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THE CHIEF MEDICAL Officer has warned that Ireland must take immediate action to stop the spread of Covid-19 over the Christmas period.
Dr Tony Holohan urged members of the public to reconsider their plans and limit their social contacts in the next week to protect vulnerable members of society.
An easing of restrictions, allowing inter-county travel and up to three households to meet indoors, begins today and is currently set to last until 7 January.
However, the CMO sendt a letter to the Government last night recommending another set of new restrictions from Monday 28 December instead.
Holohan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that if the spread of Covid-19 did not reduce soon, Ireland would experience a surge in new cases in the coming weeks.
“We could find ourselves in early January experiencing levels of infection that begin to place public health at risk to the extent that it begins to impact on our ability to maintain the provision of really essential public services,” he said.
In its letter last night, NPHET reportedly recommended a reintroduction of restrictions on bars and restaurants and a limiting of household visits to just one other household from Monday week.
It is also believed that non-essential retail, gyms and personal services could stay open under the proposals.
Asked about remarks by the president of the Restaurants Association of Ireland Mark McGowan that the new proposals would severely impact the hospitality industry, Holohan said nobody was “being picked on”.
He explained that NPHET’s recommendations had been made based on the Living with Covid plan, and that it was up to the government to decide on whether to implement them.
“The reality is that the kinds of environments in which this virus spreads are those in which people come together and come together socially, come together indoors, and… with the use of alcohol,” he said.
The CMO also called on the public to reduce their contacts in the week ahead, saying Ireland needed to reduce opportunities for the virus to spread in social settings.
“It’s really important that everybody re-examines their plans and limits their social contacts as much as possible in the run into Christmas and minimises the extent to which they’re going to have contact with other people,” Holohan said.
Speaking last night, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that the government would give businesses seven to ten days’ notice, even if a decision on the restrictions is not taken until next Tuesday.
Sources have indicated that the government is aiming to delay imposing new restrictions until 30 or 31 December, but that it would be dependent on the daily number of new Covid-19 cases.
The Stormont Executive also agreed last night to impose a six-week lockdown in the North starting on St Stephen’s Day.
Measures are expected to include the closing of all non-essential retail as well as close-contact services, while the hospitality sector will be confined to takeaway services only.
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It’s not the end of the world folks, Christmas is every 365 days.
It’s more important that as many people see the next one.
@RJ: If we stay in lockdown forever then this will help with your goal.
@Jim Lingk: estimates suggest we would have vaccine coverage by October or November at the latest
@Jim Lingk: No need. Vaccines are on the way.
@Seán Óg: not until at least june
@Adrian O’Donnell:
We only need to vaccinate the vulnerable , then we can release restrictions , this is about stopping people getting sick , not about stopping a virus. We don’t shut down countries , just because you get infected.
Tony Doom & Gloomohan
@Kevin O’Brien: it’s his job to explain the worst case scenario.
@Gareth Murran: yes but his style of messaging and that of his colleagues can be a little of “talking at” rather than “talking to” the country
@Gareth Murran: hes not explaining hes lecturing big difference.
@Gareth Murran: It’s also his job to report the positives, but he doesn’t. He loves the scaremongering & to be front & centre.
@Kevin O’Brien: no show like a Tony show
Welp.. the only change to my Christmas day this year is that I’m the one cooking the Christmas day dinner. Other than that, I’m meeting the same number of people as every other year. I will travel as much as always. There will be hugs and kisses all round. The only open windows will be in the bathroom.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Well I hope due to your stubbornness and unwillingness to comply that you see next Christmas and likewise your family do too. It’s because of your Obstinance and that of others that has us heading for another lockdown.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Considerate. Kind. Helpful. Unselfish. Decent. Noble. Compassionate. Public-spirited. I’m sure there are plenty more words and phrases to describe what you’re not.
@Tom Harpur Photography: If you honestly believe that there is ANY way that easing restrictions woulf NOT result in an increase in cases then there is no hope for you. The messaging now is that even though restrictions are eased we shouldn’t behave any differently, do anything or go anywhere. Which is nonsense.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: While I do hope you have a lovely Christmas. Can I ask why you felt the need to post that? Was it just to rub it in the noses of us vulnerable who due to people like you can not do the same??
