The difficulty for the authorities is that they are in bunker mentality mode.
This could be a very bad thing leading to paralysis.
Take an example.
Seismic activity indicates that there is more activity on the roads.
Time to clamp down even tighter seems to be the immediate reaction from the top.
They need to get rid of the paranoia and ask themselves, actually ask other people.
What would give rise to an increase in traffic.
There are a number of reasons that jump to mind and are bound to be others.
1. Internet shopping is increasing and companies that didn't use this facility are now doing so.
2. Companies that never carried PPE are now doing so. EG
http://www.freetv.ie - scroll down the home page.
3. People who may have vacant properties and need to check on them, especially given the speed at which the"lockdown" was applied.
4. People who aren't compliant.
On item 4 there will always be people who think the rules don't apply to them.
3. Will tend to be infrequent and it really isn't a problem.
1 and 2 is likely to be the main contributor and let's hope so.
Our authorities need to look to other groups of expertise and experience even.
The Gardai, I'm sure, could give them some some insights.
Our authorities also need to be careful to ensure that the medicine doesn't kill the patient.
I'm nearly 68 and I'm going nowhere. There are a lot like me and older but that doesn't mean that younger people (with due care) can't have some of their freedoms restored.
What is happening in the nursing homes should not be allowed to derail what can be done for the rest of the population, particularly the young and healthy.
The younger population should be looked at as an asset.
The over 10k of known cases that have recovered are another, dare I say, growing asset.
The authorities need to step back and not jump to conclusions.
The fake news needs to stop too.
Our real mortality rate is nowhere near 5% and even that figure is being totally skewed by the number of deaths in the nursing homes.
The same can be said for R.
It's understandable that the authorities want to maintain a good level of compliance but compliance of itself should not be the goal.
More importantly they need to trust the people who have made bringing the epidemic under control.
That is the general population, most of whom have behaved responsibly.
Opportunity knocks it should not be wasted, trust US.
EDIT.
Just did a click and collect with Tesco.
They've now put a limit on the number of items per basket, that'll increase the number of orders and therefore cause an increase in traffic.
Instead of shopping once a fortnight I'm going to be shopping once a week, that's a 100% increase in my own travel load.
