WITH CHISTMAS NOW two weeks away, people are being urged to consider restricting their movements and limiting contacts from today if they plan on seeing vulnerable family or friends over Christmas.

In addition, people deemed to be a close contact of a confirmed case of the coronavirus are asked to restrict their movements from 14 days, meaning avoiding social situations during that time.  

It would mean that if you were a close contact of a confirmed case of Covid-19 you may be forced to forgo Christmas Day celebrations. 

This message has shared by both health officials and government over the past 24 hours. 

Speaking last night, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan said that people should “think forward” to who they might see over Christmas.

“If we can restrict our individual movements, limit our contacts over the course of the next two weeks, we can really reduce the chance that we as individuals bring infection into whatever household where we’re part of, or whatever household we may be joining for the Christmas festivities,” he said.

Thereby reducing the risk of transmission within the household. And that’s what we call intergenerational transmission, which is something we’re very specifically worried about.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn also reiterated this message, saying that people should not rely on Covid-19 tests as a way of keeping vulnerable relatives safe. 

Speaking at a government briefing today, Assistant Secretary General at the Department of the Taoiseach Liz Canavan said that today is the day to start thinking about Christmas. 

“If you plan on spending time with people who are vulnerable to Covid-19 over Christmas, you should be restricting your movements from now, it won’t be sufficient to start reducing your contacts in the couple of days before Christmas,” Canavan said. 

“That means you might have to postpone that meal with friends until after Christmas and it will mean avoiding crowds. The main message for everyone is to really think about the contacts you have, prioritise your activities around a small closed group, choose only those who are really important to you.”