Tag Archives: coronavirus

From top: Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns; Patricia King, General Secretary of ICTU.

This morning.

Special Oireachtas Committee on Covid-19.

Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns asked Patricia King, General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) why it took a pandemic and workers to become infected with Covid-19 for the conditions in which meat plant workers live and work to be revealed.

She asked if the unions were aware of the conditions before Covid-19.

Patricia King said:

“There are a number of reasons for it. Firstly, affiliated unions of Congress, but particularly SIPTU, have represented workers in meat plants for decades, that’s number one.

But in some cases you will have a collective agreement under the terms and conditions but it’s not the norm and it’s not by any means the majority so we have argued strongly, for instance,

I sit on the Low Pay Commission , I’ve taken part in the public consultations where we’ve had exposure to workers coming in just from the street and offering public consultation their view as to what’s happening in their environment and in meat factories aswell. So we would be well aware but there is a very large body of opposition to having workers having any voice.

And there is a reason for that.

Because if you have a production pace at the level that they have that’s where the focus of those employers is and that production pace, I mean if you look at the top ten companies operating in this sector, you’re talking about the top one of having a turnover of €2.3billion in 2019 and the second one €2.2billion.

So you’re talking about big money to be made.

And their focus is on keeping those productions lines as fast and as lean as they can. And that means people, the model is working people as hard as they can for as little as they can for as long as they can.

That is the model.

And they’re not going to, they’re going to resist any infiltration by us in, to have discussions. And then they’re backed up by a law, or by the lack of legislation in this country which says, actually, if those workers want to make their voice heard collectively, there’s no law that says they can do that.

The balance of power here lies with the employers and it’s not a question that we haven’t been saying it. We’re blue in the face saying it. I’m three decades doing this for a living and I can tell you we’re blue in the face.

But we still haven’t succeeded in getting it across the value of having a balance in terms of this employer-worker relationship and that’s what we’re seeing. It takes a pandemic to demonstrate the fallout of this. But that, it has been around a long time.”

Deputy Cairns then asked Ms King to clarify that the unions did know about the conditions before Covid-19 “but the power of the beef lobby was too big to make those voices heard?”

Ms King replied:

“They don’t listen is the answer. They don’t listen.”

Pics via Oireachtas.ie

Meanwhile…

This evening.

Phibsborough, Dublin 7.

Anyone?

Thanks Wickedfairysad

Meanwhile…

The official death toll (top) is clear.

But how many people really died of Covid-19?

Graham Neary writes:

I’ve gone deep into the mortality numbers for Ireland and Covid-19. This is what I’ve learned.

The death toll in Ireland from Covid-19 is officially 1,773. But this includes people who died from other things and people who were presumed to have it.

Analysts for the Irish government counted death notices online and reckoned there were between 851 and 1290 excess deaths by mid-June, with the middle estimate being 1,072.

Instead of using online death notices, I have sought out and gained access to the latest official death registration data, as of the end of July 2020 (above).

And here (above) are all of the monthly results from January to May for each year, ordered from largest to smallest. April 2020 and May 2020 are in red.

Here (above) are the cumulative deaths from January to May for each year

Two big oversights are:

1) Not all deaths for 2020 are registered yet. Officially you have three months to register a death, but I can see from previous snapshots that deaths continue to be registered after three months.

2) The population is growing.

My solutions:

1) I use differences between the end-June database and the end-July database to estimate likely future growth of 2020 numbers for Jan to May, through the end of October.

2) I divide all numbers by the population for each year, to get the monthly mortality rates.

Results:

I estimate that April 2020 was about as dangerous as Jan 2018 and Jan 2017 (flu seasons).

And May 2020 was about as dangerous as any other April or May.

So far, 2020 looks like it has been less dangerous than 2016, 2017 and 2018, based on deaths until May.

It is only looking more dangerous than 2017 and 2019.

What makes April 2020 different? It’s certainly shaping up to have been more dangerous than other Aprils.

And it was: the health system was shut down for many treatments, inpatients were asked to leave early, and many were too scared to attend A&E or their GP.

