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

How does it feel knowing the "conspiracy theorists" who TOLD YOU this would go on for months/years were right.

Two weeks to flatten the curve lads.

And ye believed it.

They're STILL telling you lies.. lockdown is for more than another 9 weeks.

it's over, you need to face the facts and reality of the situation we are in.
no control on the virus or limited control equals ending in failure and all of the issues that brings which will actually effect us all.
there are no other alternatives, they have been effectively tried and countries have ended up back where they started and having to go into much harsher lock downs then we will ever have.

Wow, you're one to talk about facts.
What measures have we tried, apart from various levels of restrictions? Absolutely nothing. Sorry, we increased ICU capacity. That's the only other thing we've done.

Restrictions on inbound travel? Nope. We only brought in a requirement for a recent negative test in January, we supposedly now have a requirement to quarantine at home after travel with literally zero enforcement, and so heavily advertised that I had to google to check had it actually come in. And we might have a harsher quarantine system in place sometime next month - which mightn't be necessary if we'd done the basics earlier and I have complete faith in us either abandoning or making a mess of.

What about the other cornerstone of successful virus containment, that's been a key policy in countries that have done better than us? We have no effective contact tracing.

Cillian de Gascun, NPHET, July wrote:

"We have a better infrastructure now ... from a contact tracing perspective .. We would certainly hope not to be imposing any [future] national level restrictions ... If we do identify clusters they can be targeted quickly, contacts can be isolated, and we want to be able to be in a position to do that very quickly."

Source
Isolating clusters involves identifying who a patient might have infected, but also who infected them and who else that person might have infected.

Yet despite this claim, In September NPHET's Philip Nolan dismissed going back more than 48 hours as an "academic exercise". Which is an outright contradiction of the claim that we were going to be able to fully isolate clusters.

And now we have yet another contradiction from NPHET's Ronan Glynn, who claims that they were pushing for retrospective contact tracing since last August.
That's bizarre on two fronts. For one, we have the deputy CMO claiming that NPHET have been pursuing a policy from August, which the chair of the NPHET Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group implied in July was already in place, but which was dismissed as pointless in September by the chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group.

And on the other hand, why only from August? Why were NPHET not seeking this in June or July when contact tracing teams were being stood down because with daily cases as low as single digits there was nothing for them to do? Why not focus then on gathering as much detail as possible about the spread of the virus while we had the capacity to examine every case in detail? And actually gather data on how the virus was spreading, as various sectors of society were reopening. So that we could make actual fact-based decisions.

Given that three senior NPHET members seem to be incapable of agreeing on a basic fact, I think general incompetence is the obvious answer to that one.

Deleted User wrote: »

Maybe you could call the WHO and let them know so. Or the countries that haven't approached the level of restriction we're currently living under.

the countries which originally didn't approach the level of restrictions we are living under, eventually ended up implementing harsher restrictions then we will thankfully ever see.

Bigfatmichael wrote: »

House party time!!!

Need a living with Covid not shut up shop plan.

a living with covid plan is what we have.

Deleted User wrote: »

You can meet one other household outdoors for exercise

Thanks .Does that mean two households can ,socially distanced meet up out of doors for exercise (ie a walk)?

Is there any restricton on how many from either household can take part?

amandstu wrote: »

Thanks .Does that mean two households can ,socially distanced meet up out of doors for exercise (ie a walk)?

Is there any restricton on how many from either household can take part?

No.

People may meet with people from one other household in outdoor settings when taking exercise

In England it's only one per household plus a child if they are under 5.

wakka12 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1362749107719319554
And Italy right now
Well it is looking like Ireland really will be last in Europe to reopen. If Italy, one of the most impacted countries on earth, can provide freedoms pictured above and still maintain current downward trajectory of COVID deaths, there is no excuse for Ireland to be so so far behind in it's schedule.

I just saw on my FB feed that even though they are allowed to open until 6pm every day the Italian Bars and Restaurant association is planning a huge protest tomorrow (at 6:30pm of course).

amandstu wrote: »

Suppose my friend(s) live beyond my 5k limit** ,can we still meet up for a walk outside in an area that is (separately) within each other's 5k limit?

Seems to me that we can (provided we socially distance and use our own transport to get there..

Am I right?

** ie they live between 5k and 10k from me.

According to the rules you're not allowed to meet any other household, even if they live 50 meters from you. It doesn't matter if outdoor or indoor.
The 5k limit is only for individual exercise.
I see online plenty of people not realizing how draconian the measures are.

(The only exception is if you are in one of the categories that can form a bubble and form it with them. Then you can meet them however you want, indoor or outdoor, even if they're in the other side of the country).

It's not hard to check: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/2dc71-level-5/#social-and-family-gatherings

Are we extended until May?

timmyntc wrote: »

And why did we have the highest infection rates in the world?
Because of the preceding lockdowns for months on end!

Other countries that werent under stringent lockdowns for months on end before christmas, didnt see nearly as big as surge at christmas as us - why? hmm, maybe because they didnt have a huge pent up demand for socialising and shopping.

Erh you missed this bit then?

gozunda wrote:

Forget the appropriating blame game. Yes we had eejits screaming for their rights to have their visits and travel over Christmas and yes as you said the government allowed that. We can take that as read

OK what you're effectively saying its neither Johny nor Mary who are to blame ' but rather the gubbermint? That people here effectively have no self control. Well if that's they case - there not much hope for a no restrictions scenario is there?

Ok let's take an actual country as an example. Germany which had restrictions for months before Christmas didn't lift them at all over the Christmas period but increased them - because there were indications that Covid infections were on the rise again and any reduction in restrictions would make things worse.

 In spite of a hard lockdown imposed from 15 December until 10 January 2021, infection numbers remained high and, eventually, coronavirus-related deaths also rose sharply. This situation and the uncertainties associated with the appearance of a particularly infectious strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the United Kingdom prompted two further extensions of the lockdown until 31 January and then 14 February.

So they kept their ongoing restrictions increased them and still had issues due to rising case numbers and the new variants - but what they did do was keep a lid on it.

We on the other hand threw caution to the wind and won top prize for the highest covid infection rate in the world.

Well done us.

From your comments to date I strongly suspect you wouldn't support any restrictions regardless of infections rates at any time.

Deleted User wrote: »

Tony should step aside now after the news this evening. RIP to his wife.

Be interesting to see how it goes with NPHET from here. They were more willing to look at alternatives when Tony was away last time as well

Having been critical of Dr Holohan and NPHET’s approach to Covid, on a personal level it must have been very hard to know a loved one was so unwell while dealing with this pandemic. RIP to his wife and hope he takes the time needed with his family for now.