few.
That's why the idea of a national lockdown last week (as recommended by NPHET) was rejected. It's not something we can go back to given where we are economically and socially, but it's also not necessary given where we are medically too. Hospitals are not overrun, deaths continue to be very low, serious ICU cases the same.

Again these are GOOD THINGS. It's disappointing and frankly worrying that you and many others can't see that.