@Sarah Cullen: Vulnerable person here with two elderly parents, one of whom has cancer. While Mirabelle and others flaunt the guidelines to prove that they won’t be told what to do, or whatever they’re trying to prove, we watch on in horror as their actions leave the vulnerable at greater risk. Don’t tell me to “just cocoon the vulnerable” because unless you grow your own food and don’t receive anything whatsoever from the outside world, you’re always at risk. The grocery delivery person and the groceries they deliver; the post; the medications from the pharmacy… all potential infection points while the r0 numbers are higher. You cannot completely cocoon vulnerable people but as long as you can party, sure f*** it, right?
@Mirabelle Stonegate: have a great Christmas, oh and in the off chance you get coronavirus, don’t bother heading to hospital if you need a ventilator or anything, another hug might work
@FrustratedASDMum: not sure why I am receiving your rant, we cocooned our whole family from March to July. I have been in tesco 4 times and have yet to return to Lidl since March. I havent stayed in a hotel, gone to someones house for a social event etc. I am the one highlighting what an ass that original posters comment was and presumably cos she has the luxury of being “well”…. or has not yet had her underlying illness diagnosed.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: yayyyyy a freedumb fighter.
@Paul Furey: love it!
@Seán Óg: Well bred would be another.
@Sarah Cullen: Apologies Sarah, I must not have made myself clear. What I posted was trying to back up what you were saying, as in, when people like the OP disregard guidelines, it’s those who are vulnerable or living with vulnerable individuals who pay the price and are worrying as the r0 numbers increase. Apologies again.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: why would you post details showing such basic ignorance of reality? Do you think it makes you look intelligent and independent minded? It really doesn’t. It’s the response you might expect from a badly behaved child.
@FrustratedASDMum: No apology needed, I was wondering had you misinterpreted my post. It is such a frustrating time, particularly with all of the ignorant comments and posts of those who think they are superior but are actually just lucky. Social media has really given the illinformed and uninformed a dangerous platform. Here is to gettting our vaccines and our “normal” lives back! Hope you have a nice and safe xmas however you spend it. We are actually quite looking forward to having now stress and hibernating!
@Mirabelle Stonegate: could you post with your real name please since your so proud , I do hope you have a great Christmas, but if you do need medical help or a ventilator which you will be offered, I hope you proudly say no ,
@Sarah Cullen: Totally agree. I hope you and yours have a really lovely, relaxed Christmas too. Enjoy the hibernation, I’m looking forward to it too!
@Seán Óg: complete Hrse Aole springs to mind
@Jim Lingk: look it’s not hard if everybody did what was required then we wouldn’t looking into the next abyss of a lockdown. It would be unrealistic to seal off the country and close ports and the north border but everyone just play your part and cop on.
@FrustratedASDMum: I NEVER said I was disregarding guidelines. In fact, I’m fully ignoring them, simply because they don’t apply to how I celebrate Christmas EVERY year. I celebrate with my parents, whom I’m living with this year. We don’t visit family or friends. Stopped that when I was a child, over 20 years ago. Last time we visited family was over a decade ago. We don’t have anyone around. We go to town 10 mins away for a few bits, and we go to a beach for a walk. Just us, no one else.
So.. tell me again how I’m disregarding guidelines that literally don’t apply to my situation.
@Brian Carr: I AM proud, but I won’t be giving my name.
I’m proud that..
I’m spending Christmas with the 2 people I live with.
I’m not visiting any other house.
I’m only going out to go for a walk with the 2 people I live with, or to pick up groceries.
I won’t be making any changes to how I celebrate Christmas every year.
I hate the type of busy, noisy Christmas everyone is bemoaning missing.
I love quiet insular Christmases that exclude the world.
So… If by some change I end up sick and on a ventilator, I will say a big YES. Because if I’ve caught it, it won’t be down to being big on socialising.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: I knew you meant that from your first post Mirabelle. Its awful how quick people are to judge and call names online, it actually says more about them . Nobody even read your post properly in their haste to throw insults at you. I am exactly like you and love that kind of Christmas – Far from the Maddening Crowd!!! Enjoy :-)
@Mirabelle Stonegate: Fair play to you!
To anyone else still buying the official line and accusing everyone else for not doing their part: the moment it became clear there are countries managing the pandemic better than us (without a single lockdown), any sane person would have questioned how we are being led!
A bit like Trump supporters I’d say… I just hope you’re immune to covid the same way you’re immune to facts and reason.
