According to the HSE, the Gárdaí and the Local Authority, positive action and changes to behaviour remain essential to ensuring that hospital and community healthcare services locally are enabled to deal with demands, that the optimum levels of living safely alongside the threat of the virus are sustained and that Co. Tipperary stays at Level 2 of the public restrictions in place in Ireland.
The Chair of the South East Regional Steering Group for Major Emergency Management (comprising the three principal response agencies: An Garda Siochana, the HSE and the Local Authorities) and Chief Officer of HSE/South East Community Healthcare Kate Killeen White, joined by Specialist in Public Health Medicine and Director of the HSE’s South East Public Health Dept. Dr Carmel Mullaney and the General Manager of South Tipperary General Hospital Maria Barry are reminding the public to:
- Wash your hands well and often
- Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing
- Limit contact with others and maintain physical distancing.
- Wear a face mask or covering where appropriate.
When such actions are taken, the HSE says, doing so not only prevents the transmission of the virus, but also protects older and vulnerable people and healthcare workers.
The Chair of Tipperary County Council Cllr. Michael Smith and the Chief Executive Joe McGrath are also urging people not to allow everyone’s hard work to date in 2020 to be undermined and are re-iterating that individual actions do matter and that if those in Co. Tipperary live by the advice being given, that schools can be kept open and other points reached on Ireland’s roadmap to recovery be maintained.
The Gárda Chief Superintendent in Tipperary Derek Smart points to what has been evident to date in 2020: the country moving from a short-term emergency response approach to a medium-term one, to manage risk and repair the damage that COVID-19 has inflicted on society. Chief Superintendent Smart concludes the joint message by reminding everyone that we are at a critical point in tackling the spread of COVID-19 and people in Tipperary must take personal responsibility to avoid situations that are a risk to themselves, their family and their friends.
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