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

I'd be for that but just got the feeling by saying "not letting it rip" the OP means closing things

It does look like there is some simplistic analysis going on. This day last year with no vaccination there were only a few hundred cases and 34 in ICU. This year despite so much vaccination the numbers have increased hugely and ICU has trebled. And this was in train before the most recent variant. You'd wonder if the vaccinations are making as much difference as has been claimed since we'll be in the same boat next month as we were last January.

I work in a school. With booster vaccines, masks, distancing and sanitising, they have no reason to close. We don't have students unmasked, dancing on the tables, gathering in crowds etc etc. We have them in a very controlled environment. In many cases, they are safer with us than they would be at home, where working parents can't be expected to also keep an eye on them.

They come into school, sanitise. They walk to their classroom, sanitise. They enter the room, go to their desk, sanitise. They sit 1.1m apart from everyone else in the room and they are masked. Every time they move, they sanitise. If they don't - we tell them to. Is that what happens in bars/pubs/restaurants/cafes? No, it is not.

I feel for business owners, I really do. My yoga teacher lost her studio in the first lockdown and it devastated her. It's so unfair that people such as them, people who go out on a limb to enhance a town or village with these fantastic bars, gyms, salons, restaurants, have been dealt this awful hand. But honestly, I have a family member who remains unvaccinated and he still swans in and out of all the previously mentioned places. Never asked for a cert.

The hospitality industry are having an awful time. But, they have been most let down by their own. The numerous businesses that refused to adhere to the easing of restrictions have - in my view - left us where we are. There are many, many businesses not checking certs. I know this for a fact.

No, I understand. The mind is a fierce powerful thing. I get that. In a way, if it turns out to be all in her mind, then that is even worse! (Not saying that it should be a reason to up restrictions, just saying makes me even more scared of ever catching Covid!)

No, it wasn't. Schools would never need to be closed.

Tbh, if proper inspections of cafes/restaurants and bars are done and proper measures are taken and carried out in a consistent manner by all concerned, they don't need to close either.

But - a lot of people are just not playing ball. In LIDL this evening doing my shopping, an entire family just going around with no masks on. In The Range Maynooth last week - not a soul working in that place has the mask above their nose.

I went to a restaurant with my dad a month ago. We weren't asked for our vax certs. So, probably means nobody else in there was either.

Went to a Costa Coffee 3 weeks ago. Was asked for cert and ID, gave them both, only when I sat down did I realise I gave my OHs cert by accident. So ..... even when they are checking, they're not.

My previous example of the family member who struts around the place unvaccinated proves why personal responsibility is never going to work. To use an analogy from my own profession, that's like allowing the kids to correct their tests themselves

You are falling into the trap of assuming the status of schools regarding opening/closure will have something to do with protocols within schools. They will close, if they close, because of the status of infection spread in the community. You might need to prepare yourself for that. It's a hugely efficient way to take a million people out of circulation.

And in schools there is the laughable scenario where, despite the local restaurant having to look for a vaccination cert, a Principal is not permitted to ask a teacher's vaccination status! You couldn't make it up.

Well then you should also know for a fact, that even in the places that don't check certs, more than 9 out of every 10 would be vaccinated, as per population statistics.

Your still running after the un-vaccinated ball thrown a few weeks ago.

It's a different ball now, called the Omicron, the vaccines and boosters don't work now it seems, or at least NPHET have no faith in them

What makes me feel safe is looking after myself and taking precautions. The whole reason this has gone on as long as it has is because so many morons in this country can't do that. That's the real pandemic here, one that we have been living with much longer than we have been living with Covid.

Actually, my point wasn't about the unvaccinated at all. It was about the inability of some establishments to follow the rules. It wasn't about them letting in unvaccinated people BECAUSE they are unvaccinated. It was about their attitude to the guidance. If they're not bothered checking certs, then I'd be amazed if they were bothered with the sanitising, mask wearing and social distancing measures either.

Same as most workplaces regarding vaccination status. Can't ask students either.

Wow, do you really believe that if everyone had just followed ‘the rules’ that this would be over? It’s so incredibly simplistic.

Predominantly its being spread in primary schools and households imo. Whether staff can't wear a mask properly or don't sanitise as regularly as they should has a very minimal effect on spread.

But I also believe that community spread is not only inevitable but its also a good thing. We need it spreading so we can build natural immunity amongst the young and healthy.

Even at this stage it’s quite unbelievable really!

Again, you are making an argument for the benefits of school vis á vis no school. But the argument that closes the schools will be about hospitals, their capacity and coping ability, not schools.

I'm not really making the argument so to speak, more observing how it is likely to go. I can't speak for primary, they may close. Secondary is going nowhere.