China Coronavirus

[imtommygunn]

The measures put in place have only ever been half baked and now there is almost no way out of them.

On a note of the NHS in the north. There are currently ~170 give or take in hospital with covid and the hospital capacity is at 96%. The health service really is creaking here

where are you getting your stats? in ICU as of yesterday there were 14 beds occupied with Covid 69 as other and 21 free beds. in the general bed terms there were 118 Covid occupied 2624 non Covid and 119 unoccupied. so 14+118= is 132 in hosp with Covid. I stand to be corrected but thats just lifted straight from the dashboard. ive said it before and il say it again, its not the publics job to 'protect the NHS' its the government's job to properly fund the NHS and give it the resources required to function. the Covid numbers are not what has the NHS 'cracking here'

14 icu plus 158 inpatients. Last I looked on the dashboard there were 158 inpatients.

Yeah my point on the nhs was not really about us "protecting it" more how fragile it clearly is. It will only get moreso.  That's with or without covid. Some job the tories have done there.

[imtommygunn]

Currently 160 inpatients plus 15 icu and hospital occupancy at 96% according to COVID ni dashboard.

[GetOverTheBar]

The measures put in place have only ever been half baked and now there is almost no way out of them.

On a note of the NHS in the north. There are currently ~170 give or take in hospital with covid and the hospital capacity is at 96%. The health service really is creaking here

where are you getting your stats? in ICU as of yesterday there were 14 beds occupied with Covid 69 as other and 21 free beds. in the general bed terms there were 118 Covid occupied 2624 non Covid and 119 unoccupied. so 14+118= is 132 in hosp with Covid. I stand to be corrected but thats just lifted straight from the dashboard. ive said it before and il say it again, its not the publics job to 'protect the NHS' its the government's job to properly fund the NHS and give it the resources required to function. the Covid numbers are not what has the NHS 'cracking here'

Unfortunately we are dealing with years of underfunding, but that's not going to get us out if the hole now, unless we reducing hospital admissions then we are snookered. At the minute the government are using a sticking plaster (the vaccine) to halt the slide. Going forward though they will need to extensively fix the problems.

Be prepared for a rise in taxes, as there is no other way, other than private health care to fix the NHS

Don't think for one second the privatisation of the NHS won't be pushed massively in a year...two....

[JoG2]

I can see an anti lockdown protest being hijacked by an anti irish seaborder element and what other eejits feel the need to get involved. They are happening regularly enough down South - it's probably only a matter of time before one comes our way.

How could an anti-lockdown demo be "hijacked" by eejits when such demos are by definition eejitry?

So anyone that has had enough of lockdown is an eejit now? Good man.

Huge difference between someone having enough of lockdowns and someone out protesting about lockdowns.

I can't blame anyone who is protesting against these draconian lockdowns. The governments disgraceful handling of easing restrictions and abysmal vaccine rollout (in the free state) are fuelling the fire.

Well, we defer greatly on how we think our fellow men / woman should be behaving atm.

[JoG2]

I can see an anti lockdown protest being hijacked by an anti irish seaborder element and what other eejits feel the need to get involved. They are happening regularly enough down South - it's probably only a matter of time before one comes our way.

How could an anti-lockdown demo be "hijacked" by eejits when such demos are by definition eejitry?

So anyone that has had enough of lockdown is an eejit now? Good man.

Huge difference between someone having enough of lockdowns and someone out protesting about lockdowns.

Normally I would agree, but unfortunately this working from home / furlough seems to be having an effect on people's minds negatively.

I know normal minded people about a year ago now full on conspiracy theorists, they have obviously picked it up sitting at home bored or gotten so frustrated they believe it now.

Fella I would have considered straight down the middle, happy go lucky. Now he's off to these marches all over Ireland and it's being paid for by Her Majesty claiming a great reset and the like.

Absolutely, plenty of people way way down that rabbit hole

[themac_23]

Currently 160 inpatients plus 15 icu and hospital occupancy at 96% according to COVID ni dashboard.

I see your logic there you've taken the 160 by admissions, if you look at note 3 it says that it includes people who have been admitted for other reasons but subsequently tested positive for Covid.

if you look at the heading for general bed capacity it gives a better breakdown, 116 Covid occupied beds 2636 other, 83 awaiting admission = 2835 which is 96% of the 2961 available. so in percentage terms Covid is taking 5% of beds in hospitals at the minute. even if it was the 160, its between 5-6% of beds. Again im not saying this isnt an issue, but when you look at the numbers completely bombing on a week by week basis and the vaccine roll out to the vulnerable being so good I think the hard questions need asked of the executive. they say these are hard decisions, well actually its the opposite, its easy to keep the status quo and keeping going along. the hard thing would be to put the work in to make things open up in a safe way to allow people who are really struggling to get a lifeline back

[JoG2]

I can see an anti lockdown protest being hijacked by an anti irish seaborder element and what other eejits feel the need to get involved. They are happening regularly enough down South - it's probably only a matter of time before one comes our way.

How could an anti-lockdown demo be "hijacked" by eejits when such demos are by definition eejitry?

So anyone that has had enough of lockdown is an eejit now? Good man.

Huge difference between someone having enough of lockdowns and someone out protesting about lockdowns.

Normally I would agree, but unfortunately this working from home / furlough seems to be having an effect on people's minds negatively.

I know normal minded people about a year ago now full on conspiracy theorists, they have obviously picked it up sitting at home bored or gotten so frustrated they believe it now.

Fella I would have considered straight down the middle, happy go lucky. Now he's off to these marches all over Ireland and it's being paid for by Her Majesty claiming a great reset and the like.

Take away the furlough and most folk will be out protesting.

No they would not.

