Tag Archives: Covid

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn at Covid-19 briefing in Government Buildings

This evening.

At Government Buildings.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin announces that the county of Donegal will move to Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions as of midnight tomorrow night for three weeks….

Watch live here.

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile, Virgin Media One‘s Gavan Reilly asked Mr Martin about the rationale for the announcement that wet pubs in Donegal, on Level 3, can remain open, for serving 15 people outdoors, but wet pubs in Dublin can’t.

Mr Martin said the Government accepted advice from NPHET.

Mr Glynn said:

“NPHET recommended today that Donegal be moved to Level 3 of the framework which Government published and so the recommendation, or what will happen in pubs in Donegal is consistent with Level 3 of the framework.”

Mr Reilly asked Mr Glynn a further question which was not audible, but Mr Glynn replied:

“No, but there was a, there is a specific set of circumstances in relation to Dublin which the pubs have never been open, so…”

Anyone?

Previously: Sitting On A Tinder Box

An email sent from the HSE to parents of St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda, Co Louth on Wednesday evening

Last night.

Emma O’Kelly, of RTÉ, reported:

Teachers at one of the country’s largest second level schools have expressed concern at what they say are mixed messages they received from the HSE in relation to being deemed a close contact of a person with Covid-19.

St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda closed to more than half its students after more than 30 of its teachers were alerted yesterday via the Covid tracker app that they were close contacts of a virus case.

They were advised to begin isolating immediately and to await a call from the HSE to arrange testing.

The alerts came after it was confirmed that a staff member at the school had contracted the virus.

However, while some teachers were tested this morning, others were told by the HSE that they did not have to isolate after all, or do a test, and were free to go about their business.

…The teacher, who is among those who received a close contact text alert, said: “We are all beside ourselves.

“It’s the shock of getting the alert and then being told it’s a mistake without any explanation as to what the mistake is. There is this idea that schools will stay open at any cost. We feel like cannon fodder.”

Meanwhile…

Anyone?

Concern over confusion surrounding close contacts at Drogheda school (RTÉ)

Last night.

On Virgin Media News, Zara King interviewed Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

From the interview:

Zara King: “Minister Donnelly, at a time when the Government is asking people to work from home where possible until the 13th of September, how can you justify sending thousands of children, from thousands of households, back into a classroom setting from next week.”

Stephen Donnelly: “The classroom setting is a controlled environment. So what’s been happening over the last few weeks and indeed months, is the Department of Education has been working very closely with public health experts and now the teachers, the principals to make sure that the infection prevention and control measures that are required are in place.

“So our homes, most of our homes are not controlled environments but schools are. And so they’re fundamentally different and are considered different from the public health doctors.”

King: “But minister, do you appreciate and understand that people are worried, they’re concerned, they don’t feel comfortable or confident about sending their children back to school next week?”

Donnelly: “I think every one of us is worried, we’re dealing with an awful virus, that we’re still learning a lot about. I’ve got three primary school kids. It would be a very unusual situation for us not to be worried. I mean we worry about our children going back to school when there’s no Covid. Of course we worry about our children going back to school. No question about it.

“We manage risk in our lives. Every time we get into a car, you know, driving a car is an inherently risky thing to do. So we have seat belts and we have rules of the road. We have all of these things. Playing sports is an inherently risky thing to do, you know.

“Our children being on trampolines is an inherently risky thing for them to be…”

King: “But are we comparing that, minister, to a global pandemic? To a virus that kills people? It’s not the same as playing sports really, is it?”

Donnelly: “Well driving cars, people die on the roads, lots of people die on the roads…like…”

King: “The risk is much higher though and we’re aware of that are we not when it comes to the virus?”

Donnelly: “Well the risk is not necessarily much higher. This is about recognising there are things we do in life which inherently carry a risk and we got to manage that risk and unfortunately until we have a vaccine, widely distributed for Covid-19, that is the case. That’s what the measures are about. They’re about saying ‘let’s move now, let’s not move until community transmission goes up and up, let’s move now to do what we know will work to reduce community transmission so that the schools can reopen’.”

Via Virgin Media News

Yesterday: “Is There A Magic Number For Schools, Pubs Or Anywhere Else? There Isn’t”