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

No, I wanted *any* answer. Not inane bullshíte. That ^^^ was a decent response...but every time you decry everyone for doing nothing, you admitted you are part of the same problem, even though, in your head, you are the righteous one.

Yes. .

A lot of folk have simply been scared witless by the media/Govn onslaught of fear mongering. Regrettably.

Since Christmas Day they have varied between a low of 82 and a high of 94, that's stable. Picking single random data points 2 months apart, especially with different variants prevalent, does not prove he is wrong in that statement. In the context of the last 2-3 weeks he is not.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I caught a bit of the utterly dreadful Claire Byrne live show last night. Fionnán Sheahan of the equally dreadful Indo, breezed into the studio and tried (Badly) to share what he was hearing from sources (Leaks) re possible new close contact rules being relaxed. If he's correct, they seem bizzare.

In essence if rules relaxed, 2, possibly 3 official Antigen tests (Pharmacy I presume) will be required and face masks required. Its also seems specific sectors will only be considered 😳

yes that was the case in November anyway, there was a suggestion that recovery certs worked instead though That doesn’t seem to be the case. Hopefully it’s all dropped soon.

That's coming from the ECDC, who NPHET take their guidelines from. It is a recognition that Omicron can cause widespread non-medical problems and however daft it may look it's an effort to give governments a way to partially address mass staffing problems that may result from it. It should all be short-term.

As an example, take cinemas.

Nobody called for them to be closed or restricted. No science saying they need to be closed or restricted. Nobody would criticise if they were reopened immediately.

Yet they remain restricted.

If nobody actually wants restrictions, then why do cinemas remain restricted? Why doesn't Michael Martin march to a podium this evening and say that cinemas can reopen fully?

You say nobody wants restrictions but I'm reminded of that old saying "Judge them by their actions".

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare?areaType=nhsRegion&areaName=London#card-reproduction_number_r_and_growth_rate

Both cases and hospitalisations peaked on january 4 in the UK including Northern Ireland! If we are 10-14 days behind we should see Ireland follow this weekend or early next week.

If it follows the same trajectory as the UK it will be very interesting to see to which degree the government will lift restrictions on january 30 given the two weeks of dropping figures between 14-30 january. It seems to me they might not be able to push the 'another 2 weeks' line so convincingly this time with only staff shortages as a motive and HSE Paul Reid saying they are (somewhat) coping with it currently. I am therefore optimistic.

There is resistance of allowing recovery as a way of getting a QR code and certs as they push vaccinations and boosters and wouldnt want unvaccinated people who have recovered from Covid get on board (see Djocovic). It is pretty mean and also leaves unboostered Omicron infected people out even though they have really good immunity.

Oh, you and i both know they dont count anymore. They are off the radar, out of the equation. Have been for a while.😏

On this, we agree.

No testing required for internal flights although I traveled by road between 2 of them.