These NPHET lads, and the politicians, are dug in with this whole lockdown/project fear stuff now. They have made decisions that have destroyed the economy and cant be seen to have been in the wrong so are doubling down now. They are now balancing the lack of deaths by putting more emphasis on some long term effects people have had in relation to the virus.
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Yeah it’s a good article. I’d say in terms of factors as to why mortality has declined that we can be confident of, it’s mainly the age and health of those getting infected. I know from just observing people here, adults from mid twenties up are cautious and socially distancing, wearing masks etc. and most kids, teens and college age don’t give a fuck any longer. Treatment has definitely improved so more of those that get very ill are recovering and recovering quicker. There’s also T cell immunity which might mean that a lot of the densely populated areas that were hit hardest earliest have some degree of community immunity.
I take your point on mutation. Coronaviruses actually mutate slower than other viruses because they have rudimentary error correction, so the changes they accumulate are typically minor enough. That said there are obviously mutations happening all the time, there are probably thousands of strains at this stage with little difference in terms of how virulent the disease is, the mutations are neutral in terms of impact. But you can still get an accumulation of changes from something called genetic drift which is separate from natural selection. It does appear that the disease is less severe in recent months, but it might be the accumulation of the other effects.
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I’d be delighted if I caught Covid19 now because if I leave it 5 years it will be twice as dangerous.
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I’d say there’s plenty other dangers lurking in the timeframe that are potentially worse than Covid.
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One Cabinet source said on Tuesday that Covid would be in Ireland for a long time and the Government needed to effect a balancing act between containing the virus and keeping the economy open.
“We have to be very careful about any notion of lockdown in Dublin,” said the source. “It accounts for one-third of the economy so it should be kept open as much as possible.”
Woo-hoo. We’ve got immunity from lockdowns.
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Certainly puts paid to the notion the lads in power don’t give a shit about rural Ireland.
@myboyblue and his crew were fired under the bus without a second thought
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Laois did our duty for Ireland
Limerick and the Union Jack waving dubs try to slip the noose
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Ye were like the lads sent over the top in WWI. A pointless sacrifice
Lock Limerick down to fuck too is what I say 
Lock away. We’ll be in Kerry and Clare before he finishes the sentence
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The messaging on this is all wrong. For Limerick they should instance the 1994 All Ireland. Limerick kept Offaly (the coronavirus) at bay (Locked down) almost the entire game. They took their eye off the ball for a second, the virus surged through the gap and won.
That’d have the fuckers back under their beds soon enough.
You’d have better success using a Munster reference in the City - Neil Back maybe?
Well if that is what they think they need to OIUTF and stop whinging about the COVID. TFK ahead of the curve again.
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A sacrifice for Ireland is never pointless.
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Remember FG parliamentary party were briefing in the media against Ronan Glynn a few weeks back? Saying the relationship wasn’t as cosy as it was with Tony Holohan. Glynn was making recommendations through NPHET without privately/informally running them past the government first to at least gain support for most of them. I think some of those measures from a few weeks back caused consternation, e.g. returning sport to behind closed doors. I’m sure the last thing FFG want is to receive a 12-page letter from NPHET firmly proposing the Dublin lockdown so there must surely be all sorts of representations and messages going back and forth. We need to break free from the medical junta.
Capital cities don’t get locked down. Just provinces and hamlets.
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I don’t see how they could lockdown Dublin again in practical terms alright. They recommended home working again for those that can but a lot of people and offices are ignoring that apparently…
I’m pretty sure the Dublin figures are still at the same proportion as they’ve been through the whole pandemic. They were lower, and a good deal so, about 4 weeks ago.
It’s probably just the working class areas that need to be locked down.
Fergal Bowers gave some numbers re Dublin on Morning Ireland. Of 1800 cases 1700 were picked up in a home setting, 79 in the workplace, 5 in a pub and 5 in a restaurant. What he didn’t say was whether the home setting was house party related or not.
They’ll have to figure out a way of banning people living together.