Aug20Thu
By Paul J. Gough Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times
Pennsylvania next month will roll out a new app that will notify residents if they are close contacts of someone with a confirmed case of Covid-19.
Covid Alert Pa is being developed for the Pennsylvania Department of Health with the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an Irish app maker called NearForm that built a Covid-19 tracker for the Irish government.
“This app uses Bluetooth technology to let a person know that they have been exposed to Covid-19 without compromising their identity or location,” said Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Levine made the announcement during a news conference Tuesday.
One of the persistent challenges in stemming the outbreak has been notifying people who have come within six feet of an infected person for a minimum of 15 minutes. It’s sometimes hard, for example, for people who are facing a Covid-19 diagnosis to tell a case investigator all the places they’ve been and for how long. And, said Levine, if an infected person had been in a store or a restaurant or somewhere else, it’s likely they didn’t know the names and contact numbers of everyone they were in contact with.
Click HERE to read more.
Aug13Thu
Last year, two million visitors from North America visited the Emerald Isle.
That stunning figure – fully one-in-ten of all Americans who travelled to Europe on vacation made Ireland their destination — was the fruits of two decades of hard work by Tourism Ireland, the cross-border agency set up as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Fast forward to the summer of 2020, however, and, courtesy of our new lodger Covid-19, the total number of American holiday-makers in Ireland would hardly fill a Paddywagon tour bus.
For while there is no complete ban on travellers from the US travelling to Ireland — though that option is being mulled over in government corridors in Dublin — the necessity to quarantine for 14 days on arrival means only the bravest, long-stay vacationers are boarding the EI 104 from JFK to Dublin.
Aug07Fri
Aug06Thu
Emily Schmidt, Bucks County native and former dancer with Rince Ri School of Irish Dance, is the author of The Galvin Girls, a historical fiction novel set to published by New Degree Press this coming December. The novel is based on Emily’s great-grandmother Helen Galvin and her four sisters who immigrated from Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland to Philadelphia in the mid-1920s.
Please consider preordering your own copy. In the last three weeks, Emily has successfully met and surpassed her campaign goal of $5,000. Every dollar used to purchase a book after the $5,000 will be donated to the Commodore Barry Arts & Cultural Center, a Philly-based nonprofit that celebrates Irish music, dance, and community.
Emily’s campaign is unique because anyone who orders a book can be part of her Beta Reader Community and give her feedback on the book before it’s released, as well as help choose the cover and other really great opportunities. It could make a fantastic gift for anyone who has Irish ancestry and needs an interesting new read. Almost 150 people have backed the book and Emily is hoping to grow the community even more to help the Commodore Barry Arts & Cultural Center in their time of need.
Publishing campaign here: https://igg.me/at/thegalvingirls
Recent interview with Irish Philadelphia here:
http://irishphiladelphia.com/2020/07/the-galvin-girls-a-tale-of-irish-sisters/
Aug05Wed
Saddened by the loss of John Hume, the Consulate General of Ireland in NY has opened a virtual book of condolence for those in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and beyond who might wish to share their sympathies with his family.
