Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

Lots of people are sick of going for tests when they have symptoms and are getting negative results. I'd say a fair few are putting symptoms down to colds and other viruses. Especially those with kids in schools as there is so much going around. I've been tested 7 times since end of August. 6 with mild symptoms and 1 with what was like a bad cold. Everyone in the family ended up with symptoms which all started from our child. Each result was negative. Not one covid case in my childs pre-school based on all the testing that has happened for the children and the parents. The head teacher is really good with the transparency.

In my circle of friends, i've learned of 3 separate families getting positive results from the antigen tests in the past week. They had very mild symptoms and decided to take one. And on the back of them, got a PCR test and tested positive. One family has 6 in it and only 1 had symptoms. 6 tested positive on PCR. The other 2 families have 4 each and again only 1 in each with symptoms. But all 4 tested positive. Only for the positive antigen test, they probably wouldn't have bothered to go get a PCR test if symptoms stayed mild. And would have put it down to a cold after many negative PCR results in the past. So antigen tests do have a use case and can help. Only the person with symptoms in each case had a positive antigen test result. Those who tested positive on PCR but negative on antigen did not have symptoms. Which is probably about right with the assumption. Antigen is good when symptomatic.

Indeed. By the way, Dr Nabarro said he doesn't think Ireland will have another lockdown.

People take their lead from the goverment, Their policies and actions, their decisions on what we 'can' and 'cant do' are the foundation on which our society functions.

That's why it's so annoying to hear them sherk their responsibilities by putting the onus on the public, their personal responsibility mantra is a cowardly cop out.

The goverment can only do so much, but right now, they are not doing nearly enough. They put all their eggs in the vaccine basket, when that didn't deliver as expected they just decided to put their heads in the sand.

Most business dont have a clue about ventilation and are either incapable of fixing it or just dont care. This can be fixed by making it a law. They are questioned on this weekly by the opposition, and scientists, and completely evade answering it every time.

I do wear ffp2s. I've looked at the studies and seen how much more effective they are and decided if I'm going to bother wearing a mask I might as well wear one that works. There is complete ignorance in this country about masks. People think a mask is a mask. The goverment have a duty of care here to educate and they should take their lead from other countries and provide guidelines the public about proper mask protection

Nobody said their job was easy but that's no excuse for doing a **** one.

The CMO isn't fit for purpose, he has failed the people of this country.

He needs to be replaced along with the rest of NPHET.

It is what it is.

"He says the UK - where the NHS issues packs of seven for free - has been criticised for spending that scale of funds."

Never heard of anyone complaining about the government handing out free antigen tests in the UK before. I think most people are glad they are free, especially those that have kids in schools and those that are unvaxed. A bit of an idiot that Donnelly bloke isn't he ?

I would dispute this point. Where is the evidence? He has made an assertion, is it based on something other than assumptions? My theory is that it’s the general move inside for socialising and leisure due to the cold weather. All the ‘outdoor summer’ stuff was great but it’s just not practical anymore. Childrens parties being held in parks etc have now all had to move indoors. Maybe that’s the cause?

They certainly broke the mould with that lad. He has zero issue splashing half a billion on PCRs when the vast majority are negative but perish the thought of using a very effective tool at catching positive cases in a more cost effective way.

That just emphasizes the lack of urgency some people will have with the booster, if they even bother.

Novavax has applied for vaccine approval with the EMA. Long time coming.

Lordy lord this sudden government aggression toward the unvaccinated is certainly escalating alarmingly quickly in Europe. So most of europe already has vaccine certs in place, Austria is forcing unvaccinated to stay at home , Germany to follow suit , Latvia has banned them from voting , Czech has limited their access to public services. Who's going to top this tomorrow with the next craziest headline? Nphet won't be able to resist jumping on the bandwagon

If the hse data is showing 1.16% of cases being hospitalised why is holohan using 2 per cent as his baseline for hospitalisations. Is there a legitimate reason to think rate of hospitalisations will increase or just another incorrect input?

Philip Nolan saw those numbers in a dream he had and frantically scribbled them down in crayon when he woke up. The government are said to be “extremely concerned” over his visions and planning a cabinet meeting.

That HSE data only came out out today, it's what they've been using for their modelling and they've brought it down from the 3% they were using.

A lot of tests there! A drop in positivity would be very welcome.