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Updated 8.15am
MET ÉIREANN HAS issued two national weather warnings which come into effect this morning as a winter storm sweeps across Ireland.
Storm Barbara has brought heavy wind and rain, and will impact most on the north-west, where there is a Status Orange wind warning in place for coastal regions and areas of high ground in Donegal, Galway and Mayo. Met Éireann said it will be “very windy” with severe gusts of between 100 and 120 km/h.
A status yellow warning is in place for the rest of the country, with gusts of up to 110 km/h expected today. Both of these warnings kicked in at 6am this morning and are in place until 6pm this evening.
A number of ferry crossings were cancelled yesterday and companies are advising customers to check their websites if they are due to travel today.
Coast Guard warning
The Coast Guard is warning people to take care when out on the coast today, saying that anyone planning on engaging in any coastal activities should first check that it is safe to do. It says people should “be mindful of the risks and life threatening dangers that can arise without warning”.
Many people will be engaging in outdoor activities along the coastline, be it on exposed coasts, cliffs, piers, harbour walls, beaches, promenades or other coastal areas.
The simple safety message is; Stay Back, Stay High, Stay Dry.
With regard to Christmas Day swims, the Coast Guard said it is urging the public to only participate in organised swims where medical support and lifeguards are available.
Lone swimming should be avoided and all swimmers should be cognisant that time in the water should be kept to a minimum as even the most experienced of swimmers can easily succumb to cramp or cold water shock.
The three Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centres based in Malin, Valentia and Dublin, along with the Coast Guard Helicopter service and Coast Guard Volunteer units will all be operating over the holiday period.
If you see anybody in danger at sea, on the coast or on cliffs, call 112 and ask for the Coast Guard.
Safe on the roads
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has advised road users to exercise caution and to check local weather and traffic conditions before setting out on a trip.
It is telling road users:
With added risks posed by wet or flooded roads the RSA has the following advice:
Advice to pedestrians and cyclists:
- Additional reporting Aoife Barry
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If this outbreak continues we should be vigilant on all sub Saharan traffic to and from here in Ireland.
I totally agree, there should be proper screening put in place like Australia and the USA..
You people are being silly, please educate your self before you post on there issues.
As a poster who was a microbiologist said On a previous article about Ebola this is more likely to be spread by a international business traveler like SARS was.
“A poster who claimed to be a microbiologist but could be anybody because this is the Internet and you can’t take everything as gospel”.
There, I corrected that for you, Luke.
@Neal
I am that poster and I am in fact a microbiologist. Hi.
Yes Luke, you are right today too. Business men. And in case you’re interested I nor my chum in computational infection biology AKA this area exactly, are very concerned.
Mary (1) business_men (why the space?) (2) starting a sentence with And..really? (3) I nor my chum..are very concerned (this should be …neither I nor my Chum..are very concerned OR my chum and I are concerned)…and you want us to believe you have gone and studied at 3rd level and obtained a Diploma or higher?
@Fluich it
Yep. Believe it, don’t believe it I don’t care.
I’m not justifying frivolous grammer when I’m making a point about a virus. Your sleuthing is a little petty.
I’m doing a PhD in microbiology so… Interpret that as you like.
I couldn’t give a fig about spelling/punctuation mistakes. I would have thought that in such a serious line of work as yours, that the language used would have to be precise and unambiguous. You want to be clear about findings and don’t want to scare the uninformed. That is why I pointed out your errors, because they are very basic grammar/use of language mistakes.
If it goes airborne then it is a major problem but only by touch then it will not be. Not much consolation to the poor people that get it but this is not a global threat.
@Fluich it
Worry not for I proofread thesis and documents. I’m telling people not to panic, focus on that. Surely that’s the take-home part?
@Seannie
Ebola is not airborne as you’ve said. This is great news. It’s quite hard to spread, as viruses go. We’ll be fine. Even if there was a case in Ireland, I wouldn’t panic. Unless it was me obviously. That’d be s**t.
Then Luke. Suspend All air travel from the affected countries in every direction. Isolate and Quarantine. As there is no know vaccine or cure for this disease so it can only be left to run its course and unfortunately that means runs out of victims.