For England, the ONS estimated 16,000 non-Covid excess deaths were caused by lockdown (.0062 deaths per 1000 people per day).

The best I can do for an initial estimate of deaths in Ireland caused by lockdown is to translate this ONS figure across.

Resulting estimate: 916 deaths caused by Lockdown in Ireland in April 2020.

This wouldn’t leave very many excess deaths available for Covid and other causes

I acknowledge there are large gaps in my analysis. Detailed research (and the passing of time) will provide in-depth explanations for many of the above issues. However, I don’t see why my estimates would not be in the “ballpark” of truth. Please share with me your corrections.

My conclusions:

1) data does not yet support the claim that an extremely deadly virus (e.g. more dangerous than flu) was present and active in Ireland from March 2020.

2) deaths caused immediately by lockdown might have been significantly higher than deaths caused by the virus.

Previously: Counting The Dead

The Reporting Of Deaths

Last night,

Newcastle, England.

Essential or absurd?

YOU decide.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly

This morning.

Meanwhile….

A new colour-coded response is being considered by the National Public Health Emergency team as part of Ireland’s Covid-19 pandemic plan.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said NHPET has spent a considerable amount of time looking at how Ireland can move to a sustainable long-term plan and the colour-coded system is different to the original roadmap, or phases, outlined by the previous government

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister Donnelly said the phases were about providing time frames, but the codes are a warning system on where “we are at on any given day.”

He said he believes the measures introduced for Laois, Kildare and Offaly are very nuanced and it is possible that such measures will be introduced in other areas in the future.

NPHET considers colour-coded response to replace phases (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

Update:

Um.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

This afternoon.

Via Mail Online:

For three months, New Zealanders enjoyed the return of usual freedoms after an autumn lockdown proved effective in eliminating the deadly virus.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern scheduled an unexpected press conference for 9.15pm on Tuesday night and announced those freedoms would be put on hold.

Stay-at-home orders will be implemented throughout Auckland for 72 hours from midday on Wednesday after the four new cases were identified in the city.

More than 1.6million people won’t be allowed to leave their homes except for essential reasons.

The rest of the nation will enter a level two lockdown – mandating social distancing and placing caps on gathering sizes.

More sheep than people, they say.

FIGHT!

Jacinda Ardern plunges New Zealand BACK into lockdown amid COVID-19 outbreak with 1.6million Kiwis told they can’t leave home after nation recorded just FOUR new cases

Getty

This afternoon.

One for Larry.

One for Denis.

None for you.

FIGHT!

‘Influence of Pandemic’.

An installation by artist Hina Khan (top).

Exhibiting at the West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, County Cork today and tomorrow.

Hina writes:

My installation is representing the global situation and is a firm reaction to forced lockdown….Trauma and uncertainty mould the ideas to rethink and reshape….

West Cork Arts Centre

Love In A Covid Climate dating site forum from the Lockdown Sceptics website

Oh.

This afternoon.

Seeking a rebellious mate?

Following criticism at the launch of a dating section on his ‘Lockdown Sceptics’ website…

…site founder Toby Young writes:

After I was contacted by the Evening Standard asking me to comment on the “adverse reaction online”, I had a chat with the Forum moderators.

Should we abandon the whole idea?

Would it be too much work to constantly weed out the pranksters, particularly if “Love in a Covid Climate” attracts a bit of publicity?

They heroically concluded it would not and set to work tidying it up. I can’t promise that no hoaxers will get through from now on, but we should be able to spot them fairly quickly.

Since we cleaned it up “Love in a Covid Climate” appears to have taken off, with plenty of legitimate users now posting messages. And I’m happy to weather the Twitter storm if readers think it’s a useful service.

The most common barbs revolve around the fact that lockdown sceptics are more likely to have the virus than other people, making them extremely unappealing as potential romantic partners.

I even got an email from a reporter at the Guardian asking me to respond to the charge that the forum could spread coronavirus and harm the individuals involved…

FIGHT!

Love In  A Covid Climate (Lockdown Sceptics)

Meanwhile….

“I don’t want a sterile world.”

Cheryl, a photographer from the Cotswolds, England asks covidly: how do you survive ‘without meaning’?