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Kate and William release first official pictures of Prince George

Breaking tradition, the new parents asked Kate’s father to take the images.

PRINCE WILLIAM AND wife Kate Middleton have released their first official family portraits.

Breaking tradition, typical of William and Kate, the pictures of newborn Prince George were taken by the Duchess’s father Michael Middleton instead of hiring a royal palace approved photographer for a photoshoot.

Captured in early August, the images show William and Kate sitting with their son in the garden of the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire surrounded by Tilly the retriever, the Middleton’s family pet, and Lupo, the couple’s cocker spaniel.

Rascal

The prince told CNN in an interview shown yesterday, that George is a “bit of a rascal” and admitted that fatherhood has changed him already.

In his first interview since the birth on July 22, the British prince said he and Catherine were enjoying their new role as parents, but admitted the new arrival was keeping them on their toes.

“He either reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger, I’m not sure, but he’s doing very well at the moment,” William said.

William, 31, who is second in line to the throne, admitted he does not get up in the night to tend to the baby as much as his wife and said she was doing a “fantastic job”.

(Both pictures: Michael Middleton/PA Wire)

Column: OK! magazine shouldn’t be discussing Kate’s baby weight>

Read: Company left with 5,000 unsold plates after predicting royal princess>

More: Ireland cares about the royal baby almost as much as the UK…>

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89 Comments
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:37 PM

    So basically this lockdown is pointless, Without immunity it will just become endemic like influenza.

    196
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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:49 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: possibly, we just don’t know yet. It’s too early, the science results will take time to come in.

    99
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:49 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: the fact no immunity is created is one more reason why the lockdown is necessary .

    301
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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:49 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: The lockdown is to slow transmission so our hospital services are not overwhelmed. If you can’t hospitalise those who need it the mortality rate will spike. We are flattening the curve until we have a vaccine. Not doing so is reckless.

    214
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:50 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: the fact that probably no immunity is created is one more reason why the lockdown is necessary to diminish cases . Herd immunity is also only achieved within a context of vaccination .

    79
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    Mute Joe_X
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:50 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: I think the difference is that the influenza family of viruses is so varied is that once a population has been infected with a particular strain of it, it could take a couple of generations before it can come around again due to the built up immunity. For example, the swine flu virus a few years back. That particular virus was also responsible for the spanish flu. In turn, it means each flu season, it is a different form of the influenza virus that infects the population. If we don’t develop immunity to the CoViD-19 virus, it means the it will be the same basic virus that we would be getting over and over.

    20
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    Mute Danny Ennis
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:51 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: lockdown is so the health system isn’t bombarded with patients. But until theres a vaccine this is gonna be with us for a while and social distancing will remain

    49
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:52 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: do you you vaccinate against a virus that has no antibody response, Like coronavirus OC43 and 229E. Or HIV-1 how’s that vaccine working out ?

    34
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:53 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: If you consider saving thousands of lives and shielding the economy from the workforce dropping like flies to be “pointless” then sure.

    38
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:55 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: No lymphocyte response= no vaccine , Like all other H-cov.

    34
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    Mute Daniel Dunne
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:56 PM

    @Danny Ennis: A vaccine is herd immunity by another name.

    If our bodies are producing antibodies to overcome Covid-19 but it cannot prevent re-infection then we are totally down the creek without a paddle.

    37
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:58 PM

    @Rochelle: what are you saving then, lockdown forever? , The R0 of this Virus is ~5.8% based on CDC data. With no long term immunity it will impossible to contain and spread similar to a rhinovirus (common cold) .

    37
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    Mute Caoimhín
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:01 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: some good points Ruairi, now will you tell us what should be done instead of dismissing everyone’s point.

    40
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    Mute Jesus Christ
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:03 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: read the article

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    Mute Mary Fitzsimons
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:04 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: Nó, it means the lock down and social distancing (and ppe and sanatising & washing hands) are the ONLY defences we have, so the lock down is more inportant than ever.

    35
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:09 PM

    @Caoimhín: Sure , Firstly keeping people locked down for a Virus with no immunity is not feasible, We have to bring the economy back ,All we can do is cocoon the elderly/frail ,so strict visiting (PPE only ) in nursing homes, and some hospitals will become the new norm i feel.

