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

Still loads of people in for other reasons and testing positive. Again, just from observations from one Dublin hospital that has had a big problem with outbreaks since the beginning whenever there has been high cases in the community.

My wife for example spent more time out of work than working in the past 2 months while awaiting test results and eventually testing positive and needing to isolate. Loads of her colleagues were in the same boat. This is where the pressure is coming from according to her. Staff shortages due to so many nurses and doctors being out at a given time. The outbreaks inevitably spread to patients too. Obviously there are peolle in hospitals that do need treatment for it. But there appears to be more context behind the total figure we often hear reported. In my opinion this is beyond covid to an extent and the uber caution is to do with protecting the shite healthcare system that our doctors and nurses need to work with.

Tony Holohan:

"Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has told the public in the coming days to only meet those people they will be spending Christmas Day with.

He urged people to keep their contacts as “low as possible in order to protect those around you”.

"He reminded the public to “avoid crowds, limit your contacts, work from home unless absolutely necessary, risk-assess your environments and make safe choices over the coming days and weeks”.

"Young people have been urged to make an “exceptional sacrifice” and rethink their Christmas plans following a spike in cases in the cohort."

Also Tony Holohan:

It is sheer hypocrisy on a grand scale. If it happened in the UK the media would go through him, luckily for him the Irish media have been bought and sold.

Jakers....this thread has gone to the dogs over the last couple of months...its an insane thread these days...

Bhuel mo chairde

I know it feels like a sh1tty run up to Xmas this year. Constantly changing plans, closed pubs, people dropping like flies around us, big case numbers.

But this is actually turning into a very good news week.

- Hospital numbers below 400 for the first time since early October, and a very real possibility of being low-300s come Xmas morning. Giving us a lot of runway to deal with any Omicron fallout.

- Proper reports of Omicron being milder. Not just graphs on Twitter and tentative speculation from experts; actual solid data that they are happy to put their name to and report widely. It's virtually certain now that Omicron is milder.

- We have what must be the best performing booster programme on the planet right now. Despite a shaky start we're on track to have delivered 2m doses by Xmas day. That's 500k ahead of target and would represent 1m doses delivered in just 17 days. For a country our size it's phenomenal.

Coupled with the under-11s rollout to start on 10th January, for the first time it actually feels like there is a firm end in sight here. A milder illness, almost fully vaccinated populations. Last year there was hope, but a lot of unanswered questions. We didn't know about long-term immunity. Or about what new variants were coming down the line, about whether vaccines would even be that significant.

Now there is far more hope and far fewer questions.

I have a dream. Come Paddy's Day, we will be able to sit in a pub, vaxxed and unvaxxed alike, raise a pint, sing songs, and celebrate.

Surely you mean

So if I predict, say, there's going to be a war between Ukraine and Russia.

That must mean in my heart of hearts I must want that to happen

Pardon my ignorance but what is the difference between positive swabs and case numbers?

Why if we are bringing in restrictions which include modelling of case numbers would they stop publishing them?

Agree with every word except a firm end in sight, especially by Paddys Day.

I look forward to being proved wrong :)

I respect the fact that a month ago you predicted these falling hospital numbers.

But it depresses me to think that in the face of falling numbers and a milder variant, that it is a dream that we only have to wait 3 months before being able to have that pint.

We cannot keep accepting this abundance of caution.

Lowest hospital numbers in 75 days, 100 in icu.

Rte go with: "20000 cases a day in worst case says Reid"

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/1223/1268360-ireland-covid/

RTE are allergic to good news.

I am a close contact . Fully boostered and two negative antigen tests done

Five days will be over Christmas day but until then I am stuck !

136 000 people in that position I believe this week

If you don't have covid what is the point though. Just seems arbitrary.