[imtommygunn]

Currently 160 inpatients plus 15 icu and hospital occupancy at 96% according to COVID ni dashboard.

I see your logic there you've taken the 160 by admissions, if you look at note 3 it says that it includes people who have been admitted for other reasons but subsequently tested positive for Covid.

if you look at the heading for general bed capacity it gives a better breakdown, 116 Covid occupied beds 2636 other, 83 awaiting admission = 2835 which is 96% of the 2961 available. so in percentage terms Covid is taking 5% of beds in hospitals at the minute. even if it was the 160, its between 5-6% of beds. Again im not saying this isnt an issue, but when you look at the numbers completely bombing on a week by week basis and the vaccine roll out to the vulnerable being so good I think the hard questions need asked of the executive. they say these are hard decisions, well actually its the opposite, its easy to keep the status quo and keeping going along. the hard thing would be to put the work in to make things open up in a safe way to allow people who are really struggling to get a lifeline back

Yeah I would fully agree with you. I still would love to see what is teh data driving the decisions but Swann (who I don't mind generally to be fair) won't tell us it.. We aren't getting to zero covid and it's not going to get a whole lot better than this. Unless what they are doing is for example giving the schools time to bed in and then if that is ok then going on ahead with other things. The problem with those kind of things becomes that it would take ~2 weeks, or more, to determine that everything is ok so do you only take baby steps and if so then how long would it realistically take to open up? I don't want everything opened but cafes, gyms and hairdressers - smaller things like that - should be opened IMO. Anything I have seen and heard from most of these they have been very careful. Anyone not being careful should just be shut down on a case by case basis.

(Interesting point on your note 3. I guess that is why they are revisited retrospectively. I hadn't looked at the general bed occupancy and just the main dashboard.)

[armaghniac]

Anyone not being careful should just be shut down on a case by case basis.

This would be wise, but they need to hire a rake of inspectors and they do not do this. After opening any hairdresser or cafe needs to know that someone will arrive within a few days and that they'll be back closed if anything is out of place. Other measures might be mandated, like CO2 monitors to check ventilation etc. Some of these may be needed for quite a while so why not get them in place.

[imtommygunn]

Yeah that would be my thinking on it too. There are small businesses who have tried very hard on this who deserve to be given every chance l the Tesco's and the like should probably be held to some kind of standard which currently seems to be throw out some hand sanitiser, separate entrance and exit and that's about it.

[sid waddell]

I can see an anti lockdown protest being hijacked by an anti irish seaborder element and what other eejits feel the need to get involved. They are happening regularly enough down South - it's probably only a matter of time before one comes our way.

How could an anti-lockdown demo be "hijacked" by eejits when such demos are by definition eejitry?

So anyone that has had enough of lockdown is an eejit now? Good man.

Huge difference between someone having enough of lockdowns and someone out protesting about lockdowns.

Normally I would agree, but unfortunately this working from home / furlough seems to be having an effect on people's minds negatively.

I know normal minded people about a year ago now full on conspiracy theorists, they have obviously picked it up sitting at home bored or gotten so frustrated they believe it now.

Fella I would have considered straight down the middle, happy go lucky. Now he's off to these marches all over Ireland and it's being paid for by Her Majesty claiming a great reset and the like.

Absolutely, plenty of people way way down that rabbit hole

I'd say much less than 1% of the population have attended these ludicrous demonstrations and I personally don't know anybody who has any truck with them whatsoever

I think the amount of people who are into this stuff is well overplayed because they are generally extremely vocal on social media - and the traditional media love to give them a bigger platform than they merit because covering them generates clicks, sales and ratings

[RadioGAAGAA]

I know normal minded people about a year ago now full on conspiracy theorists, they have obviously picked it up sitting at home bored or gotten so frustrated they believe it now.

Yes... 'cos thats what governments do.

They sit in their ivory towers, stroking their white cats - plotting with No.1 on ways they can completely f**k up their economies, wipe tens, if not hundreds of thousands off their own savings/investments and make themselves infamous in history.

That's exactly what governments do.

[GetOverTheBar]

I know normal minded people about a year ago now full on conspiracy theorists, they have obviously picked it up sitting at home bored or gotten so frustrated they believe it now.

Yes... 'cos thats what governments do.

They sit in their ivory towers, stroking their white cats - plotting with No.1 on ways they can completely f**k up their economies, wipe tens, if not hundreds of thousands off their own savings/investments and make themselves infamous in history.

That's exactly what governments do.

You are replying like in some way its my view.

[Angelo]

Conspiracy theorists are parodied as nutjobs and it's fair enough in certain circumstance in relation to Covid - there's some batshit crazy stuff out there - but I've been staggered at the vast majority of posters here who refuse to countenance any criticism or contention of the official line or strategy.

There are a whole host of people here completely deferential to the "experts". If they say it is so then it must be. However ridiculous it was. Are all you guys still believing that we managed to wipe out winter flu this? No reported cases at all. Are you guys telling me that you actually believe that? There's countless examples of this. The whole thing about schools, kids and transmission - the messaging simply does not stack up with the data and the actions taken.

For me this pandemic has shown how stupid seemingly well educated men and women are. They are every bit as certified crazy as some of the conspiracy theorists in my view, they swallow every horseshit excuse and rationale that the "experts" roll out - no critical thoughts dare be aired, on probing questions dare be asked - if they said it's true then it must be true.

The way people have bought the variant transmissibility horseshit thrown out by the groupings (government and their medical advisory bodies) who are vested within keeping the virus under control. These groupings fucked up over Christmas, they made mistakes that allowed the virus to accelerate but hey ho rather than let the focus be on that why not blame it on variants?

[Louther]

See that old ground over there - let's all go over it again.