Covid 19

I heard a bit on some news programme or other this morning that they are going against the advice of one of the pharma companies with their delayed 2nd shot strategy and there's a possibility that the efficacy won't be as high as it would be were the 2nd shot given within the recommended time.
Sure you wouldn't delay your second jab of lepto in heifers for fear of the same. It's risky out what they are doing.
 
Sure you wouldn't delay your second jab of lepto in heifers for fear of the same. It's risky out what they are doing.
Was thinking about this too. They have made a balls of covid , by doing this with the vaccine there could be a shitshow in a few months time. Also a waste of valuable vaccine if they aren't following the guidelines
 
I heard a bit on some news programme or other this morning that they are going against the advice of one of the pharma companies with their delayed 2nd shot strategy and there's a possibility that the efficacy won't be as high as it would be were the 2nd shot given within the recommended time.
Said to reduce it to 60 percent effective.
 
Fed up now. I know now after mulling over the announcement earlier they are hopeful that on April 5th we will go out of level 5 and not go back but the goalposts are constantly being moved. Only positive is kids getting back to school. Might be wine time
 
Fed up now. I know now after mulling over the announcement earlier they are hopeful that on April 5th we will go out of level 5 and not go back but the goalposts are constantly being moved. Only positive is kids getting back to school. Might be wine time
But the goalposts are always going to move. If the majority of new cases are UK variant then we are virtually dealing with a whole new disease. We are going to have setbacks - the Brazilian variant has to be a worry at this time too. Being realistic, we will be lucky to have family visit for be able to go out for a meal at Christmas. Its good to have the kids back. Let's hope it lasts!
 
Had rte 1 radio on in the digger when feeding yesterday. A woman rang in to say she came home from work to find a barber in her house cutting her son and 6 of his friends hair. I'd kill him
 
Speaking to a friend in the UK the other day. His parents, who are both in their 80s have been vaccinated. Great, they can now get back to heading to the shops etc... Doctor says they are not sure if the vaccine is effective for the new strains or if they could indeed pass it on so best to return home and cacoon just like they have been doing for the last 12 months. The vaccine is by no means a silver bullet.
 
Reading all this is getting to me. When do we admit that we aren't going to have total protection and just get on with life? They don't even know how many different variants they have cause they aren't testing to know. How many different variants of the Brazilian variant is there and how many other countries have their dozen variants. It's what viruses do!
When is enough enough that we just say it's ducked up but we've gotta move on and we can't live indefinitely in bubbles.
I've said it over and over again we aren't even looking at what happened just at ordinary people living their lives and accusing them of not behaving properly, instead of say "why the fuck did this happen, how could we not prevent it getting from China to Ireland? How do we make sure it never happens again?"
People seem to be all to happy to accept that being locked down like this ruining local small businesses in the hospitality sector not seeing family or friends or socialising, is an ok consequence for having market access to the EU, China etc etc which meant we couldn't control our border and still can't.
 
Reading all this is getting to me. When do we admit that we aren't going to have total protection and just get on with life? They don't even know how many different variants they have cause they aren't testing to know. How many different variants of the Brazilian variant is there and how many other countries have their dozen variants. It's what viruses do!
When is enough enough that we just say it's ducked up but we've gotta move on and we can't live indefinitely in bubbles.
I've said it over and over again we aren't even looking at what happened just at ordinary people living their lives and accusing them of not behaving properly, instead of say "why the fuck did this happen, how could we not prevent it getting from China to Ireland? How do we make sure it never happens again?"
People seem to be all to happy to accept that being locked down like this ruining local small businesses in the hospitality sector not seeing family or friends or socialising, is an ok consequence for having market access to the EU, China etc etc which meant we couldn't control our border and still can't.
Agree 👍
 
Interesting webinar 8pm this Friday dealing with this subject:


 
The only people stopping us controlling our border is our own government.

As an island nation they have decided that trade and travel freedom are important.

Every country in the continental EU closed it's borders last spring and are free to do so again whenever they want, just like we are.


There just isnt the political will to do it, and I'd have to say I doubt there's much appetite for it in the general populace either given the amount of people travelling to tenerife for dentists appointments either.
 
The only people stopping us controlling our border is our own government.

As an island nation they have decided that trade and travel freedom are important.

Every country in the continental EU closed it's borders last spring and are free to do so again whenever they want, just like we are.


There just isnt the political will to do it, and I'd have to say I doubt there's much appetite for it in the general populace either given the amount of people travelling to tenerife for dentists appointments either.
You seem to be forgetting the furore about ensuring there was no land border on the island during the Brexit chaos. You are suggesting therefore that we now implement one even though during the height of the troubles the English army and Irish army couldn't manage to efficiently police this same border. Otherwise you are suggesting that the border would be in the Irish Sea? That would send the unionists over the edge altogether so it ain't gonna happen.
 
