NPR

Folk tend to forget that in Jan-Feb-Mar 2020 we had no idea what we were facing when covid was rampant in China and then in Italy

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:34 am

Folk tend to forget that in Jan-Feb-Mar 2020 we had no idea what we were facing when covid was rampant in China and then in Italy

I don’t think anyone at all above has forgotten or discarded this. I even explicitly mentioned it myself.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:30 pm Actually early on it was clear the spike in deaths in Italy wasn't that bad. It was also clear there was some major political shenanigans going on between the left and right local and central government in the country. Each accusing each other of under investment in the health services and letting the cameras in to illustrate their point. The plastic shrouded wards along with the welding teams out in Wuhan did for us all. It was mostly bollox and the early interventions killed more than it saved e.g. ventilation machines. The Chinese manufacturers of them must still be chuckling. Ireland is a great example there in terms of the world losing its mind. Covid blows up and the health advisory body says we need to get something like 300 ventilators. Within weeks some fucking lunatics had us on the hook for 3000 of the yokes. All either unusable or going to be unused. Unpicking the number of stupid decisions made would make for an encyclopedia moronicus. The worry will be if we ever have a proper breakout illness

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:01 pm

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:47 pm I can’t find the equivalent for Italy/Ireland. But this speaks volumes at the beginning.



Double the rate of deaths during the first wave.

Mentioned on cert...

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:23 pm There is no question it was serious for a period and knocked out a load of old vulnerable people. Did it warrant the response we got and was sustained? Nah

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:43 pm From vague memory, Ireland locked down harder than the UK, didn’t they?

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:51 pm

Ymx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:43 pm From vague memory, Ireland locked down harder than the UK, didn’t they?

Yep, earlier & harder.

We were under no illusions how fucked our health services were going to be.

The state's first lockdown in 2020 was the longest in Europe, especially for hospitality and retail.[22] It caused a severe recession[23] and an unprecedented rise in unemployment.[24] Infections and deaths dropped to low levels by June and restrictions were gradually lifted, while schools remained closed for summer break. Pubs that served food were allowed to reopen in late June. However, "wet" pubs, or pubs that don't serve food, could not reopen until September. Ireland had the longest closure of pubs compared to other countries in Europe.[25]

In October 2020, another statewide lockdown was imposed following a surge in cases, excluding schools.[26][27]

In early December 2020, Ireland's infection rate was the lowest in the EU,[28] and restrictions were eased.[29] There was another surge in late December,[30] and on Christmas Eve, another statewide lockdown was imposed.[31] This was soon tightened to include schools, and was one of the strictest in the world.[32] The vaccination programme began on 29 December,[33][34] and has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world.

In February 2021, the government imposed testing and quarantine rules on incoming travellers for the first time.

[35] Infections fell sharply, and schools re-opened in March. The lockdown was gradually lifted from May, but unlike most of Europe, indoor hospitality remained shut.

[36] Infections rose again in July due to the Delta variant but there were fewer deaths. Indoor hospitality reopened under strict rules, while vaccinations sped up.

[37] Despite Ireland's high vaccination rate, there was another surge in late 2021 due to the Omicron variant, with record-breaking cases being reported. Proof of vaccination or non-infection became mandatory to enter most indoor venues, but the government imposed another curfew on indoor hospitality from 20 December. Cases fell sharply, and the majority of restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing and social distancing, were eased in January and February 2022.[38][39]

As well as the major strain on Ireland's healthcare service, the pandemic measures severely damaged Ireland's economy, disrupted education and had far-reaching impacts on society, including politics, religion, crime, the arts and sports.

New evidence suggests little deterioration in mental health linked to the pandemic

Whether or not the covid-19 pandemic was responsible for a secondary pandemic of poor mental health is a question posed repeatedly by scientists, the media, and the public. The answer has been elusive, despite a high volume of research—sometimes of inconsistent quality that encourages the cherry picking of findings to match preconceived hypotheses.

The linked systematic review by Sun and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-074224) will help address these issues.1 The authors included only studies that assessed participants’ mental health both before and after the start of the pandemic. This means that the studies were not prone to selection biases related to the pandemic, at least at baseline assessments. The authors included results from an impressive 134 cohorts, mostly from high or upper middle income countries, looking at changes in general mental health, depression, and anxiety.

