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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed that Donegal will be raised to Level 3 of the five-level alert plan alongside Dublin starting at midnight on Friday after the county recorded the highest level of coronavirus cases in the state since the end of the spring.
The incidence of Covid-19 in the county over the past fortnight has been 148.2 in Donegal, which is higher than the rate in Dublin of around 145.
The latest daily figures show 42 new cases in Donegal of the 324 cases reported as of midnight Wednesday, following 30 new cases in the country 24 hours earlier. The only other country with a biweekly rate above 100 was Co Louth. Some 167 of the recently reported cases were in Dublin.
Starting at midnight on Friday, Donegal residents will be asked not to travel outside the county and will be subject to the same penalties as Dublin with indoor dining bans, plus restrictions on the number of spectators at sporting events , local party bans, and strict limits on the number of people and family groups that can meet indoors and outdoors.
The number allowed at weddings and funerals will be reduced to 25. Restrictions will apply until October 16.
Damp pubs
Mr Martin said that Donegal would have all the restrictions for Dublin except one, wet pubs. He said wet pubs in Donegal would be allowed to function to serve outdoors.
“Donegal’s seven-day incidence is higher than anywhere else in the country. In a Local Election Area, Stranorlar, the incident rate is 336 per 100,000, ”he said.
He said he identified a community not to highlight it to show how fast the virus spread. The Taoiseach said that a “spirit of solidarity” would slow the spread of the virus.
“To be honest, we could have similar announcements for other areas in the next week, if the numbers continue to rise.
He said everyone needed to think about that and determine if the virus could spread and grow. He said there was “nothing inevitable” in the spread of the virus if people took responsibility.
‘Stay with this’
Dr Glynn said the seven-day level of Covid-19 cases in Donegal was double that of anywhere else in the country. “
He said the 14-day rate in Lifford and Stranorlar was 336 per 100,000 people; Letterkenny at 81 per 100,000 and West Donegal at 92 per 100,000.
“Given how quickly the situation in Donegal deteriorated, NPHET felt that the implementation of Level 3 restrictions in the county was necessary,” he said.
He added that “unfortunately the situation continues to evolve and deteriorate at the national level.
“Tonight I ask people across Dublin, Donegal, Louth Wicklow, Kildare Waterford, Cork and Galway to pay particular attention to public health councils.”
He said that a large number of cases were being recorded among younger people in particular and asked them to respect the Covid-19 protocols.
“Please keep this and together we will get through it.”
He said that experts were seeing large numbers of cases in the Derry area and it was not surprising that cases were emerging in Donegal. He said the cases were occurring at family events, a phenomenon that was happening across the country.
Both Dr. Glynn and Mr. Martin said that socialization within the family and social groups contributed primarily to growth and that was a trend that was being observed at the national level.
“This is why we are concerned about urban centers,” Martin said. He said cities like Cork and Galway have started from a low base, but “incident rates are growing very fast,” the Taoiseach said.
He said it was important to have honest conversations as there was a “chance now to stop growth.”
Young cases
Dr. Glynn said there had been a significant number of cases among people between their late teens and early 20s.
“It is to be expected to see people of those age groups [getting the virus],” he said.
However, he said his message to that group was that he had to make decisions.
“It’s not that we don’t want you to socialize. But third level institutions open next week. Club championships are played. We have to do these things safely and differently. The youngsters have been phenomenal for the last eight months. “
He said that for them, work relationships and social life had suffered.
“It is very difficult to go into winter to stop many elements of their lives. But unless they do they’ll keep driving [spread of the virus]. “
Regarding the close contact during the celebrations after the team won big games, he said the excitement was understandable, but decisions had to be made.
Mr Martin added: “In my opinion, sport is vital in terms of physical and mental well-being,” adding that it shed light on what Ireland did best as a country.
“It gives tremendous joy to those who are participating. The choice is that we want to continue playing sports throughout the winter, but behavior will dictate that and it will become more challenging as we progress through the winter in different sports.
“It is essential that the protocols are followed.”
Various conditions
Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that the state’s public health team, NPHET, privately expressed concern about the opening of pubs, claiming that alcohol has a “disinhibiting effect” on people.
At a meeting of the National Public Health Emergencies Team in late August, health officials discussed how pubs and bars “pose a particular risk to the spread of Covid-19, as alcohol can have a disinhibiting effect on people. people and affect judgment. “
Minutes from the NPHET meeting show the team said that regardless of how well-intentioned people are, it can affect their awareness and ability to comply with social distancing and hygiene and breathing advice.
NPHET recommended last week that Dublin should be moved to Level 3 of the government’s new five-tier alert system to contain the coronavirus and that pubs that do not serve food should remain closed when they reopen in other parts of the country on Monday. The Government also agreed with NPHET’s recommendation that food-serving pubs and restaurants, as long as they remain open in Dublin, should only serve customers outside.
The recommendations were sent to the government last week amid rising numbers of coronaviruses in the Republic, particularly in Dublin. Several other counties are also at risk of being elevated to Level 3 as the number of cases continues to rise in many parts of the state.
Officials at the August meeting said that internationally there have been several examples of Covid-19 outbreaks in bars and that there have also been several outbreaks associated with bars in Ireland, including 26 cases related to a bar in Co Kildare.
“When pubs and bars have reopened in other countries, various conditions have been imposed including reduced opening hours, social distancing, mandatory seating, table service only, reservation required, limited number per table, mandatory use of masks by the staff and capacity limits, ”Minutes of the status of the meeting.
The team also discussed an “increased risk of infection associated with nightclub-like settings, which by their nature are not intended to be places with seating where customers can maintain physical distance.”
Acting Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn said yesterday that struggling hospitality sectors will not influence public health decisions.
He said he was aware of the impact of the indoor eating ban in Dublin for the next three weeks, but said that “that cannot influence public health decisions when we are looking at hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and deaths. that we have seen in the last few days. “
He was asked why Dublin was the only capital city in Europe that banned indoor dining in restaurants and bars and kept wet pubs closed.
“Yes, we have closed bars and restaurants in Dublin, but bars and restaurants are open across the country.”
He said there was too great a focus on the “small but significant element of society that is not open to the detriment of the reality that the vast majority of society is open despite a highly infectious disease.”
Evidence
Professor Philip Nolan, Chairman of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, also reiterated that international evidence was the reason why he recommended a three-week ban on indoor eating in Dublin.
Earlier this week, the Irish Restaurant Association asked the government publish international evidence was based on supporting the decision to ban indoor dining in Dublin.
Adrian Cummins, executive director of the restaurant representative body, said NPHET had referenced international evidence as one of the reasons for closing the indoor dining room until October 10.
“Business owners want to see it. An industry has been closed. It’s about maintaining confidence in the strategy and where we are going, ”he said Monday.
Mr. Cummins asked the government to “fix” the contact tracing data to give confidence to businesses and employees across the country.
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