After six weeks, we're coming out of our highest-level lockdown in Ireland on Dec 1st. The virus is under control here again but not suppressed as much as it was after the spring lockdown. Lots of opposing opinions about how we should now celebrate Christmas as a society. We will see what happens in January...
Gamble to save Christmas with new rules on home visits
Taoiseach Micheál Martin this evening confirmed the Government would relax Level 5 restrictions from December 1 with a phased reopening of various sectors of the economy and society.
All retailers, gyms, churches, hairdressers, barbers, museums, galleries and cinemas will be permitted to open on Tuesday, December 1.
Restaurants and gastropubs with their own kitchen will cater for indoor dining from Friday, December 4.
The final phase of the Christmas Covid plan will commence on December 18 when inter-county travel and indoor gatherings of people from up to three different households will be allowed. This will last until January 6, when the Government will review the epidemiological profile of the virus to guide the country’s path through early 2021.
Many of the measures being relaxed are in contrast to Nphet (National Public Health Emergency Team) advice issued to the Goverment on Thursday.
Nphet, in its letter to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, conveyed concern that the profile of the virus could turn quite quickly and urged a “stepwise and cautious approach.”
Here are nine ways the Government decided to go against Nphet advice and take a more lenient approach to public health measures over the Christmas period...
Nine ways Government went against Nphet advice as country set to exit Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions
And here's one for
@margarita25 (BBM)!
World Health Organization Executive Director Dr Mike Ryan has said the arrival of vaccines will not mean zero Covid-19.
Speaking to Irish journalists before
receiving this year's Human Rights Award from the Bar of Ireland, Dr Ryan said we need to add the vaccines to our existing toolkit to fight the disease.
(...)
Dr Ryan said that since the relaxation of restrictions will inevitably lead to an increase in virus transmission, issues related to contract tracing, isolation of cases and other controls will become more important in order to gain greater control and limit any subsequent increase in incidence.
He also said that he did not envy the Government's task on this issue and that there are no easy answers, but that open dialogue between the Government and community was very important.
He said people in Ireland have done very well to date and that Ireland was the first country in Europe to bend the curve in the second wave of the virus.
Dr Ryan is the winner of this year's Bar of Ireland Human Rights Award, in recognition of his "tireless work and leadership in the field of public health".
(...)
Chair of The Bar of Ireland Maura McNally SC, said Dr Ryan "quite literally put his life on the line in the course of his work to defend people's human right to health - a right so highlighted in 2020 - and for that reason, he is a most deserving recipient of The Bar of Ireland's Human Rights Award".
She said the fact that the response of the WHO to the Covid-19 pandemic is headed up by an Irish man "has been a particular source of pride and comfort for people in this country".
Vaccines will not mean zero Covid-19, says WHO's Ryan