So, what did we learn? The authors found no evidence in the general (not high risk) population of changes in general mental health, except for a slight deterioration in symptoms of depression. The word “slight” is important here. Sun and colleagues used a metric called the standardised mean difference, or SMD, and found a deterioration in depression symptoms of 0.12 SMD after the onset of the pandemic. Formally, this means a deterioration of 0.12 standard deviations. Cohen, who invented the metric, developed it for randomised trials and estimated that SMD values less than 0.2 indicated a minimal effect, 0.2-0.5 a small effect, 0.5-0.8 a moderate effect, and 0.8 or more a large effect.2 This may be too simplistic, however, and values between 0.24 and 0.5 have generally been suggested to correspond to a minimal clinically relevant difference for trials in people with depression.3 Whether these cut-offs can be directly applied to general population studies, such as those in Sun and colleagues’ systematic review, is not yet clear.

Interestingly, studies with several follow-up measures during 2020 (during the pandemic) suggested a sort of shock effect on mental health at the beginning of the pandemic, which in most studies stabilised to pre-pandemic levels later in 2020 or 2021.45 Thus, the timing of assessments during the pandemic might have an influence on findings.

Accounting for period trends is also important: the reported minimal worsening in depression symptoms might have occurred even without the pandemic. Sun and colleagues’ study is unable to rule out this possibility as it did not include a control period (for example, repeated measurements at times unrelated to the pandemic). A few individual studies reported increases in depression, anxiety, and psychiatric hospital admissions that began before the pandemic.6789

Some individuals or subgroups might experience larger deteriorations than the population mean. The authors identify women as a vulnerable subgroup for depression, anxiety, and general mental health, although deteriorations were still minimal or small on average. Media attention has often focused on the pandemic’s particular impact on young people, but this is not born out by the present study: parameters of anxiety, depression, and general mental health did not deteriorate significantly in young adults, adolescents, or children. Future updates of this systematic review, which the authors will post online as more evidence accrues (https://www.depressd.ca/covid-19-mental-health), could usefully examine other subgroups, such as socially marginalised individuals.

What does Sun and colleagues’ review not tell us? First of all, it does not tell us why any deteriorations occurred. Was it the uncertainty of living through a poorly understood infectious disease, or linked to pandemic restrictions such as school and workplace closures, or caused by relatives becoming ill with covid-19, or the risk or experience of losing one’s job? Or might these deteriorations have occurred even if the pandemic had not occurred, signifying an underlying, but not covid-19 related, pan-societal problem? Further research is required to help answer these important questions.

Finally, while the present study clearly shows that we need not be overly concerned about the general population’s mental health in relation to the covid-19 pandemic, reported prevalence rates of mental health symptoms, especially among adolescents, are still concerningly high.101112 Pandemic or not, there is a strong need to provide preventive mental health interventions for those most at risk of poor mental health outcomes.

Covid-19 rules, isolation period to remain for two months
Bridie Witton

New Zealanders will still have to isolate for seven days after catching Covid-19 and wear masks in health care settings, for at least another two months.

However, the Government is seeking advice on whether people with a negative test can get out of isolation sooner.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the last of the Covid-19 settings will stay in place, but be reviewed again in June, in a Beehive briefing on Tuesday.

“At the moment the isolation period serves not just to relieve pressure on the health system and result in fewer people being infected, but actually there is a labour market incentive for this as well.

READ MORE:
* Will New Zealand follow international trends on Covid isolation?

“People with Covid-19 going into work potentially infects more people and more people end up being off sick,” he said.

Ministers had sought further advice on the issue of testing to return to work, which would be considered in the next round of potential change in two months, he added.

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 6:26 am Holy shit. I realise people joke about going to NZ is like going back in time but …

They are still isolating for Covid!!!

Covid-19 rules, isolation period to remain for two months
Bridie Witton

New Zealanders will still have to isolate for seven days after catching Covid-19 and wear masks in health care settings, for at least another two months.

However, the Government is seeking advice on whether people with a negative test can get out of isolation sooner.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the last of the Covid-19 settings will stay in place, but be reviewed again in June, in a Beehive briefing on Tuesday.

“At the moment the isolation period serves not just to relieve pressure on the health system and result in fewer people being infected, but actually there is a labour market incentive for this as well.

READ MORE:
* Will New Zealand follow international trends on Covid isolation?

“People with Covid-19 going into work potentially infects more people and more people end up being off sick,” he said.

