But there are other health issues with this emergency. They should at least be considering them in their responses.
I think level 5 was recommended to avoid the risk of closing down non covid services this time horse. Just my opinion.
Nope.
In practice, what European countries have understood this to mean is that when a sick person tests positive for Covid-19, the task of contact tracing is to find, warn, and isolate if necessary, anyone who could have been infected by the sick patient. āContactsā are considered to be anyone who has spent time with the sick person from the 48 hours before they developed symptoms, up to 14 days after the symptoms first appeared.
In contrast, Japanese and South Korean contact tracing goes further back in time to establish where the sick person initially caught the virus. This has led to greater knowledge of what situations the virus spreads in ā which differ from country to country due to cultural and social norms ā and can allow for more precise policy responses to keep the virus under control.
South Korea would go into the likes of meat plants earlier and test.
South Koreaās strategy is also a contrast with the harsh shutdowns instituted in parts of China or the tourism blockade implemented by New Zealand in an attempt to completely stamp out the virus. The Asian nation meticulously targets dangerous hotspots and then simply allows most people to lead lives and run businesses unimpeded.
SEOUL ā The polite man on the phone introduced himself as a public servant named Jinho, and he wanted to know: Was I at the protest at Gwanghwamun on Aug. 15?
Usually Iād be interested to observe a protest, even if not for work. But that Saturday, my focus had been on getting my life set up after moving to Seoul for my next reporting assignment.
No, I said. I was not at the protest.
Jinho checked his records. My cellphone number was on the list of people at the protest, he told me. My options: Take a free coronavirus test within 24 hours or ā he paused ā bear responsibility for treatment costs of anyone I infected.
I told him Iād take the test.
The call felt surprisingly intrusive. I knew how contact tracing worked and that it was one of the few effective tools against the novel coronavirus. Still, itās one thing to know you are subject to contact tracing and another to receive a phone call saying your life on Day A and Time B is now a matter of public interest.
When Jinho called, I didnāt remember what I was doing nine days earlier on Aug. 15, but I was sure it wasnāt protesting South Koreaās government. Later, retracing my steps, I discovered my activities that day werenāt exactly intrepid either. How much was I obliged to disclose in the name of public health, if the tracers phoned back? I couldnāt help but rehearse that conversation, even if only in my mind.
NPHET went back 48 hours on your contacts and that was it. If they couldnāt find the link, it was community transmission. SK will go way back to discover the source.
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whatās the source of that?
Except you are just making this up.
They are literally charged with directing tracing. Listen I do not expect Holohan and Co. to be screening potential tracers, but it is up to them to set out a rigorous tracing policy. That was to be South Korea, we didnāt get that.
Iām not sure why you are even arguing this - NPHET literally changed the policy in September. The problem was the timing of that, it should have been the policy since March.
Thatās what we were told we were building to. We were opening slower than everyone else as we were building the systems. Well it turns out we didnāt even really set out to build the system up.
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Poland & Czechia, along a lot of other countries in Eastern Europe, seem to be getting much harder hit in terms of deaths in the 2nd wave relative to the first wave. What has changed?
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss.
Have a bit of that, you weird corduroy trouser wearing bastards.
Hon NPHET and FFG.
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Government response has been poor. Trying to fit square heads into round poles.
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I should have added there is one caveat as Sid Lowe would say. The Oireachtas golfing society will be allowed continue.
Thatās fair enough.
Looks like the vulnerable avoided it first time but are hit hard the second time?
Compare and contrast to Spain which has seen record cases for 2 months but deaths and hospitalisations increased but levelled off quickly.
What would a team of 800 contract tracers set you back for a year? ā¬19m? This lockdown will cost us 3 or 4 billion. Madness
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Seems to be purely concerned with Covid. I believe it was only set up this year for that purpose rather than being a long standing advisory group.
Empire builders in the HSE will find a way to make them permanent pensionable employees
A lot of it does come back to the amount of absolute simpletons in our society too.
There has been two cases recently of Gardai carrying out their duties while awaiting the results of a COVID test. GPs are saying there are near daily instances of them ringing people with a positive result only to find the person is out shopping, work, etc.
The guidelines around isolation are very clear. Whatever about fines for healthy people not following lockdown restrictions, anyone who is awaiting the results of a test and isnāt isolating should be severely punished. The Government are making a balls of a lot of elements but so are the public.
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Whats right is right
I can tell you that all areas of the civil service are referring things to NPHET for views and they are saying no left right and centre. Or at least they have been over the last few months.
that journalist didnāt do due diligence.
this is from a document published on the korean governments website about their response to the pandemic
The scope of close contacts includes any individuals encountered with the confirmed case starting from 2 days before the onsite of the illness.
So either Korea were lying and done more than they outlined to other countries or that journalist has got his/her information wrong