China Coronavirus

[trailer]

Until a significant percentage of the population of any country is vaccinated you can't open up as normal. The age of hospital admissions has lowered and covid patients in hospital are no longer just the elderly.

While some posters believe covid is no threat to anyone under 40 the numbers who are currently in hospital would show this clearly isn't the case.

You can't expect any government to make any statement today on what they plan to do in a months time as things can change so quickly. You only have to look at what happened in Ireland over christmas to see that. At the end of the month the government will review things to see where we are and hopefully an easing of restrictions.

I'd say they are hoping that the figures will have come down sufficiently by mid February that schools will be allowed back.  I'd say that will be the only thing they will release at that point.  They'll give that 2/3 weeks to see what effect that will have and maybe look to a further release of low risk measures like outdoor sport.  This will be a very gradual process.  Everyone's hope/expectation is that this is the last lockdown.  If they release this lockdown too quickly the governments run the risk of having to tighten measures again and if that were to happen there'd be uproar.

I'd agree with that. I do have some sympathy for the government. They were in a no win scenario before christmas. They eased restrictions, people took the piss and cases exploded. If they hadn't eased restrictions they'd have been crucified by people/media and most would have ignored the restrictions anyway

That's just it.
We'd have ended up with a third wave either way.

The government was in a no win situation. Saw a poll last week. 70% in November thought the lockdown was unnecessary, then last week 80% thought the government didn't do enough. Myself included especially at the beginning felt the situation was over hyped. But the definitely the UK and NI executive got things badly wrong. The death rate is absolutely astounding in NI. I definitely felt towards October that we needed a strong intervention and what we got was political horse trading. The performance of the executive has cost almost half the lives of the entire troubles in just under a year.

[Angelo]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

[tbrick18]

Until a significant percentage of the population of any country is vaccinated you can't open up as normal. The age of hospital admissions has lowered and covid patients in hospital are no longer just the elderly.

While some posters believe covid is no threat to anyone under 40 the numbers who are currently in hospital would show this clearly isn't the case.

You can't expect any government to make any statement today on what they plan to do in a months time as things can change so quickly. You only have to look at what happened in Ireland over christmas to see that. At the end of the month the government will review things to see where we are and hopefully an easing of restrictions.

I'd say they are hoping that the figures will have come down sufficiently by mid February that schools will be allowed back.  I'd say that will be the only thing they will release at that point.  They'll give that 2/3 weeks to see what effect that will have and maybe look to a further release of low risk measures like outdoor sport.  This will be a very gradual process.  Everyone's hope/expectation is that this is the last lockdown.  If they release this lockdown too quickly the governments run the risk of having to tighten measures again and if that were to happen there'd be uproar.

I'd agree with that. I do have some sympathy for the government. They were in a no win scenario before christmas. They eased restrictions, people took the piss and cases exploded. If they hadn't eased restrictions they'd have been crucified by people/media and most would have ignored the restrictions anyway

That's just it.
We'd have ended up with a third wave either way.

The government was in a no win situation. Saw a poll last week. 70% in November thought the lockdown was unnecessary, then last week 80% thought the government didn't do enough. Myself included especially at the beginning felt the situation was over hyped. But the definitely the UK and NI executive got things badly wrong. The death rate is absolutely astounding in NI. I definitely felt towards October that we needed a strong intervention and what we got was political horse trading. The performance of the executive has cost almost half the lives of the entire troubles in just under a year.

I hadn't thought of it that way, figures are astounding.
At the risk of sounding political, I think it's unfair to blame the entire NI executive. The DUP exercised their Veto to get their own way and ride roughshod over what the other 5 parties wanted to do. What makes this even more vile, is that the veto mechanism is in place to ensure cross-community consensus, but the DUP use it to their own ends and have cost countless lives.
Everyone wanted to lock down earlier, cancel the transfer tests earlier....but the DUP seem to be at odds with everyone over the approach to take until it is too late.
IMO, they have single handedly done damaged to this region so badly over the past number of years in terms of Brexit and now Covid, that it will take decades to recover.

[thebigfella]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

What are you on about? No one has said that.

[dublin7]

Until a significant percentage of the population of any country is vaccinated you can't open up as normal. The age of hospital admissions has lowered and covid patients in hospital are no longer just the elderly.

While some posters believe covid is no threat to anyone under 40 the numbers who are currently in hospital would show this clearly isn't the case.

You can't expect any government to make any statement today on what they plan to do in a months time as things can change so quickly. You only have to look at what happened in Ireland over christmas to see that. At the end of the month the government will review things to see where we are and hopefully an easing of restrictions.

I'd say they are hoping that the figures will have come down sufficiently by mid February that schools will be allowed back.  I'd say that will be the only thing they will release at that point.  They'll give that 2/3 weeks to see what effect that will have and maybe look to a further release of low risk measures like outdoor sport.  This will be a very gradual process.  Everyone's hope/expectation is that this is the last lockdown.  If they release this lockdown too quickly the governments run the risk of having to tighten measures again and if that were to happen there'd be uproar.

