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High-profile vaccine scandals at two Dublin hospitals could affect how strictly the public follows Covid-19 restrictions in the coming weeks, a behavioral expert warned.
Professor Pete Lunn, head of behavioral research at ESRI and a member of an Nphet subgroup that advises the government on behavior, warned that previous prominent scandals resulted in decreased adherence to Covid-19 restrictions.
He was speaking in the context of media coverage of the vaccine scandals at Coombe and Beacon hospitals in Dublin, and the growing reports of queue jumping elsewhere.
That is in addition to prominent demonstrations of the restrictions being circumvented, including massive public gatherings in parts of Cork and Dublin in recent days.
Professor Lunn said: “We can see that Golfgate produced a domino effect. There was an impact on people’s perceptions of how much other people were complying with the restrictions.
“That was definitely reduced for a few weeks after Golfgate; in the data it lasted about three weeks. “
The data shows that people are more likely to adhere to restrictions when they believe that everyone else is.
However, Professor Lunn has also found that some people are comforted by realizing that others share their outrage.
“Then they realize that the majority of the population is doing the right thing because the majority is so outraged by this story. And then people think ‘oh, there are a lot of people like me,’ “he said, adding,” That could apply to the Beacon. ”
Public health officials have issued warnings to people not to gather during the Easter holiday weekend. The good weather forecast and the announcement of the imminent relaxation of restrictions could result in large outdoor gatherings.
Gardaí warned that they will patrol public services, parks and places of beauty in the coming days, with checkpoints throughout the country’s road network.
In Cork, Mayor Cllr Joe Kavanagh has appealed to people to avoid large gatherings after what he described as “chaos” at Bell’s Field on the north side of the city during the week, where Gardaí had to dissolve a large crowd that had gathered.
And, in a joint statement, Ireland’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn and Northern Ireland Medical Director Dr. Michael McBride called on people across the island to celebrate safely this Easter.
“Do not give this virus the opportunities it seeks to spread,” they said.
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