@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: Correct, but there are definitely going to be people who see these comments who don’t get what the craic is with being able to test negative a day later and think something nefarious is going on so if David’s comment enlightens even 3 people, then great.

@David Jordan: Any link to back up that people stop testing positive 10 days after initial infection? From what I remember people were complaining about testing positive on PCR months after initial infection and so could not fly into Ireland due to this as needed negative PCR. Kind of goes against what you just said….

@Megan Finnegan-Ward: were all the poor people up and down the country who tested positive retested 24 hrs later to allow them continue their lives uninterrupted without any self isolation, you know the ones with 3 or 4 kids in a one income family who had to lose out on 2 weeks wages, we’re they enlightened

@Hugo Bugo: Yes, there seems to be a double standard here but note that Eamon Ryan was returning from outside the EU, all he needed was proof of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 in the last 180 days. His two PCR tests were optional.

That said I think they should recommend people who tested positive (but are symptom free) to antigen test themselves to see if they are clear rather than isolate for 5 days.

@David Jordan: so do you believe that the vaccine pass is worth a *u** since it allows positive cases freely travel around and enter hospitality settings untested..is that also not double standards

@SquintEastwood: please don’t say positive vaccinated peoples transmission is less or shorter time…the fact is vaccinated people still spread the virus,even for 1 day is too long to be allowed spread covid..if people want to travel or go to hospitality setting they should all be treated the same…antigen tests for everyone..it may be costly and not catch all cases but it would be same for everyone and stop a lot of transmission.

@SquintEastwood: I was always very sceptical of PCR testing passengers, PCR isn’t able to spot all infections yet we all too often pretend it can. Incubating cases slip though.

And we’re now allowing people into the country without testing, relying on vaccination certs or recovery from COVID-19, similarly pretending vaccines and post-infection immunity is bulletproof.

And in any case, we already have abundant infections circulating here so what’s the point of border checks / vaccine passes, arriving infected passengers are like pouring a glass of water into a lake fed by a waterfall. Border checks might be useful if there were very few or no infections here, but that’s not the case.

As for the vaccine passes / Covid cert, restaurants and clubs might be different, only if vaccination reduces onward infection, but I’m sceptical of that too.

What I previously read is that breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals lasts about 50% as long as in unvaccinated individuals, as a result (if true), vaccinated people might be infectious for a shorter period of time. But what I’ve recently seen calls that claim into question.

But on a more positive note: There are very interesting results from studying people who were vaccinated after infection, and people who got a booster dose.

Both generate very strong long-lasting Super Immunity, that protects against variants. This is due to the formation of long-lasting B-Cells. B-Cells keep generating antibodies, and they can target variants.

Callaway, E. 2021. COVID super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles. Nature, 598, 393–394, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02795-x.

@Hugo Bugo: Hi Hugo, I know you only come on here to stir the pot and try move goalposts constantly but in case anyone else is reading let’s make it clear that the same things can be true at the same time:

- Eamon Ryan is a dope

- There is a double standard because the rest of us aren’t told we should just re-test if it’s really that important

- What David said is entirely correct and Ryan being positive one day and negative the next isn’t some shady and nefarious lie, as every day people are going to be at the end of their illness and not have it anymore. This part is irrelevant to whether it’s immoral or not that he did it.

To answer your question even more directly, people having had Covid and struggled being off without sick pay still have brains and might be reading comments here, so yes they’re not exempt from learning something from David’s comment if they were unsure on how you can be positive one day and negative the next.

@Munster1: case numbers been consistently high for weeks but hosp numbers starting to go down…. So no it’s not a correlation for most people it’s a cold

@kevinhunt101: that’s not what I mean. There will be more hospitalizations if there are 10k cases a day compared to 1k cases a day.

@Munster1: are u living in cuckooland? of course cases will go up with the country practically back open and people back living life in full. you just hope hospital and ICU numbers are contained with vaccinations and boosters.

@Munster1: Only a very small percentage translate to hospitalizations. So they really are irrelevant.

@Munster1: Their population isn’t 16 times ours. It’s only 5 and a half million.

@Mick Dunne: so what color is your shirt mr non waffler

@Declan Doherty: And who do we ever hold responsible for the failures of the general public throughout this pandemic …. it appears anybody in a hierarchical position

@Stephen McMahon: Ever lost a pal to suicide because he couldn’t afford the rent for their families home due to FF FG created housing crisis…? I did and never again will they get a vote from me..

@Mike: sorry for your loss. But that’s a s*+t comment/question to make/ask somebody. (My friend felt terrible now I think you should feel terrible)

@Mike: I have somebody very close to me who attempted suicide 3 times after the crisis of 2008 and later. You seem to have very little empathy if you can throw that at people.

@slfc21: Decisions made by FF FG sent him and many others that way and what did they do? Fiddle the suicide stats…My blood boils thinking of what those 2 parties have done

@Mike: Mike, no offense but this isn’t related to this article and as previously stated should not be used as a tool for trying to emphasise whatever you were trying to argue. Unfortunate, but poor taste. Equally we all know people who took their own life and in most cases would not be resulting from one specific reason alone but an accumulation of factors. There may have been a straw that broke the camel’s back. Again I must say I found the use of your comment distasteful

@Mick Dunne:

@GrumpyAulFella: I don’t buy the sun

@Mick Dunne: Irish Daily Star??

@Martin Greene: no such thing on private sites. they have to protect themselves. makes me laugh when I see comments like yours.