I'd agree with that. I do have some sympathy for the government. They were in a no win scenario before christmas. They eased restrictions, people took the piss and cases exploded. If they hadn't eased restrictions they'd have been crucified by people/media and most would have ignored the restrictions anyway

That's just it.
We'd have ended up with a third wave either way.

The government was in a no win situation. Saw a poll last week. 70% in November thought the lockdown was unnecessary, then last week 80% thought the government didn't do enough. Myself included especially at the beginning felt the situation was over hyped. But the definitely the UK and NI executive got things badly wrong. The death rate is absolutely astounding in NI. I definitely felt towards October that we needed a strong intervention and what we got was political horse trading. The performance of the executive has cost almost half the lives of the entire troubles in just under a year.

I hadn't thought of it that way, figures are astounding.
At the risk of sounding political, I think it's unfair to blame the entire NI executive. The DUP exercised their Veto to get their own way and ride roughshod over what the other 5 parties wanted to do. What makes this even more vile, is that the veto mechanism is in place to ensure cross-community consensus, but the DUP use it to their own ends and have cost countless lives.
Everyone wanted to lock down earlier, cancel the transfer tests earlier....but the DUP seem to be at odds with everyone over the approach to take until it is too late.
IMO, they have single handedly done damaged to this region so badly over the past number of years in terms of Brexit and now Covid, that it will take decades to recover.

DUP and Arlene want to follow UK's lead as they are part of the UK. Unfortunately they can't accept they are on the island of Ireland and not in the UK. It's as if they're afraid taking an all island approach to tackling covid could get people thinking what a united Ireland would be like and that's their biggest fear.

[GetOverTheBar]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

I don't think anybody is saying "they work". There isn't anyone fond of these lockdowns in fairness. Just some of us hate them more than others.

They do, annoyingly, provide the greatest short term option relief and that's now when they've went from being the last resort, to the only as track and trace is dead, an epic failure.

This one has to work, everybody is kinda hinting towards this being the last one. At this stage, keep it closed until end of March. Do whatever needs to be done. I don't see any point now in opening anything (talking about us in the North) at this upcoming review, whenever that is. Just keep it closed, get your acts together and let that be the end of it when this one is done.

The vaccine is the only option now. Give them 10 more weeks. We should be.......please God, ready to return to "normal" (as can be) then.

[marty34]

Until a significant percentage of the population of any country is vaccinated you can't open up as normal. The age of hospital admissions has lowered and covid patients in hospital are no longer just the elderly.

While some posters believe covid is no threat to anyone under 40 the numbers who are currently in hospital would show this clearly isn't the case.

You can't expect any government to make any statement today on what they plan to do in a months time as things can change so quickly. You only have to look at what happened in Ireland over christmas to see that. At the end of the month the government will review things to see where we are and hopefully an easing of restrictions.

I'd say they are hoping that the figures will have come down sufficiently by mid February that schools will be allowed back.  I'd say that will be the only thing they will release at that point.  They'll give that 2/3 weeks to see what effect that will have and maybe look to a further release of low risk measures like outdoor sport.  This will be a very gradual process.  Everyone's hope/expectation is that this is the last lockdown.  If they release this lockdown too quickly the governments run the risk of having to tighten measures again and if that were to happen there'd be uproar.

I'd agree with that. I do have some sympathy for the government. They were in a no win scenario before christmas. They eased restrictions, people took the piss and cases exploded. If they hadn't eased restrictions they'd have been crucified by people/media and most would have ignored the restrictions anyway

That's just it.
We'd have ended up with a third wave either way.

The government was in a no win situation. Saw a poll last week. 70% in November thought the lockdown was unnecessary, then last week 80% thought the government didn't do enough. Myself included especially at the beginning felt the situation was over hyped. But the definitely the UK and NI executive got things badly wrong. The death rate is absolutely astounding in NI. I definitely felt towards October that we needed a strong intervention and what we got was political horse trading. The performance of the executive has cost almost half the lives of the entire troubles in just under a year.

I hadn't thought of it that way, figures are astounding.
At the risk of sounding political, I think it's unfair to blame the entire NI executive. The DUP exercised their Veto to get their own way and ride roughshod over what the other 5 parties wanted to do. What makes this even more vile, is that the veto mechanism is in place to ensure cross-community consensus, but the DUP use it to their own ends and have cost countless lives.
Everyone wanted to lock down earlier, cancel the transfer tests earlier....but the DUP seem to be at odds with everyone over the approach to take until it is too late.
IMO, they have single handedly done damaged to this region so badly over the past number of years in terms of Brexit and now Covid, that it will take decades to recover.

DUP and Arlene want to follow UK's lead as they are part of the UK. Unfortunately they can't accept they are on the island of Ireland and not in the UK. It's as if they're afraid taking an all island approach to tackling covid could get people thinking what a united Ireland would be like and that's their biggest fear.

That's the point.

Lazy analysis is...sure they're all lunatics (no laughing) up at Stormont but, as alluded to earlier, the DUP is the problem.  Other parties were sensible enough and were in agreement on a lot of things but the public got the view that it was a mess.  The other 4/5 parties were on the same wavelength.

