Meeting Our Families And Pals Outside Is New Norm

Meeting up with friends and family outdoors only will become the new normal for the next few months, a top infectious disease specialist said.

- Ciara Phelan

Dr Jack Lambert stressed chatting to people outside is the safest thing to do while social distancing.

And the Mater Hospital medic told the Irish Mirror: “We’ve obviously learned from the hospitals that this virus is very contagious when people are in close contact with each other, especially in closed spaces.

“The message to the public is that if you’re out in a park or in your back garden and there are three or four of you sitting in the fresh air then Covid isn’t going to jump through the air.

“Socialising outside is the safest thing to do. I’ve no concerns with the outdoors once people are socially distancing and that makes logically perfect sense.

“If you go to most European cities they’ve got outside facilities outside main buildings that people use all of them time. We’re just going to have to adapt until we have a vaccine.

“We’re going to have to find a new environment, one where we can avoid close contact because that’s where the clusters are going to flare up again.”