I’m a monkey,Luke :) So’s my young fella :) Spot on,Neal !
@Thomas
Hello? I’m right here?
Are you all there ?
Last time I checked
Unbelievably contagious and devastating disease. If a person has a sweaty palm and touches a door knob before someone else the can become infected. Scary stuff. The fact that it is is such a populated city as Lagos is terrifying. Massive opportunity for it to spread across boarders due to air traffic.
I am not so sure it is that contagious. We have completely different practices here . Isolation , cleanliness . Very advanced medical care. The problem from what I understand and have read is that there is a deep seated mistrust of western medicine which is what is fueling this virus currently.
But the issue is if an infected person walks around temple bar you would have an outbreak here too then we are in the fight on the backfoot!!! Birds flying from the sky, manholes blowing up with green gas, OMG loike sooooo Nostradamus
That’s my point , people are only concerned because it’s contagious so there is a chance it might spread to Europe and infect them . Third world starvation isn’t contagious , it’s much easier to be sympathetic about that ….
Ah I did not pick up on that!! Fair & valid point!! ;)
It’s not vary contagious, each Ebola case infects on average 1.4 to 1.7 other people, this is about the same as SARS. It’s not airborne, only passed by close contact between family members and medical staff.
By comparison, one Measles case infects 35 others, flu about 3 to 6. If Ebola becomes airborne it will become more infectious, that’s the fear.
If there was an Ebola outbreak in a much larger city rather than small towns I’m sure the contagion ratio would increase
Ebola reached the capital of Guinea, Conakry, back in March, it didn’t spread out of control.
@People of this thread
Ebola not very contagious at all
Diseases like this thrive in Africa and not well outside (climate, poverty etc)
No natural reservoir (like bats) in Ireland
Much better sanitation hygiene here.
Temple bar will be grand.
Friendly neighbourhood microbiologist
Ps
SARS is a respiratory virus and would be spread far easier than this for many reasons.
Religious belief strikes again.
There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t have a screening process not just for diseases but also for criminals and scroungers.
A lot of Irish wouldn’t get back in after holidays then.
Only on the journal does a piece About a virus turn into a discussion about emigration. Sad really
Perfect
37 company delegates from Ireland went in November 2013 and signed a trade
Agreement worth €7 million for irish workers in NIgeria.
Perhaps they should be screened for Ebola.
The incubation time for Ebola is significantly less than 9 months. It is rumour and mis information like that that is causing the treatment problems at the moment.
A bit of simple googling would have confirmed that the incubation time is in fact 2 to 21 days, dependant on strain.
Thanks for the information Vocal, the next trade mission to
West Africa is in October 2014 organised by Enterprise
Ireland,perhaps by then some form of screening is in place
not only in Ireland but due to the ease of it spreading without
a known cure throughout the world.
This illness will need a international response and only then
Is there a chance of avoiding a epidemic outbreak.
@Sat
No, it needs an African response, some zoologist to deal with this reservoir or at least state why this is so high and it needs people not to panic. This is not like flu. People need to chill out.
It’s not just Ebola we have to worry about.. TB is making a comeback..
A friend of mine arrived home from rural Sierra Leon 3 weeks ago. He was not checked for the virus in either London or Dublin. He was given a minimum check leaving the village he was living in. Scary how easily it could spread here.
Read Richard Prestons book called The Hot Zone. It includes a section on how Ebola became airborne in a Monkey House in Washington. The strain is now called Ebola Reston but they found it wasn’t harmful to humans. It’s one hell if a good book too
I’ll just leave this here for anyone who has the time: http://youtu.be/XasTcDsDfMg; it’s a great segment done by vice news.
Unfortunately these people are uneducated, highly impoverished, distrust their government and doctors. Sadly I think this epidemic (is it a pandemic at this stage?) is going to get worse, which is unfortunate as an Ebola outbreak could be reasonably well maintained.
No it is not a pandemic because it hasn’t left Africa…yet
Ah shur a bit of Ebola never hurt anyone
Let natural selection work it’s magic.