    35
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:24 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: We don’t know for a fact that there is no antibody response. In fact, there is good evidence of IgM/IgG response in a lot of patients, the issue is that the trials they’ve conducted so far have seen plenty of patients without a detectable response.

    Does this mean the serological testing will be useless? No. Do we need more data? Absolutely. But writing it off as a virus we don’t develop immunity to is too simplistic – it’s likely that some people develop some level of immunity for some period of time, we just don’t know how much or how long yet.

    40
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    Mute Bain triail aisti
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:30 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: It would be unique for a virus,
    if the body is not immune after having been infected.
    They are just warning that it hasn’t been scientifically proven to be the case for Covid19, well not proven yet. There is no suggestion that resistance antibodies are not generated by those infected, in fact they are essential if one is to recover which does occur.
    Another scenario is if you were asymptomatic and now free of the virus, did your body produce antibodies or was the virus just using you as a host and left without been removed by antibodies. There is so much unknown about covid19.
    Nigh do lamha agus bí cúramach.

    29
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:46 PM

    @ihcalaM: I have seen the Icelandic/Danish studies on random serological testing.
    Tests have a false positive rate of under 5% and the good ones are under 1%.
    Even if only 1% of tests are false positives, if you do 1 million tests, you’ll get 10,000 false positives , that’s an issue.

    There is evidence in monkeys that recovering from covid produces immunity a week later. Obviously no studies on lasting immunity yet since the virus has only been around for a few months. But a week is better than nothing.

    I’m intrigued by these articles that suggest lasting immunity to covid isn’t common also, but I haven’t yet seen a good study showing that symptomatic patients that test positive via swab (viral RNA in the throat) and recover and then go on to having symptoms again and test positive for the virus with a viral culture. There’s a big difference in my mind of having RNA that could be debris from killed virus to having virus that’s capable of replicating. WHO has a bad rep of later but its a worrying trend.

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    Mute Joe Mc
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:49 PM

    @Bain triail aisti: correct. The only reason people are recovering is because of antibodies. It’s just not know yet for how long it lasts

    8
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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:50 PM

    @Bain triail aisti: Unique? Rhinovirus ,Retrovirus other Hcov’s where is the immunity to these?

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    Mute Bain triail aisti
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:56 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: True, almost unique would be more apt.

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    Mute Wayne Connor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:58 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: Obviously, Ruairi knows a little bit about this. Unfortunately, Ruairi thinks he knows ALL about this. Tell us what you’d do Ruairi ? And no pressure but only 7 Billion peoples lives depend on your answer

    30
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:00 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: Agreed on the Ab test margin of error, it’s why the “immunity passports” are inherently flawed, though they’re a nice idea.

    Not just monkey evidence, we’ve got evidence of antibody responses from humans in a few different studies, but yeah the issue is the duration of any immunity – too early to say, WHO correct to be reserved about it to be fair.

    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.30.20047365v1

    I’d be inclined to think the ‘reinfection’ cases are as you suggest something more to do with viral debris being picked up rather than actual cases of rapid reinfection, bear in mind the error in the PCR tests as well, they could just be false positives rather than real repeat cases.

    11
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    Mute Jointheclubtoo
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:06 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: Indeed, Boris Johnson would be the first to back up your point of view and he wouldn’t be one one to change his mind. Although having said that, haven’t heard much from him lately

    11
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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:39 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: I thought you did get short lived immunity from rhinovirus. The main reason there has been problems developing a vaccine for it is the actual amount of different strains?

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:46 PM

    @Wayne Connor: in fairness I think Ruairi is trying to look beyond lockdown and has done a bit of research. No harm discussing scenarios, outcomes that gov might be reluctant to tell public yet.

    9
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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:50 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: The lockdown has one of the primary functiond of fattening the curve of case numbers to allow the health services to cope.

    5
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    Mute Woolly
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:06 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: it’s not pointless it’s given us valuable time to prepare our healthcare services to be ready instead of overwhelming it

    6
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    Mute eddie horgan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:44 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: “No Evidence” means just that. Science cannot yet say it is proven one way or the other

    3
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    Mute Hossam Ibrahim
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:57 PM

    reinfection is a theory that is still being looked at. Nothing confirmed.
    However the virus may hang out in your nervous system, where your immune system can’t reach it, and use it as a base to reinfection later.
    Your nervous system is protected from your immune system because an immune response there = death. These aren’t uncommon.

