Naturally, the announcement prior to Christmas that the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna Covid vaccines were good to go came as a great relief to people who at last could see an end to the “new normal.” However, as Gary Kavanagh pointed out on this platform here, the initial optimism has been tempered, with many questioning […]
The concerning thing here is not the number of people in hospital, actually. 1,100 patients is a lot, but a modern first world health service should be able to cope with that. No, the concerning thing is this graph: 151 admissions in the past 24 hours, and the rate increasing at more than 100 a […]
At approximately this time yesterday morning, the question of “what to do about the schools” was remarkably uncontroversial, as these things go. In the face of an explosion in the number of cases, hospital admissions, and ICU admissions on foot of covid, the country had basically made peace with the fact that schools would not […]
Barring some extraordinary reversal of the mood music in recent days, the Government will formally decide later today to close primary and secondary schools across Ireland until at least the end of January. The earliest possible date for school re-opening, then, is Monday February 1st. This would mean that three and a half weeks (including […]
Introducing episode one of “Covid: Against the Tide”, a series looking at the unique challenges faced by Ireland’s SME sector over the past year, and into 2021. In partnership with ISME and the Edmund Burke Institute: 2020 has been an absolutely devastating year for small businesses all across Ireland. COVID-19, and the Government’s response to […]
A bit of twitter bait here from the Brazilian Foreign Minister: The pandemic must not lead to totalitarian social control or the abrogation of fundamental freedoms. Freedom is foundational to the UN and essential to human dignity. Brazil🇧🇷 stands for freedom. No to the “Great Reset” My speech at UN session on Covid:https://t.co/mrxDVKXCSa pic.twitter.com/nxrEagxeEq — […]
The HSE and the Government provide details of the daily number of confirmed Covid patients in hospitals as well as the number admitted and discharged in the previous 24 hours. The daily data for these measures are available to view at their website[1] since mid-March to early April. I speculated that the admissions and discharge […]
The Rural Independents Group has said that “the lack of a plan” in regard to Covid-19 “has left Ireland facing the toughest Christmas in living memory”. Speaking this morning, the leader of the Rural Independent Group, Deputy Mattie Mc Grath said: “My colleagues and I in the Rural Independent Group have spent the last nine […]
There’s “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”, and then, of course, there’s Irish Government advice, which could best be described as “locking Shergar’s stable door tomorrow, in case he’s stolen”. Like, this is quite incredible: THE HSE HAS issued updated advice for anyone who has arrived in Ireland from Britain since 8 […]
The podium is ready. Journalists are breathlessly chronicling every delay, and every rumour, coming out of cabinet. At some time after 1pm, the Taoiseach will graciously descend the staircase in Government buildings, and walk to the microphone, and the podium. Both major broadcasters will carry it live: Cabinet is ongoing and delayed as discussions and […]
I have not had Covid 19. At least, that is true, to my knowledge. Many people who do get Covid 19 have no symptoms whatever. So, it is possible, at least in theory, that it’s spent a few days in my system, and gone on its merry way. It is equally possible that over Christmas, […]
For about a year now, Governments and pharmaceutical companies have been working around the clock to develop a vaccine for the original SARS-Cov 2 virus, and that’s just been released, as you know, in the UK and the USA. The problem is that the new strain of Covid which has driven the UK into a […]