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.

Tbf to Leo et al, all of the statements they have given have been reassuring and calm, lots of talk about being in this together etc, and they have made sure to let people know supply chains are still open so no need for huge panic buying surges. They've acted better and quicker than I thought they would.
Chief Medical Officer says there's been new cases that has forced them to make this decision, so there must be a good few new community spread cases.

Same. I'm glad its Leo as well. Theres no good way of handling this, short of waving a magic wand and making it all go away. So at least it's someone who is calm and competent.

--Even tho Blueshirts be damned forever of course-'

I agree, I think they're handling it well and I'm very relieved it's not an inexperienced government dealing with this

I also think it's being handled well. Personally I have thought all along that closing the schools at this point is unnecessary and will cause a lot of problems, but I am glad the decision has been made as it will give a lot of people peace of mind.

I was in discussion with a consultant (who is dealing with covid-19 patients). It wasn't the most encouraging conversation!! Pretty much summarised these measures are too late .

That said the school closure is going to be a chilcare headache for me personally (though i do understand the reason).

Also I imagine the announcement was delayed as I can only guess the panic buying with really kick off now.

I’m in NI and presently the executive are arguing about whether to follow advice from the UK govt or ROI.
I also think the spread is a lot bigger here than the number of cases reported as they’ve done hardly any testing.

I thought Leo was very measured and serious and the conference afterwards was good but it didn’t mention what help there is going to be for all the thousands of pubs, restaurants and hotels who are bearing the economic brunt of this.

I'm in NI too. I wonder where the politicians will decide the border is today.

@Squigean
What did the consultant say ?

I'd love all those lousers,who went to Cheltenham to be told they won't be allowed back in to the country.

I was expecting the school closures, but thought they’d be from tomorrow. It feels strange that they’re closing the schools from tonight, when one day more would at least give a fair amount of people a chance to figure out childcare.

Relieved to be able to bunker down for now.

That it was a dire situation and would be akin to Italy. It'll be bad for 2-3 months. That drastic measures should have been put in place two weeks ago.

As I said, not too encouraging!!

I think it's the right decision, even though it's an unbelievable headache for me personally.

DS's lovely primary head has been sending around nice information on informing your young children without scaring them etc, and some people on our class parents' WhatsApp had said anecdotally, they knew of children at some other schools being frightened and sad at the announcement. Mine ran out the school door with his little friends shouting 'VICTORY!'

Big jump in cases today.
Dh and I both have to work tomorrow, but flexibly enough so we should be able to work around the DC. And then hunker down

Very big jump in the number of cases. I think I'm more anxious than rational.

I guess that big jump was what precipitated the school closures today rather than tomorrow. I think the short notice took everyone aback, I was getting a barrage of texts and messages from the school and parents, it felt a bit overwhelming. I have one dc on Erasmus , the whole university communication is a shambles, we are bringing him home even though the uni haven't officially told them to go home and the students are worried about not getting credits for their work.

6 people in ICU now. St Vincent’s hospital are advertising for doctors, nurses, admin staff. Who knows where we will be this time next week.

It seems incredible the schools etc are still open in the north and the U.K..

I have no clue what I am going to do about childcare. Or if I can even afford or allowed to take time off (am on a ce employment scheme).

I obviously dont know but I can't imagine the CE schemes are going to be demanding that people turn up regardless. You are not working for private companies, they will follow local government guidelines. I would think, anyway

it seems incredible that schools are still open in the North and the UK
That just took me aback, Chartreuse. Isnt it incredible that we are? It's such a weird situation. Things changing so fast, but we seem to be normalising it.

It's all absolutely surreal @7Days. Just watching the news and thinking about families living in hotels and 'hubs' having to deal with this. As if life wasn't tough enough...

@qazxc could you get together with other families and take turns in looking after a group of kids. We did that a few years ago when the school had to close unexpectedly due to a building issue, it was a bit hectic but worked fine. If you have 5 parents to share the load you'd be able to work 4 days a week

That’s what I’m doing @qazxc — a group of parents are going to take it in turns to have all five kids for one day.

Just had a similar conversations with DH. Imagine.
We're lucky, we live rurally. We have a garden for the kids to run off their energy, and a car to bring us to the woods or somewhere. Many many people are in worse circumstances.

Not sure it'll be effective to be honest. Idea is that no one is in school and then also keep social distancing.

How realistic is that? People who work with young children are going to HAVE to sort childcare. Share responsibility makes sense, but that won't involve social distancing.

Same with teenagers. Socially it's very unlikely they'll be happy to stay away from friends.

I'm.also very about Leo telling everyone to make these efforts from Washington after he'd traveled there. Good one Leo.

I'd imagine they are just trying to buy time. Tune thing that is annoying me the most is that people coming back from Italy weren't told to self isolate.

Leo's speech was like a switch on the panic buying wasn't it?!

I'm in NI and also a childminder. Very concerned. More so about the nhs which is massively overstretched already, than personally catching it, but also concerned about that.

Our feckless government won't take same measures as ROI which means we're cultivating more problems for those in hospitals on the frontline. Friend who is consultant at hospital is keeping their dc off school since 2 days ago. The fact they're not testing so we don't know numbers infected is adding to the complacency all around me!

I'm thinking of keeping mine off school from Monday, but only a point of that if other mindees are kept off school. Really wish stringent measures would be put in place now.

How are other MN'rs in NI feeling at the mo?