    Could be almost any explanation for that.

    Reinfection due to missing immunity.
    Reactivation as virus could lay dormant.
    False-negatives when declaring patients cured.

    3
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    Mute Silvia Du Toit
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:54 PM

    @Caoimhín: perhaps treat the condition?

    1
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    Mute Wang Zhuo
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    Apr 18th 2020, 7:24 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: would u just come urself down . Lockdown is not what you thinks for. Back to school.

    1
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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:36 PM

    There was also ‘no evidence’ of human to human transmission. Something seriously wrong in this organization. Heavily politically infiltrated.

    171
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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:40 PM

    @John McIvor: what makes you say that? Any evidence?

    68
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    Mute Kate Flaherty
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:43 PM

    @Brendan Cooney: To be fair they did begin with that line, then moved onto there is limited human to human transmission at the same time as there were 12,000 cases in Wuhan..

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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:45 PM

    @Kate Flaherty: yeah. They must be geniuses to work that out after 12,000 cases

    21
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    Mute Conall
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:46 PM

    @John McIvor: Maybe there wasn’t, when they said it. Hindsight is 20/20.

    24
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:47 PM

    @John McIvor: there is nothing wrong with the WHO unless of course you like USA and U.K. propaganda to hide their ineptitude. The WHO worked with the data available in real time , as did China .

    40
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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:50 PM

    @Brendan Cooney: 1) Their China influence and the political issue that they have with Taiwan has blinded their ability to report in a timely manner about the pandemic.
    2) the actual fact that they tied themselves up in red tape about the definition of the word ‘pandemic’ held much of the world back in acting effectively and moving quickly, because the governments in turn couldn’t move until it was defined so. This was all happening when the disease was spreading rapidly in over 100 countries already.
    So yes, a bunch of political muppets.

    35
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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:50 PM

    @John McIvor: and you, what have you contributed to the scientific understanding of this virus? Other than to troll!

    28
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    Mute Fozz
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:05 PM

    @John McIvor: Such talk clearly shows the talker has no scientific background, not even from a simple educational standpoint.
    Science is based on evidence and when you see the stance change, that’s a good thing, as science is always striving to improve itself and is happy to change its stance based on new evidence.
    Are you?

    25
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:26 PM

    @John McIvor: What? Why couldn’t countries “move” on it until it was classified as a pandemic by the WHO? What are you basing that on?

    15
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    Mute David Jordan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:26 PM

    @Kate Flaherty: The WHO stated as early as Jan 23rd, that human to human transmission was occurring, when there were 830 cases,

    The reported numbers went from 45 to 830 in 7 days.

    “Human-to-human transmission is occurring and a preliminary R0 estimate of 1.4-2.5 was presented. Amplification has occurred in one health care facility. Of confirmed cases, 25% are reported to be severe. The source is still unknown (most likely an animal reservoir) and the extent of human-to-human transmission is still not clear.”

    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-01-2020-statement-on-the-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)

    19
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    Mute David Jordan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:37 PM

    @David Jordan: It should also be pointed out that the genetic code of the virus was decoded on Jan 10th, that allowed the doctors to devlop the RT-PCR test, which made diagnosing cases much faster and easier after Jan 12-15th. That’s why cases increased after then, Lab testing made them realise the epidemic was out of control and catastrophic. It was Jan 21th when Chinese authorities started to move towards aggressive containment.

    19
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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:02 PM

    @John McIvor: So what ? You think they should have said there was evidence of human to human transmission before they had evidence to back that up ? And all this is just nonsense by Trump fanboys to bash China and the WHO. China should have known and stopped the virus spreading. The WHO should have known and stopped the virus. Absolute rubbish. It was almost 3 weeks after the first case in Wuhan before the US got its first case. The US had one case and by then knew how transmissible the virus was between humans. Why didn’t Donald Trump stop transmission inside the US at that point, when they had only one case ? He’s simply lashing others for not doing something he couldn’t do himself.

    18
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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:45 PM

    @Kate Flaherty: they met with US government on Jan 10th to tell them although there was no evidence of human to human transmission from initial studies conducted by China, the world should expect such transmission, stay vigilant for clusters and plan for epidemic.

