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LAST UPDATE | 20 Apr 2023
SPACEX’S MOST POWERFUL rocket ever exploded nearly four minutes after its delayed first blast-off in Texas.
The rocket, Starship, did not separate correctly from it’s second stage, which holds the rocket’s boosters, and experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly”.
The rocket was due to take off at 8.28am Central time (2.28pm Irish time) today but the countdown was stopped and held at 40 seconds due to multiple final-pressurisation issues.
Starship later successfully took off and at 8.34am local time (2.34pm Irish time) after the issues were resolved.
The hosts of the company’s broadcast said SpaceX will be working with local authorities to correctly recover Starship and it’s parts.
Quality Systems Engineering Manager Kate Tice, and co-host Spacecraft operator Siva Bharadvaj, said that today’s launch was to collect data which “helps inform and improve the future versions of Starship”.
Bharadvaj said that Starship will help SpaceX’s future missions to the Moon by taking vehicles and other important cargo for when the company plans to create a control-base there.
The rocket is 120 metres tall and is fully reusable according to Quality Systems Engineering Manager and broadcast host for the company, Kate Tice.
Tice said that the rocket is the “worlds most powerful launch vehicle” and is twice the size of NASA’s Saturn rockets.
The rocket is set to complete missions to the “Moon and beyond” and make many trips, with both people and cargo, to install Elon Musk’s Starlink services in the future, a public internet service which he provided to Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion.
The proposed plan is for the Starship to help SpaceX bring people to Mars, something which the company has been attempting to do for a number of years.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has sought to play down expectations for the risk-laden inaugural test flight, cast some doubt on whether the launch will actually go ahead today.
“The team is working around the clock on many issues,” Musk tweeted late Tuesday. “Maybe 4/20, maybe not.”
The US space agency Nasa has picked the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025 – a mission known as Artemis III – for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.
Starship consists of a 164-foot tall spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo that sits atop a 230-foot tall first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket.
Monday’s launch was scrubbed because of a frozen pressure valve on the Super Heavy booster and SpaceX needed to delay another try for 48 hours to recycle the liquid methane and liquid oxygen that fuels the rocket.
Musk had warned ahead of the launch that delays and technical issues were likely.
“It’s a very risky flight,” he said. “It’s the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket.
“There’s a million ways this rocket could fail,” Musk said. “We’re going to be very careful and if we see anything that gives us concern, we’ll postpone.”
NASA will take astronauts to lunar orbit itself in November 2024 using its own heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for more than a decade.
Starship is both bigger and more powerful than SLS and capable of lifting a payload of more than 100 metric tonnes into orbit.
It generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
SpaceX foresees eventually putting a Starship into orbit, and then refueling it with another Starship so it can continue on a journey to Mars or beyond.
Musk said the goal is to make Starship reusable and bring down the price to a few million dollars per flight.
“In the long run – long run meaning, I don’t know, two or three years – we should achieve full and rapid reusability,” he said.
The eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the “path to being a multi-planet civilization,” Musk said.
“We are at this brief moment in civilization where it is possible to become a multi-planet species,” he said. “That’s our goal. I think we’ve got a chance.”
With additional reporting from © AFP 2023
Good to see less than yesterday
@The Hidden Revolt: Without the number of test results received, this figure is not that guiding. Did they only get 126 results today, or did they received 2,520.. Did they receive 3k yesterday.
@Bain triail aisti: I’m sure the people it matters to have that information.
@Cynical: Of course they do.
@The Hidden Revolt: this is matter of life and death now! if young people or old people that don’t go along with the new rules to save Irish people lives ! will then then government must come down very heavy on law breakers.and I don’t care if civil liberties groups objects to them….saving lives are paramount!
@The Hidden Revolt: yes less than yesterday but numbers released earlier also
@The Hidden Revolt: with waits for tests now exceeding 4 days what’s the point in testing. The true figures are much higher
@Bobby wilson: how do you feel about the special criminal court, would that be a good place to line up the lawbreakers?
@GooseSkipGoose: they test they isolate, they tell you they’ll test you, they get you to isolate. There’s plenty of point in testing.
@Bain triail aisti: that’s a very good point
@Bain triail aisti: I know of three adults still waiting to be tested, two definitely have the virus.
@Darragh Brennan: definitely?