Whether they were right is another question.

The DUP was/is the problem.  We can see this with the outworkings of Brexit in conjunction with this pandemic.   Their decision making on both are inter-linked.

[trueblue1234]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

I don't think anybody is saying "they work". There isn't anyone fond of these lockdowns in fairness. Just some of us hate them more than others.

They do, annoyingly, provide the greatest short term option relief and that's now when they've went from being the last resort, to the only as track and trace is dead, an epic failure.

This one has to work, everybody is kinda hinting towards this being the last one. At this stage, keep it closed until end of March. Do whatever needs to be done. I don't see any point now in opening anything (talking about us in the North) at this upcoming review, whenever that is. Just keep it closed, get your acts together and let that be the end of it when this one is done.

The vaccine is the only option now. Give them 10 more weeks. We should be.......please God, ready to return to "normal" (as can be) then.

Lockdowns only work when we are locked down. There is no point trying to blame lockdowns for numbers increasing after lockdowns have finished and "normal restrictions" have resumed. The fact this actually needs to be spelled out is incredible. Hopefully this will be the last lockdown, but it will depend on what we do after the lockdown that will decide that.

[seafoid]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

I don't think anybody is saying "they work". There isn't anyone fond of these lockdowns in fairness. Just some of us hate them more than others.

They do, annoyingly, provide the greatest short term option relief and that's now when they've went from being the last resort, to the only as track and trace is dead, an epic failure.

This one has to work, everybody is kinda hinting towards this being the last one. At this stage, keep it closed until end of March. Do whatever needs to be done. I don't see any point now in opening anything (talking about us in the North) at this upcoming review, whenever that is. Just keep it closed, get your acts together and let that be the end of it when this one is done.

The vaccine is the only option now. Give them 10 more weeks. We should be.......please God, ready to return to "normal" (as can be) then.

Lockdowns only work when we are locked down. There is no point trying to blame lockdowns for numbers increasing after lockdowns have finished and "normal restrictions" have resumed. The fact this actually needs to be spelled out is incredible. Hopefully this will be the last lockdown, but it will depend on what we do after the lockdown that will decide that.

Tthe mutant UK version of coronavirus actually kept on replicating during the pre Christmas lockdown whereas the original strain did not.. That is why the UK introduced further restrictions recently,

[trueblue1234]

Yeah we know it's a much more contagious strain.

[GetOverTheBar]

So the lockdown loonies are now saying lockdowns don't work.

You really could not make it up.

I don't think anybody is saying "they work". There isn't anyone fond of these lockdowns in fairness. Just some of us hate them more than others.

They do, annoyingly, provide the greatest short term option relief and that's now when they've went from being the last resort, to the only as track and trace is dead, an epic failure.

This one has to work, everybody is kinda hinting towards this being the last one. At this stage, keep it closed until end of March. Do whatever needs to be done. I don't see any point now in opening anything (talking about us in the North) at this upcoming review, whenever that is. Just keep it closed, get your acts together and let that be the end of it when this one is done.

The vaccine is the only option now. Give them 10 more weeks. We should be.......please God, ready to return to "normal" (as can be) then.

Lockdowns only work when we are locked down. There is no point trying to blame lockdowns for numbers increasing after lockdowns have finished and "normal restrictions" have resumed. The fact this actually needs to be spelled out is incredible. Hopefully this will be the last lockdown, but it will depend on what we do after the lockdown that will decide that.

That is where track and trace was supposed to fill the gap. However, anecdotally, I know of ones met up over Xmas, of course passed the virus to each other (all ok thankfully). Uploaded the status to the app and it did not alert the partner of one, for example who was not there and is clearly a close contact (she ended up not getting it, one of those strange Covid examples).

If track and trace is a busted flush, like it appears. We run the risk of another lockdown. It won't be the publics behaviour, (the vast, vast majority of people are behaving, we are being told we aren't and it wears a little thin with me) it's the nature of this virus and the inability of the West to actually get track and trace to anything other than a window dressing level.

[Smurfy123]

No a strong government would have stood up and said no restrictions will lift over Christmas. Imagine the plaudits they would have been getting now if they said we are not opening anything over Christmas
A poor run government
They are a mess each and everyone of them

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

No a strong government would have stood up and said no restrictions will lift over Christmas. Imagine the plaudits they would have been getting now if they said we are not opening anything over Christmas
A poor run government
They are a mess each and everyone of them

Agenda

[Franko]

No a strong government would have stood up and said no restrictions will lift over Christmas. Imagine the plaudits they would have been getting now if they said we are not opening anything over Christmas
A poor run government
They are a mess each and everyone of them

That's the problem though.

They wouldn't have gotten any plaudits.

The Julia Hartley Brewers, Angelos and the red top media of this world would be shouting from the rooftops about these draconian restrictions having ruined Christmas and pointing to figures saying there was no need for it.

It's the problem with any preventative measures

The idiots don't think they need them... until they need them

[Smurfy123]

Agenda what