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DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has said the two-hour guidance on spending time in a room with others isn’t the same as saying that businesses around the country are being discouraged from having people in the same room for more than two hours.
Dr Glynn emphasised that it would be up to a public health doctor to determine if someone could be considered a close contact of a person who contracted Covid-19.
If a person spent two hours or more in a room with someone who subsequently was confirmed to have the virus, it could be the case they would be considered a close contact and would have to isolate for 14 days.
He told this evening’s Department of Health briefing that it’s “not surprising there’s confusion” on the matter because it’s “quite technical”.
Earlier today, the Courts Service said it would be limiting time in court to just two hours a day, after public health advice given to TDs about whether they can conduct committees at the moment.
TDs were told they can spend no longer than two hours in the Dáil chamber – even if each person is at least two metres apart - in order to comply with public health advice. If they spend more than two hours together indoors, they may be considered close contacts.
Dr Glynn was asked about this this evening, and said he wasn’t privy to the advice given to the Oireachtas as that had come from the Heath Protection Surveillance Centre within the HSE.
He said that, more generally, when someone was confirmed to have Covid-19, a public health doctor would examine interactions they had with others to determine who they may have come into close contact with.
Depending on the size of a room, and the ventilation within it, the doctor would make a judgement on whether someone they had spent time in a room with could be considered a close contact.
“If you’ve had a meeting for more than two hours and one of those people is subsequently confirmed [to have been diagnosed with Covid-19], it may have implications for everyone in the room at the time,” he said.
It’s not the same as saying every business and organisation in the country can’t have people in the same room for more than two hours.
He said in such a case it would be likely that at least some of the people in the same room at the time would be considered close contacts.
When someone is determined to be a close contact of a confirmed case, they are advised to self-isolate for up to 14 days and are tested for Covid-19.
Dr Glynn said that his message to employers would be to limit contact between employees to minimise the risk of them catching and spreading Covid-19. He said that by keeping any meetings to less than two hours this would minimise the risk of the virus spreading.
“Everything we’re doing is a balance of risk and benefit,” he said. “It’s the same for all sectors of society.”
With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
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I had one and wanted to start the fire myself….
That would put Zafira God into ya!
Some cigarette lighter there…
It amazes me that a story like this makes headlines but the fact that the 2nd biggest fishing trawler the FV Margiris is off the Coast of Donegal at the minute HOVERING up fish, its nets are so big they can hold 13 Jumbo jets, this same ship was banned from Australia coasts,…but hay we shouldn’t complain ….we do get a 4% fish quota for OUR waters !!!!!! So next time your scoffing down a cancer laden horse burger whilst sitting in your Zafria ….ask yourself, why is it that even though were an island surrounded by water , we have very little fish in out diet ?
Currently there are large shoals of Bluefin Tuna of the west coast, but its illegal for us to catch them, as we don’t have any quota for them.
Can i see your copy of Swank, Armin?
This is where it is at the moment :http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:353383/zoom:10
And to quote ABC news:
Nathaniel Pelle, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner says ‘vessels like the FV Margiris and its bloated fleet of heavily subsidised European trawlers have fished their own waters to near collapse and they’ve brought fisheries to their knees everywhere they’ve been since’.
Greenpeace points out that the Margiris ‘is linked to the European Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association (PFA), an EU taxpayer-subsidized fleet with a history of leaving collapsed fisheries and out-of-work fishermen in its wake’.
“The South Pacific jack mackerel fishery, a favourite of the Margiris and the PFA, made headlines this year when fish populations plummeted by ninety percent.
“Off West Africa almost all the PFA’s target species are now fully exploited or overexploited, prompting the Senegalese government to expel all PFA vessels from their waters.”
TheBrain…never heard of it…but I see it now n/w of Donegal with a Dutch vessel..30 years old,almost 10k gross tonnage,Lithuanian flag,in and out of Dutch ports.tell us more….
Since joining the EU in ’73 to 2010 Ireland has received €72 billion in funds and we have contributed about €31 Billion so we got €41 billion, not bad until you look at the fisheries, 1975-210 Our fisheries were worth €201 Billion commercially, we took €17 Billion of that ….which left the EU with a nice €140 billion worth of our fish ………..not a bad days work……sure what could we have done with 100 billion euro???
TheBrain…any suggestions?
Armin…we do have a minister for all this,don’t we??we used to have..I know Coveney looks after the Med ferries…….
Zafira, If the emissions don’t get ya, the Fire will.
They don’t make em like they used to.
Mine is 16 years old. I’m going to demand a full refund!!
Never cut off a guy in a vest driving an MPV. He’s got nothing to lose.
A few articles down theres a sponsored article for opel corsas…no thanks!
Zafire sale?
New spec in opels Bluetooth,sat nav,fire extinguisher. ……
Definitely a hot topic.
Burning is the best thing to do to these and all such peoplewagons
So how are family’s supposed to get around?
As the Kings of Leon once sang – whoa ooh, your Zafiras on fire…..
No they didn’t. They never even sang anything that sounds remotely like that! Why would you lie like that??
Yeah. Everyone knows it was Johnny Cash sang that.
Wasn’t he the guy who sang the Macarena?
no, he sang cotton eye joe
Ah right. I thought that was Andrea Bocelli
and i just realised the ‘eye’ connection there… unintentional… wouldn’t have gone there, to be honest
I love how the sponsored link on the app today is for opel
It was first in the queue for the Passage West to Cobh ferry and was waiting on the slipway for the ferry to arrive, good job that it did not go on fire on the ferry boat.
Looks like the firemen are going to push it down the slip into the water!
Pun
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