Ireland is due to exit the current Level Five lockdown on December 1, but we don't know yet what restrictions will follow.
Officials are currently reluctant to commit to a firm position publicly until the disease profile becomes clearer towards the end of the month.
A final decision is not expected until NPHET meets on Thursday, November 26, to make a recommendation to Government, with Cabinet likely to meet shortly after.
However here are the four main options that appear to be on the table right now:
1. Modified Level Three
This seems to be the current frontrunner, with Taoiseach Micheal Martin raising the possibility of a "modified" Level Three a number of times in recent days.
The Fianna Fail leader claimed this week that he has long been looking at Level Three as a target for December 1, but added he would also look at "certain areas and sectors" and make modifications.
He told RTE Radio One on Friday: "We're going to have to look specifically at that sector and within that sector different categories for restaurants, hotels and licensed premises, there's no decisions made on that yet.
"We've been very clear we want to get to the end of November and get the numbers down. We will give people notice of our plans before the end of November so people can make preparations.
"We are doing a considerable degree of research, and learning what will work optimally for us."
On wet pubs, he continued: "It is challenging and there's no point in saying that it's not a challenging sector, it is, and there are real issues there. Many people made a lot of effort to abide and adhere, but others didn't, and there were consequences.
"We have an exit plan coming at the end of of this month, we'll take it and see how we're doing."
He added that he expected the churches will be open for Christmas week.
2. Modified Level Two
Despite the Taoiseach's fondness of a modified Level Three, some politicians within Fianna Fail have instead been calling for a move to a modified Level Two.
This would immediately allow travel throughout the country, as well as the opening of almost all pubs and restaurants.
Fianna Fail's Cormac Devlin joined a number of colleagues who expressed a "resounding feeling" at a party meeting that we should aim for a modified version of Level Two.
The Dun Laoghaire TD told RTE Radio One: "A number of people have contacted myself and my colleagues, and are looking for a bit of hope, they have made really tremendous sacrifices.
"There has to be a tweaking of whatever level we go to. Ideally for many of us we would prefer to go to Level Two, but Level Two with tweaks.
"We've seen Level Three, where according to the Living with Covid plan that there were changes made to it for Dublin.
"We should bear in mind in mid-September Dublin went to Three-plus and there were quite significant restrictions for Dubliners."
He continued: "We just have to try and give people hope that from Level Five, from tough restrictions that we've lived through for three weeks so far, we really want to aim as much as possible to ease restrictions.
"I think we did all this in anticipation of Christmas, there are societal, economic and religious elements to consider."
3. Regional restrictions
The Taoiseach has refused to rule out regional restrictions as a way to combat the spread of the virus.
The Fianna Fail leader claimed he would "prefer" a national approach, but said he was "concerned" about the figures in Donegal in particular.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has also raised Donegal as a problem area in terms of suppressing the spread of the virus.
He said last week: "We still have a number of weeks to go between now and the end of the month. Obviously some places are seeing higher levels of transmission. we've seen that we have higher levels in Donegal, even though it has reduced somewhat it has not seen the same level of reduction that the rest of country has experienced.
"There is still time for significant improvement to take place, not just in the country generally but in Donegal."
4. Delayed easing of certain restrictions
Another consideration that has reportedly been a focus of Government is maintaining certain restrictions for two more weeks beyond December 1.
The Government is considering keeping both the county travel restrictions as well as restrictions on household visits for at least two weeks into December, according to reports in the Irish Independent on Friday.
However these would then potentially be eased when Christmas rolls around, as the Taoiseach has repeatedly aimed to ensure we can experience a "a meaningful Christmas".