@The Hidden Revolt: Indeed it is Pollyanna…but also very misleading!
@Bernard Sweeney: not much pointing in telling people 8 days after !!!! At that stage the symptoms have either gone or the infected persons have done the damage
@Darragh Brennan: so they have an mild cold like most
@GooseSkipGoose: did you miss what I said. If you get tested you’re asked to isolate until you get the results. If you do what you’re told you won’t infect anyone. Simple really.
@GooseSkipGoose: self isolate until you get the test. Test test test tests the advice.
@Darragh Brennan: waiting for test results but definitely have the virus? You sound like one them there experts!
We are not powerless. The ability to slow this down is literally within our hands.
Wash them.
Socially isolate.
Support frontline workers from the healthcare professionals to the delivery drivers.
Encourage everyone you know to do the same.
Is féidir linn.
@Phil O’ Meara: Do a full lock ASAP. Be proactive.
@Phil O’ Meara: out of the 683 how many have recovered?
@Wheresmyjumper: as of yesterday 5 have recovered
@Wheresmyjumper: here is a very handy link. It updates at midnight every day.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
@Wheresmyjumper: 143 of the 683 are hospitalised with 12 in ICU. So 540 are recovered or have mild symptoms.
@Karl Mc Cauley:
Hi Karl, that figure has been the same for several days, hopefully it will start shooting up next week.
@Peter Cavey: its a live report, updating as and when numbers are shared. It’s been hard to watch the global number increase minute by minute
@James Bishop: what exactly do you mean by ‘full lock down’?
@Wheresmyjumper: they only confirm a person has fully recovered after 2 weeks have passed, even if the person perceives to have fully recovered they’re not counted until then.
@Bain triail aisti:
“143 of the 683 are hospitalised with 12 in ICU. So 540 are recovered or have mild symptoms.”
If true; then we Irish are indeed a unique people. They should clone our genes and spread them worldwide.
Downside: If timely and accurate (and it’s taking several days to get test results in Ireland when the Italian system reckon thier 12 to 24 hour delay makes test data largely ineffective) – then 540 with mild symptoms just means that at least 15% of that number haven’t developed serious symptoms YET.
Unless we have those super Irish genes!
@brendan fitzsimons: Ooops! 15% above should read about 8%
@Karl Mc Cauley: I’m reasonably sure the recovered number is higher. The family of 4 in Clare definitely all recovered and there was at least 1 in cork, I’d be surprised if they’re the only Irish cases to be recovered.
Really thought it would hit 200 cases today. Scary but hopefully we can do this.
Shocking the amount of people I’ve heard out about drinking at lakes etc
BAN OFF LICENSES from opening
@thenewguy: you think prohibition would help the situation? Didn’t work in the US, can’t see it working here!
@thenewguy: ban people from crowding together and implement it. Communities should police these gatherings too, rather. The staff depend on these jobs, if they can stay open and adhere to hse advice they should remain open.
@Paddy Cullen AIWS: f*** all works in the US. Different breed here.
@thenewguy: Some people do just buy a few drinks to drink in their own home. They’re not doing any harm
@thenewguy: people would go mad if the offies closed
@King B: the problem is I’ve heard of house parties going on, fights breaking out in echo hill the guards and ambulance had to be called. Now this is using extremely fine and thin layered resources. What other option is there?
@thenewguy: You “heard” something. Therefore people should not have the freedom to have a drink in their own home ? Do one !!
@Paddy Cullen AIWS: if there was prohibition, maybe just maybe my neighbours would not have had house party on St. Patrick’s day, drinking and playing music all night. I work in hospital, 8 shifts in a row, one day off , repeat. I am seriously annoyed at people who have no understanding whatsoever about what’s going on .
@thenewguy: There’s less for the guards to be doing now that pubs and clubs are shut, report rowdy house parties. People are still going to get together and make the best out of it though. Imagine the panic if they announce the off licences to be shut, not worth thinking about.
@thenewguy: close the lakes! Having a glass of wine in the evening is the only relief many of us get. Hope they weren’t eating as well or you’d be calling for supermarkets to shut!
@thenewguy: if you’re are all triggered and concerned by a few weeks without the bottle, maybe the virus is the least of your concerns.
@King B: looking at News on tv just now.at how young people are ignoring the warnings re distancing , if these young people are the future of Ireland , then Ireland HAS NO future.
