@Roy Dowling: At “time of writing” I don’t have it.

@Rob Gale: how much are you willing to bet Rob.?,,,im interested…

@Markonline: everything! The whole lot

@Will Roche: ya do. Check again.

@Rob Gale: 20% positivity rate at the moment so your out by a little bit

@bmul: no. It’s at 100%. Check and you’ll see.

@Rob Gale: I’ll tell you this much Rob, you have a vivid imagination.

@Rob Gale: 12-15 age group are you? I hope so..

@Rob Gale: I’m not really interested in a ps4 and a marvel action figure collection…..

@Rob Gale: Bet 1G on it?

@bmul: 6538 positive from 13149 tests reported by the labs today. 7 day positive rate is 27%. Guess the high rate was from referrals rather than walk in tests as the previous day had 11,000 positive from 25,000 (roughly) tests and the day before 13,000 from 41,000 lab tests.
https://www.geohive.ie/datasets/f6d6332820ca466999dbd852f6ad4d5a_0/explore?showTable=true

@Charmaine ☘ Irish: I am 9!. I will reach double digits (AT LAST!) in April!!

@Great White Hope: bet accepted. One whole G! Done!

@Niall Ó Cofaigh: check again and you’ll see it is 100%

@TomTraubert: 90% of your comment is irrelevant and tells a lot about your level of intelligence but anyway, I’ll talk about the 10%.
The data coming from South Africa and the UK would indicate that this variant is much more infectious and much less severe, as a simple internet search to a reputable source will show you data telling you as much. This is generally how viruses go, it could burn brightly now over the next month and be burnt out, the hospital numbers will rise a little but nothing like it did with other variants.
You won’t see experts claiming anything yet as they can’t comment on early data, like the refusal to support masks early in the pandemic followed by their approval.
The above, combined with new treatments being approved could spell the end of covid (again, hopefully).

@John Black: Definately figures are much much higher. We’ve been trying to book a pcr test for past two days and it is impossible. There must be loads of others in same situation and as such wouldnt be in the stats.

@John Doyle: often people test positive with no/few symptoms, develop symptoms over the following days, gradually getting worse and may only require hospital treatment two weeks after getting the positive result. If you look back across the data the hospital numbers tend to peak two-ish weeks after the case numbers peak.

@TomTraubert: interestingly Masi has lots of time to be sacked and I said mercedes wouldn’t follow through with a legal appeal as nothing would come of it if they did.
If anything is wrong it’s either your memory or your Max filled delusions.

@John Black: I know looking at the number historically, would suggest that, but that is not how the science suggests the virus works. People who get sick from covid get hit quick. And also some of the hospitalisation numbers are for people who tested positive while there admission was for something else. Which would explain higher hospital numbers with higher incidence in the community.

@John Doyle: and you havve just proven what you know of this virus. By using your logic on the flu people end up in hospital before they catch it!

@John Doyle: that’s exactly how the science suggests the virus works, you look at the data and draw conclusions from it and the data is showing that it works that way. Now perhaps this new variant may have a different lag time but from what we know of covid, that’s how long it is.
And a lot of community numbers don’t even get tested (whether through test availability or not being bothered or denial they have covid or dismissing it as a cold), that’s why they say hospital numbers are more representative of how things are.

@Joe_X: that’s not what my logic says at all, you’ve obviously completely misinterpreted my comment, if you point out what you don’t understand I’ll explain it as best as I can.

@John Black: Mix up here, John Black, my reply was to John Doyle. And his issue with understanding the lag between detection and hospitalizations

@John Black: but, you can’t compare sa with us and also the UK is a different thing as well. Many people have said this and many of them are paid to work in this field. Look it up. I’m not going to spoon-feed you. But even if your headline news is true, doesn’t mean we’ll be done with covid by end of Feb.

@TomTraubert: yes you can’t compare us to them, but I’m not comparing us to them. I’m comparing the omicron variant here and there, as the variant is the same regardless of where it is, it has a level of infectivity and a level of severity and it’s the same here and there, that’s the data from which I draw. I’ve looked all this up before, perhaps you do need to be spoonfed though as you clearly haven’t don’t any reading into this.
Yes I didn’t say we’d be done by end of February for sure, I said hopefully, as the data is promising so far.

@John Doyle: UK says that the delay between infections and hospital admissions is 10 days, it used to be 17 days.

@John Black: If you’re 50% – 70% less likely to end up in hospital than previous variants surely it being more transmissible and having 3/4+ times the amount of cases will negate that so the hospitals still not out of the woods, time will tell. Pity its so transmissible and everywhere, we’d be golden otherwise.

@Paul Hedderman: no not short term anyway, that’s why I said it will be bad for the next while and then hopefully start to move on in February. I think the high transmission rate may be the reason why we get out of it, it will be a safer way of anti-vaxx people gaining immunity rather than the more deadly previous variants.
Hopefully with older and vulnerable people boosted and numbers of boosted people increasing the hospital numbers will remain manageable as they rise. I think we will see a peak in hospitals in mid to late January and then I hope by end of February we are starting to get back to some form of normality.

@John Black: if you’ve been so sad as to go back and check what you said you’d also have seen that I said I wasn’t a Max fan but a Lando one. Masi won’t be sacked, Merc acted like children and covid will still be here by the time we go back to Silverstone.

