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

The 'cases' rise and fall when restrictions are already in place. The pattern of rising cases is not caused by lack of restrictions (which don't correlate anyway) and the situation is not mitigated by ramping up restrictions like is happening this week.

I predicted on this thread last January that 'cases' would begin to ramp up this October and I was correct.

I kept getting shouted down by posters who said I was wrong because vaccines would 'get us out of this'. That was at the beginning of the first vaccination campaign.

If we were honest about what really drives cases we could, at the very least, take the late spring summer and early autumn off as a breather.

You could get rid of many or most restrictions in Ireland, like in England, and the rise and fall pattern of 'cases' would hold.

'Cases' are going up in England but are NOT PREVENTED from going up here.

Have to feel sorry for the industry. A complete shambles by the government

So you're in the no restrictions group (UK has also effectively used lockdown to reduce cases and hospitalisations).

If the hospitals get overrun, who are you going to stop treating first?

That's why the government is reintroducing restrictions today, they are not making that choice. You are, so elaborate.

It's at times like these I thank my Dad for his advice

"when the crowd is rushing in one direction, stop, do nothing, just wait and watch"

And by god he was right again.

"the vaccine is the way out of this! discrimination is the way out of this!" yell the crowd.

So I wait and watch.

And well... here we are.

So lets get this right, the people who said covid was seasonal were called crazy, so we sat outside all summer. Yet when we were allowed indoors it was only the vaccinated and the recovered (6monthers) to go inside

So either

A - Covid is seasonal and we wasted our time sitting outside

B- The vaccines/certs don't do dick to stop the spread

I am kind of enjoying all the jabbers who wanted to impose restrictions on anyone they disagreed with, panicking and whining about "BUT THE VACCINE???"

Now we wait for their hysteria to settle down and they will either call out these nonsense rules OR they will look to big pharma for the next pill or jab they can take which will allow them to live a "normal" life.

Don't think they wont be screaming for their next jab if they think it gives them freedom. Fools.

You mean Christmas Eve when pubs shut at 8 or 9 and there is a demand for nightclubs unlike any of the other 364 days a year???????????

That Christmas Eve??????

!!!!!!!!!!

Not aggressive. Frustrated. You've spun the definition of lockdown so much that it no longer makes sense. If a nightclub is closed, are you under lockdown? No? Exactly. The nightclub is closed, therefore it is closed...the end.

Your emotional question doesn't follow from what I've said.

I'm saying these restrictions don't do anything.

The 'cases' will begin to taper off again next Spring. Hopefully we'll get an early warm Spring next year (fingers crossed).

Meanwhile who knows what scapegoating mania or restrictions will be in place or not in place. It's the political response which is a complete toss-up and unpredictable.

They can, and I can see a market for that too. But it does beg the question, if nightclubs can still open for 4 hours, what is the point of this restriction? Are nightclubs running from 8pm to midnight going to be safer somehow than nightclubs running from 10.30pm to 2.30pm?

All v depressing. I still don't agree with the many on here who think the government are out to get us and this is part of some big plan. They are doing their best (and I appreciate that's a scary thought) - but I do think they have little idea what they are doing anymore. In fairness to them, the scientific advice they (and the world) are getting keeps changing and pulling the rug out from under their feet.

I will get a booster happily, seems to have worked well in Israel, but I do increasingly wonder, when the history of this gets written, if on a human cost / benefit analysis might mankind have been better not to intervene and let this pandemic run its course like all other pandemics have done? Problem really is that we have (or think we have) a choice because of better meds and vaccines today. Prior generations didn't have those choices. But if the meds and vaccines are only causing short term gains but extending the duration of this shitshow you wonder would we have been better off without a choice? Not saying for a moment if I was in charge I wouldn't have pushed vaccines - they are clearly saving lives right now so it would be some hard nosed bastard who would tell his countrymen he was going to let covid rip and to hell with the consequences - but are we just prolonging this whole thing? Of course this assumes vaccines will prolong things and stop the necessary herd immunity from forming and maybe that's not the case / bollox.

Just rambling at this stage I appreciate - depressed today as I said...

Not asking this in an aggressive way, just curious. If you were Taoiseach today what would you do? I'm f##cked if I know at this stage.....

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Our last pandemic was the Spanish Flu. So I meant 1918 backwards

We had many posts similar to this when the vaccines were first being rolled out with many of those predicting the uptake would not be much higher than 50%.

Funnily enough friends I have talked to have been wondering when or if they will be eligible for a booster shot. Seems sensible to me to get one rather than playing Russian roulette with a virus where a safe vaccination greatly reduces your chances of serious illness or death. I just cannot get my head around how people knowing what the flu is and how it mutates think that a one off regimen of vaccination would wipe out this virus. But then maybe the just know very little about the flu either, but I thought from annual flu vaccines they would have at least got a hint.

I mean lockdowns obviously work, but is the cost of them worth it? There's going to be a serious bill for what we've done and you can't keep on kicking the can down the road with lockdowns.

It is a bit different in that we're using the same (effective) vaccines rather than rolling a new vaccine, but COVID doesn't mutate as much as the flu (and we're literally trying to vaccinate a cold virus).