Ministers had sought further advice on the issue of testing to return to work, which would be considered in the next round of potential change in two months, he added.

What to do if you have tested positive
You are no longer required to do a COVID-19 rapid lateral flow test if you have symptoms.

But if you or your child have tested positive for COVID-19:

-try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for a further 3 days after your positive test if you are under 18 years
-try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for a further 5 days after your positive test if you are 18 or over
-avoid meeting people who are more likely to get seriously ill from viruses, such as people with a weakened immune system, for a further 10 days after your positive test

How to avoid spreading the flu

Flu is very infectious and easily spread to other people. You're more likely to give it to others in the first 5 days.

Flu is spread by germs from coughs and sneezes, which can live on hands and surfaces for 24 hours.

To reduce the risk of spreading flu:

wash your hands often with warm water and soap
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
bin used tissues as quickly as possible

Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities.

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:49 am A hygiene health recommendation is a lot different from law!

On the same site

How to avoid spreading the flu

Flu is very infectious and easily spread to other people. You're more likely to give it to others in the first 5 days.

Flu is spread by germs from coughs and sneezes, which can live on hands and surfaces for 24 hours.

To reduce the risk of spreading flu:

wash your hands often with warm water and soap
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
bin used tissues as quickly as possible

Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:31 am

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:26 am "Freak"?

I think at this stage a lot of the people left with them on in Ireland are struggling with life as a whole. A lad wears one in our local supermarket and he stands out because it is a white cotton one gone a sort of stained beige with bits of jam and shit on it. It's remarkable but sure leave him at it

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

Grandpa wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:04 pm

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

I'm in the UK too don't forget. Must be a northern thing... still some wearing in hospitals, GP surgeries and as I discovered.. dentists (all the staff were masked including reception behind their big plastic screen) ..

tc27 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 1:00 pm Just back from the US (mid West).

No masks in day to day life but quite a few in airports and planes as you would expect.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:49 pm
Ireland about to give up on the masks in hospitals as research from the UK and elsewhere says it spreads more on surfaces etc.

Sandstorm wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 3:24 pm

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:49 pm
Ireland about to give up on the masks in hospitals as research from the UK and elsewhere says it spreads more on surfaces etc.

Link? Because the evidence we've seen everywhere for 3 years is it's droplets in breath that spreads it more than anything else.

Grandpa wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 5:36 pm

Sandstorm wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 3:24 pm

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:49 pm
Ireland about to give up on the masks in hospitals as research from the UK and elsewhere says it spreads more on surfaces etc.

Link? Because the evidence we've seen everywhere for 3 years is it's droplets in breath that spreads it more than anything else.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/h ... 24304.html


Covid spreads significantly through contaminated hands and surfaces in households, a new study suggests, as researchers warned too much focus has been given to airborne transmission.

It comes as researchers at St George’s Hospital, in London, also found that mask wearing did not help prevent patients catching Omicron in hospital, raising questions about policies during the pandemic.

In the first study of its kind, experts at Imperial College, the UK Health and Security Agency, and the University of Oxford monitored 414 people living with an infected person between August 2020 and March 2021. In research published in The Lancet Microbe, they found healthy householders were 70pc more likely to pick up the virus when it was present on surfaces or hands.

Nine in 10 people who had Covid on their hands ended up picking up an infection compared with just three in 10 of those whose hands were clean.

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

mat the expat wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:51 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

There is another wave here in Oz.

Also, catching Covid with an Auto-immune disorder/wishing to shield sick relatives doesn't make you a freak

You really are a bit of a piece of shit aren't you?

Guy Smiley wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:31 am

mat the expat wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:51 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

There is another wave here in Oz.

Also, catching Covid with an Auto-immune disorder/wishing to shield sick relatives doesn't make you a freak

You really are a bit of a piece of shit aren't you?

YMX is a keystroke away from buying right into the whole rabbit hole of conspiracy theory that leads to MAGA hats and tractor led protest convoys.

mat the expat wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:51 am

Ymx wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:04 am There is no mask wearing here. Occasional freak in the supermarket is all. Definitely none in the doctors surgery.

There are a lot of “just colds”, not that anyone is testing (or at least telling people).

There is another wave here in Oz.

Also, catching Covid with an Auto-immune disorder/wishing to shield sick relatives doesn't make you a freak

You really are a bit of a piece of shit aren't you?