@munsterman1: remember when the offies were just difficult to get to and the lidl got opened like a tin can to get at those lovely slabs of cans? Only snowed for three days.
@thenewguy: ban the offo?? Then we are in Mad Max territory.
@Irena Cepaitiene: you think people won’t drink if we introduce prohibition, the way they don’t do drugs?? The moonshine market would explode and put further pressure on the health system
@King B: they shouldn’t be getting together that’s the point. It’s tough but there’s zoom, Skype, WhatsApp video.
@thenewguy: do you not think the gap would be filled with black market and dangerous drink?
@King B: something like the Taliban ?
@thenewguy: No. Think we got triggered by some snowflake nonce demanding people should basically be banned from having a drink at home. Any why should people be banned from drinking at home ? Because said nonce heard something from someone about someone else having a drink. And not only were they having a drink but they were, horror of all horrors, having a drink beside the lake !!!
@RJ.Fallon: Yeah but what’s rearing them. It’s just that Ireland has a social class now that are just sc$m. Simple as that . Parents are dirt and the kids their dragging up are dirt. Put the army on the streets and sent the little bast@rds home
@thenewguy: people will to drink to stay calm. maybe bank drinking outdoor?
It’s actually good news. The more the better. Test test test. The more we find, the more people will isolate. The more who isolate, the less it will spread and less amount of people will die. Our numbers are rising because we’ve expanded our testing criteria.
@rosetheone: we might have expanded our criteria but we haven’t expanded testing. There is currently a minimum 7 day delay in getting tested.
So the true numbers are alot higher
@miju irl: Is it possible that by the time some people are tested they will be virus free and test negative?
@rosetheone: Remember, these people were infected over a week ago.
The incubation period averages 5.1 days, and then falling sick and then getting a test, that is then made public, takes another 4 days. These people were infected on average 9 days ago i.e. Tuesday March 11th. The figures we see are the state of the epidemic ~9 days ago, before any interventions were in place.
We won’t see any effects of social distancing, school closures, pub and restaurant closures etc., until after 24th March at the earliest.
@miju irl: 7 days is unacceptable, here’s a research paper that says that if test results are known with in 3 days and 75% of contacts are traced, we can then bring the outbreak under control. Anything longer than that wont work.
Kretzschmar, M.E., Rozhnova, G. and van Boven, M.E., 2020. Effectiveness of isolation and contact tracing for containment and slowing down a COVID-19 epidemic: a modelling study. medRxiv.
@David Jordan: So after 7 days infected people can test negative and therefore contact tracing won’t be done? Wow! Not good enough. Counties with higher positive cases seem to be high priority compared to those with less than 5 confirmed cases. There will be an explosion of positive cases.
@miju irl: did you get tested yet??
@miju irl: Where are you getting 7 days from? Our childminders son has a fever and a cough and was been referred to get a test on Wednesday evening at 6pm. She has an appointment for 11:15 tomorrow morning so not even 3 full days.
@John Mc Avinue: Depends on where you are in the country. People in North Tipp waiting 7 days.
Get the facts right.
We have only 255 critical care beds.
Latest National ICU audit (2018) shows that our current bed occupancy rate is 88%, upto 96% in some units.
6% of patients who gets COVID need critical care.
With 4.83 million people in Ireland, how can we cope up with a surge in infection?
You can do the maths.
This is why experts advise to do the social distancing, wash hands and avoid any kind of social gathering.
We need to flatten the curve in order to fight this.
Do your bits, we can’t afford to lose our loved ones.
Please be sensible and stay safe. ☘️☘️☘️
@Jinish Rajan: you had that locked & loaded for your 5 mins of fame.
Nice ..
@Rúraíocht:
Yes locked and loaded not for fame, but want to get it out there.
Still see people taking it so casually.
@Jinish Rajan: 2018 data is out of date. Bed numbers have been ramped up in anticipation in the last weeks.
@J: could be true, but please done think the beds are doubled or trippled.
The plan was to increase ICU beds to 430 by 2031.
Even if we have 1000, its not adequate if we have an uncontrolled surge of infection.
@J: The Head of Emergency Medicine was in Primetime last night , her actual full statement is covered in another article on journal here today …
But she made it very clear …. don’t get sick with Covid19 in the first place …if you do end up in her place ( LUH iCU ward) as she called it …. at least 1 in 5 you will die .. perhaps more .. she was very matter of fact!
