Posted by ‘Sorry excuse for a lockdown’ — The unanimously scathing reaction to latest NPHET recommendations
18th December 2021
The latest pandemic recommendations from NPHET have been met with a furious response from every quarter.
On Thursday evening, news broke that NPHET were set to issue a series of new recommendations to Government relating to pandemic restrictions.
Most notable among these was a suggestion to close all hospitality services from 5pm.
It has been noted that schools and the unvaccinated are the source of most outbreaks at present, yet, NPHET’s recommendations seemingly target pubs and restaurants once again.
Many have said that the latest advice appears to have little basis in science while questioning why a controlled environment should be the subject of further measures when increased uncontrolled gatherings in households will surely follow.
Reacting to the measures on Newstalk, Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman were absolutely scathing in their response.
‘Look, I don’t know what this is but I know what it isn’t and it isn’t living with COVID,’ Shane Coleman said on Friday morning.
‘This is cowering from COVID… This is a sorry excuse for a lockdown. This is the worst of all worlds. This is not having the bottle to call it a lockdown and trying to sort of sneak it in the backdoor.’
Ciara echoed Shane’s comments stating that she entirely agreed that these measures reflected a form of lockdown while calling for answers from NPHET.
‘You’re right, it is a lockdown by any other name,’ Ciara said. ‘I can actually feel myself viscerally reacting to this and it’s not in a good way.’
‘I don’t know what they think the endpoint is but, to me, I don’t know if I have another lockdown in me…
‘If Omicron is going to do something devastating to us all, I want to hear an explanation for this because I do not want to see this again… We were having the exact same conversation last year about the Kent variant and would we get vaccinated in time.
‘I don’t want this. I don’t like this and I want a much better explanation.’
On social media, the response was equally furious with many left aghast by the somewhat puzzling recommendations
At this point, it is not known if the Government will follow NPHET’s advice to the letter. However, reading between the lines of the latest tweets from Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, it seems likely that Cabinet will implement restrictions as recommended
Who Watches the Watchers? 