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

Fantastic in Bray yesterday.

Really got a great sense of joy and optimism. People enjoying themselves and looking forward.
Damn those Martello cocktails are strong

SnuggyBear wrote: »

I'd say the covid fanatics are starting to wonder what they will focus their energy on now we are near the end. What will they replace the briefings with? Reading death notices?

Don't worry it'll be around a while yet, e.g. there will be talk of booster shots next year and maybe we need to lockdown to roll those out, there will be other variants etc.

The Lockdown question will always be not too far away from people's minds for all scenarios with covid from now on. New medicines to be discussed as well.

SnuggyBear wrote: »

I'd say the covid fanatics are starting to wonder what they will focus their energy on now we are near the end. What will they replace the briefings with? Reading death notices?

Funnily enough I was thinking the same about the open everything yesterday fanatics now that they are going to have progressively less and less to moan about.

bear1 wrote: »

I was asking if this is what the poster meant, not a tongue in cheek response to their post.

According to your good self you wanted the border sealed last year and it was just as impossible to do then as it is now.

rovers_runner wrote: »

We had a great trip to Dublin Zoo today from the west.
Not one checkpoint to or from there in the eight counties we passed through.
No mask wearing in the Zoo bar the bathrooms, good to see so many people enjoying life again.
Glorious days in the park with people in great spirits.
The lockdown crew must be livid.

Good to hear but for those of us who want to have a meal indoors a coffee indoors and a pint indoors not to mention a holiday there’s still a bit to go!

charlie14 wrote: »

Of late, the last two weeks especially, it certainly looks as if more here have realised that vaccination levels and phased openings are the way forward alright.

You mean since the remarkable change of tone from NPHET and the Government....which caught a load of posters off guard.

For months posters here have pointed to the absurdity of the level 5 lock down 3 months on from the end of Jan, the point where we started testing healthy people once again which was clearly going to have an affect on the amount of people admitted to hospital per 1,000 cases therefore making the importance of daily case numbers much less pertinent.

What we are reopening now could have been done safely in March.

My opinion, like others, is based on nearly 60 weeks of Irish data available to us, for 12 weeks of that our Health System was under pressure, less than what it would normally experience. Outside of that 12 week period (2 six week surges)...most restrictions are a waste of time....Rapid Antigen Tests could be used effectively to allow much more activity.

I'd say the shift we saw two weeks ago was a combination of the massive cost and the increasing amount of people who were no longer buying into the fear and anxiety of the next deadly variant, which was evident in every town and city centre in the country.

Rapid Antigen Tests are like theraputics when it comes to this virus it seems....the anti science chatter of the far right or some such.

normanoffside wrote: »

This is almost bizarre from Nolan.
NPHET were clearly rattled by Lidl's tweet.

https://twitter.com/President_MU/status/1391095650750709769

I'd say its more correct to say he seems to have upset the sceptics on Twitter ...

Graham wrote: »

I think the only people that appear to have a problem are those that 'think' we're the slowest in Europe.

Everyone else is happy to see the restrictions being relaxed and the vaccination program move on.

I don't think every restaurant owner in the country is happy, do you. They haven't a clue when they are opening unless they put a few tables outside. Do you think they are happy. How about pub owners. How about people in the entertainment industry. Are they happy, but hey **** them Graham is happy he is making money.

charlie14 wrote: »

According to your good self you wanted the border sealed last year and it was just as impossible to do then as it is now.

We closed the borders except the most obvious one which still lets people bypass certain checks.
They've closed it before (mad cow I think?) So it could be done again in theory.
Obviously it's pointless now but I'm curious by the article itself and what they expect the government to do.

Graham wrote: »

They would be in a worse position were we to open too soon, see all those business open, only for them to all be closed down again a few weeks later.

Do you not recall that exact scenario happening previously?

Previous performance is no guarantee of?

Graham wrote: »

They would be in a worse position were we to open too soon, see all those business open, only for them to all be closed down again a few weeks later.

Do you not recall that exact scenario happening previously?

To use the line.. But this time it's different!

It is though, 30% of adults (comprised of the most vulnerable in society and those that look after them) now have a vaccine inside them and that number will increase exponentially over the next few weeks.