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

Well I held out for 2 years but got the 2red lines this morning, had to test in work as was considered a close contact.

Completely asymptomatic, walked the dog twice now swigging beer . . . is this what we crippled the economy for ???

Nothing baseless about it. Its perfectly obvious that people who went out and socialised a lot over Christmas were heavily exposed to getting it.

If these people wore masks to the shop, the toilet or on the train it really wasnt going to make much difference to the outcome.

500000 cases in a week would burn through the population pretty quick.

Well happy for you! Unfortunately not very hallelujah in some quarters yet .

Its not the HSE or the Emergency Care task force pushing for mandatory anything...that was made up by Claire Byrne and RTE and their Amárach polls putting their usual hard edge spin on things.

All that is requested in that letter is that the minister gets his finger out, set up his public health committee ( 2 months now and still waiting !) and make public health " recommendations "..be they for mask wearing on public transport and in healthcare settings , and regarding testing and vaccinations .

Why is nobody concerned about a godawful lazy health minister who can't pvss straight without an advisor, but are treated over people who are actually doing their jobs ?

I do agree with that podge, really but there is still an immediate and pressing problem of lack of capacity that still hasn't been sorted and 5000 offsick at anytime is a crisis !

Why do you keep pretending the INMO were not pushing for a mask mandate?

Their press releases fed Claire Byrne et al's agenda and gave it momentum.

"We are not in a space in which our health service can cope with 570 patients on trolleys coupled with such high numbers of patients in our hospitals with COVID.

"The Government must now revisit their decision on mask-wearing in indoor and crowded settings.

They can find money for other things they surely have to find money or do something radical to sort the healthservice.

The maskwearing request in congested indoor settings is only for this present surge.

After that people need to remember that it was having a weak health service that got us into continuous restrictions ( along with a cautious public health and government!) in the first place .

With Stephen Donnelly at the helm I very much doubt that anything radical will be even attempted before next winter season .

I would be happy to be proven wrong ...🙄

I just want this to be over !

Its more the HSE the problem there than the healthservice , iykwim ?

Less of an issue with the old style health boards as there was a smaller and more defined path of accountability...although cronyism was more of an issue with them.

This is why Slaintecare is being pushed for by those frontline and community HCWs. More defined areas of responsibility with clearer accountability and hopefully less management ,more workers .

But this government aren't in favour and have stood in the way of its development so far despite having signed up to bringing it in.

Now why would defined areas of responsibility and clearer accountability be an issue, I wonder ?

Or a single tier health system for everyone in the country?

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/give-me-a-crash-course-in-the-sl%C3%A1intecare-debacle-1.4695104

Whats the story with restrictions? Could they be reimposed?

Which they can demand if they choose but it has all the influence of a random submission to a Dail committee, in short none. The replacement for NPHET will follow along the same lines on COVID, adopting a position of public health risk management. At this stage of COVID's evolution that is on par with flu' and it will not be influenced by a quasi-emergency committee within the HSE. The current problem is in the HSE and proposing measures that extend well into the public domain is nowhere in their remit.

They should be and vaccination programmes are something that the HSE does very well. Flu' shots will usually begin in September and you'd expect COVID vaccines to be done in tandem.

Where will you go from Friday since this forum will have no real need anymore unless it converts to a flu and covid forum?

Ireland would appear to have higher than average Covid figures since around Sept 2020 compared to the rest of Europe. I suspect at present, they are astronomically high with I suspect 50%+ of the population having been infected at this stage.

I really think figures will drop like a stone at some stage over the next month or so. There is nowhere for the virus to go at this stage