Itâll be grand the vaccine will sort it.
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Developing immunity takes time. What Israel is finding is that it takes 2 weeks after the first shot to get up to about 30%, so likely to be 4-6 weeks and the second shot before they get to whatever the final number is. There are many variables, similar to how people develop immunity naturally. If you start with the eldest cohort, the numbers will be lower, as older people have weaker immune systems.
The vaccines may reduce transmission, but are unlikely to prevent it, just like flu vaccines. Their important job is preventing serious illness.
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So are we likely to see something similar to the second wave? High case numbers but low hospital admissions?
RTĂ had one of their youngsters getting Covid stories a couple of months ago which was rather strange.
I am well aware that Covid has knocked the blocks off a lot of very young people who are super fit, they mostly donât end up in hospital but it has an impact for sure.
Lots of the others in hospital have serious underlying issues, including obesity. One of the young lads they described as âhaving no underlying illnessâ. He was in fact very very obese. Why the charade?
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It depends on how many people are vaccinated and how quickly, but I would think once the vulnerable groups are vaccinated then testing should be limited to those that are actually sick with Covid symptoms, and hospitalizations should drop sharply.
I am a very fit young person, I have been very sick two of the last five winters. I recovered and am flying fit again.
The same will be the case for any young people suffering with covid at the moment bar a few fat fellas.
As far as I know, our vaccine plan doesnât allow for the J&J vaccine being approved. If it does we would basically have an unlimited supply of vaccine from April onwards. That might speed things up considerably.
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RTE are doing well out of the pandemic. Former and future Taoiseach Leo Varadkarâs speech in Washington was one of the world watched things of the year.
Thereâs a good article in the Phoenix about it, creaming it. Iâll track it down.
Bit surprising but after they looked like they were going to be fucked in April, the Government Covid ad spend juiced the coffers.
I suppose the two main concerns with the pandemic is death/serious illness among the vulnerable groups primarily and the health service becoming overrun.
If vaccines prevent serious illness for the most part then both of those concerns should be addressed. Then theoretically things can be opened up again fully with the virus circulating in the community.
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J and J is the only one dose one yeah?
Ireland doesnât need to be unhealthy leave to the yanks that is where the profits are
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Sure almost every single person in rte is suffering the same stuff as most of us here. Everything closed, stuck at home kids off school, canât see family. Yeah Iâd say theyâre loving it alright. Thereâs some amount of shite talked here in fairness
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THE MEDIA Commissionâs investigation into RTĂâs finances was initially regarded as a crisis management exercise, but one of the great ironies of the pandemic is that it has managed to not only avert the crisis (however temporarily) but to enrich the station.
For most of last year RTĂ and director general Dee Forbes repeated the mantra that the station faced extinction unless its finances were rescued by an increase in licence fee revenue.
Interestingly, while 2019 rang to this catastrophic trumpet throughout, the tune in 2020 became more muffled as the year progressed. This was a direct and indirect result of Covid-19 generated revenue. Some at Montrose believe that even the less hysterical warnings issued in the autumn of last year were OTT, with the coffers filling up, station bosses did not want to admit their need for extra cash was no longer urgent.
As the first coronavirus wave swept the state in March/April of last year, RTĂ received an influx of state/HSE advertising, which compensated to a large extent for the drought in its usual ad revenue. The national newspapers could see the expensive advertising that RTĂ was deriving and complained to government via NewsBrands Ireland that print titles should receive the same which, in due course, they did.
However, with newspapers proving even harder to access during the pandemic and many people staying mostly at home, RTĂ found that demand for radio and television output â especially news and current affairs programmes â soared. Consequently, the stationâs advertising rate card returned to previous high levels and advertising demand actually increased. So, too, did ad revenue, naturally.
By the autumn, RTĂ had several increasingly lucrative revenue streams, with money from government/HSE and private sector advertising pouring into the station. Additionally, more than 25% of RTĂ staff were receiving the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (see The Phoenix Annual, 2020). Also, the expensive costs incurred by production of television entertainment programmes declined sharply as the usual projects were either dropped or significantly streamlined. Programmes like the Late, Late Show, for example, were not allowed to assemble audiences. Likewise, the expense involved in paying and flying in stars from abroad, and putting them up in five star hotels, was not an issue any more for obvious reasons.
The RTĂ executive that has benefited most from this transformation in revenue volume has been head of news and current affairs, Jon Williams, whose empire is now flourishing and bloated despite the doom and gloom generated by his boss, Forbes, in her three years as DG. So much so that RTĂ is currently hiring eight news journalists.
Expect some Orwellian dialogue as the Future of Media Commissionâs Professor Brian MacCraith gets to grips with Dee and chums this year.
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I take it back
They can go into work, meet their colleagues/guests in studio and have a few staff leaving drinks while all on full pay. I think they have it handier than the vast majority.
Being able to substitute in Luke OâNeil for Z List British celebrities has saved them.
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I donât disagree but itâs an entirely separate point to the one @Glenshane was suggesting the WHO were making.
Like go ride a bird? That would normally be a potential go-to solution but thatâs even curtailed on them. It really is fucked for them socially more than anyone else.
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It really doesnât. You might want it to say that and the rabbit-hole youâve clearly nose-dived into would tell you that.
It tells labs a lot of things which they would know or do already and thats about it.