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Fitness & Health

27th Apr 2020

Removal of 2km movement limit the priority for Irish people for easing of restrictions

Conor Heneghan

restrictions Ireland

The government is considering easing restrictions on the public from next Tuesday.

Most Irish people would most like to see the 2km limit on movement removed when the government considers easing restrictions on the public from next week.

The removal of the 2km restriction on movement was cited as the priority for the 35,000 participants in a new anonymous survey, a limit which applies to physical exercise and non-essential journeys and has been in place since the end of March in an effort to combat the spread of Covid-19.

It is one of a number of findings included in the latest wave of results from The Corona Citizens Science project, a national anonymous online survey carried out by researchers from DCU, NUIG and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics in Galway.

The project aims to get an insight into how the Covid-19 pandemic and the corresponding restrictive measures are impacting on people’s activities, work, school and childcare.

In the most recent survey, participants were given five different restrictions to rank in order in which they would prefer to see them relaxed.

Across all groups looked at – parents, young people, working people) – those restrictions were ranked as follows:

  1. To go beyond the 2km limit
  2. Allowing small group meetings
  3. To go back to work
  4. To open schools and childcare again
  5. To open shops, restaurants and pubs again

Elsewhere in the survey, it was revealed that approximately 32% of people have postponed medical treatment or check-ups in recent weeks and that 69% of people are still employed, 45% of whom worked from home in the week leading up to 22 April.

You can see the results of the survey in full here.