    9
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    Mute Jo Joyce
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:03 PM

    @David Jordan: “as early as January 23rd”- do you not spot the contradiction in your words here?

    1
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    Mute Mark Kelly
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:33 PM

    @John McIvor: The also made Robert Mugabe goodwill ambassador. Yes that Robert Mugabe.

    2
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    Mute Pablo
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    Apr 19th 2020, 7:24 AM

    @David Jordan: Ah here David don’t be darling our doors with facts. In Donald we trust

    1
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    Mute Maurice O Neill
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:38 PM

    Who can no longer be trusted

    92
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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:41 PM

    @Maurice O Neill: why, because they keep telling the truth?

    69
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    Mute Conall
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:44 PM

    @Maurice O Neill: You?

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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:47 PM

    @John McIvor: so telling the truth is now lying and half truths? And I suppose you have vast technical, scientific and experience in biochemistry and can elucidate the goings on of this virus?

    21
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:55 PM

    @Maurice O Neill: The disciple of the orange church has spoken. Burn all things WHO and Chinese! Ignore the experts!

    22
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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:56 PM

    @Brendan Cooney: what is wrong in the world that we have now abandoned common sense and scrutiny of what people say. The scientists in the WHO are not high priests of science. We should be allowed to ask common sense questions over whether the dogs on the street knew in December that this was being transmitted at a rapid pace from human to
    Human

    23
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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:21 PM

    @John McIvor: Prob is your not asking comment sense questions or ones even grounded in any scientific basis or fact. Easy to ask questions, a lot more difficult to ask good ones. And as far as you or I go, Yes the WHO scientists are the “high priests” of their subject. That is what they studied long years and worked even longer on.

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    Mute Graham.Kavanagh
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:29 PM

    I’d trust the WHO before I trusted some random person on a comments section. They base their claims on properly validated and stringently assessed research, not anecdote and conjecture. Something isn’t “true” to them until it has been verified.

    29
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:33 PM

    @John McIvor: The dogs on the street knew no such thing about human-human transmission in December, that’s an incredible lie.

    The WHO uses a little thing called “evidence” to make their decisions. Tough concept to grasp, I know, and it’s more time consuming to meticulously analyse data than just decide to throw caution to the wind. But it’s the most effective weapon we have in healthcare. It’s a shame your comments all over this article reflect your ignorance of such a basic scientific concept.

    32
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    Mute ThatLJD
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:39 PM

    Is it easier at this rate to ask wtf they DO KNOW ABOUT IT! it’s been 5 months, unable to tell so much about it to date, there are some of the best minds in the world working on all of this and millions being ploughed into it to find out but nothing much concrete so far at all.

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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:00 PM

    @ThatLJD: the problem is not that they don’t know anything. They are indeed the top kinds. But they are a POITICAL organization. Politics and arse covering is precluding them from communicating openly. Deadly mix.
    And no I’m not a Trump person.

    36
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:28 PM

    @John McIvor: No, John. In this case, there’s a lack of data to make definitive conclusions. These kinds of determinations usually take much longer, and scientists are being asked to rush to a consensus based on scarce data.

    There are plenty of political games going on, but this is just a data issue. Sorry.

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    Mute Bain triail aisti
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:33 PM

    @ihcalaM: Wasting your time using stats and logic, some people think we should have been in lockdown before the virus ever occurred.

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:43 PM

    @ThatLJD: It took thousands of years for the West to understand smallpox enough to develop the first vaccine, and about another hundred years for the next vaccine. That was all about two hundred years ago. As a species we’re not as advanced and all-powerful as we like to think, but even if we were we would only have been so for a very short part of our 180,000 year history: we still have a lot to learn. 5 months isn’t as long as one might think it is.

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    Mute Connoroconner
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:09 PM

    @John McIvor: Trump fanboys are out in force today

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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:58 PM

    @John McIvor: You really should educate yourself, and not on Facebook or Twitter. You do understand scientists and world health experts can’t publicise ‘word on the street’. As soon as the WHO were let into China, Jan 20th, and completed studies they released results, three days later. Previous to that on Jan 10th & 11th they had warned that although preliminary studies from China showed no human transmission, from their experience with SARS1 they expected there was and warned world governments to be vigilant for clusters of unusual pneumonia. Google WHO warned Trump. Look up their own timeline. Read a newspaper.

