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

It shouldn't be though.

And you don't need a passport to drive a car?

I typed 1-2 weeks because I meant 1-2 weeks, not because I meant that every cold lasts 2 weeks. The average cold lasts 7-10 days. It's normal for a kid to have 8 or more colds per year and an adult to have 2-5 or more. These are not difficult facts to find, even if you happen, as I do, to be someone who very seldom gets sick and/or only usually has a very short course of disease. A cold is infectious from a few days before symptoms start until all symptoms are gone. Assuming that the cold encompasses a weekend, you're talking about a minimum of 10 days average absence for adults and 40 for kids. That's more than 20% of kids' school time, FYI. Minimum.

It's not; you simply misunderstood the point I was making. That's okay. I'll try again.

We've known for a while that some infections can trigger autoimmunity and other issues, either immediately or later down the line. We've recently (last decade) discovered that there seems to be some mechanism by which certain infections, particularly in childhood, can make autoimmunity less likely in adulthood.

We barely understand these things, and they are far more complex to investigate than "how infectious disease spreads", the bones of which can be understood by the average five-year-old. Because we don't understand them well, it is impossible to say whether the net effect of significantly reducing the overall number of infectious diseases a person's immune system deals with over their lifetime, and especially in childhood, will be positive or negative. There is little point in eliminating colds, for example, if you then end up with way more sickly people who ultimately require more time off work and have a generally reduced standard of living, for the sake of drastically reducing the incidence of the common cold.

It is controversial for the reasons outlined above.

Not a single word in "free" and "independent" Irish media:

Justin Trudeau and family move to secret location as Canada trucker protests spark security fears:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/justin-trudeau-trucker-convoy-protest-canada-b2003458.html

Nice to see the reporting of the daily figures is now moving to twice weekly figures! Am I right in saying our last COVID related restriction is now the mask mandate which is due to be reviewed at the end of February?

They're causing national security fears, they're not protesting at all

For the less hysterical posters here, here's a fairly balanced report of todays peaceful demonstration in Ottawa.

They are protesting, and they arent a threat to national security. Trudeau is too scared to face them so he ran away and hid. Over 8 million dollars raised and just the sheer amount of support the drivers have must have him a bit scared. Already some Canadian provincial leaders are ending the mandates , so its working.

There’s a vaccine for that one.

Anti vaccine mandate & cert protesters. Don't you understand there is a difference?

I am treble vaccinated cos I trusted politics/government to do the right things for the right reasons. But in a few countries governments have taken the pandemic and started running away with it on odd tangents, betraying that trust. That sadly includes my birth country Germany.

Don't you think its legitimate to protest against that?

I wouldn't consider what they are doing to be protesting, they've caused national security fears and put their own government into hiding

National Security when it suits them, the same way the Irish Gov threw out the National Security bollox a few weeks ago when people started to turn. They want the mandate dropped that requires unvaccinated Canadian truckers crossing between the US & Canada to quarantine once they've returned home.

People are starting to have enough of this thing and about time

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/three-government-ministers-24-hour-22619242