Healthcare workers in Ireland have asked the government to reintroduce mask mandates because of a rise in Covid cases in the country. According to state broadcaster RTÉ:
Organisations representing doctors and nurses have called on the Government to reintroduce some measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine have called on ministers to revisit measures such as wearing masks indoors and in congregated settings and working from home.
The Cabinet sub-committee on health is due to meet, but right now there are no indications that the rules around masks will be tightened.
It is also expected that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee will make a recommendation in the coming days on when the fourth Covid vaccine dose should be administered.
Last night, there were 1,610 patients in hospital with Covid-19. 49 of these patients were being treated in ICU.
ICU numbers remain stable and around half of patients in hospital with the disease are there for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.
In the immortal words of a legendary Irish sports broadcaster, RTÉ is a shithouse.
What nonsense. How difficult could it possibly be for the national broadcaster to find out how many people were in ICU with a respiratory condition on March 30th 2015, 2016 ,2017, 2018 and 2019?
It would take minutes. God knows, they have enough researchers.
Why wouldn’t you publish the 5 or 10 year average for bed occupancy and patients in ICU with respiratory illnesses at this time of year?
Elementary, dear reader. The answer is obvious. An informed population is less likely to put up with such a relentless assault on civil liberties.
To be honest, the people of Ireland shouldn’t need the state broadcaster to point out the obvious.
There are five million people in Ireland. A mere 1,600 are in the nation’s hospitals with Covid and 49 of them are in ICU.
If Irish folks can’t determine for themselves that it’s utterly farcical to ask for public health measures based on those numbers, then there really is no hope for them.