She also re-confirmed we only have 255 ICU beds with 55 more planned by end of month .. that’s the entire country not just Limerick..
Her point , it’s not about ICU beds & Ventilators ..she made the point the vast majority of Doctors & Nurses have no experience of ICU care ..and it takes 18 months to train staff to man an ICU ward
So if you you decide to go the house party make worth .. it could be your last !!
@Jinish Rajan:
As you will have observed by reading these threads – some people can’t handle reality!
A week ago those now trying to talk down the numbers were saying that C19 “is only a flu”.
Fear trumps rationality; wishful thinking trumps cold facts.
@XvSv: I seen that doctor…and I remember her statements….but that’s not what got my attention. It was the look on her face, the look you see on the actors face in disaster movies when the asteroid is about to hit…. She also said Ireland had basically half the capacity per head of population that Italy had. So then she infected me with the same look… Cos if 50% of the population get this… Well I’m dead for sure. I have asthma, cold, diabetes and I suspect my heart is feeling the toll.
At least its less than yesterday
@Ray Jakans: you literally sound like your man off cherynoble there
Wow. We’ve gone into triple digits now. Please stay at home. Ok.
Stay at home we can ride this out…
Although the isolation is making paranoid,
Is Greta Thunberg responsible for this the planet, every country will make there target emissions this year… lol
@Paul O’Sullivan: yep. Already feels like the planet is getting a breather. From production and CO2 emissions.
@Paul O’Sullivan: the baby boom in December will be a result of people riding it out . Where’s my coat …. sorry I can’t go out just yet!!!
@Danny McCarthy: if you’re looking for a school place in 2025 make sure to register the name down from now.
@Optimus Prime: we went into triple figures yesterday.
@Bernard Sweeney: but we staying there? Was really hoping we’d come to 2 digits and the single. Can’t wait to read that news.
@Optimus Prime:
Let’s recap (from 4th March, 16 days ago) :
“First case in Ireland, Thursday last. Six days later five cases.
If that progression continues
10 March – 25 cases
16 March – 125
22 March – 625
28 March – 3,125
ectera, by
21 Arpril 1,953,125″
So far, the first three milestones have been underestimates…and even if Leo’s 15K isn’t reached by end March – we are heading for north of two million cases by 21st April.
Lockdown – and hope it works!
Otherwise the stats don’t lie….
@brendan fitzsimons: stop scaremongering. 2 million won’t get infected now. Social distancing etc will result in a dramatically lower number than this. Lower again if things are strengthened.
@Optimus Prime: parents need to stand up and be parents and keep their kids from congregating
@brendan fitzsimons: would you be a good boy and write down your maths, unless you’re simply lying and trying to make oit your clever. Remember people who comment on the journal are all experts…. in creeping the rest of the country out. You all need to quiet down, this is embarrassing.
@Dónaldó: What should be embarressing is folk here commentating without any clue about the concept of exponential growth!
And yes; lockdown/distancing/testing of the asymptomatic can all help “flatten the curve”.
But it needs to be made very clear what happens if no effective measures are taken.
I can’t see it hitting 15,000 or am I kidding myself ?
@James Quinn: if we do not make the mistake Italy made we should be grand.
@James Quinn: 15,000 is a projected estimate. If people act responsibly and keep to the guidelines this figure can be drastically reduced.
@Optimus Prime: Have to bring in the army and police and do a lock down as soon as possible. This is war and sarcrifices must be made.
@James Quinn: It’s taking a week minimum for people to get tested/results – so the number as it stands now is a snapshot into last week.
@Optimus Prime: I think Italy got hit like a tsunami they didn’t stand a chance … other country’s had more time
@James Quinn: if all the people on the island of Ireland along side two Irish governments in Dublin and belfast stick together and do what we should do! we can beat this, we are island of only 7 million people lets used this to our advantage!
@James Quinn: According to the projections, it could be more than double that, peaking in the middle of April at about 41k.
@James Quinn: I can see it hitting that and more. A 30% increase each day will see us hit 15,912 by April 1st. The average daily increase we have had in the last 7 days has been 33% which is even higher than their predictions.
