With Ireland’s planned October 22nd “Freedom Day” set to be cancelled by the government, the Taoiseach has followed NPHET’s advice and will be keeping Covid restrictions until at least – wait for it – February of 2022.
The hardest part about “two weeks to stop the spread” is the first two years.
An Garda Síochána has commenced a nationwide operation to ensure compliance with the Government’s latest coronavirus restrictions.
Patrols will be run across the country this weekend. https://t.co/pwzegXlZ4f
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) March 27, 2020
As reported by the Irish Times:
“A revised reopening plan has been unveiled by Ministers which will see…the retention of public health measures until at least February 2022.”
I’m old enough to remember when we were told restrictions would be unwound in Spring 2021 after all the vulnerable were vaccinated #nphet #covid https://t.co/5RdU2ljE0M
— Kieran Cuddihy (@kierancuddihy) October 19, 2021
Note how we were told with such ironclad certainty that the digital cert would be a short-term, temporary, emergency measure. Back in July, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar even said that it would only last “a number of weeks.”
The Tánaiste says he hopes that people don't see the reopening of indoor hospitality – for fully vaccinated people – as discrimination. He says that it is a public health measure and will only last a number of weeks | https://t.co/Rm6LXv63dA pic.twitter.com/G4icCq2KkL
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 12, 2021
And yet here we are, extending it yet again. The “conspiracy theorists” have once more been vindicated.
By the time February rolls around, this discriminatory regime will have been in place for around 8 months since Leo’s “number of weeks” that he promised began.
To this government, “2 weeks” means 2 years, and “a number of weeks” means 8 months at least. God help you if you’re hanging out with Leo or Micheál and they say “I’ll be back in a minute” – you’ll be there for a bloody fortnight.
The decision to extend this policy was, of course, as always, based on the advice of Tony Holohan (Peace Be Upon Him) and the infallible minds at NPHET – a.k.a. the real government of Ireland.
The Taoiseach has said the measures announced today will stay in place until February, under a recommendation from NPHET.
Micheál Martin said the key point NPHET is making is that the protective measures include masks, hygiene and social distancing where appropriate. pic.twitter.com/2PG6Hsvk6K— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 19, 2021
This is the same modelling team who, on the 1st of September, predicted that cases would likely peak in mid-October.
https://twitter.com/Ben_Scallan/status/1450455624341393417
Then, on the 15th of September, Holohan said Ireland was on track to get rid of all remaining Covid restrictions.
The Chief Medical Officer says Ireland is on track to lift COVID-19 restrictions in October. https://t.co/kCWYhsPdtb
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) September 15, 2021
Then, on the 5th of October – a mere 2 weeks ago – they said Ireland was close to suppressing the virus.
Ireland seems to be coming "close to suppressing" Covid-19, Professor Philip Nolan has said https://t.co/mnGmuvxZoL
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) October 5, 2021
And now, here they are, panicking and calling to extend the restrictions for another 3 to 4 months.
Just add it to the Everest-like pile of bad NPHET predictions. If anyone knows what sports teams Tony Holohan bets on let me know so I can save my money.
It’s a wonder these lads aren’t permanently in a neck brace from whiplash, with all the abrupt u-turns and all. It’s hard to imagine how they even hold a pen steady to do modelling work under all those intense g-forces from flailing around.
Regardless, we’re now facing into another winter, and, if seasonality proves a reality once again, cases will explode next January just as they did this past January.
https://twitter.com/Ben_Scallan/status/1450466030615244824
What’s more, we have health officials warning about how vaccine protection is already starting to fade.
Pfizer, AstraZeneca Covid vaccine protection wanes within six months, study finds https://t.co/EoWtVOySaY
— Irish Times Business (@IrishTimesBiz) August 25, 2021
Covid-19: Vaccine defence fading but other factors influence risk https://t.co/n3V4bzjZeN
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) August 27, 2021
What that means is, there’s a very reasonable chance that by the time February comes around, we could just be coming out of a brutal December/January in terms of case numbers, hospitalisations and maybe even deaths, and re-opening will seem unthinkable.
This means we could be looking at April or May before the government decides it’s safe, by which point we’ll be rolling out boosters and it’ll be the vaccine rollout all over again. Groundhog day.
Our country is currently a clown car, and it’s being driven by mad people off a very large cliff. See you all in 6 months when the Sigma Gamma Yaba-Daba-Doo variant pops up and we get put into Level 50 lockdown once again.