From top: St Michael’s Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin; at a COVID-19 HSE briefing press briefing last nighty were, above from left: Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry, Chair Cover 19 Expert advisory Group Dr Cillian De Gascon, Chief Medical Officer Dept of Health Dr Tony Holohan and Deputy chief Medical Officer Dept of Health Dr Ronan Glynn

Last night.

Via Alive Beo on Twitter:

I never felt the need to say this until now but as the lockdown goes on and it’s detrimental effects increase, I want to let you know that I’m an Irish doctor and I think the lockdown is a disproportionate measure and a breach of our fundamental human right to liberty

I am in a unique position in that I get a glimpse behind the scenes. A lot of scaremongering went on among colleagues, we were perpetually waiting for a surge that didn’t come- was never going to come- based on faulty models.

I think the second wave is a scare tactic. There’s no evidence that a second wave will happen. From the start this has been about scaring people to a big enough extent that they will comply with the recommendations set before them. Fear is the basis of compliance.

I could honestly write a book on the hysteria that went on in the lead up to the so-called surge expected. Intuitively I knew something was off from the start. Empty hospitals, work load quieter than ever. We were over staffed. All that hysteria got us into lockdown.

That’s why all the hospital staff have time to make TikTok videos. I’ve had more free time during my working day during this pandemic than I’ve ever had since I started working as a doctor.

There are going to be people who are trying to delegitimise your concerns about the indirect effects of prolonged lockdown.

They will call you crazy and ridicule you. My message is that you must not cower away from raising concerns. Keep fighting this!

I uphold the sanctity of human life from the moment of natural conception to the moment of natural death. I also uphold everyone’s human right to liberty.

I debated whether I should tell you this because I never want to use my career to boast or as a PR stunt. It’s my job. I don’t need people to clap for me. I just need to be true to myself and truthfully, it is my opinion that the public have been deceived to an extent.

I have earned my credentials and I gain nothing by lying to you. But I believe we need to #endthelockdownnow

Anyone?

Update:

Earlier: County By County

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Professor Neil Ferguson and Antonia Staats

Last night.

The scientist whose advice prompted UK prime Minister Boris Johnson to lock down Britain resigned from his Government advisory position as it was revealed he broke social distancing rules to meet his married lover.

This morning, UK Security Minister James Brokenshire has called Prof Neil Ferguson’s resignation a “matter of regret” but an “appropriate course” of action.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:

“I’m obviously saddened to hear this development and the actions Professor Ferguson has taken but, ultimately, I think it is the right course of action.

I think Professor Ferguson has taken an appropriate course given the issues of ensuring there is clarity of message on upholding the rules and requirements on social distancing and just why that matters so much in terms of protecting our NHS and saving lives.

It is a matter of regret but that guidance is unequivocal, it is there to protect all of us.”

Minister says Neil Ferguson right to step down (The Guardian)

Exclusive: Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover (Daily Telegraph)

Getty/AP

Éalú – Tuatha Dé Danann

Niall Fitzgerald writes:

“An Irish musical interpretation of the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann with a distinctly modern style, collaborated on and produced remotely between musicians in five separate locations.”

Number of death notices posted on RIP.ie in April 2020; tweets from Gerard McCarthy and Pádraig MacCarron

Yesterday.

Gerard McCarthy, of Maynooth University and Pádraig MacCarron, of University of Limerick published their research after they looked at the number of death notices posted per county on RIP.ie in April 2020.

Mr MacCarron spoke to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier and told how they found that there were more death notices for Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan than any month over the past ten years in those counties.

In comparison, Kilkenny‘s death notices were about the same as April 2019.

Speaking about the accuracy of the figures, he said that the number of death notices posted on RIP.ie match up with figures from the Central Statistics Office death and mortality data.

Asked if the increase in death notices in certain counties can be “put down purely to Covid”, Mr MacCarron told Morning Ireland:

“Yeah, it seems to be. The mean number of deaths in April for the last ten years is about 2,500. And the official numbers give about 1,200 people died [of Covid] in April. So if you add those together, there’s only 60 extra deaths. And our death notices posted on RIP.ie compared to the average plus the number of deaths from Covid.

“And in fact if you add up the number of deaths from Covid to last year’s number of death notices, that would be about 100 higher than it is now. So it seems like the official numbers are quite representative and that’s the main cause of this excess.”

Listen back in full here

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile, on RTÉ’s Brainstorm, they write:

Nationally, the number of death notices posted on RIP.ie in April 2020 for the whole of Ireland are the highest on record, but comparable with January 2018 and 2017 when there was a bad flu season.

Typically deaths peak in Ireland in the winter are associated with respiratory diseases, including the seasonal flu. The number of death notices posted typically decreases going into April, whereas there is a spike associated with the coronavirus in 2020.

Comparing the magnitude of this spike to the seasonal peak in winter of other years, it could be argued as comparable to the numbers of death notices posted in previous years (January 2018 was the previous maximum).

There is increasingly heated debate about whether the unprecedented measures implemented to combat the spread of Covid-19 are necessary to maintain, if excess mortality is comparable to that of the seasonal flu.

However, this picture of the national situation, where Ireland could be on track to keeping mortality to that of a bad flu season, belies a more complex geography of the pandemic in Ireland.

…Looking in more detail at the map, it is the border counties of Monaghan and Cavan that are worst affected where the increase in postings in April 2020 relative to the average number of postings was 150% and 120% respectively.

What death notices tell us about the coronavirus across Ireland (RTÉ Brainstorm)

US President Donald Trump has said the White House coronavirus task force is to be wound down

When you’re finding your day job no fun
And there’s a campaign to be won
Just decide to ignore
A few thousand deaths more
And declare that your work has been done

John Moynes

AP

Behold: the 1975 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman Maybach W100  – the ultimate limousine of its day.

This car has had a seven year, €2.75 million upgrade and restoration by Mercedes-Benz Classic and Daimler AG including a complete rebuild of the 6.3-litre V8 and transmission despite having a mere 1,600km on the clock.

Get your Aristotle Onassis on for a trifling €2,140,000.

uncrate

Broadsheet.ie