@Optimus Prime: what mistake is that? The only thing I can see is that Italy didn’t fully understand what was coming at them, we have that benefit but what are we doing to change the outcome?
@Optimus Prime: should have stopped the Italian planes coming in two weeks ago .. we probably wouldn’t have half the numbers. Cheltenham also
@Peadar Rafferty: yes projected estimate without any of the social distancing measures implemented last week.
@Aileen Frost: the Italians didn’t bring it to Ireland, it was the Irish bringing it from there and once a virus is in it will unfortunately spread. That’s why the blame game is no good, it’s about stopping it now.
Just lock us down
Only 29% of people hospitalised are over 65. Younger people really need to cop on.
@Aido Yollom: Yes..odd wording.
Might be a better Public Health perspective to simply say “70% of those hospitalised are aged between 20 and 64″
Wash your hands. Stay away from other people. One person goes to the shop for food, this person uses correct social distancing. This person washes hands upon return. Don’t mix with other people, STAY AT HOME. if you own a teenager, keep them at home, no excuses
Varadkar predicted 15000 cases by end of March. We haven’t even hit 1000 yet and only 10 days left in the month. It’s either going to get way worse or he’s very bad at maths. Let’s hope it’s the latter
@Paul Daly: or it might be around 15,000
@Paul Daly: A 30% increase each day will see us hit 15,912 by April 1st. The average daily increase in the last 7 days has been 33%. This is slightly higher than their predictions.
@Paul Daly: If Leo said, it must be true
@Paul Daly: i hope he is scaremongering! we need be spooked to save lives!
@Caireann Rua: yes and we’ll be following that trend for a week then we should hopefully see the effect of social distancing etc.
@Paul Daly: 15,000 if we do nothing i.e. carry on as were last week. If we practice social distancing we shouldn’t reach that number.
Lockdown asap
Catching up with Italy.
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: let’s not start playing those sorts of games of comparisons right now. The last thing that’s needed is scaring people. It’s okay to be realistic but we’ve had 3 deaths this side of the border Italy has had 3,000
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: this is actually drop from yesterday! And remember these figures are a week old. before the government eventually enforced stricter rules on people behavior!
@Charles McCarthy: great, another one who just wants to be upset for the sake of being upset. Read my reply. Good luck.
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: let’s try to be positive! in the face of this nightmare that the island of Ireland are living in at the moment in time! even the world too!
@Charles McCarthy: Grow up
@Jake Kelly: Italy has 4,000
@Jake Kelly: 4000
@Jake Kelly: I never meant the death rate! I was just talking about the infection rate, with how the numbers are jumping up everyday it’s only a matter of time before we see 1000s of infections a day. The death rate didn’t cross my mind when I posted my original comment, I meant in general. Obviously I’d hate for anyone to lose their life to this virus or anything other than a NATURAL death.
I don’t understand why people on the journal love to jump into conclusions.
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: If so then why not choose China? The comment was ridiculous and came across as a weak effort to accumulate likes. We aren’t catching anybody, merely dealing with a crisis
@Seomra Ban: because Italy is in Europe. China is in Asia.
You tried.
Nice to see a little drop but can they please publish the number of people tested – these numbers are completely irrelevant without that – e.g. they tested more yesterday so hence the higher number yesterday. Also – we need to plan and try test as many people as possible, even those who now do not have symptoms but who had cold/flu/symptoms in past 2 weeks, and track how many had it previously. That is the only way to get the full picture and get on top of it.
@Spbeak: I don’t believe the current this can identify anyone who has had it and is now over it. Seemingly you spread live virus when your infectious, dead virus when your on the mend. When you’ve recovered they need to check for anti-bodies which would require a blood test, though there’s no accepted anti-body test at the moment. Got this from scientific stuff on the internet so I’m just rehashing other people’s theories.
Teenagers out today all drinking from the same water bottle.
So many still waiting on tests the last number of days. I understand the HSE are doing their best though. Stay strong folks, keep this at bay as much as we can.
Did they test the same amount of people as yesterday I wonder. Why is there such a difference between today and yesterday?
@King B: these tests were carried out 2/3 days ago. Tests take at least 2 days to come back. So today’s tests will be out on Monday.
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: That doesn’t really answer my question..
Did they test more people on Tuesday than they did Wednesday so in that case?
@Dalya Al-Tulaihi: says who?
