China Coronavirus

[armaghniac]

There are now tens of thousands of people getting Covid each day. While the vast majority of these have no real problem if you have 0.5% going to hospital then you have a big number and there are 0.5% of people with other conditions where the addition of Covid would present them problems, plus there are still some unvaccinated elements. Presumably this will top out in the near future, but it is all a bit unknown.

[Cunny Funt]

Almost 900 hospitalised with Covid in the 26 this morning.

Thats bad, id love to see the breakdown(age, vaccinated, pre-existing etc). I think that's where this is ultimately going with future strategy, its a very tricky situation to balance right- vaccines v vulnerable groups v keeping people at work and in education.

Connacht hospitals has known outbreaks, the stays in hospital doesn't seem to be as long as previous waves though. As said already staff shortage looks to be the biggest issue for this month at least

[Itchy]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

[JoG2]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

Surely a wind up?

[Itchy]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

Surely a wind up?

No its not a wind up. If you'd spent 2 years jumping through hse hoops like I have had at work you'd know how important the idea of face to face is.

[Tony Baloney]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

Surely a wind up?

No its not a wind up. If you'd spent 2 years jumping through hse hoops like I have had at work you'd know how important the idea of face to face is.

I can tell you now if your passenger in a car has Covid and you sit beside them for 15 mins, I'd call that a close contact as you almost certainly now have Covid. You can have that advice for free.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/contact-tracing/close-contact/

You are a non-household close contact if you and someone who has had a positive PCR test have been within 2 metres of each other for more than 15 minutes in total in 1 day.

When someone tests positive for COVID-19, their close contacts include people they were in close contact with in the:

48-hour period before they developed symptoms
24-hour period before their test, if they did not have symptoms
It does not include people they saw briefly and did not touch. For example talking to someone for a few minutes more than 2 metres apart.

[J70]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

Surely a wind up?

No its not a wind up. If you'd spent 2 years jumping through hse hoops like I have had at work you'd know how important the idea of face to face is.

If someone is including face-to-face in government guidelines, then that is just stupid.

And if you're in a car, it matters even less. You're both in the same small environment, breathing the same air.

I wouldn't be relying on parsing face-to-face/side-to-side from a health standpoint.

[Itchy]

From another page on hse website. Face to Face has been in hse advice since day 1, stupid or not.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/testing/close-contact-variant-of-concern/

There are two main types of close contact - household and non-household

You are a household close contact if you:

live or sleep in the same home as a person who has tested positive
use a kitchen or bathroom in shared accommodation with a person who has tested positive
are a sexual partner of a person who has tested positive
You are a non-household close contact if you spend more than a total of 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with someone who had a positive PCR test. This contact can happen over a 24 hour period and you must have been within 2 metres of that person.

It also references PCR test not antigen even though you could be waiting 2 days for a pcr test.

[armaghniac]

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Bt48. Everyone of them a Fenian . West Bank Abú

[Sportacus]

Why bother getting one vaccine or even two? The booster isn't going to produce another head!

Because the  double vaccine clearly at this stage has worked against a seemingly more dangerous variant. Omicron doesn't seem as serious but that may change.
The booster doesn't seem to be needed if we look at the early data to keep you out of hospital. Nobody in their right mind would just take a vaccine just fir the sake of it.  If things change I'll get it. But for now I'm happy with 2jabs and immunity from my last infection.
Think that's reasonable and sensible. I'm very aware of pressure on NHS staff as priority atm.

What would need to change for you to get it?

Omicron makes people sick to the levels previous variants have

All the same, thousands of people are in hospital with omicron and 90% of those in ICU in UK are not boostered.  It seems a win win to me to take the booster to protect yourself and not risk being a burden on the NHS.  Every cancer op cancelled because of a non-boostered patient in ICU is a tragedy all round.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/covid-19-health-service-in-for-rough-two-months-but-should-cope-1.4768791


With early research showing the protection offered by boosters waning after just one month, for example, what role will vaccination play in tackling Covid-19 in the future?

[Hound]

From another page on hse website. Face to Face has been in hse advice since day 1, stupid or not.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/testing/close-contact-variant-of-concern/

There are two main types of close contact - household and non-household

You are a household close contact if you:

live or sleep in the same home as a person who has tested positive
use a kitchen or bathroom in shared accommodation with a person who has tested positive
are a sexual partner of a person who has tested positive
You are a non-household close contact if you spend more than a total of 15 minutes of face-to-face contact with someone who had a positive PCR test. This contact can happen over a 24 hour period and you must have been within 2 metres of that person.

It also references PCR test not antigen even though you could be waiting 2 days for a pcr test.

That's an out of date page Itchy

This is current advice:
https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/contact-tracing/close-contact/

You are a non-household close contact if you were within 2 meters for more than 15 minutes. You should be prudent in any event. As per the rules, and depending on vaccination status, no hard restrictions for non-household close contacts, so long as you have no symptoms and you test negative on antigen tests over a period of time.

My good mate caught it from a car journey of 45 minutes with someone on a Thursday in early December. He was informed he was a close contact on the Saturday and became symptomatic on the Sunday and duly tested positive. On the Friday, I sat beside him in a restaurant for 4 hours and didn't catch it from him. We presume it was Delta as too early for Omicron. So you can be unlucky or lucky.
(As an aside he's a fit 40 year old, double jabbed. Had a very miserable 2 weeks in bed. Worst symptoms being migraines and exhaustion. Also lost taste and smell, which he reckons is just about coming back now, 4 weeks later).

[imtommygunn]

https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o1

That's interesting. Title "Covid-19: An urgent call for global "vaccines-plus" action".

[Man Marker]

Jesus, trying to get definition of close contact from hse website and it is so poor.

One page says 15 minutes face to face inside 2 meters  another page says 15 minutes inside 2 meters (no mention of face to face). Its important as for example travelling in a car, you wouldn't be face to face.

It also says the other person must have a pcr test and doesn't mention antigen. Very poor from public health authority

Surely a wind up?

No its not a wind up. If you'd spent 2 years jumping through hse hoops like I have had at work you'd know how important the idea of face to face is.

I can tell you now if your passenger in a car has Covid and you sit beside them for 15 mins, I'd call that a close contact as you almost certainly now have Covid. You can have that advice for free.

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/covid19/contact-tracing/close-contact/

You are a non-household close contact if you and someone who has had a positive PCR test have been within 2 metres of each other for more than 15 minutes in total in 1 day.

When someone tests positive for COVID-19, their close contacts include people they were in close contact with in the:

48-hour period before they developed symptoms
24-hour period before their test, if they did not have symptoms
It does not include people they saw briefly and did not touch. For example talking to someone for a few minutes more than 2 metres apart.

I sat beside my son for 45 mins in the car at about 4pm on a Saturday, we didn't know he was positive. Test positive in the morning with LFT following symptoms. I didn't get it. My wife sleep the entire night beside my daughter (daughter had a sore head about 11pm and couldn't sleep) Daughter tested positive the next morning. None of us got it. Thats close contact. Fortunately it doesn't make an ounce of sense