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HSE CEO Paul Reid has said he has no doubt that this will be “a tougher winter than we have faced before” as HSE tries to expand services that had stalled due to Covid. -19.
“We are living with Covid, we just have to have hope and confidence and live differently and plan differently,” he said on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne program.
Reid said he was confident and hopeful in the coming months, but warned that people could not let their guard down in their adherence to public health measures, as they remain 80 percent of the defense against the spread of Covid-19. .
Testing and tracing
Ireland’s test and trace system compares favorably with the rest of Europe, he said, “we have the capacity and we have accelerated the response time. I have a strong testing and tracking system, I’m working on a plan now that takes us to the next level, we always want to improve it. We will improve it even more.
Testing and tracing was 15 percent of the defense, he said, 80 percent were public health restrictions like social distancing, hand washing, etc.
“The tests are not a protection, we have a very low positivity rate. It is important, but equally important is where the case is transmitted. “
Reid said there was no doubt that this was going to be “a tougher winter than what we have faced before because we are heading into winter and managing Covid and trying to expand services, which we had to cut back during Covid so we have to manage those three. dimensions “.
Community testing centers that were established during the pandemic will be used over the winter to screen people for respiratory illnesses and filter what is Covid and not Covid, he said.
“We need a functioning economy and a functioning society, we need it to support our health service, because we know the impact of the closure. We need to find that balance.
“People are looking for absolute clarity when we can only give them some unpredictability – that’s the phase we’re in.”
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