That’s lower than yesterday. Could it be that this is in control?
Wish we had lock down. Starve it & provide health workers a chance.
@Rúraíocht: if it comes down tomorrow, I’d say we are winning and it will be an incentive for everyone to to keep going to the finish line… c’mon Ireland
@Paul O’Sullivan: I’ve a feeling it’ll be higher tomorrow, and lower on Sunday, it’s been that sort of trend.
@Paul O’Sullivan: youncant takenitnom a day by day basis. You need to look at the trending over a number of days. We still have too many people.on the streets and in groups. This is going to keep rising for several weeks yet.
People not staying 2 metres apart on footpaths and supermarkets today, no way is this gonna work, people aren’t taking it seriously.
@Paul: Dunnes Stores checkouts are not even 2 metres from each other !
@Laura Crowe: and that’s why they’re putting up glass protection and have floors marked with tape.
@Paul: that sounds promising. Always wondered why their employees did not have their legally mandated amount of space in the workplace. Look at the potential cost of that now !
@Laura Crowe: what supermarkets checkouts are to be fair. Was in dunnes today and at least they offered hand sanitizer at entrance and exit.
Get your kids in off the streets
Can we start publishing the numbers of people who test negative for Coronavirus and in a week or so start publishing the number of people who recover from Coronavirus. That way your not just scaring the public with the stories of how many new cases and how many deaths. Only focusing on the sick and dying portion of this crisis is just going to fuel public fear, panic buying and erratic behaviour. If you gave us something to be positive about it would go a very long way to helping people understand this situation and comply with it more
@Jake Kelly: the more you scare people the more likely they’ll be to accept the measures in place and future harsher ones. That’s basically what Boris has done with his madcap social experiment.
@Jake Kelly: they don’t test you unless you have symptoms, not even close contacts of confirmed cases . In fact they don’t even contact some of the close contacts . It’s not good enough.
There you go, lockdown in the making confirmed
Less than yesterday’s which would include the many many more tests been carried out, so this is good news. We know it going to increase and we cannot really prevent it all we can do is slow it down
I live in Oranmore where the vast majority of the citizens are behaving in a very responsible way. Most people while doing their shopping or walking the streets are observing advice on social distancing.
However there are a few groups of young men trespassing on school grounds and community pitches playing football. There’s no one to deal with this antisocial behaviour.
If situation is not dealt with, we will soon be in the same situation as Italy.
Orbie
@Richard Burke: You are asking them to change what is probably the habits of a lifetime. If their parents are like me they will have been encouraging them to participate in sports all their lives. Now it’s gone 180 degrees. It’s not easy for them. We never saw anything remotely like this, how would we have been at the same age. But I understand your annoyance
The tragedy of this is much of it could have been prevented by stopping flights into the country from affected countries. This wasn’t done apparently because Pascal O’Donoghue didn’t want to offend anyone. What about the health and safe of Irish citizens this should have been the first priority. Grow a pair Paschal.
@Paul Atreides: agreed once again trying to be best boy in the class and not offend anyone instead of looking after its own citizens
@Paul Atreides: And it is ordinary Irish people who will pay the highest price for the inept actions of not keeping this disease out of this small surrounded by water island,
Well done on the tracing/testing that is being done, on the face of it it looks awful but ultimately it’s isolating the infection…still to get worse before gets better , keep up the social distance folks!
Can’t see it hitting 15,000 or am I kidding myself ?
@James Quinn: Yes.
@James Quinn: still only at the start .its not hit and miss . This will happen. The 15,000 is not a target but a likelihood
It would be good to know the number of tests done, the number is fairly meaningless without context, I know people waiting for days for test.
@Thomas Paine: I know someone waiting 5 days for the results of the test . It’s not over once the test is done . They are very worried
@Mary Downes Montcho: if they are already waiting 5 days they’ll be grand more than likely.. Its all hype
Great to see no deaths.
Reduction on yesterday, hard to know if that’s a positive with figures so high…
@Cormac: it’s positive, I was expecting a lot , maybe these messaures are working , keep your distance
@Cormac: Figures for next week will be over 1000 per day. Following week likely over 2000 per day. Focusing on minor changes in day to day tallies, and trying to read something into them will just give you false hope and do your head in.
