Real Weddings: Kelly and Sean’s show-stopping wedding in Co Kerry
Real Weddings: Kelly and Sean’s show-stopping wedding in Co Kerry

Shayna Healy

WIN a bundle of Max Benjamin wall fragrance diffusers worth €165
WIN a bundle of Max Benjamin wall fragrance diffusers worth €165

Megan Burns

If networking is a super power then Mary McKenna deserves a cape
If networking is a super power then Mary McKenna deserves a cape

Fiona Alston

The sunglasses team IMAGE are reaching for this summer
The sunglasses team IMAGE are reaching for this summer

Sarah Gill

Page Turners: ‘Assembling Ailish’ author Sharon Guard
Page Turners: ‘Assembling Ailish’ author Sharon Guard

Sarah Gill

A seafront Skerries home has been given a luxe update with rich colours and hotel-inspired details
A seafront Skerries home has been given a luxe update with rich colours and hotel-inspired...

Megan Burns

Calling all Irish entrepreneurs: The Pitch 2025 is open for applications
Calling all Irish entrepreneurs: The Pitch 2025 is open for applications

IMAGE

Money moves: Smart financial strategies for every chapter of your life
Money moves: Smart financial strategies for every chapter of your life

IMAGE

Tried and tested: the world’s most powerful cordless stick vacuum cleaner
Tried and tested: the world’s most powerful cordless stick vacuum cleaner

Megan Burns

WIN a three-course dinner for two with Champagne at Forbes Street by Gareth Mullins
WIN a three-course dinner for two with Champagne at Forbes Street by Gareth Mullins

IMAGE

Image / Agenda / Breaking Stories

Covid update: Pubs set to reopen, masks key to reducing deaths


By Jennifer McShane
05th Sep 2020
Covid update: Pubs set to reopen, masks key to reducing deaths

Reports this weekend say that the Government are aiming to reopen pubs in the next couple of weeks (though this has yet to be officially confirmed) and in other news, US experts have said that the wearing of facemasks is key to reducing the number of Covid deaths in Ireland


The Government is reportedly in the midst of finalising a new set of guidelines which will be shared with publicans’ organisations in the coming days.

These guidelines, it is understood, are set to coincide with the publication of the Government’s new plan for managing the next phase the Covid-19 pandemic on September 14th.

Currently, Ireland pubs have been in the longest lockdown, compared to any of our European counterparts.

Responding to criticism surrounding new laws requiring pubs and restaurants to retain individual details of food consumption, the Taoiseach said it was “overstating it” to claim it was a communications calamity.

“The Government has no interest in knowing what people are eating,” he said, adding that regulations had been designed to deal with “rogue operators” – those serving drink but not food.

Meanwhile, a forecast by US academics has said research predicts 2,940 deaths in Ireland by January 1st if mask-use remains at current levels. They said Ireland could suffer another 1,200 Covid-19 deaths by the end of the year if face mask use doesn’t improve.

Evidence has found that the routine wearing of face masks can curb the spread of coronavirus, and if they are not worn by the end of the year, it was forecast that Ireland would need 1,037 out of the 1,573 available hospital beds to treat virus patients with more ICU beds than our hospitals have capacity for.

“We are in the process of closing chapter one of our experience with Covid and we are moving into chapter two now as we move into the winter,” chief medical offer Ronan Glynn said on Friday’s Late Late Show.

“But I don’t want people to despair just because we are moving into the winter, there is lots we can do as individuals and families to plan for that. So Government will be providing a plan the week after next.”

Main photograph: Unsplash


Read more: Coronavirus Diaries: 32-weeks pregnant during a pandemic

Read more: Unsung Heroes: the forgotten frontline workers we want to recognise

Read more: How are the kids feeling? We hear from three different families across Ireland