@COOM
You wouldn’t say that if you had a heart attack.
“Religious belief, social mores, misinformation and a general mistrust of conventional medicine”
Basically Ignorance.
@Mary
The Chief Medical Doctor treating the Ebola patients has
contracted the deadly disease in Sierra Leone and is now
been treated for it and is hospitalised.
Hope you will not think he came in prolonged close contact with the
patients or he was not aware of barrier nursing care.
@Sat
Of course he was in prolonged contact, he’s the doctor. Look, panic if you want. This is not at the level we should be on lockdown yet. Nowhere near in fact. People need to chill out.
And an outbreak of the Black Death in China. I’d hate to see the both of them meeting up.
@hill
Actually bubonic plague was found in Madagascar recently.
But still, it’s grand.
Thought that you would have been told about the one in China yesterday ?
If he’s talking about Ebola meeting Plague surely he Madagascar outbreak is more important given, you know… It’s in Africa.
Hence why it was mentioned.
No offence to you Mary but you strike me as the typical laid back under estimating member of the medical establishment that will be caught on their heels when this hits Europe , in fact there has already been a case reported in Spain ! I mean have you read the hot zone book??
@Larry
Better, I did a degree. Look people are never going to believe what you say to them anyways. People don’t always trust doctors when given a diagnosis but they are USUALLY right. I’m not going to help feed the paranoia when I an others like me are relaxed. I have no doubt it’s possible but it is highly unlikely.
PS
Reading “The Hot Zone” is basically the equivalent of googling your symptoms and calling yourself a doctor.
Notting good comes this place…once we vet the ones coming into our country!
@Mary
Glad you have a degree on this topic,only trying to give you alternative
sides to a topic,not panicking. Hopefully journal readers can gain from the
views/knowledge of all who have contributed on this relatively new topic and
debate is healthy in any profession.I am sure you will agree with that
@Sat
Absolutely. But I hope you’d concede also that not all opinions are created equal on certain topics and I’m sorry but reading Hot Zone or any book like it is not the same as being an expert on a subject (which, doing a PhD I rightly or wrongly assume myself to be).
@ Mary
Nigeria has been put on red alert today following the death of a Liberian
man who recently entered the country from this disease.
People do not panic without reason,but this virus spreads easily
through bodily fluids including sweating which is easily done.
I still feel it’s more than West Africa’s exclusive problem.
@Sat
No, this is not very transmissible at all and requires VERY close, prolonged contact. There have literally been plenty cases of people getting on planes with advanced symptoms with sky-high temperatures and internal bleeding and not one other person became infected. It’s not that contagious at all. Absolutely untrue.
They’re probably panicking because of mortality rates upwards of 80%, that doesn’t mean they’re gonna get it easily.
Seriously, red thumb me if you want but I have a degree in this… Not much of a commodity here, I see.
Somehow reading “The Hot Zone” is an equivalent to countless research papers and experiments.
Mary
I’m splitting my sides with laughter . This is one of the reasons why I love the Journal comments section .. Serious Kudos to you ;)
@Thomas
How come mate?
Mary
How old are you ? Genuine question .
@Thomas
21. And before you say a thing, I’m finished a degree in micro, went TCD doing PhD in UK.
In 2003 you were 8 . It is now 2014 and you are 21 . The math doesn’t add up right,Mary . Good night!
Hahahaha
Are you for real? By my estimations, I said I was around 8 in the NI topic a while back which was a round the spot estimate/guesstimate I didn’t give 2 thoughts to. And now that somehow ties in to the fact I know a think or two about microbes? Haha, you’re pathetic mate and you think you’re smart. I think what you’re a bit pissed about is a 21 year old girl unequivocally knows more than you in this topic. Bites, don’t it?
I’m 22 next week by the way. And yep. Still an international scholar.
Hope you get your PHD at such a young tender age ..best of luck!
24… Yes. Yes I will. And then another after. Chemistry, this time. Fingers crossed.
Maybe thr new dan brown book isnt that far from the truth ….
have your say