@TomTraubert: I didn’t check, I know what I said because my memory isn’t quite so poor as yours. Being a deluded Max fan doesn’t mean you can’t also be a Lando fan. Masi probably will be sacked and if anything Merc were quite reserved given what happened to them.
And I agree covid will still be a thing in some capacity but I’m hopeful we’ll have moved on with our lives by then.

@John Black: oh look at you being all pedantic. We can’t compare ourselves to sa because of the level of infections in that country up to the emergence of omicron (exactly the reason omicron originated there) you’re comparing apples and stones.

@John Black: my memory is fine, you called me a max fanboy which is more suggestive than just using the words Max fan.

@TomTraubert: it’s not pedantic at all, we’re all talking about the omicron variant and you’re having a discussion by yourself about stuff that’s completely besides the points we are discussing.
The fact that you’re so sure omicron originated in SA tells us all enough about your understanding of the topic.
It was discovered there as they have world leading facilities for dealing with and detecting viruses, however it likely originated elsewhere.

@TomTraubert: and I’m the pedantic one?
I’d still call you a Max fanboy and a Max fan, take your pick, it doesn’t matter

@Michelle Keeley: I waited up til midnight abs got appointment for a day and a half later in Waterford. Hope that helps. The slots seem to be released then but get filled up fast

@John Black: so, south Africa said themselves it originated there. Where’s your evidence to the contrary? Yep, you’ve got none, just trying to make stuff up to fit the corner you’re backing yourself into.

@TomTraubert: and, to explain that, you’re saying to compare our figs to sa and when you’re told why the comparison isn’t appropriate you then say it didn’t originate there. You’re the end of a bell mate.

@TomTraubert: they’ve actually come out and said that people should stop assuming it originated there because it was detected there first for the reasons I said before.
You’re inventing quotes in your head to keep up these delusions you have.

@TomTraubert: I’m not saying to compare our figures with theirs, I’m saying looking at the data from there, again inventing quotes to suit your argument.
And it didn’t originate there but that’s besides both our points, that was just an example of you being simple.

@John Black: Much as I’d like to agree with you it’s being naive to think this. Less than half of the world’s population is fully vaccinated. We’re two years in and there has been hundreds of variants and 4 or 5 varients of concern ie delta, omicron etc. If you multiply it out with even the most optimistic scenarios you’re talking at least another few varients of concern such as this. So in some shape or other Covid will be around for at least another two years. And the “experts” said with a pinch of salt and who would have thought we have so many professor’s in this country with an interest in getting on the news, but I digress all agree on one thing, that being pandemics in the current age are a 4 or 5 year life cycle.

@Jack White: it is optimistic but I’m just basing it on the data around the transmissivity, I believe that it will circulate to the point where there is a form of herd immunity where it is just a cold or flu as it’s milder as is but combined with the transmissivity it will circulate and give people additional protection.
Short of a full lockdown such as our first lockdown, I just think there’s very little getting away from catching this variant.
And virus life cycles are next to random so you can’t really assign a 4 or 5 year life cycle to it.

@David Bishop: Yes, I wanted to reply to the first post to point out that between 6%-26% of transsexuals are on the Autism Spectrum (the variation is due to studies that uses different criteria for autism, from less common severe/moderate to more common milder autism). They are often disabled.

Thrower, E., Bretherton, I., Pang, K.C., Zajac, J.D. and Cheung, A.S., 2020. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder amongst individuals with gender dysphoria: a systematic review. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 50(3), pp.695-706.

@Rob Gale: “being mean”. What a tool you are

@Sarah Lou: Free speech?

@David Bishop: I would counter that by saying, no, you are the tool. To support the statement I would say, you wanted so desperately to write hateful stuff on an article that you went to another article to complain about not being allowed be hateful.

@TheDublinGirly: I have been checking the availability of test appointments since before christmas and cannot understand how it is at at all ok that there have basically no test slots across the nation for several days – where do they get the numbers they announce and how can they be an accurate picture of our Covid infection status?

@Angela Lavin: ”go get a pcr now” – good luck with that plan.

@Rob Gale: go for a private pcr test?

@: go buy some

@Wiggit93: boots charging 6 euro per test yesterday and a box of 5 was 30 euro. Which is very expensive for many families in Ireland

@: flow the link on the text message again.

@: 4 of those 7 days were non postal days plus processing time to actually send them out plus delays in sorting depots and that the text message says expect delays during holiday periods are you surprised. You need to isolate when you are a household contact anyway.

@martin: lidl, 2.49

@martin: a few ppl I know have tested positive via antigen tests in the last few days. They could not get a booking online or even through their doc. So they went to there closest test centre and they were able to avail of a walk in service.
So u might be able to do the same. Just go and ask. If u really want a PCR test.
Thankfully ur feeling better, hopefully u are over the worst of if now. Fair play for keeping ur distance from close fam etc it’ll all pay off in the end when u know u have done what u can to keep those around u safe and sound.

@Colm Molloy: oh look, someone wanting to have a dig at ‘the powers that be’

How about this: people are the reason so many need testing. People pass it to each other, people aren’t getting infected by ‘the powers that be’ fgs.

@Joe_X: so they’re taking up slots needed people who actually need to see if they have covid, so that they can travel?

@TomTraubert: I was referring to the structure set up to serve the people.
You are talking about the people that use the system.
2 different matters.

@Sam Harms: yes exactly.

@Sam Harms: Some people have to travel so on behalf of all those people sorry lad