January is finally over and it's time to look forward to what could well be an excellent month in the road to normality.
Brighter evenings, warmer weather and the promise of a much better Covid-19 situation all await us in February.
And we will bring you the good news on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every single week.
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And here are the reasons to be optimistic on Monday, February 1;
'Pubs could be open in the summer'
Professor Luke O Neill was asked by Brendan O'Connor on RTE Radio One if he could stand by his prediction that Irish people would be back in beer gardens by June.
He said: "Once we vaccinate the top four priority groups, you can predict a 90% decrease in the death rate, a decrease in hospitalisations, and very importantly, a decrease in severe illness."
He added that some degree of ‘relaxation’ is inevitable by May or June.
Professor O’Neill added: "I can’t see us being stuck in the mud for months and months when those numbers are going in the right direction so dramatically."
This could lead to Ireland's pubs being opened by May.
Vaccines are flooding in
Ireland is set to receive another 100,000 Covid vaccines from AstraZeneca in the next two months.
The news comes as a welcome boost after it emerged we would receive half of the original 600,000 jabs allocated to the country.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced on Sunday that the EU would receive nine million new doses in the first quarter of the year.
This represents around 99,000 jabs for Ireland.
And, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus and will likely soon apply for European approval - and even better, Ireland and the EU have ordered a massive chunk.
Concerts and crowds in Croke Park by the summer?
NPHET member Professor Philip Nolan has said that about 70% of people will need to be vaccinated for mass gatherings to take place again.
This includes concerts, festivals, crowds at Croke Park and so on - and if the aim is to have everyone who wants the vaccine jabbed by September, this milestone could come even before that.
January is over
The final reason to be upbeat today is that January is finally over and February is only 28 days....so we will be getting ready to leave lockdown in March in no time.
And to add to the joy, February this year is the perfect calendar month, it starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday which is sure to please a lot of peope.
