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Government ministers and health officials fear that the capital will be forced to close before the weekend.
Dublin is currently at level two “with additional restrictions” but is expected to move to level three in the coming days as positive cases continue to rise in the city and county.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said there is “a very real and strong possibility” that Dublin will crash while on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland show on Wednesday, while other government figures are concerned about missed opportunities by some. of the government.
“We are very concerned about the numbers,” a government source told the Examiner.
“My concern is that last Thursday (interim CMO), Dr. Ronan Glynn wrote a letter to the Minister of Health and said that he had some very important advice regarding Dublin, asking people to stay in the county, the Advice was not followed at all weekend.
“It went until Tuesday without being shared, 557 people got sick in that time, but we don’t know how many people visited relatives or nursing homes in good faith.”
“Most of the cases occurred in Dublin in the first wave, and we are seeing the same thing again because the volume of people in Dublin is very significant.
“I don’t understand why they waited, but the general opinion was that the government was trying to do it all together by announcing the Covid plan.
“The fact is, if you tell people what to do and why, they will do it, but they need guidance.
“So now it is very likely that Dublin will be closed and it is a question of ‘when’ not ‘if'”.
It is understood that concerns about mixed messages from ministers were not raised at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, as members were confident that the Living with Covid plan would derail the government’s communications strategy, which has been heavily criticized in talks. last weeks.
“The general expectation was that the plan itself is good, we really believe that the plan is good,” said a minister.
“The general expectation in the cabinet was: ‘Okay, here we go, this is it’, there was going to be an early press conference, the Taoiseach at Six One, the Tanaiste at PrimeTime, a big effort to get it right, it didn’t seem that we had no problems, then the problems started when we had ministers who contradicted each other on radio and television. “
Professor Phillip Nolan told the media at the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) briefing on Wednesday night that Ireland was at a tipping point.
“I am more concerned right now than at any time since April,” he said.
“The county of greatest concern is Dublin and it is close to 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
“The daily number of cases has increased very rapidly, we were seeing one or two new cases per day per 100,000 in August, now it is between 8-10 per day, an increase of four and five times – three to five times greater than the rest of the country.
“This disease is spreading rapidly.”
NPHET will meet on Thursday to discuss the current situation across the country and possible additional guidance on Dublin.
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