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    Mute ThatLJD
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:55 PM

    @Fachtna Roe: I guess you’re right and I wholly understand and appreciate there is a lot of work going into a vaccine and how long this takes. I guess my point is, there is still a lot of ambiguity around it, reinfection and other aspects of transmission etc. I think some of this has lead to a lot of the random fake facts floating about, though in fairness some are so off the wall you’re likely to have other medical conditions to believe them! I get what you mean, we are really just a small drop of vapour in the vast ocean of time

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:55 PM

    This will drive the Trump fans nuts. There is no evidence of Immunity because there hasn’t been enough time to gather that evidence. The easiest way to gather that evidence would be to throw 100 recovered patients into a small space with a symtomatic patient for a day and see what happens. But that would be unethical and potentially put lives at risk, so it’s going to take time to gather the evidence. It has to happen naturally to be classed as evidence, but with half the planet in lockdown that’s going to take time. It’s highly probable there will be some kind of Immunity, but until there is solid evidence it can’t be called one way or the other. This is way too important an issue to get wrong.

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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:01 PM

    @Tommy Roche: there is no immunity lasting immunity HCoV-229e, this coronavirus is is endemic, but thankfully very mild/asymptomatic .

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    Mute Dermot Foley
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:08 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: please explain in a language I can understand. Thank you.

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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:49 PM

    @Dermot Foley: He’s saying we don’t develop immunity towards one of the viruses causing the common cold (a different class of coronavirus). It’s not particularly relevant, though, as coronaviruses more structurally and symptomatically similar to the one that causes Covid-19, like the SARS and MERS coronaviruses, do result in some level of immunity after infection.

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    Mute Porter Mechanic
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:02 PM

    @Dermot Foley: Grammar police alert, Harvard ya?

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    Mute Toon Army
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:23 PM

    @Tommy Roche: This dude (seems to know his stuff) suggests there is likely immunity based on initial studies.. https://youtu.be/-UO3Wd5urg0

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    Mute Vin
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:11 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: What evidence do you have of that? Or are you just here to provide misinformation

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Apr 19th 2020, 3:35 AM

    @Porter Mechanic: Feel free to provide a translation …

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    Mute Michael Duckster
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:41 PM

    We might as well all get back to work as this lockdown is costing a fortune and only achieving short term gains.

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    Mute Ciarán Barry
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:56 PM

    @Michael Duckster: lifting lockdown and easing restrictions will overwhelm the healthcare system. Not ideal.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:57 PM

    @Michael Duckster: to spread it more and let people keep on catching it? Do you not understand what they are saying?

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    Mute Dub Cell
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:02 PM

    @Michael Duckster: you’ve no idea how infuriating it is to see a stranger telling me to do what they want. Stop saying “We” please.

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    Mute Dermot Foley
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:07 PM

    @Michael Duckster: short term gains of more people not dying.
    I see empathy is not one of your strong traits.

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    Mute Hello DAVE!
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:40 PM

    But But… Dr Ciara said there was!!

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    Mute Joe_X
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:40 PM

    The common cold is another coronavirus that people can get on a recurring basis, without developing an immunity to it. I wonder if SARS and MERS survivors developed immunities to those particular diseases. As there are only about 7 or so coronaviruses known to infect humans, there is little we know about them. Maybe it is a property of coronaviruses that we cannot develop immunites against them.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:40 PM

    @Joe_X: Immunity to MERS is permanent, immunity to SARS lasts about a year.

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    Mute Joe_X
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    Apr 18th 2020, 8:35 PM

    @David Jordan: Thanks….it was something that crossed my mind as I read the article.

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    Mute Jimbo Jones
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:09 PM

    Important to note that, as far as I know, there have been no significant studies to prove or disprove immunity post-infection.

    So they’re not saying immunity does or does not develop, they simply said there is no reliable evidence generated for either.

    Bear in mind that any positive news needs to be vetted thoroughly. Otherwise you’ll have swathes of people disobeying public health directives based on uncomfirmed beliefs.

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:24 PM

    @Jimbo Jones: I see Chile have started issuing “immunity passports” so the recovered can start going back to work. Hope they’ve called it right. Another issue with that kind of policy is that some people might be so desperate for money that they could try to deliberately get infected, just so they can get the passport when they recover. Or if they recover !!