@Stan Papusa: out of interest can you list all the countries that have fared far better than us without a single lockdown? Because the majority of EU countries have had more than one lockdown with several operating strict curfews as well
Businesses were told they could open until 6th January and have planned accordingly. Now it’s all up in the air again. People have made plans and are wondering whether they’ll go ahead. Now we’ve been warned we’ll be back in Level 5 after Christmas, everyone will be rushing to restaurants this weekend while they have the chance. Why is the original end date changing? Numbers were always going to rise and the increase has hardly been off the scale. Hospital numbers have been stable, actually lower today than on the 30th of November. So why aren’t we getting the promised break until 6th of January? People who wish to can still stay at home, but the rest of us and especially small businesses were counting on the timeline we were given
@Newto2016: these guys just instill more worry and anxiety than the virus itself. Hoping for numbers comparable to the spring (despite the virus preferring winter months) comparing us to other EU countries numbers (despite majority of them being far more open than we were were in the summer). Hoping for unrealistic numbers yet to be proven that it’s attainable and backtracking on promises and hope for people. They’re not inspiring or brave they’re a bunch of incompetent yes people going around in circles.
@Newto2016: isn’t that a bit childish? Yes they did say the 6 January but things have changed. Should they just say nothing and ignore the new data just because you thought you were getting three weeks off instead of two?
@Sara Davis: I don’t think concern for businesses and livelihoods is childish. Many small businesses were relying on this period. A lot will never reopen after this year, especially in small towns. My point is that I don’t see how the data supports tightening restrictions early given the stable hospital numbers. The numbers were always going to rise, NPHET knew that
@Sara Davis: absolutely agree, many of the posts here sound just like a sulking 8 year old.. Obviously, if numbers rise faster than anticipated, there’ll have to be measures introduced to suppress them to an acceptable level. We can’t stick our heads into the sand, pretending it’s not happening just because it’s Christmas. In the end, the stark rise in numbers probably coincides with a lot of people not being as careful as they were over the last weeks anymore – era shur, its Christmas.. So what do they expect? And none of the decision makers is out to make our lives misery, or to destroy the economy, or parts thereof. Doesn’t make any sense.
@Newto2016: The numbers are four times higher than what they were hoping for ,given the circumstances with what’s happening up north they’re trying to avoid catastrophe.
@Daniel Finucane: they shouldn’t be “hoping for” numbers. They claim to be experts using sophisticated modeling algorithms, increases and decreases should be forecastable based on the level of restrictions and the historical data. If they’re hoping for things to workout then they’re no more expert than the man in the street or the average journal poster.
would you put up with a level 5 like we had in march for 6 weeks if it was the last one?
@Macca1986: YES, I really believe this will be the last one, the nights are getting brighter we just need to hang in….
@Macca1986: Yes! And I really like Gabriel Scally’s idea of 2 extra day bank hols in June.
@Macca1986: who could say for sure it would be the last one. The budget was based on the assumption that there would not be second lockdown and only a week later we were back at level 5.
@Macca1986: lockdown 3 of 5 commences in 11 days
@Macca1986: would you put up with a level 5 for 6 weeks so we can have a decent Christmas?….oh wait that doesnt look like it’ll materialise either.
@John Egan: exactly. that’s what we were told end of october. didnt materelise though
So everyone who had planned to go out over new year instead of Christmas will now be going out. We can’t keep running the country on a weekly basis. We were promised we’d be open until January. We were told the last lockdown would work. It was obvious that cases would rise. Yet it seems to be a surprise to Nphet. Hospital transmission is a problem. Thousands of college students have been tested before going home and I’m sure that picked up asymptomatic cases
I now feel totally justified for keeping my kids out of school as of Monday. I think a lot of parents will be doing the same.
@DJ Dave Wexford #WearAFeckingMask: strong arguement for all the schools to close today…. capitalising on the weekend 4 extra days of no school kids before xmas would prob be a benefit.
@DJ Dave Wexford #WearAFeckingMask: I would like to but secondary schools are in the middle of exams and if you’ve a JC or LC student, these exams are important.
@FrustratedASDMum: I totally understand that too, my eldest had exams this week but thankfully finished them today. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly but a big uptick in cases locally yesterday some very close to home swayed us to do the right thing.
We seem to obsessed with case figures , yet we are no where near “ over whelming “ our hospitals
Dr Doom , seems to relish placing his advice in the public domain to pressure the Gov , surely as CMO he should be told to shut the F up
@Dave McCabe: The fallacy of data models (that remain behind the curtain as far as the public goes). Predict the most extreme then claim it would have happened had restrictions not been imposed.
