Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has called for a redoubling of efforts in the wearing of face coverings in retail settings and on public transport.
He stressed that the masks do not offer protection on their own and cough etiquette and hand washing should also continue. Dr Holohan said he does not see a return to "blanket closures" across society and the economy in the event of a resurgence of the virus at a significant level. He urged anyone with 'flu like symptoms not to delay in contacting their GP, as coming forward early makes the chances of picking up any new infections sooner.Dr Holohan said that it is not realistic to say that the high number of deaths in nursing homes and other care settings could have been prevented as he said that "it is a highly transmissible infection" especially for those aged over 80 and this makes prevention of it challenging.
Dr Holohan said that unlike many other countries Ireland has reported comprehensively on probable deaths and confirmed deaths in hospitals and right across the community. He said Covid-19 particularly affects people over 80 and in nursing home settings and he takes no comfort from that and is not complacent about it. He said comparisons that are being drawn with other countries are too simplistic and being made too early.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 patients in general hospital beds has dropped substantially since April, from 865 at its peak to 116 this week. He said as we know a lot more about Covid-19 than we did in March we would not need to use the same "blend" of measures as was used previously.But, he said, we would not have do to things in the exact same way as before as the population will hopefully be maintaining its high level of compliance with public health advice.
Dr Catherine Motherway said intensive care capacity in this country needs to be doubled and more permanent capacity needed to be built but this could not be done overnight. Chief Executive of the HSE Paul Reid said he was concerned about the capacity of the service for the coming winter. He said they would need extra capacity this winter in a way they hadn't needed before. He said the WHO recommended that hospitals stay at 80% capacity so they would have the ability to step up capacity in the event of a surge in demand. But he said the Irish health service was well over that capacity before it headed into winter and this year had to be different.
roinnslainte Completely agree that public campaigns on face masks help us all use them consistently. Everything from anticipation to epidemiology to policy for healthy outcomes is better when the public is aligned. Fabulous idea.
roinnslainte There has been a real lack of public education throughout this pandemic. This includes govt officials listening and learning from expert virologists. Obviously I am not including the WHO under the term “experts” as their advice has been a farce.
Mandatory use of masks in public: Yes or No 🤷♀️ it's as simple as that 🙄
They only really started recommending them this week.
Why did they not start the campaign before opening up the country? ? Irish Government is still a step behind other European countries. Why can't we lead for a change?
Too little, too late, why the delay?
Get you face coverings now. I have the widest range of colours and cheapest available in Ireland. 100% cotton, washable, reusable. €7 each plus at rate postage €3. Not for profit, all proceeds after fabric purchase go to charity 😷
Why if we got so low without them, why now? Because they cant be bothered to give us a measely 1m bit of personal space? and want us all to live our whole life without owning property and to live in a rented bedroom.
That’s about six weeks too late then!