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    Mute Da Vid
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:23 PM

    WHO also said in January that there was no need to panic because there was no evidence of “Human to Human” transmition of the Virus. And at the time they also comdemned countries that wanted to impliment a travel ban to and from China… but look where we are? They’ve done enough damage.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:40 PM

    @Da Vid: simply not true. You have to ignore the actual sentence to make that claim

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    Mute eddie horgan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:54 PM

    @Da Vid: “No evidence” as you point out. WHO is not in the business of creating panic especially when the evidence doesn’t warrant it. Were they supposed to say that it could transmit human to human when they didn’t know whether that was the case?

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    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:49 PM

    Hopefully evidence of immunity will emerge in time. It’s clearly too early to say yet.

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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:35 PM

    Hi

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    Mute Kate Flaherty
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:36 PM

    @John McIvor: Hi!…

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    Mute Badger the witness
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:41 PM

    @Kate Flaherty: You’re in there John, lucky fecker..

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    Mute Cormac Laffan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:42 PM

    @John McIvor: Hi John

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    Mute ThatLJD
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:42 PM

    @John McIvor: Hi John

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    Mute John McIvor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 1:53 PM

    @Badger the witness: and ‘hi’ never works for me on dating sites lol

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    Mute Lets be real
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:12 PM

    @John McIvor: Hi John

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:55 PM

    @John McIvor: How hi?

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:09 PM

    @Fachtna Roe: As hi as Ming Flanagan.

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:47 PM

    @John McIvor: is it yourself that in it John

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    Mute Aodhan Tinney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:30 PM

    WHO have no credibility anymore so whatever they are saying… the opposite is most likely

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:41 PM

    @Aodhan Tinney: really? They have more credibility than you.

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    Mute Aodhan Tinney
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:44 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: Haha… well if i am the bar, they are in even more trouble than I originally thought.

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    Mute Dav Nagle
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:40 PM

    I’m fairness WHO contributed very little for all they’re efforts. You could learnt the same info from watching China’s outbreak.

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    Mute Jesus Christ
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:03 PM

    Another misleading headline. Although some other news outlets have said the same. But it’s definitely not what was said

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    Mute Dermot Foley
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:09 PM

    @Jesus Christ: what’s your take on it Jesus?
    Can you do shoot down here for a while and work a miracle?

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:50 PM

    @Jesus Christ: @Dermot Foley: I’ve got a nail-pulling pliers, if it’ll, you know… help.

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    Mute Jesus Christ
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:14 PM

    @Dermot Foley: this is what the full quote is. “Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection.”

    That has a different meaning to how the headline is worded.

    No need for a miracle in this case

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    Mute Jesus Christ
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:14 PM

    @Fachtna Roe: don’t be daft. Nails disintegrate over time

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:43 PM

    @Jesus Christ: Flump. ;)

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    Mute AOL
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:21 PM

    It’s time for action. We need to do what sweden are doing. Cocoon the most vulnerable and get the economy back on track. Ultimately this country will be a worse place long term if we collapse the economy.

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    Mute lambda sensor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:56 PM

    There almost certainly is immunity. Why do some people get it really bad, some mildly and some asymptomatic? Because the individual immune systems are different against a constant virus. Something in the asymptomatic is preventing the virus from taking hold. IE – immunity! They just cannot prove that those who are infected have triggered the antibodies to fight it when/if it returns. This virus is (hopefully!) NOT like the flu which changes each year thus requiring new vaccines. Or maybe we do want it to mutate into something less dangerous (like what happened with SARS).

    What we all have to remember is that this is really REALLY early in understanding this virus and they are working as hard and as fast as they can.

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    Mute Never Reply
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:05 PM

    Does anyone know if you can be exposed to the virus and just not be affected by it?
    Like those people who never get colds or flu?

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    Mute Ruairi O Gorman
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:21 PM

    @Never Reply: Some studies/papers show the asymptomatic infection could be as high as 50% , This is unconfirmed as of yet.

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:33 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: A study in Santa Clara, California of 3,000+ people tested for Covid-19 antibodies. Major things it showed up was that the rate of infection was somewhere between 40 and 80 times the official figure. And around 40% of those shown to have been infected had no idea that they’d actually had the virus. Zero symtoms.