@Dave McCabe: right now we are not but if we dont put on restrictions then it will fly out of control, surely you have worked that out by now?
@Munster1:
Then why announce an easing of restrictions , yet on the very day of those easing suggest removing them
That’s at best incompetence from NPHET or at worst deliberately hamming up the dangers to frighten gov into DR Dooms domain
@Munster1: Debatable. But if true why lift the restrictions at all?
@Dave McCabe: Agree. I work on the front line, our hospital is very quiet for this time of year.
It feels like the mood music is changing from “this is how long restrictions will last” to “this is how long you will have some freedom”. Or is it just me…..?
As i say if Tony Holohan was in charge of road safety in Ireland we would have zero deaths, but no one would be allowed drive a vehicle
@Sean:
Absolutely, this is what happens when advisers make decisions rather then advice , we have a weak kneed T-shop hiding behind “ advise “ and a useless opposition , in the meantime we are now jumping from lock down to lockdown as tracing has descended into chaos and nphets data modelling is either frightening incompetent or being deliberately massaged
Remember the 50,000 HSE health care workers where virtually no one was actually used , the 500 extra beds that lay unused at huge expense in private nationalised hospitals
From NPHET down , we are letting arguably the most incompetent section of our public service totally control our country
This nonsense must end , Gov is elected to lead , it has to balance things , death and illness are part of the human condition , we live with it, we can’t eradicate it.
When will we be free of this unelected dictator
@Dave McCabe: The sooner this pyschopath is consigned to the scrapheap of history , the better.
I love this trotting out of us putting the vulnerable in society in danger when they were the cause of the majority of the deaths back in April and May.
@Michael McGrath: nursing homes are still a major site of outbreaks. Even simple measures are not being taken in some
@Michael McGrath: they were never the “cause”. They were the victims.
@Sara Davis: “They” are NPHET Sara
Still don’t know their ar$e from their elbow. It’s like the hokey pokey. In out, in out! If they had done it right the first time round we wouldn’t be in this mess. People are just sick to the back teeth with it all.
@Brian Stafford: it’s all about biding time
@Brian Stafford: it’s all about biding time til a vaccine, always was and always will, I don’t buy into this ‘doing it right the first time m’ nonsense. They knew exactly what they were doing all along and it was all about damage limitation and to be fair, it has been quite successful when you look at the rest of Europe
@seanC: Nope, talking through your nunny now. I’ve friends in Australia and NZ and they’re all out partying, at gigs and at sporting events like nothing ever happened. We might be doing better than Europe but they’re laughing at us over there. They did very little right from the get go here. Come on, let’s all go to Cheltenham.
@Brian Stafford: if people had acted with some common sense then the government wouldn’t be revising the upcoming plans in response to the cases this week. Two or three weeks ago when these cases were transmitted people were clearly not following the “rules”. Unfortunately it isn’t just the “do-as-you-like” lot that then become infected as the chain of transmission catches out even those who do everything they can to avoid catching or passing this virus on. It was all very well to clap and put out flags for our front line workers but clearly a large enough number of our fellow citizens don’t give a monkeys about protecting our health service or anyone else to cause the current spike in cases.
@Sara Davis: that’s the thing, some people can’t be trusted and it only take a small few for a virus to get going. One of the things that should have been done was a complete ban on alcohol sales, even just during the first lockdown for a few weeks and that would have helped a lot. No house parties, no drinking on the streets or in parks. They didn’t have the balls to do they yet they’re trying their best to put every “wet pub” in the country out of business.
@Brian Stafford: it’s not like nothing ever happened over there. They had an extremely harsh lockdown (111 days in Melbourne)with severe penalties for breaking restrictions. They had about 2 weeks of school between feb and September which without doubt have an effect on children.
@seanC: It has been quite successful if you don’t count some 20 countries (give or take a few).
At least that’s what they want us to believe…
In that regard I must admit (without much pleasure) they have been quite successful.
This threat of a potential post-Christmas surge would be alarming if we hadn’t been here already. The last lockdown was based on the threat of an exponential rise in cases when the numbers had already stabilised. In the US last month, there was the threatened post-Thanksgiving surge. It’s clear now that this fallacy didn’t happen, and that the trajectory of case rises there continued unchanged, although hugely worrying in itself.
Now we are presented with this next episode of doom laden prognostication.
