# Complaints about the vagueness of government's pandemic plans



## Brendan Burgess (26 Feb 2021)

It's the same in the UK.  Politicians and commentators criticising the uncertainty in the government's plans.

Demanding an exact plan for Leaving Cert exams for example.

This criticism is not justified. 

The path of the pandemic cannot be predicted.  

The uncertainty is uncomfortable, but it's much better that the government and NPHET says "we don't know" than give people a false certainty now and dash their hopes later.

The vaccination depends on the smooth delivery of vaccines.  The Minister for Health can only say "We will vaccinate X people by the end of June if the vaccines are delivered as scheduled."



Brendan


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## Paul O Mahoney (26 Feb 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> It's the same in the UK.  Politicians and commentators criticising the uncertainty in the government's plans.
> 
> Demanding an exact plan for Leaving Cert exams for example.
> 
> ...


Ah here , "the government should know , that's their job ".
That's the narrative no matter what the reality of the situation is.


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## EmmDee (26 Feb 2021)

Agree - I can't understand the UK saying nightclubs will open on June 21st for example. What's the advantage? All that can happen is the potential for disappointment - guessing what will happen beyond a month is foolish. You can state the hopes and general approach but you think we'd all have learned that things change over time


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## joer (26 Feb 2021)

Everyone knows that this pandemic is unpredictable and it has no timeline . At least if the government say that " we should be able to open up schools , for example in say March " at least they should all be saying the same thing . 
Last week we had one saying that we will reopen in March and then someone else said April and then it was mid summer. They would have been better saying nothing at all as that .


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## EasilyAmused (26 Feb 2021)

In the main I agree with @Brendan Burgess but Calamity Jane’s (as SD is being called) performance on Claire Byrne Live was very poor. 
It had been agreed on Monday afternoon that the Minister of Education and her Department had agreed with all the “other players” (i.e. unions) that the phased reopening of schools would begin on 1st March. 
But on CBL, SD said it hadn’t been finalised. Sending some into a panic. And it had to be corrected on Tuesday morning. 

The government being vague is OK by me. But giving incorrect statements is unacceptable.


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## Brendan Burgess (26 Feb 2021)

joer said:


> Last week we had one saying that we will reopen in March and then someone else said April and then it was mid summer. They would have been better saying nothing at all as that .



Agree with that. They should have all agreed that the future was uncertain and should not have allowed themselves to be drawn into specific forecasts.

Brendan


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## EasilyAmused (26 Feb 2021)

As for the U.K. government’s announcements, they seen too certain given the uncertainty of the pandemic. 

Apparently there have been multitudes of Britons booking continental holidays and the organisers of music festivals like The Reading Festival are starting to book bands.

We know how bad the “Kent Variant” is, but the “Bristol Variant” is recent and we know little about it.


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## Leo (26 Feb 2021)

I think a part of the problem here is how politics has become more obviously adversarial. It may well have been so all along, but mass traditional and social media coverage has put it front and center. Years ago, very few bothered to read about what was going on in the chambers.

A large cohort of opposition politicians just oppose everything the incumbents say at every opportunity. They demand the impossible knowing well they won't get called out for it and it plays well with the masses.


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## odyssey06 (26 Feb 2021)

They need to avoid easy own goals also. Like announcing that hotel in Carlow was selected as a site when that wasn't confirmed with the venue.
On the plan state the approx location of the site and say we have been investigating sites in the area.


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## Purple (26 Feb 2021)

Leo said:


> I think a part of the problem here is how politics has become more obviously adversarial. It may well have been so all along, but mass traditional and social media coverage has put it front and center. Years ago, very few bothered to read about what was going on in the chambers.
> 
> A large cohort of opposition politicians just oppose everything the incumbents say at every opportunity. They demand the impossible knowing well they won't get called out for it and it plays well with the masses.


Yes, the far Left of Sinn Fein and the basket of crazies in the Solidarity/ PBP/Rise/AAA/Whatever-you're-having-yourself have a casual enough relationship with reality and the hysterical media coverage, particularly by RTE and anything Matt Cooper hosts, feeds into it.


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## joe sod (26 Mar 2021)

I see nphet ramping up the doom again ahead of the government decision like a Hollywood sequel following the same tired formula's. We need new people at the top to get us out of this.


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## joer (26 Mar 2021)

And who do you think these new people should be ......just wondering . And how do you see these new people changing things exactly


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## Kimmagegirl (26 Mar 2021)

I remember seeing that I was in Cohort 4 for the first vaccinations. Then it slipped to Cohort 5 and now I see that I am in Cohort 6.

Are there new cohorts being introduced to match the number of vaccines available. Is this a way to slow down the rollout by creating new groups and pushing our expectations back?


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## Leo (26 Mar 2021)

joe sod said:


> We need new people at the top to get us out of this.



If people just followed the advice we'd be in a much better state and those of us who have been trying would be a lot less frustrated.


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## Leo (26 Mar 2021)

Kimmagegirl said:


> I remember seeing that I was in Cohort 4 for the first vaccinations. Then it slipped to Cohort 5 and now I see that I am in Cohort 6.
> 
> Are there new cohorts being introduced to match the number of vaccines available. Is this a way to slow down the rollout by creating new groups and pushing our expectations back?



A few weeks back they were adjusted to bring forward the more vulnerable.


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## EasilyAmused (26 Mar 2021)

If delays continue I’ll turn 50 and jump ahead a cohort or two. YEY!


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