Tag Archives: coronavirus

Clockwise from top left: Conor Dempsey, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Dr Anthony O’Connor

This morning.

Further to the departure yesterday from Twitter of covid response critic Dr Anthony O’Connor after he received a DM from someone ‘close to’ Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly …

…Via Independent.ie:

In a Twitter direct message, seen by Independent.ie, public relations consultant Conor Dempsey wrote:

“I hope it does not offend you, but do you ever wonder if some of the scrapes you get into online undermine your reputation? I mean that in the sense that people may see you as being so stressed, which you are very entitled to be, that they might be concerned if they are then referred to you for treatment?

“I think you are so brave in your advocacy and understandably fraught with all that is going on, but maybe being so active online works against optimizing your clinical role? We need advocates like you to speak, but you are almost too transparent and informative one would wonder if I was referred to a doctor who appeared so distressed.

“I am guessing also that you find your advocacy cathartic and I also believe in the need to agitate for change. But maybe less can be more?”

Gulp.

Meanwhile…

Mr Donnelly has previously confirmed that Mr Dempsey, whose LinkedIn profile lists him as principal at Dempsey Corporate, worked for him in a voluntary capacity during his first general election campaign.

Doctor quits Twitter after PR consultant claiming to be ‘close confidante’ of Health Minister said he was undermining his clinical role (Independent.ie)

Yesterday: ‘OK Lads, You Win’

Dr Anthony O’Connor at an Oireachtas Special Covid response committee hearing last June

This afternoon.

Anthony O’Connor, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Tallaght Hospital, covid response critic and Labour Party member, departs Twitter after a ‘quiet’ DM from someone ‘close’ to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

That’ll learn him.

Good times.

Dublin Airport at the weekend

This morning.

“Travellers are coming down very significantly. It’s down to quite low levels now in the last weekend.

“The majority would appear to be Irish people who went to went on holidays during the Christmas period … we need to clamp down on that.

“That is in itself a violation of the Level 5 regulations that we have in place.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin announcing Level 5 will continue to March 5…

So there.

Taoiseach confirms extension of restrictions to 5 March (RTÉ)

RollingNews

This morning.

Via The Irish Times:

More than 360 people were served eviction notices in the two months after the Government lifted a blanket ban on removing tenants last August, figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) show.

The number of eviction notices served increased significantly in the second half of last year after emergency protections for renters introduced due to the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic were lifted. Some 787 people were issued eviction notices by landlords between March and the end of September.

The board, which adjudicates on disputes between tenants and landlords, also saw a small increase in reports of illegal evictions from July onwards.

Over 360 people served eviction notices after ban lifted (Irish Times)

Via The Guardian:

Sometimes, Stuart Ritchie feels like he’s being pursued by an army of smiley faces. The lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, is not delusional: instead, and somewhat to his surprise, he is on the frontline of a coronavirus information war.

The emojis often decorate the Twitter profiles of the self-proclaimed “lockdown sceptics”, a subset of social media users who remain unconvinced that coronavirus restrictions are necessary, even as the number of deaths in the UK approaches 100,000.

Often they are indignant at the efforts of Ritchie and others to refute the claims of a small but thoroughly amplified cadre of columnists, academics and enthusiastic amateurs, ranging from the free speech advocate Toby Young to the engineer and diet guru Ivor Cummins, who provide dubious but densely argued justifications for their stance.

At some point they settled on the smiley as their membership badge. If it is meant to be friendly, it doesn’t necessarily come across that way….

😂.

The information warriors fighting ‘robot zombie army’ of coronavirus sceptics (The Guardian)

Previously: Ivor Cummins on Broadsheet

Saturday.

Laragh Village, County Wicklow.

Meanwhile…

Um.

Meanwhile…

Good times.

Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

The 14-day incidence of Covid-19 in the Belmullet area stands at nearly five times the national average

This morning/afternoon.

The Belmullet local electoral area in Co Mayo continues to have the highest rate of Covid-19 in the country.

In the fortnight to last Monday, one in every 18 people, or just over 5.5% of the population, contracted the virus.

A total of 700 cases were confirmed among the 12,600 people living in the area, which takes in Belmullet, Achill and a chunk of rural west Mayo.

Meanwhile…

A number of large gatherings in the days before and after Christmas are thought to have significantly increased the spread of the virus….

Belmullet has highest Covid-19 rate in Ireland (RTÉ)

Pic via Tom Quinn Auctioneers

Gulp.

Last night.

Nine O’Clock News on RTÉ One.

Any excuse.

Thanks Bertie Blenkinsop

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE at Dr Steevens’ Hospital for the weekly HSE operational update yesterday

This morning.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE said it is tragic to be talking about school closures again and no one wants to see this protracted because of what children experienced during the first lockdown.

However, he said, transmission levels are currently ten times what they were in early December.

He said this needs to reduce to a much lower level “before we can add to additional risk by the mixing of crowds at school settings”…

Transmission levels too high for schools to reopen – Henry (RTÉ)

RollingNews