‘There is no magic bullet from the vaccine’ in the next 6 months, as the public urged to ‘reduce discretionary contacts’ now

The public has been urged to “reduce discretionary contacts” now, as “there will be no magic bullet” in the next six months.

The chairman of the National Public Health Emergency Team Advisory group, Dr. Cillian De Gascun, has said that the Irish have the power to control whether their county faces further restrictions from Covid-19.

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Dr. De Gascun cautioned that people should reduce their discretionary contacts now.

He told RTE on Saturday with Katie Hannon: “As a society, we have identified priorities around education, healthcare and the protection of our vulnerable groups.

“What we are telling people and what we are asking them to do is outside of those settings to reduce their discretionary contacts.”

And he added: “We want people to have quality of life but we have to do things differently.”

NO MAGIC VACCINE IS COMING

De Gascun said that although there are a large number of candidate Covid-19 vaccines in clinical trials, there is no magic bullet for the vaccine and Ireland will have to rely on public health advice and restrictions for at least the next six months.

He said, “If we have a vaccine that’s in place and that we can roll out, say, by mid-2021 and have it in place by next winter, I think that would be a really positive step.”

De Gascun continued: “Realistically, we are getting through this winter with our current non-pharmaceutical interventions and our current public health messages.

“That is why it is so important that people continue to support us and stand firm in this, because there will be no magic bullet in the next six months.”

Today, Donegal joined Dublin in Level 3 restrictions. The two counties will each spend three weeks below the Level in an effort to crush rising Covid-19 cases and infection rates.

Health officials cautioned that other counties will be considered for similar restrictions if the incidence rate and total cases continue to rise.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has expressed particular concern for urban centers such as Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

ABOUT THE COUNTY SIGNS

NPHET expert De Gascun said that additional restrictions for other counties are not inevitable, but people outside of Dublin and Donegal should not assume they are safe.

He said: Nothing is inevitable in all of this and I think it’s very important that the other 24 counties appreciate it.

“Obviously a lot of attention has been paid to Dublin and Donegal in the last two weeks, but we know there are other worrying trends across the country.

“We know that the number of cases is increasing, we know that the seven-day incidence is increasing, the 14-day incidence, the number of people in hospitals, the number of people in intensive care. These are all worrying signs.

“And obviously we are not in the middle of winter yet. So we are concerned that if we get into a bad place now it will be very difficult to get out of it in winter.”

“It’s very important that the other counties don’t look at Donegal and Dublin and think ‘well, we’re fine.’

Dr. De Gascun said that even when there are looser restrictions, there are still no “zero risk activities.”

He said: “When we say that you can do it, what we say is that you can do it, but the question is, firstly, if you should do it, and secondly, if you decide to do it, you have to do it in a different way than how. you would have done it 12 months ago. “

DR FAUCI ‘IMPRESSED’

Yesterday, the Department of Health confirmed 326 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, and no more deaths related to the virus.

America’s top physician, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has revealed that he is “impressed” with Ireland’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTE’s Late Late Show, he said he was impressed with Ireland’s Covid-19 plan.

He said: “Ireland didn’t take such a hit, but they did it badly, you did it … and what you did was put restrictions that were substantial restrictions and you brought the baseline back down.”

“And what is your plan, is that you are going to access where you are and you have certain types of guidelines that are appropriate for where you are.

“And if you start to have a rebound, you will have restrictions to go to the next level.”