A number of businesses in Laois will re-open this morning after the second phase of easing Covid-19 lockdown measures come into play.
Many businesses, particularly retail, have been closed since mid-March but will be allowed to physically trade again.
Shopping centres will be permitted to open next week while pubs can open at the end of June, so long as they serve food and provide a table service.
The easing of the restictions comes as the government seeks to speed up the lifting of lockdown measures, due to the containment of Coronavirus.
Strict guidelines and measures remain in place, with retailers asked to use “staggered hours”.
Businesses have been busy putting in place new safety measures, guidelines on how many can enter a shop at any one time and some are operating an appointment system.
This is the second phase of re-opening – the first, on Monday, May 18, saw garden centres, hardware stores, opticians and car showrooms trading again, while many food shops have had a take-away menu in place for the last number of weeks.
In addition to retail outlets being allowed to re-open, the 5km travel restriction has been increased to allow people travel anywhere in their own county – or 20km from their home if that brings them into another county.
From today, up to six people from different households can gather, inside or outside, so long as strict social distancing can be observed.
Organised outdoor exercise, sporting, cultural or social activities of up to 15 people are also permitted while the rules around funerals have been slightly relaxed, with up to 25 immediate family members and close friends permitted at funeral services.
The advice for the over-70s or medically vulnerable is still to be “extra vigilant”, to stay home as much as possible, and to use specially allocated times when shopping.
For children, outdoor summer camps are now permitted, so long as they entail no more than 15 people mixing together while playgrounds can reopen, so long as they’re supervised.
Social distancing by staying two metres apart is still advised despite there being a lot of discsussion about in recent times. However, for the moment, two-metre social distancing still applies.
The advice for office working is for people to continue to work from home, where possible.
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