Amid the countless number of Whatsapp messages being pinged around the country today, there's one little tool that everyone seems to be paying attention to.
Wexford-based software developer Dave Bolger has created the '2km from home' tool on the back of the government's call for people not to go further than two kilometres from their home for exercise over the next two weeks.
The
stringent new measures are aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19 and there is a
large Garda presence on the streets this weekend to ensure people are adhering to them.
But how far is two kilometres exactly? Instead of looking up every landmark you might want to walk or run to, you can just find your home on Dave's little map and it will tell you exactly how far your '2km radius' extends.
https://twitter.com/davebolger/status/1243819290052132864
Just after 4pm, Dave
posted that 510,000 had already made use of the tool since 7am today so it certainly seems to have captured the imagination of the public. The figure also tells us how many people are making efforts to following the social distancing guidelines, which can only be a good thing.
Earlier today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar clarified that people are permitted to travel more than two kilometres for shopping and other essential needs.
https://twitter.com/LeoVaradkar/status/1243856383117844481
If you haven't seen it for yourself yet, you can check out the handy tool on desktop or mobile
here.