While NPHET forecasts are, at this stage, a worthless debased currency, they still carry a lot of weight.
For how much longer I wonder?
@Garry Coll: … for as long as there are people lapping up all this stuff enthusiastically.
For as long as there are parents who would go along with almost anything, if that means not having to worry about their kids during daytime/workdays.
For as long as people would not held the powers that be accountable.
So how long is that? Forever! And they are aware of that.
@Stan Papusa:
Probably.
It wouldn’t be the last one. We just had 6 weeks of level 5 and within 3 weeks we are back to talking about imposing tougher restrictions again.
Level 5 like last March would (of course) stop the increase in cases but it would rise again as soon as it is lifted in February.
The last lockdown failed completely. Deaths from covid rose by 2.3 times during the lockdown. So Tony is a high priest of Covidanity, does not care about facts, only keeping the religion going.
We didn’t bail out the banks, we wont have another level 5 lockdown, covid doesn’t go to school & Tony Holohan isn’t the last word. I cannot see people taking government seriously from here on in to many contradictory statements, gone to the stage where you wouldn’t believe the ” Hail Mary ” out of their mouths.
Am I the only one thats been waiting all year for this pandemic to happen? Like we have 3000 dead. USA and UK seem the be the worst with 50,000 dead in the UK and 300,000 in the US. Thats not a lot overall. 150,000 people die from hospital infections in the US every year. I just cannot see why all this is necessary. Spanish Flu killed 50,000 in an Ireland with half the population. Hong Kong Flu in 1968 killed more world wide with half the worlds population then covid and is not even mentioned in reeling in the years and never made the front page. Are people so afraid of their shadow that they forgot being alive is a risk to life
@Niall Dunne: well said!
Counting cases on a daily basis is not a solution, where is the track and trace reporting and detail the HSE are taking to curtail the spread
Yes SIR yes SIR
Can’t we just ban Christmas? It is a pain in the neck apart from everything else and is disgustingly exploited every year by greedy businesses.
@smccl: I’d be up for that, Irish people put too much into one day of the year. It shouldn’t be a 3 month retail bonanza, it should be a few weeks and left at that. Retailers are way too reliant on Christmas compared to the rest of the year.
Lock. Down will kill the country and the people will get very fed up. It wont work.
Here in Spain we have a cerfew at midnight till 7 am it was announced today its 11pm to 7 and no gathers more than 6 people. Every one still working. Bars open. And its working. No second lockdown. . Come on Ireland get it together. Dont kill the country.
Should be “maximum social contact before Christmas” because we are going into level 5 lockdown and it will most likely be February when we come out
People dumping on the man, he doesn’t care about business, Christmas, “the craic”, that’s not his job, his job is to advise the government on the best course of action to deal with this and preserve life and not cripple a failing health service more, and the best course of action is to stay away from each other. Its not his problem the government is a shambles, and who’s surprised by that anyway, any government would have made a complete balls of this, lack of planning for anything is the real pandemic in Ireland, the “sure it’ll be grand” b0ll0x has finally caught up with us.
How about you look into the PCR testing regime and have a chat with the WHO about what they are now recommending. Then come back to the Irish public and address this problem the proper way and advise the government properly this time.
It’s hard to give out nephet when they are giving sound medical advice based on back of our crippled icu services .we would have had a level 5 second time around if we had icu beds . my friend working in icu has asked can they turn off the machine on 70 year old to give the one younger ones a chance on the ventilator .
I can’t go nursing until this is over or I wouldn’t see my three year old or my family this year hopefully this time next year it will be different .
@Louise O’Byrne: old people die on trolleys all the time from a lack of ICU beds in normal times. Why is it now causing us to destory our society for
Tony boy, it’s not too late to admit that you don’t know what you’re doing and you sound like a broken record!
The only problem is, power and celebrity status has already gone to your head so it’s hard to let go!
The only “strategy” you were able to come up with in +9 months is lock people up.
At this stage there are over 20 countries you could have taken hints from, but why bother?
If there were no vaccine coming in February, next time this year you’d be spinning the same nonsense (“people have become complacent”) and we would be preparing for lockdown #9.
There’s one decent thing you can do: step down, apologize for mismanagement, and disappear from public life forever. You and the rest of the gang…
yeh yeh we get it . I havent had anyone in the house for 6 months. social contacts are zero. the people that aren’t listening wont listen so get tony off the aurwaves
I’m working New Years I’ll defiantly reconsider it now though
have your say