Had rte 1 radio on in the digger when feeding yesterday. A woman rang in to say she came home from work to find a barber in her house cutting her son and 6 of his friends hair. I'd kill him
Been on the road all morning and on midlands radio they discussed the beauty salon in Dublin. They cited an interview done with the owner earlier this week. She has several employees who earn €25k+ per year and even said herself that she had a thriving business. She is on the lowest rate of unemployment payment because she was only declaring €11,000 per year. She appealed it and they asked for accounts from previous years and she had declared similar income. She's declaring that she was only earning €200 a week yet she's now saying that its not enough for her to survive on when the government are paying her. The radio show spoke about how many other cash based businesses are finding themselves in a similar situation such as hairdressers, cafes, barbers etc. where they under declared their income and are now paying the price.
 
Been on the road all morning and on midlands radio they discussed the beauty salon in Dublin. They cited an interview done with the owner earlier this week. She is on the lowest rate of unemployment payment because she was only declaring €11,000 per year. She appealed it and they asked for accounts from previous years and she had declared similar income. She's declaring that she was only earning €200 a week yet she's now saying that its not enough for her to survive on when the government are paying her. The radio show spoke about how many other cash based businesses are finding themselves in a similar situation such as hairdressers, cafes, barbers etc. Where they under declared their income and are now paying the price.
Very similar story local to me with a man with a tourist industry linked business who had a very small turnover on the books but was cleaning up with cash, on the breadline now though and went very public with his plight, he couldn't do much about it really and not likely to be up and running again this summer either, as an aside, the monetary support he had received was far and above what tax he had paid in the last few years.
 
Reading all this is getting to me. When do we admit that we aren't going to have total protection and just get on with life? They don't even know how many different variants they have cause they aren't testing to know. How many different variants of the Brazilian variant is there and how many other countries have their dozen variants. It's what viruses do!
When is enough enough that we just say it's ducked up but we've gotta move on and we can't live indefinitely in bubbles.
I've said it over and over again we aren't even looking at what happened just at ordinary people living their lives and accusing them of not behaving properly, instead of say "why the fuck did this happen, how could we not prevent it getting from China to Ireland? How do we make sure it never happens again?"
People seem to be all to happy to accept that being locked down like this ruining local small businesses in the hospitality sector not seeing family or friends or socialising, is an ok consequence for having market access to the EU, China etc etc which meant we couldn't control our border and still can't.
While I agree the current position is far from ideal and has its problems, what would happen if we pretended Covid doesnt exist and all went about our daily lives with no restrictions?

Are you prepared to watch friends and family die from Covid simply because there is nowhere to go to get treatment? While we could say survival rates are high, that figure would dwindle quite significantly once hospitals are overwhelmed and drugs and treatments become unavailable. And we know that would happen. We were close to that situation in Jan with the restrictions.

What would happen to people that need treatment for other ailments?
Would people go to the shops, a restaurant etc. knowing that in doing so they are very likely to come in contact with Covid?
Would people go to work? We see what teachers done.
Would local businesses survive in that scenario?
Would peoples mental health be better in that scenario
What is an acceptable human life cost for the survival of a business?

I agree the border and quarantine of people coming into the country needs action. But its a difficult issue to keep all parties happy.
 
While I agree the current position is far from ideal and has its problems, what would happen if we pretended Covid doesnt exist and all went about our daily lives with no restrictions?

Are you prepared to watch friends and family die from Covid simply because there is nowhere to go to get treatment? While we could say survival rates are high, that figure would dwindle quite significantly once hospitals are overwhelmed and drugs and treatments become unavailable. And we know that would happen. We were close to that situation in Jan with the restrictions.

What would happen to people that need treatment for other ailments?
Would people go to the shops, a restaurant etc. knowing that in doing so they are very likely to come in contact with Covid?
Would people go to work? We see what teachers done.
Would local businesses survive in that scenario?
Would peoples mental health be better in that scenario
What is an acceptable human life cost for the survival of a business?

I agree the border and quarantine of people coming into the country needs action. But its a difficult issue to keep all parties happy.
We could break the cycle with complete lock down for 3 weeks total utter shutdown. Id rather have had that back in April last year than what's going on now. That's how we should have dealt with the fact it was here.
Then take control of our borders to keep it out going forward.
And I'm not going to feel guilty about the risks of living as I'm taking them on just like everyone else is. People are still dying and it could be worse as we give it time to mutate instead of allowing natural herd immunity to develop.
Once again somehow the problem your suggesting is me wanting to live my life and being willing to take the risk instead of the powers that be who allowed this in, and won't take the necessary action of closing the borders. Even if it was the EU as whole that closed up it wouldnt be so bad. Were talking here about Brazilian and South African variants coming here, of a disease that has restricted us to with several miles of our homes, so how the hell does that happen exactly?
 
While I agree the current position is far from ideal and has its problems, what would happen if we pretended Covid doesnt exist and all went about our daily lives with no restrictions?

Are you prepared to watch friends and family die from Covid simply because there is nowhere to go to get treatment? While we could say survival rates are high, that figure would dwindle quite significantly once hospitals are overwhelmed and drugs and treatments become unavailable. And we know that would happen. We were close to that situation in Jan with the restrictions.

