Coronavirus in Ireland/N Ireland

[beanaseireann]

The first case of Coronavirus has been confirmed in Northern Ireland.
A passenger travelled from Italy to the North via Dublin.
I don't know how we will cope in the Republic if we have large numbers ill with the virus as our health service is already at breaking point.

Live...not love. I don't even call my husband love...

MotherForkinShirtBalls

Lol thank you for the list. I was wondering if a supermarket inside a shopping centre would open. It would mean opening the whole centre. Ds is trying to ring his boss but he doesn't know either

Our supermarket, post office and a pharmacy are inside a centre so I assume it is open. It also has a slightly dodgy phone shop, a vape shop and a pound shop which will be interesting.

I'd guess where there isn't direct access from the street or car park to the supermarket, all other shops would be closed? Of the three shopping centres to me, two would be like your case and the third has a large supermarket at one end, pharmacy at the other and massive drapery in between hopefully we'll get more info as the evening goes on and into tomorrow.

Aaaah, the drive in movies near me have closed following Leo's announcement. That's a shame. We went last night and it was a good way to get out of the house while having a good distance from others.

Ah shite, I had tickets for Free Willy on Thursday...

They're screening tonights films, but giving refunds for the others. I guess it's more about the safety of the staff than anything else as there really wasn't any contact at all between the guests when we were there and plenty of space between cars if you needed to open a window or something.

Can people still go to gps? Like with something unrelated to coronavirus and if they aren’t symptomatic ?

Yes Worried I saw something the other night saying people were afraid to take up GP's time but as you're not supposed to attend GP in person with Covid 19 they are open for business as usual.

Ring for a gp appointment, you will get instructions. GP will be wearing full protective garb.

It's just all a bit confusing right now. Ds was told to turn up for work in the morning and he'll find out 😂 shopping centres would be expensive to open the whole lot for one shop. Anyway we'll see. Some things are clear cut some aren't.

It’s for my son as he’s had ongoing issues with his throat
/glandular fever and it’s flaring up again but really concerned about bringing him as he’s a child and what if he was a carrier. He’s had these issues long before the outbreak of Covid 19 here. Maybe will just call them and see

Finally some actual data for northern ireland cases including location and age groups etc www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-northern-ireland-52015928

Give them a call, I had a call back from mine last week.

Supermarkets and pharmacies in shopping centres will remain open. All non essential shops in the centre will close. I'm not seeing the problem here.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar, oh no, I totally understand why they closed the drive in movies, there's absolutely no point in anyone taking a risk they don't need to just so people can get a change of scenery for a few hours. I think we might invest in Disney plus instead...

I had booked bohemian rapsody for tomorrow night in the drive through. Did wonder after Leo's announcement.

To the poster in childcare, DCYA have announced they will top up the remaining 30% for childcare workers wages as long as crèches don't charge parents for the spot. Hope that's helpful for you.

I saw some stats somewhere earlier where NI has the lowest amount of beds/respirators pretty much anywhere. I think Robin Swann said we had ordered 40 more - is that right?

@NoGravyForYou thanks I saw that. Still some confusion over it in the childcare sector. I'm only an employee so maybe not getting the full story but providers on Facebook or going mental, saying the funding is being pulled fir the schemes. I read it as they were sort of being pooled together. I dunno, maybe some people just like to be the victims all the time. Who knows

Robin Swan says 'we have 140 ventilators at the moment, and 650 more in procurement routes at this minute in time.' Its just played on the news so I rewound it to check.

It was just on bbc news

Just had to go out to town (had to go to the bank to withdraw cash as my debit card decided to stop working at the worst possible time).
There were two garda walking along the main street. It looked like a leisurely walk, not like anything urgent, sonim hoping they are keeping an eye out for groups of people hanging around together unnecessarily.
We had a very important conference call this morning, I had a little giggle to myself when a guy in Paris joined the call and you could hear his children in the background while he was introducing himself

I don't think my previous link worked
Here's the NI link to the up to date info and the map

www.publichealth.hscni.net/publications/covid-19-surveillance-reports

Did anyone listen to Talk back today? Very sobering.

Mark McClurg, 40 year old pastor from Newtownards, badly ill with Covid. He was been on Radio Ulster today. He is still in hospital on oxygen, having been admitted struggling to breathe. He is hopefully recovering now but wanted to get on air to warn the public about how serious this is. Three interesting points -

• he never had a cough OR a fever. He simply experienced increasing chest tightening until he could barely breathe

• he was tested and it came back negative.

Only when he was tested again did it show positive

-he is a fit and healthy 40-year old, and has no underlying health conditions

Scary because his description of the disease is very similar to my experience only thankfully my symptoms aren't as severe as his.