Coronavirus in ROI/NI part 2

[Zantedeschia]

Following on from the other thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/craicnet/3834552-Coronavirus-in-Ireland-N-Ireland?pg=40&order=

Comparing death rates is absolutely useless when one side is counting every death and the other side seems to be counting as little as they can get away with.

Inniu, I didn't answer you on the other thread as it had moved on so far, but as far as I can see (please feel free to correct me) the stay at home advice in Ireland is much stronger.

In the UK schools are open (for essential workers - but there seem to be so many essential workers ), construction sites are running, diy shops are fully open. Here B&Q, Ikea, Argos, Halfords, etc aren't delivering in Ireland, where they are almost fully operating in UK. Poundland, Home Bargains etc are all open. Amazon warehouses, garden centre online deliveries (though I see a few irish garden centres will be delivering from next week).

Apart from The Fucking Range, everything around here is shut bar supermarkets, pharmacies and petrol stations. Absolutely everything.

Also 2 km is very specific. It means the Gardai can ask for your address and send you home. In the Uk it's much more generic "go out for exercise" doesn't specify where or for how long.

I may be wrong - maybe it's different outside London, but in the cities there's a lot still open and many ways to come into contact with other people. Even the front garden clapping looks dangerous to me.

Is the Range open in Liffey valley?

I find it hard to believe but I've just found the Range on Facebook and it seems all their stores in Ireland are open today.

It's Easter Sunday ffs, even the supermarkets are closed (aren't they?)

Some supermarkets are open today. Some Tesco's and SuperValu's I think, not all.

Super Valu is open where I live, I think it usually closes - but a lot of shiftworkers in pharma may need it as well as medical staff.

Boris looks badly shook, I don't think he should be in a suit. He should be in his dressing gown, and eating custard and soup.
Are the over seventies all staying in where people live? There are a few 'late sixties' out and about near me, just for walks. I'd find it hard myself.

Did not realise there was so much still open in the U.K.
When places are open there is a huge temptation to go....... could head to the Range or maybe even just Dealz but I feel bad enough about buying bread this morning

Is Dealz open too ?
I'd love a trip to The Range and The Orchard and Avoca. Way out of my 2 km limit.

Some garden centres are delivering, one near me is. The Orchard is shut though I think. Never before realised how much I took for granted just going for a coffee or brunch!

Oh, what's The Orchard? Is there a shop in Dublin I don't know?? I'd give a right arm dh's for an Avoca scone.

The over 70s I know are being very good. My mum is in great health so is finding the cocooning very hard. She lives in a very quiet cul de sac in the burbs so has a very quick walk to the end of the road (approx 3 mins each way) every couple of days. My dad is a complete hypochondriac and only delighted to be at home minding himself . The inlaws are farmers and can get out tramping the fields while being at home. Mum is worried about losing her nerve with driving though so she did a 10 minute loop around her neighbourhood yesterday. She happily takes off to Connemara and Limerick at the drop of a hat normally, so for this to cause her to stop driving would be an awful outcome.

I came across my first garda check point today. I had to go to Tesco and thought going early would be better, it wasn't. Anyway on the way back I was stopped at a check point and asked where I was going and where "home was".

I was delighted to see them. Wished them a happy Easter and drove home.
My dad is also a hypochondriac so he's staying in a lot. My mother is finding it harder, she's used to just getting in the car and driving to the shops. She's also missing the Grandchildren.
Who would've thought that a walk would be the highlight of my day. I tend to go for a long walk but still within the 2k zone.

Are the over seventies all staying in where people live?

Not round here. They were all out enjoying the sunshine on Friday. I found it bleakly amusing that pretty much everyone under 60 was staying indoors but those over 60 were outside all day long. To be fair, they were mostly staying put outside their own houses with plenty of distance between them.

Until the local busybody made an appearance that is and took it upon herself to get within arm's length of everyone as she regaled the street with the latest Facebook nonsense she's collected via the Chinese Whispers of local radio.