What would happen to people that need treatment for other ailments?
Would people go to the shops, a restaurant etc. knowing that in doing so they are very likely to come in contact with Covid?
Would people go to work? We see what teachers done.
Would local businesses survive in that scenario?
Would peoples mental health be better in that scenario
What is an acceptable human life cost for the survival of a business?

I agree the border and quarantine of people coming into the country needs action. But its a difficult issue to keep all parties happy.
So I'll ask you some similar awkward question, if we keep getting new variants and question the efficacy of current vaccines towards those new variants, which leads to shutdowns. How long are you willing to live under current restrictions, 6 months, a year, or is it indefinitely?
 
So I'll ask you some similar awkward question, if we keep getting new variants and question the efficacy of current vaccines towards those new variants, which leads to shutdowns. How long are you willing to live under current restrictions, 6 months, a year, or is it indefinitely?
Im glad you acknowledge they are awkward questions. I dont think that anyone could definitively answer them. And I cant answer your question either. I am as fustrated as anyone with the restrictions and they are having a significant effect on my mental health. I dont know when or if I will stop following the restrictions. For now I see them as the best option.

Its easy look back at decisions and say they were wrong with the benefit of hindsight. Even easier when they are someone else's decisions. The government dont always get it right. I dont always get it right and Im sure you will admit you dont either. But we dont know what the outcome would be had they made the opposite decision.
We are an island nation that depend on international trade. We are not going to change that overnight. We have the unique situation of a land border with NI so sealing the border was always going to be a complex task. Decision makers need to bring the people along with them thats why its slow.

Yea, you are right if we had sealed the borders we probably wouldnt have the UK or Brazil variants here but how long could we keep the borders sealed? We need to get goods in and out or do you mean seal them only for non essential travel.
 
Im glad you acknowledge they are awkward questions. I dont think that anyone could definitively answer them. And I cant answer your question either. I am as fustrated as anyone with the restrictions and they are having a significant effect on my mental health. I dont know when or if I will stop following the restrictions. For now I see them as the best option.

Its easy look back at decisions and say they were wrong with the benefit of hindsight. Even easier when they are someone else's decisions. The government dont always get it right. I dont always get it right and Im sure you will admit you dont either. But we dont know what the outcome would be had they made the opposite decision.
We are an island nation that depend on international trade. We are not going to change that overnight. We have the unique situation of a land border with NI so sealing the border was always going to be a complex task. Decision makers need to bring the people along with them thats why its slow.

Yea, you are right if we had sealed the borders we probably wouldnt have the UK or Brazil variants here but how long could we keep the borders sealed? We need to get goods in and out or do you mean seal them only for non essential travel.
I think as a percentage of all cases, International travel represents about 1%

Its very hard seal the border if the UK want it open. What about all the people who cross the border for work every day?

Most of the cases are down to people not obeying the rules.

A gent I'm friends with on snapchat got covid, and 2 weeks later, was/is running a Shebeen.
 
I think as a percentage of all cases, International travel represents about 1%

Its very hard seal the border if the UK want it open. What about all the people who cross the border for work every day?

Most of the cases are down to people not obeying the rules.

A gent I'm friends with on snapchat got covid, and 2 weeks later, was/is running a Shebeen.
I realy dont know if there is data published on it. Is that 1% directly connected to international travel, as in that individual went abroad and came back. Or does it include outbreaks as a result of contact with that individual?

I dont know if its fair to say most cases are down to people not obeying the rules though. Possibly most "outbreaks" originate from an individual not obeying the rules. If one person brings it into a household no matter how careful others are its likely to spread within the household and possibly beyond.

I know one person who has been very careful working from home and not meeting others and has no idea how she contracted it. Her best guess is it came with the online shopping.
 
A better balance of the information on the news would be no harm rather than spreading fear among the nation. My mother would look at the news five times per day for as long as I can remember and now might turn it on once per day. We gave up watching the news regularly here last year as you would be awake at night worrying about the Covid bogeyman - that is no way to live your life.

I am getting to the point where enough is enough, I am fed up living like a battery chicken. Be sensible and go about your business. As for the vaccine I will not be at the front of the line for it. Will I take it, yes but only if I need to in order to get on a plane for work. Would I allow my kids to have it - feck that.
 
You seem to be forgetting the furore about ensuring there was no land border on the island during the Brexit chaos. You are suggesting therefore that we now implement one even though during the height of the troubles the English army and Irish army couldn't manage to efficiently police this same border. Otherwise you are suggesting that the border would be in the Irish Sea? That would send the unionists over the edge altogether so it ain't gonna happen.

tenor.gif


I'm neither forgetting, nor suggesting anything of the sort.

I said that it's our own government who have decided not to close our borders and that if they did there would be a limited appetite from the public for actually doing it.
 
As for the vaccine I will not be at the front of the line for it. Will I take it, yes but only if I need to in order to get on a plane for work. Would I allow my kids to have it - feck that.

I dunno, I reckon by the time it gets to the likes of us, never mind our kids, it'll be well tested.

I mean if the likes of @Arthur or @Bog Man don't grow a third arm from it we should be ok :)
 
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