@Tommy Roche: Saturday and Sunday figures will be very important! government must come out now with strong punishments to anyone who breaks law. that includes young and old no discrimination in age!
@Tommy Roche: that far exceeds the estimates that don’t take account of social distancing. You’re saying that in two weeks we’ll have 21000 infected. Nope.
Teenagers out today, all drinking from the same water bottle. Boggles the mind.!
@Barney’s sister: Unfortunately they think that they are virtually bomb proof. It comes with a distinct lack of maturity.
I personally dont believe/thrust the results coming out of the North. Their numbers have been in the 6 to 11 range all week.
@alphasully: they are doing minimal testing in North. UK has really sucked in its response. Quicker unification comes the better for the whole isjand.
@Brendan Walsh: here here, it might cost us a bit more in tax but when it comes to situations like this an all ireland approach is more important
Not trying to oversimplify this but the choice of the younger generation is more green than drink , how many splits do you think are being passed between them even now
We need a lockdown
@SneakyShot_L.F.C: A lock in would be a better idea
Everyone walking the streets in plastic gloves is not hygienic as most look stuck with sweat to their hands and are worn touching everything . I see them getting in and out of cars wearing them . You can’t get the virus through your hands it is through your mouth nose or eyes . Food handlers in supermarkets all in them too who is washing hands ? Also if skin breaks down from sweat much more risky for all sorts of skin infections . Don’t touch face then Go home and immediately Wash hands with liquid soap and warm water forming a lather using friction to dislodge the virus from skin and do so for 20 seconds and your hands will be safe . The glove thing is done to self protect and neglecting others but it makes way more sense to wash hand removing the virus .
When they are doing 100s of tests per day, it’s inevitable that it will rise. It’s going to continue to rise until we we start treating it more seriously, and hopefully then we can start to see the numbers decrease and with recoveries from the virus.
Not as bad as yesterday but still to much hope you all stay safe
The country should go into lockdown now so we ensure we accelerate the drive down the number of new cases. It will be hugely beneficial in the long run. Government should act now.
And probably a good thing. Means we’re testing a high rate of the population.
Hi Leo where is 80% of our wages being paid by the government if you can’t work due to closures. They are doing this so people can pay bills and have jobs to go back to.
Virgin Media News should cop on. A “SURGE” in the number of cases today. Can they at least attempt some kind of positive spin on it, like the number is lower than yesterday’s. Obviously there should be no complacency but this Sun newspaper type sensationalist reporting aimed at shocking viewers has to stop. They couldn’t wait to jump to “11 armoured trucks in Italy transporting the hordes of dead in coffins to crematoriums across the country”. A bit of common sense wouldn’t go amiss.
Ooommfff
@Pól O’Giollagain: parents need grow a pair and stop kids from congregating
Does anyone know how long it takes to get the test done after your doctor applies for it
@Michael Ring: Prob depends but i know someone who requested it Thursday and test is Monday.
@Michael Ring: About 3 to 5 days.
@Michael Ring: depends on where you are. People waiting 8 days in North Tipp.
289 community transmission?! God save my country!
Still “only” 3 deaths, and “only” 12 in intensive care…
@Lesidees: Exactly.. We have hundreds of deaths each winter from flu.. Thousands globally.. This is overblown, will be over by summer
It would be helpful to know how many waiting for tests and how many waiting for test results. Applicants for tests on Wed have not heard back yet, no appointments given out, test days away, test results even further away. Contact tracing is pointless and will be much more time consuming with these turnaround times for testing.
If the minimum waiting period for swan test is 4 days & then it takes 3-5 days for results to come in, then are these not the figures from 7-10 days ago?
Plus how many people are waiting to be swabbed & how many have actually been swabbed & reported on?
Media failing, or not being allowed ask these questions on our behalf.
Watch yourself around petrol pumps is the latest advice. Apparently people are not being vigilant around them when cleaning after use.
@Dawn Tallon: I always use the gloves provided, can’t stand the stink of diesel. Diesel pumps always seems to be manky but not petrol ones. There’s bound to be an expert on here that can explain that.
Driving through Phibsborough after work today and because there was a bit of sun it was as busy as it would have been pre-pandemic. I hate to say it but we need a lockdown because there are too many selfish gowls in this country.
