I am reading everywhere that Omicron is mild but Ireland seems to be taking things seriously. And why??

After having 1 case restrictions are organised very quickly

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ireland-places-new-limits-bars-home-visits-amid-covid-surge-2021-12-03/ - https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ireland-places-new-limits-bars-home-visits-amid-covid-surge-2021-12-03/

And now Defence forces (army) stand ready

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40759497.html - https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40759497.html

The actions are definitely different from what is being told. It is not a good feeling.

There are still no reports of any deaths from Omicron, and there are still plenty of reports that all cases so far have been mild, and yet still governments are panicking about this. We have to ask why? If Omicron proves to be very mild, and it does become the dominant strain then it will effectively stop this pandemic in it's tracks. Covid will be akin to the flu and we've all been living with that for decades. 

 Africa as a whole seemed to have missed out on mass hospitalization, 

May be harmless may not be ,just have to wait and see.

Thats the problem with today's society,we wasn't instant results/ answers,this variant could well be harmless ,but what comes next always has to be what we ask on this site.......

Hope for the best plan for the worst....

. take care all 😷😉💉

The problem is our health care here is already on thin ice. So even if Omicron is mild but infects alot more we will struggle.

For instance my nearest hospital (small city) has recently made the A&E only open 9am to 5pm. No walk ins either, you have to ring first.

Maybe that's the cause for panic? More infected = health care collapse??

Littlesmile wrote: I am reading everywhere that Omicron is mild but Ireland seems to be taking things seriously. And why??

Because we don't know enough yet.  The only thing that is safe to surmise is that it is more infectious than Delta.  That's all.  SA may be saying that cases are mild, but I have a few issues with that.  First, Covid is a sneaky bastid.  Just when you think you won't get really sick from it, you do. Second we don't know how effective the current vaccine is with Omicron.  Does vaccine protect you better from getting very sick or dying? Third, although SA did exactly the right thing by announcing this new variant, its payment was something like 20 countries restricting travel.  SA is a poor nation and can't afford that any more than any country can.  That being said, I don't necessarily trust one small study, done in one hospital that didn't even make comparisons between vaccinated versus unvaccinated.  

Hopefully we'll know more by Christmas.  Which is *gasp* less than three weeks away.

I think you are right on the hospital collapse, large outbreak of omicron layered on a delta surge,massive rush on the hosspital ERs,how with they parse who needs hospital care?

I don't know about that.  If layered, it will be for a very short time.  Everything I've read is that Omicron will quickly supplant Delta.  

All the current evidence says that Omicron is a mild variant. There have been no deaths and the data shows that the majority of cases in South African hospitals are patients who were found to have Covid but were admitted for a different reason, in other words, the Covid wasn't bad. 

Personally this looks like a good thing. If it's highly contagious and mild it will replace Delta and the pandemic will end.

There were some stories on "sending in the army" in NL...."Code Black" would need high security in/around hospitals. 

Demand for healthcare (for the right reasons-but at least in part also panic) would be higher then health care capacity.....

Latest SA statistics-weekly trends- cases +371%, deaths -36%.....From cases up to deaths up may take 2 to 4 weeks....

Omicron has been spreading in lots of non-African countries-looks like-since mid-november; so by now the slow start is speeding up to go exponential...even if testingcapacity is at its limits you can not fool the public "something is happening"...how bad it will get SA may give us some indications soon....

With Ireland finding Omicron case by 'blind luck'

Outlining the case at a media briefing on Wednesday, Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said he had no details on the severity of the case.

Dr de Gascun said there was “an element of blind luck” involved in the identification of the case, as it was included in a regular 10 per cent sample of all cases that is referred to the NVRL’s lab at Backweston each week.

And Northern Ireland Health Minister admitting Omicron is probably already here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59463775 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59463775

It will be likely that cases will go unnoticed here for quite some time. Unless it falls in their laps of course lol 😆

As you can see I'm not great with technology!!! 

Yes Dutch Josh I seen you had mentioned about 'code black' before. I wonder if they would go into that 'mode' for a just incase scenario...

Finding the answers feels like searching for a shiny penny in a bucket full of old ones. Lol