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The infectious disease consultant, Dra. Clíona Ní Cheallaigh, has warned that pubs and restaurants should not open while levels of community transmission of Covid-19 remain high.
It comes as the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) has said that opening pubs would be safer, as it would avoid parities in houses.
Dr Ní Cheallaigh told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland: “You cannot eat and drink and wear a mask at the same time.” Not wearing a mask indoors meant the virus could be transmitted, he said.
There was evidence that restaurants and pubs were “major sites” for the virus to spread, he said. Levels of the virus in the community had to be much lower than current levels before they could break open.
“I don’t see it being safe in December.”
The situation was heartbreaking, he said, given that bar and restaurant owners had spent so much time and energy planning a safe opening.
“Unfortunately, the laws of infection are against that.”
The public needed to find other ways to support pubs and restaurants before they can safely open next year, he urged.
Dr Ní Cheallaigh also said she had a problem with people arriving in Ireland from abroad for Christmas. Many other countries had much higher levels of the virus and the dangers of air travel were well documented, he said.
While a person may test negative for the virus when they arrive in Ireland, they could be incubating and within days could infect their elderly and vulnerable family members, he warned.
Dr. Ní Cheallaigh also expressed concern about the level of virus outbreaks in hospitals. In shared wards, it was difficult for patients to wear masks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Meanwhile, (VFI) CEO Padraig Cribben has claimed that opening all pubs for Christmas would be safer as it would mean fewer unregulated house parties.
The air was “full of flying kites” (on the subject), he told Morning Ireland on RTÉ radio.
He said there should be no distinction between “wet” pubs and those that serve food and that having all the pubs open would “spread the load.”
The numbers allowed at any venue should be based on the venue’s capacity for social distancing, he added.
Some facilities would not open due to their size or if there were vulnerable family members.
Cribben said there was going to be no balanced opinion from Nphet on pub openings. The CMO had made “a prejudice” three weeks ago that people could not meet their family in bars on Christmas.
There is no evidence that the virus has spread due to the hospitality sector, he said.
In fact, the number could be reduced if pubs were opened, as people would not be tempted to meet in domestic settings.
“People are going to socialize. The Government must ask itself if it is better to have them in a controlled environment or in a domestic environment where there is very little social distancing and masks are not used ”.
The Taoiseach told the Irish Examiner that the stores will reopen from December 1.
However, the Cabinet disagrees on whether pubs and restaurants should fully reopen before the generally busy Christmas period.
Final decisions on easing these restrictions are not expected to be made until Thursday.
One of Cork City’s leading publicans, Ernest Cantillon, has said that forcing people to squeeze out their Christmas socializing in a week or two runs the risk of drawing large crowds together.
Scenes of hundreds of people flocking to Cork city center over the weekend to socialize in a “carnival” setting have raised concerns that large numbers are now ignoring closure restrictions.
Nine minor law enforcement arrests were made, and video footage of the crowds raised concerns among public health experts and city political leaders.
“Pints of Guinness to go and mulled wine don’t provoke scenes like this,” Cantillon said.
The tavern keeper, owner of Sober Lane and Electric Bar in Cork City, closed his bars to carry drinks at 8:30 pm on Saturday night.
“The city around 6pm was full, but it had a very nice atmosphere. People were out in the open, moving around, pushing carts, buying hot coffee or wine, and wearing masks, “he said.
At 10 p.m., he estimates there were about 1,000 people in the city center, including many teenagers and young people. He also saw many older people who “would never have come out during the first confinement.”
“My point is not whether they should or not; clearly, it would be easier and safer if everyone stayed or could stay home, but that is not the case right now for whatever reason: financial, boredom, silly, mental health, misinformation , all of the above and more … “
The government is finalizing plans to ease level 5 restrictions on December 1, but it is speculated that the reopening of the “wet bars” could be delayed for two more weeks.
“If people are going out, pubs and restaurants are safe environments. This folly of cutting the holidays down to a week or two [at Christmas]You’re going to have the same amount of people who want to go out but with much less capacity, so you’ll end up with more people on the streets. “
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