Does anyone have a subscription and can copy up the full article? It appears to agree with my position and bias on this subject
Irelandâs covid policy is like a broken rollercoaster. Weâve gone from freewheeling to grinding halt and back again â on repeat â for most of this year.
Itâs an extreme sport, and âmentally exhaustingâ, as Taoiseach MicheĂĄl Martin conceded at the end of last month as he prepared to lift us out of the boring dystopia of Level 5.
The worst of it is: itâs not getting us anywhere, except back to square one. Itâd make you think of Einsteinâs wry definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
The Government backed itself into a corner with rolling lockdowns thatâd give you the bends: shutting down harder, faster and longer than anywhere else, before letting everyone loose and then being surprised when cases soar. A sharp rise in the virus is the only possible outcome of a policy that closed down the country and shut down lives from October to December, before reopening right into Christmas.
Now weâre about to head into a third lockdown â necessitating yet another one when that one lifts up. Nobody knows whatâs going to happen from one week to another.
Coming to the end of this most awful year of the plague, we are going to have to adopt some ambitious thinking and forward-planning in 2021. Stop the policy of extremes; the normalising of broken pledges that is slowly and silently wearing away at public buy-in.
Thereâs a sense theyâve lost the crowd with this sudden halt to the festive mood, when we were promised we could enjoy a meaningful Christmas, provided we were prepared to take the pain of the six weeks of full lockdown to get there.
We took the punishment â only for the reward of freedom to be snatched off us a few weeks after we got it, and right after Christmas Day.
Politicians can tell themselves people will understand in a pandemic; and Simon Coveney can explain on the airwaves how âthe pace of growth of the virus is ahead of expectations and we will have to respond to thatâ.
Yes, we know this thing is slippery, especially when you throw in a mutant super-transmissible strain thatâs so scary it makes us stop people from coming here from Britain.
But they still pulled out of a deal with the nation. We kept our end of the bargain; they didnât â and now weâre looking at shut-down restaurants and inter-county travel bans in its place.
Better off not to make grand promises you canât be sure to keep. It makes people feel theyâve been played for fools, and it erodes trust and reciprocity. For example, a basic of child psychology is that broken promises lead to disobedience and loss of respect.
Instead, a policy of assessing the situation as it unfolds might be more practical, reasonable and manageable. Donât shut down for a mad six weeks and become a global outlier â try four and see what needs to be done after that.
Tell citizens honestly at the start: weâll have Christmas, then see where we are when itâs over.
Also, we seem to have forgotten that a thing called âLevel 4â exists, instead insisting on the Billy Joel route and going to extremes.
Level 4 seems to suit the Irish when the virus poses a particular threat; keeping levels at bay while also allowing us to live a little. Weâre inclined to behave ourselves as well, glad of the bit of freedom and not minded to risk losing it.
Iâm anti-lockdown and even I can see weâre struggling to manage indoor dining and the pub setting, as Covid does its worst in winter.
Weâll need to get a handle on ventilation, and maybe a percentage cap on indoor customer numbers, as is standard in other countries.
Meanwhile, could we try Level 4 for a while, before we shutter businesses and lives? The complete closure of social settings is miserable and drives the virus into homes.
We need to start taking a leaf out of Chinaâs book, by the looks of things. I felt an unfamiliar twinge of envy this week looking at pictures of a wide-open Wuhan partying like it was 2018.
The epicentre of the pandemic is now party central, with packed clubs and gigs â itâs even launched a tourist drive.
What are they doing differently? Mass-testing in the millions. A small outbreak recently resulted in nine million people in Qingdao being tested over five days.
Why arenât we doing this, in Ireland, the UK and America? Why arenât we rapid-testing?
It would allow people to live while waiting for a vaccine that will still mean a return to normal is a long way off yet.
Because at this stage, Iâve had enough highs and lows on the Corona-coaster to make Professor Anthony Stainesâ radical alternative solution start to seem attractive: hibernate for three months until March, when we can âall go mad on St Paddyâs Dayâ.
At least weâd know the deal, and the party after sounds great. If Professor Staines can give me a money-back guarantee on that one, Iâm in.
Thanks for that.
The article is very accurate to the general feeling of people. Whether you agree or disagree with the lockdown policies people are sick of it. The promise of some sort of Christmas was keeping people together mentally. Rather than pointing blame one way or another, what is needed is the people who didnt have a decent Christmas for what ever reason are given something to live for over the next few months. Lockdown three will be darker than the last one.
How big did you expect the doses to be?
Rapid testing everyone, repeatedly, would surely be far more effective economically than the Lanigans ball of lockdowns. It also makes far more sense than a âzero covidâ policy.
In fairness, doesnât it have to be two shots three weeks apart? Say four weeks to cycle through the nursing homes and then four weeks again. Could be faster but not entirely unreasonable.
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Correct. 2 doses, which are 3 weeks apart.
Vaccinating those in nursing homes is down to begin on the 11th of January and the last of the nursing homes on the list to get the first dose of the vaccine is the 29th of January.
Were flying it 
Whinge whinge whingeâŚ
Mad that the first consignment has come in and theyâre not starting immediately.
They havenât even tried to give a token explanation as to why itâs sitting in the fridge for 4 days while John Bull and co are ploughing on with it.
John Bull?
Health staff working like dogs since March and cunts expect them to work Xmas & Stephenâs Day so they can go out for pints in June.
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I donât think (m)any people have an issue with the order of rolling it out, but if you havenât worked in months or your business is teetering on the brink, then I imagine youâd want the process to be condensed and as quick as possible. Whereâs the urgency? Mick Martin dampening expectations. HSE saying theyâre starting on 30 December. Why didnât they start today when they arrived? Weird.
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Who are they vaccinating on the 30th of December?
I doubt theyâve figured that out yet.
Did they even open the boxes to make sure the right stuff was in it?
The photo op seemed more important.
Claire Byrne probably.
I think deep down we all know that Donnelly and the HSE are going to make a complete balls of the vaccine rollout.
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