She's mostly harmless but has no cop on at all. I was chatting to a neighbour last week, both of us about 4 metres from one another until Mrs. Busybody turned up. It was like a mad game of ping pong with my neighbour and I constantly on the move while Ma Busybody shuttled between us trying to get closer.

The Range is open, but apparently most of the shop is cordoned off...you can only buy stuff like washing powder etc.

I had a thread a couple of weeks ago asking why there’s so much panic buying, and trouble in the UK, while we’re getting on fine. The shops are full, people are queuing for distance reasons, but it’s going okay. Prices seem to be rising in UK, whereas I see so many specials...free offers for the elderly etc. The thread didn’t go too well lol, and I was told “watch at the end of the month for payday, and there’ll be panic buying”- it didn’t happen.

MotherForkinShirtBalls
The Orchard is a garden centre/ lifestyle store in Celbridge.

I wonder is the reason our shops are well stocked to do with all the work that was done on supply chains in a crisis to prepare for a hard Brexit.
People don’t bother panic buying if they have been to the shops a few times and can see how well stocked they are.

I wonder is the reason our shops are well stocked to do with all the work that was done on supply chains in a crisis to prepare for a hard Brexit.

Pretty much yes. My brother does business with Musgraves Cash & Carry and he was told that they had already stockpiled up lots of items due to Brexit. Apparently, Aldi & Lidl did likewise.

I find my local Tesco really poor. A lot of the shelves are nearly empty, I dont know how often they are restocking but it's not enough. Sometimes they have the carts full of items to be stocked just left in aisle which us really frustrating when you're trying to Social distance. In almost every aisle today there was one or two of these things.

Yes our pharmaceuticals were in a (relatively) good place due to Brexit. Small mercies and all that

I find the smaller shops, remote Aldis and Centras have been best. Tesco and Lidl are manic. The little Supervalu near me is good too; the ones that used to be Superquinns have queues around the block.

And my village has wonderful fruit & veg shops and butchers who are delivering to the vulnerable. I don't want to ask them to deliver here as they are swamped and looking after all the old folk so well.

We have a mobile butcher. Comes round in a van once a week. He says he's never been so busy.

We have one of those country roads outside our house, and I swear it's thronged with walkers. In fairness you can easily keep your distance. But I'd be very curious to count the walkers per day. Sure there's nothing else to be doing.

Listening to Leo today saying the dark days were ahead of us.... I mean I always appreciate his honesty, but it was awful to hear all the same. He talked about the next two weeks. Here I was hoping we were near the peak but I guess not yet.

My dh passes through our local town on his way to work and every time he has passed through in the last week there has been a garda checkpoint stopping people to see where they're going and seeing how many people are in the car. It seems they are there for a large number of hours every day, including yesterday.
I noticed in the latest figures by county the other evening that Dublin has around 4k of the cases, Cork 600(ish) and nowhere else was near as high as this. Even Limerick and Galway were less than 200. So it gives me hope that social distancing around the country is paying off.

One last day off work here before back to working from home tomorrow with the kids. I just bought a playpen for the baby so when I have calls I'll be able to leave the room to talk and know he'll be safe, without having to rely on the 6year old to look after him . Smyths will take 3-6 days to deliver. O how I wish my local toy shop was open right now.

Are the UK stats in Covid19 really not including deaths from Covid19 in nursing homes ?
If so, why not ?
Surely that skews the numbers ?
Are the figures for Northern Ireland including deaths in nursing homes ?

No NI doesn’t include nursing homes either. It is just the quickest figures they can give.

They give another set of figures once a week that have all deaths than have Covid in the death cert but these can be quite out of date by the time they are published

I think Scottish statistics include nursing homes.
My neighbour who is almost eighty and has had his knees replaced twice as on lot were faulty, is desperate to go golfing. His wife who had massive heart surgery is desperate for him to go golfing too! We have a big men's shed which is run by an ex TD who is 85 - they have a choir, a pop group (!), organise St Partick's Day parades, go on outings - it's brilliant really. I'm sure the men are desperate to get back to it.