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The strict limits on domestic, indoor, outdoor and sporting events will remain in effect until next April, even in the best government scenario to live with Covid-19.
The five-tier plan will be released on Tuesday and ministers and officials are yet to debate the finer details of the document this weekend.
Level five will be the most restrictive and similar to the March and April close, and level one will be the least restrictive, but will still impose limits on the numbers allowed in homes and in indoor and outdoor gatherings.
The ‘Living with Covid’ plan will prioritize keeping schools and daycare centers open at all stages if possible, while encouraging parents and employees to gradually return to their workplaces whenever it is safe to do so in an attempt to regenerate towns and cities that have been economically devastated in recent months. Schools and daycare centers may be closed at level five, but this will depend on public health recommendations and the evidence available at the time.
“Level five is back to where we were in March, level four is a more diluted version of that, and levels three and two are where we are hovering now,” said a high-level government source. “But level one is even more restrictive than people would have expected. But it is equally true to say that it is the best we can achieve in today’s environment.”
Sports events
There will be exemptions for sporting events where between 400 and 500 people can attend, subject to a venue having a capacity of at least 5,000. Ministers are pushing this weekend to increase the limits for those who attend outdoor sporting events, which have been held behind closed doors in recent weeks. But the current plan as drafted creates the possibility that only a few hundred people will be able to attend the Irish finals at Croke Park in December.
Different counties and regions could be at different tiers depending on several factors, including their 14-day virus incidence rate, but no more than two tiers would be allowed at the same time in the state.
This week, the government intends to keep almost all parts of the country at level two, but amid growing concerns about the spread of the virus in Dublin, the capital could be classified at level three, with restrictions similar to those that existed in Laois. Offaly and Kildare last month.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned yesterday that the government would not be afraid to implement restrictions in Dublin to stop the spread of the virus. “We will not be afraid to implement measures specifically in Dublin, if that is the way forward,” Raidió na Gaeltachta told RTÉ. “We did that in Kildare, Offaly and Laois … I know that some counties have a low number of cases, and I understand that argument, that there are differences and therefore the same restrictions should not apply.”
New testing centers will also be established in each county, with emerging testing centers to deal with outbreaks and specific clusters in certain areas. The government will also speed up recruitment for testing and contact tracing, with the goal of involving 3,000 people in this. Currently, there are between 700 and 800 attached health service officials working on testing and tracing.
The levels explained
Based on the drafts of the new plan that were circulated to top government figures in recent days, the Sunday Independent may reveal that in a best-case, tier one, no more than 10 visitors from three households will be allowed. in a person’s home. indoor meetings will be limited to 100 people and outdoor meetings will be limited to 200 people.
There will be no restrictions on traveling from home and all pubs, restaurants, shops and other businesses will be open.
At level two, where most of the state’s counties are currently located, no more than six people from three households will be allowed in a one-person household, with indoor gatherings limited to 50 people and outdoor gatherings also limited to this number.
In a level three scenario, household meetings would be limited to six people from just one other household; while there would be a ban on indoor gatherings with certain specific exceptions and a limit of 15 people on outdoor gatherings.
In a level four scenario, there would be a ban on all indoor gatherings, with outdoor gatherings limited to 15 and home visits prohibited. People would be encouraged not to socialize with people outside their home and would be told not to travel more than 5 km from their home.
The same restrictions would apply to home and indoor gatherings in a level five setting, while there would also be a ban on all outdoor gatherings.
Pubs and restaurants will be closed on the upper levels of the plan, but will remain open on levels one, two and three.
A government source emphasized that according to the plan, the situation in which so-called “wet” pubs have been closed since March, while all other businesses have been allowed to reopen will not happen.
“If it’s a case of restricted or closed businesses, it will be all businesses,” they said. “Specific sectors will not be removed.”
The exact details of the plan are still being finalized this weekend ahead of a Covid Cabinet subcommittee meeting tomorrow, before the plan is approved by the cabinet in plenary tomorrow and published.
Green list
The government will also eliminate the “green list” of travel in favor of a system of traffic lights for flights proposed by the EU. However, as the system has yet to be agreed at the EU level, the Coalition is considering adopting its criteria in the meantime and adding several countries where the incidence rate of the disease is less than 25 per 100,000 during the 14 days. prior to the current one. ‘green list’. This could lead to countries like Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and Iceland being added.
For so-called hotspot countries outside the EU that have a high rate of the virus, passengers who intend to travel to Ireland will need to undergo tests before boarding a plane.
The red list proposal that would have banned certain countries, previously raised by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, has been shelved in favor of this approach.
Communication of the new plan is being managed by the Taoiseach department as the Government seeks to improve its message on Covid restrictions after strong criticism in recent weeks.
Taoiseach Department Secretary General Martin Fraser will chair a new oversight group that will review the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team, including its degree of implementation, fine-tune it and ensure it is clearly communicated to the public.
Officials from various government departments, including Health and Justice, along with HSE Executive Director Paul Reid and Acting Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn, will be in the group.
Independent Sunday
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