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Dublin should be at Level 4 of the Government’s Living with Covid-19 strategy, Dublin GP Ray Walley has said.
Glasnevin’s doctor said he was particularly concerned that under Level 3 up to 25 people could gather for a function such as a wedding.
Public health experts are expected to recommend new restrictions for Dublin on Thursday to limit the spread of the coronavirus, as fears mount that infections will spiral out of control.
On Wednesday night, public health experts expressed a high degree of alarm at the current rate of infection, with one saying it was “more concerned than at any time since late April.”
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show, Dr. Walley warned that the age profile is increasing (among Covid patients) and that this will have a “downstream” impact.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will meet on Thursday. If it finds that the infections in Dublin have not stabilized and further action is required, preparations will be made for a disembodied Cabinet meeting on Friday to give effect to its findings.
Tighter restrictions
That could mean that Dublin would be subject to stricter restrictions than the rest of the country. They include a ban on indoor or outdoor social or family gatherings, additional restrictions on indoor dining, as well as telling people not to travel outside the county. No matches or events will be allowed and no spectators will be allowed in any of the games that take place.
Dr Walley said the concern was that the rate of infections had increased due to social gatherings, this could extend to older people who have a higher morbidity rate and require more hospitalization.
“It’s like one flood after another, it takes longer to disappear. All of this takes a long time to recover. “
Nphet has to consider putting Dublin on Level 4, he said, and there must also be more positive messages. People should be told what they can do, not what they cannot do. They also need to know how to stay healthy while living with the virus.
Dr Gabrielle Colleran from the Irish Association of Hospital Consultants warned that there was an urgent need to double ICU beds and the number of consultants, as Ireland has half the EU average for ICU beds and the lowest level of consultants.
Last winter was the worst winter when it came to carts, the issue needs to be addressed now, he added. “We need to have enough staff to deal with this.”
Meanwhile, immunology expert Tomas Ryan has said the government should provide a strategy to help the country reach Level 1 by Christmas.
Dr Ryan, assistant professor of biochemistry and immunology at Trinity College Dublin, said the framework announced by the government this week was not a strategy, it was a framework for which a strategy was needed to show how the country could get there. to Level 1.
“We want a way to get through this so we can get to Level 1 by Christmas,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Active measures are required, he said, such as a more aggressive testing and monitoring system and more regional measures that allow individual counties to take control of their own situations.
Every citizen
Dr. Ryan said there were “big signals” coming from Nphet and applauded comments from Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of Nphet’s Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, who warned that Covid-19 cases are now growing exponentially and that all State citizens must take immediate steps to reduce their contacts or it will not be possible to bring the pandemic back under control.
This was not the time for scaremongering, Dr. Ryan said, but it was the time for realism. If Dublin reaches level 3, “hopefully” it will help suppress the virus. If current infection rates continue, there could be a possible doubling of cases every two weeks, he warned. Actions are needed to reverse the situation.
On Wednesday night, Nphet announced that there have been 254 more cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, of which 136 are in Dublin, and three more confirmed deaths.
At a press conference at the Department of Health last night, the chairman of the Nphet epidemiological modeling advisory group, Professor Philip Nolan, said: “I am more concerned than at any other time since the end of April.”
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