We are in the middle of a Global Pandemic, COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way or other. No one can tell weather this will last of a number of weeks or months, but we are all going to be affected. No one in living memory has witnessed this level of upheaval or disruption to entire countries in peace times.
We all have elderly or vulnerable relatives and friends that are at a higher risk from this virus than young people and our fear is that if they contract the virus they may not survive.
The government have advised against all non-essential travel and we are to follow social distancing guidelines of a minimum of 2 metres. All schools, colleges and playgrounds are closed. A vast amount of work places are encouraging their staff to work from home or have closed their doors to the public whilst being contactable online or over the phone, others have stopped trading during this emergency.
The Department of Health website has the following post ion its website: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a02c5a-what-is-happening/
“Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that circulate among animals including camels, cats and bats. They can be spread from animals to humans. Coronaviruses cause illness in humans ranging from the common cold to more severe respiratory (lung) diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The first cases of the new virus were identified in people working in a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China. It is thought that humans picked up the virus from animals at the market.”
Ireland is currently in a “Delay Phase” of the national strategy against this virus. We know that COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is contagious and many people will catch it. The delay strategy is planned to slow down the spread of the virus. This means that for example, if 1,000 people are going to catch the virus, the delay initiatives should result in 200 people per week catching the virus over five weeks, rather than 500 people per week catching the virus over 2 weeks. That way we will be able to reduce the burden on our GPs and hospitals.
Lets hope it work.
Stay safe everyone.