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

I think the focus now will rightly shift to the massive problems being caused by Putin's war in Ukraine - specifically the spiralling costs of energy and now talk of possible rationing as he tries to blackmail Europe, but also the costs and impact of the refugee crisis on our already critical domestic issues in particularly housing and health care.

It's clear that the Government's attention is more on this (even if they're dealing with the latter all wrong, but that's a different thread) rather than appeasing the anxieties and self interests of the media, unions and noisy minority on social media - especially when there's no medical rationale for restrictions at this point.

BUT... my only concern is that in the midst of all these far more pressing issues, the very real need to properly review the last 2 years and the decisions that were made will be either deferred altogether, or the outcomes/fallout quietly buried among the headlines. It's bad enough that Micheal Martin has already come out saying that he wouldn't expect the likes of Tony Holohan to be asked to provide evidence for these investigations.

I expect that, as always, we will go through the motions at massive expense to the taxpayers over several years but the outcome will be a lengthy report that has no consequences for anyone and leads to no changes, and if and when we ever face a virus that really does have the potential to wipe out tens of thousands of people or worse in this country, we'll be as completely unprepared for it as we were this time.

One always wonders what proper means here. Oftentimes it's a predetermined view of what happened. As always the ongoing medical scenarios trumped everything else. A review will not find anyone up against the wall, in reality of metaphorically. It will be a post-mortem, where they will; conduct an overview of the decisions. On that front you will find them at odds with what you seem to want. It will identify issues with NPHET, HSE and some of the decision making but the overall aim will be to learn from it. On balance they got quite a bit right even if those decisions infuriated sections of the populace and the CMO and MM have already owned up to some poor calls.

I see him more as a selfish egotist who has clearly bought into his own hype and sense of importance - just look at his stance on the nursing home that was proposed beside his house in Dalkey.

That interview with Varadkar on Prime Time last night was hilarious. Varadkar, love him or loathe him, was always the best communicator throughout the pandemic.

Firstly, Varadkar is currently isolating with this dreaded disease. However the interviewer didn't have the courtesy to ask him how he was feeling, presumably because he was feeling great and it didn't fit the narrative.

Varadkars response to the hysterical questionning about the dail bar mask rules was comical - 'yes, I'll wear it when I arrive, then I'll take it off while eating my scone - so whatever benefit that brings, I dunno' or something like that, also with a bit of a smirk at the interviewer.

But finally, the main point is really strong - there is no emergency, for fining people for not wearing a mask on a bus etc is not proportionate anymore. There may well be an emergency in the hospitals, but covid is only a contributor to this, the hospitals are a shambles and that's for the HSE to sort out.

Good interview - it's been great that the government / cmo have stayed very strong and, at last united, in the face of a media / union onslaught - happy with their performance the last couple of weeks (at last!)

The policy adopted by NPHET was a conservative one and accepted by successive governments. In that context they were always going to look at the public health issue first. In our case that's the poor state of the hospital system.

I don't know how you imagine that other countries somehow did it better. They all went down this route in some form or another, some to more extreme actions. That there there's a massive ECB fund to help post-COVID is a clear indication that they also experienced difficulties. It is and was a once in a century occurrence and there were plenty of occasions during this where authorities were flying by the seats of their pants or being guided by what other countries were up to.

I don't agree on the financial costs as the only measurement of success or failure. It was a very welcome approach adopted by most countries worldwide to help support the health policies they invoked. In our case there are a number of excessive measures, particularly in relation to construction but in the main they did put the public first even if it cost a lot of money.

One thing that was very clear from the outset is that no country had a proper pandemic plan of any shape or size and that is something that needs to be rectified. We can learn a lot from the experience of the last two years.

BTW due process refers to a legal process. NPHET were legally created under the authority of the MoH. There was nothing underhand about it. I think there are questions in relation to how it was allowed to position itself at times and we will not get anything with that type of power setup again.

Finally, I find it quite absurd that people want to hold individuals responsible to account because of a virus. The virus is what killed people or put them in hospital, not the main decisions that were made by authorities. They did so in reasonably good faith even if some people felt a need to go absolutely ballistic about them.

Literally a day later just like the government and the CMO said, the cases would start dropping. Comical

So is it expected that the media will go away quietly now that they didn't get what they wanted?

They were really something else this past week. Claire B was on a roll yesterday when I had to endure her where I was. Even had celebrity Luke O'Neill on to talk about Ukraine! Is there anything these people wouldn't do for a bit of limelight? The old favorites were all trotted out, with them hoping they would say we need masks, bring back masks.

Close thread :D

So today marks the third day in a row of a drop in hospital cases and the 6th day in a row in which general cases dropped. This proves that waves of COVID will peak and decrease despite there being no restrictions. Proving that they are not needed

We have been v careful all thru the pandemic.. not had covid yet.. starting to feel we are in the minority.. but we have started socialising more.. went to a big event last week, twas fab - great to mingle with strangers again.. been to a pub, the theatre.. out for coffee.. have met a few new people.. such joy

I liked the down time that the pandemic brought about - would obv prefer if it hadn't taken a virus to bring that about though..

But now really enjoying meeting people again - sharing ideas.. in person.. I'm a real people's person.. long may it last..

I know the pandemic isn't over but I think we have to learn to live with it now.. I'm still being cautious to an extent - wearing mask in supermarket.. won't go to a night club just yet... but living more, none the less

Yes because that's an EU mandate

It's a EU recommendation, it's not a mandate like the federal one in the US.

Many European airlines have dropped mandatory mask rules recently, including BA, Swiss, KLM, SAS, Norwegian, LOT, TUI, easyJet and Jet2. In most cases masks are still mandatory where they are required by the destination country. Norwegian don't require masks regardless of the country's rules so it's very much up to the interpretation of the airline currently. SAS only require masks to Italy on their European flights, despite other countries they fly to like Spain, France and Germany still mandating masks on public transport.

Only one of the current incumbents, FG, was in power, as we'd just had an election and no agreement had been reached.

Not a peep about Covid for the 2 hours I was listening to Drivetime on RTE this evening. One can only conclude that there is no more blood to be drawn from this particular stone. It's finally over!