Coronavirus

Yesterday evenings announcement from the HSE was that we now have 11 confirmed cases in the county. But its fairly widely known that people are having to wait a week and longer for a test so that figure of 11 is based on test results that are a week old and isnt a true representation of today's or yesterdays numbers.

Donegal County Council are starting to close down places that are gathering crowds. Sliabh Liag and Lisfannon beach so far, I'm sure there will be others.

When I went out to the garden earlier today for a few minutes I could hear and see load of kids (of the same age) playing in the back garden of one of the houses in the estate nearby to me and was thinking how stupid must some people be. This was prolong the lock down and the risk of spreading.

I imagine the parents that allowed this must think "its only for 30 minutes and sure for years they've played together and are now all cooped up inside and going stir crazy" kind of crazy warped logic. Dread when the weather starts improving.

All Donegal beaches closed from this afternoon.

IrishZeus wrote: »

Any idea until when they’re closed? For the duration of all this situation or just for the weekend?

Much longer than this weekend. Basically until we see the end of this pandemic Id think.

Special News programme on now so expect more closures and tighter restrictions

DrPhilG wrote: »

Tight restrictions alright. Full on lockdown.

I wonder if the guards will be patrolling. I'll be crossing the border twice daily!

Hopefully they won't need to.
Hopefully people kop themselves on and take it seriously.
Two weeks is nothing to ask if we protect our sick and older generation and our health care heroes.

Where did the info about the closure of all beaches come from?


Thomas Pringle posted this on his fb page 15hr ago


I received this update from the council in relation to beaches etc....


“the Council’s COVID-19 Crisis Management Team met earlier today and the issue of access to Public Amenities including beaches was further discussed. There has also been an engagement with the Gardaí in connection therewith.
The position arrived at was that there would not be any further closures of Public Amenities (including beaches) other that the ones previously notified at this time. It was agreed that additional signage would be erected at all such locations reminding the Public of the Covid 19 restrictions. It was also agreed with the Gardaí that they would have a greater presence at public amenities over the weekend to enforce these requirements.
It is regrettable that some local media outlets are carrying a conflicting message at this time, but the above is the position adopted by the Council following engagement with the Gardaí”


I took a look at the Council's website an couldn't find any info about beach closures.

The Times, and the paper that can't be named seem to have removed those items from their sites, the irish news still has it up.


I believe that they should be closed ok, but don't believe that the council have done it, not going by what Thomas Pringle posted anyway, and there is nothing on the council website to say that they have done that.


On a related note, I see that Matt Britton (DL Democrat paper) has posted that the locals have padlocked all gates that lead up to Sliabh Liag / bunglass.

malinheader wrote: »

Hopefully they won't need to.
Hopefully people kop themselves on and take it seriously.
Two weeks is nothing to ask if we protect our sick and older generation and our health care heroes.

I live in a rural area with a forest 500 metres from the house, and I walk there frequently. On a Saturday I might meet 2 or 3 people walking, but today I would say I saw at least 40 people during the day parking and walking in the forest. Takes a lockdown to get people out ! I recognised a few people from the town which is more than 5km from here. People have no kop on at all.

NIMAN wrote: »

It's not full on lockdown though, plenty of folk still expected to work. Including council staff.

I too cross the border twice daily to work.

Restrictions in NI just announced tonight too and they are pretty tough. Focused a lot on employers trying to let staff work from home if they can.

What restrictions hit NI?

NHS has been encouraging as many as possible to work from home, but not that many have laptops and remote access so it's not feasible for many.

Never mind, just read them. Also 49 new cases in NI. Work might be slightly hectic on Monday.

Just a reminder to people who might be challenging people out working who they think are not essential.
In one part of the county on Saturday a report was lodged about men working on a road. The road had been resurfaced and the fire hydrants were still covered, these people were out uncovering the hydrants incase of a fire in the area. Essential work.This is only one case and In most cases Nobody wants to be out if unnecessary so let's just stop and enquire before challenging people out working for the next couple of weeks. We all have to pull together to get back to some kind of normality.

According to the official stats there are 24 confirmed cases of the virus in Donegal up to midnight on Friday last.

md23040 wrote: »

I work in DCSDC council and only essential services are head office based. All non essential services have been sent home since Tuesday afternoon of last week and could be re-deployed. There has been a lot of shadowing of critical services over the last few weeks as demand expected to rise in certain depts. We work very closely with DCC and the regional emergency plan has been in place for 16 days already.

When I said council I was chatting about Donegal CC, not Derry Strabane. Just for clarity.