{"id":1704,"date":"2021-10-19T14:40:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T13:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\/"},"modified":"2021-10-19T14:40:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T13:40:23","slug":"government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Reopening Plan Chaotic and Incoherent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>The government\u00a0response can be summarised as chaotic and incoherent.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The reopening plan announced today betrays an abject lack of planning and foresight by the government, according to Social Democrats Health Spokesperson R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith just three days left to go before many businesses reopen, for the first time in 19 months, the rules are being rewritten. Again. They are being rewritten because the government has failed to put sufficient focus on ventilation and antigen testing, as mitigation measures to reduce the spread of covid.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCovid can be unpredictable, in the manner in which it quickly surges, but one aspect of this virus is entirely consistent \u2013 the way in which it spreads. We have known for a long time that the virus is airborne, but that knowledge has not been reflected in the public health messaging.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuidance on ventilation, in indoor spaces where people congregate, must be a central focus of any government response to this pandemic. Yet, it has been entirely absent. The single nod to ventilation, for the duration of this crisis, was when schools were given C02 monitors. Yet, when the screens of those monitors turn red, to indicate high levels of C02 in classrooms, there is nothing that teachers can do \u2013 other than open a window &#8211; because they haven\u2019t been given air-filtration units.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Taoiseach said yesterday he was a big fan of antigen testing. Where is the evidence of that? There has been a complete aversion to its use across government. In fact, we are almost alone among developed countries in not employing antigen testing as a major mitigation measure. We also have no information about how the government proposes to significantly scale up antigen testing now, we are in the midst of a surge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor instance, during his press conference today, the Taoiseach said there would be an enhanced roll for antigen testing and tests would be sent to vaccinated close contacts of confirmed cases. This is a major undertaking, but how will it work in practice? How long should people expect to be waiting to receive those tests in the post? Has any planning gone into this at all?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCovid certs are now going to be rolled out to venues like nightclubs and music venues. While that makes sense, how will the government enforce this measure? By the government\u2019s own admission, there is a widespread failure to enforce covid certs in bars and restaurants. Nothing in the government\u2019s announcement today addressed how enforcement could be ramped up \u2013 particularly given the range of businesses using these certs, as a condition of reopening, is now being markedly increased.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuch of the focus of today\u2019s announcement was the government urging people to employ personal responsibility when it comes to adherence to the restrictions. But, personal responsibility will do nothing to boost ventilation standards across businesses, will not provide guidance on antigen testing and will not provide additional hospital capacity. People must be responsible, but so too must the government. It must plan appropriately and provide adequate resources where necessary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government is seeking to downplay its own role in managing this virus, and foist the blame for the spike in cases on the general public \u2013 most of whom are now fully vaccinated and have been assiduously adhering to guidelines since this crisis first emerged in March 2020.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need the government response to this pandemic to be credible and consistent. Regrettably, at the moment, the response can be summarised as chaotic and incoherent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>19 October, 2021<\/p>\n<p>Ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government\u00a0response can be summarised as chaotic and incoherent. The reopening plan announced today betrays an abject lack of planning and foresight by the government, according to Social Democrats Health Spokesperson R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall. \u201cWith just three days left to go before many businesses reopen, for the first time in 19 months, the rules are being [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Government Reopening Plan Chaotic and Incoherent - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government Reopening Plan Chaotic and Incoherent - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government\u00a0response can be summarised as chaotic and incoherent. The reopening plan announced today betrays an abject lack of planning and foresight by the government, according to Social Democrats Health Spokesperson R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall. \u201cWith just three days left to go before many businesses reopen, for the first time in 19 months, the rules are being [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-19T13:40:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"Government Reopening Plan Chaotic and Incoherent\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-19T13:40:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":590,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Press Release\",\"R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/government-reopening-plan-chaotic-and-incoherent\\\/\",\"name\":\"Government Reopening Plan Chaotic and Incoherent - 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