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    Mute Never Reply
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:17 PM

    @Ruairi O Gorman: Yes but that means you still have it though? I mean being exposed and having zero antibodies ???

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    Mute Boyne Sharky
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:29 PM

    This seems to be contradictory advice from the World Health Organisation. Following the initial outbreak in China they began treating some patients with what was described as ‘convalescent serum’. This is a technique dating to the late 19th century where the blood of people who have recovered from a virus, in this case Covid-19, is used to treat those currently seriously ill. The parts of the blood containing the antibodies, the plasma, are separated from the red blood cells and the patients were treated with this for about a week. All recovered and no virus particles could be detected after 12 days in any of them. This has since been replicated in other countries.
    This wouldn’t have been possible if the survivors blood didn’t have antibodies which gave them immunity to the virus, how long is another question which can’t be answered yet. There has also been experiments, again in China, in which 25g IVIg obtained from survivors blood, was given to seriously ill patients for 5 days, a huge dose. They recovered. This is as close as possible to giving someone the antibodies from survivors blood, in effect passing on their immunity.

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    Mute Irish Sean
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:46 PM

    As usual there seems to be plenty of so called scientific experts on here !! This is a new virus. Opinions are going to change as to what it can do as the science community learns more about it. There is no quick fix solution. Collective responsibility is the only way at the moment to deal with it. Hopefully this news will shut up gombeens shouting about herd immunity and deliberate infections of people

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    Mute lambda sensor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 3:04 PM

    @Irish Sean: There may not be herd immunity… but there is immunity in the herd. Lots of people have been exposed but not compromised. Not just asymptomatic today but never get symptoms. Those people exist, we just don’t know who they are just yet because we haven’t had time to test even all of those who are showing symptoms.

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    Mute Mark Kelly
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    Apr 18th 2020, 5:36 PM

    Something has seriously gone wrong at the WHO. This is an organisation that 30 years ago eradicated smallpox worldwide, an extraordinary feat.

    Now, they’re telling people, repeatedly, not to wear masks, appointing Robert Mugabe as goodwill ambassador (yes, that Robert Mugabe), and saying many people who have it do not develop immunity – contradicting innumerable studies. Very very strange.

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    Mute Andrew Walters
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    Apr 18th 2020, 10:10 PM

    The article says there is “no evidence” that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The evidence may or may not come in time.
    This is another scaremongering headline by a media seeking attention. What’s wrong with a headline saying “ no evidence, but it’s too early to tell” ? Scaring the hell out of people doesn’t help!!

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    Mute J. Reid
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    Apr 18th 2020, 7:29 PM

    “No evidence”, but common sense. Common sense being something that is in extremely short-supply at the World Health Organisation.

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:43 PM

    Is this not because it’s Influenzas and like all forms recatchable

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    Mute lambda sensor
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    Apr 18th 2020, 2:59 PM

    @Shawn O’Ceallaghan: No. The reason you need a flu shot each year is because the flu virus keeps changing. It changes so much, in fact, that your antibodies may not recognise and attack the new strain of the flu leaving last years shot basically worthless against this year’s flu. So we try to vax susceptible ppl ahead of time.

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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:14 PM

    @Shawn O’Ceallaghan: its not an influenza virus, it a coronavirus!

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    Mute Mark Bingham
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    Apr 19th 2020, 8:11 AM

    Excellent comments section here. Thank you to all the informed posters, and those adding humour.

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    Mute Nell foran
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    Apr 18th 2020, 4:19 PM

    It is a new virus all who are saying as of yet there is no evidence as there has not been long enough to see how long immunity lasts and to look at what immunity the antibodies produce. Stop panicking we are at the early stages of this virus science needs time

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    Mute J. Reid
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    Apr 18th 2020, 7:55 PM

    @Nell foran: Science may “need time”. But normal people don’t have the sort of time that you are talking about. Keeping the world in lockdown so that scientists and anoraks can enjoy one massive experiment, and can pore all over every aspect of this novel virus, at their leisure, is not sustainable and will cause many times more harm than good.

    Certain scientists may want to gorge on this giant experiment that they are engaging in, at the economy and society’s expense, but real people (the vast majority of whom are not in the vulnerable category) need to get back to work, back to colleges, back to the pubs and clubs, back to socialising, living, dating, etc. Christmas may have come early for certain types of scientists, but the greater good is suffering.

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