@Paul Daly: third option: He is taking into account the ones who are infected but haven’t been diagnosed yet. Kids hanging out at the shopping centre tho is driving me nuts. I feel like an oul fella just wanna roar at them to go home!
And yet the socially responsible parents still let their little super spreaders play on the streets.
@Graham Kelly: trying to give it to you..
@Graham Kelly: seen a rake of the little zombies down at centra yesterday hastleing the customers quing up outside and being complete little monsters…. When I was their age someone would have literally grabbed me by the ear and frog marched me home for the hiding of my life!
@Graham Kelly: seen a rake of the little zombies down at centra yesterday hastling the customers quing up outside and being complete little monsters. When I was their age someone would have literally grabbed me by the ear and frog marched me home for the hiding of my life!
I am still working in a factory, i know it’s a loss of money but i do belive everywhere has to close down. A lot of people don’t stick to the rules we even had a fella coughing and runny nose but he trying his best to try hide it. Work is no longer fun, it’s just total paranoia with a lot of people in the work force. Lack of comuncation, keeping there distance no having a laugh or conversation no more. It just seems every man or women to themselfs.. me personally am not afraid of catching it as i am young and healthy and i know i get through it but its who you pass it on to is the scary part. People who are old or a serious illness. I do think people and company’s have to stop thinking about money swallow there pride and shut everything down. If not there gonna be more people catching it everyday and unfortunately people dying
@Paul Atreides: And it is ordinary Irish people who will pay the highest price for the inept actions of FFG in not keeping this disease out of this small surrounded by water island,
People need to not look into daily figures unless there is a massive rise, yesterday and today’s figures is probably somewhat in the middle. We are in a pivotal place now and our destiny is literally in our own hands unlike many other European countries.
The Government need to step up and support very hard hit families!! The British government have just guaranteed 80% of an employees salary upto a maximum grant of £2,500 per month which is a far cry higher than €203 per week here and €300 per week odd if you actually have the virus… jobs are being lost by the thousands and the government expects people to survive on what is essentially what the current dole rate is.. absolutely shameful
@Jeffrey Corrigan: surprising as it might sound paying folks 80% of their previous salary, tax free I might add, is rather a lot of money. Money Britain could borrow, but we absolutely could not. Also you get the 203 euro if you are laid off…in Britain you only get the 80% salary if you remain working. But 203 euro is pretty stingy… In most cases that wouldn’t even cover rent.
By not isolating, you are effectively signing the death warrant of your granny, your Grandad and your Neighbour. You are completely reversing any efforts to contain the virus . Think about that.
Are they banning dogging ?
All because some muppet ate a bat….
@Vlad Eire: it’s assumed that Sars-nCov moved from bars to pangolins and from there to humans… Now first you’ll probably realise that pangolins are not known to eat bats. Yet the virus still spread, because as we know you don’t have to eat the infected to get infected….this is a pandemic…not a zombie apocalapse.. And more than that the bats have had it for millennia,before there were any people eating bats.
Pangolins are also not native to southern China…they were imported. The virus was in the pangolin population for likely the last few decades…perhaps as early as the 1950′s.
The image of the woman eating a bat…that was taken almost a decade ago, she wasn’t Chinese either, and the internet does not refuse type…. But it’s great for conspiracies.
I’m working in a factory at the moment and a lot of rules are still been broken and the other side alot are paranoid and there is a lack of comuncation over distance and paranoia. There is no talks or laughs no more over distance control.. been realiatic we all need to swallow our pride and just shut the whole country down. There is gonna be more deaths if we don’t
That’s my 2 cents. If Ireland will reach 15000 infected by 29th of March (according to Leo) that means that Ireland did not learned ANYTHING from China and Italy!
There are places still open that are too small to conduct the social distancing protocol. These places should be allowed or made to close due to health protection of the public.
On a separate note if both parents have to work and have a little one, where can a minder be found?
Stay safe.
Don’t forget those flights from Italy.
Why no lockdown? California, New York, lots of other parts of Europe are doing it. Just do it. Do it early (I know it is prob too late). Don’t wait for a disaster like Italy. The economy is already gone, so save people, save the health workers.
While it’s pretty obvious that PPE’s including masks, scrubs, hand sanitizer and even toilet are fast becoming a scarcity…. Well I’d suggest to Mr. Trump that red noses, frizzy hair wigs and outsized shoes are pretty much available.
have your say