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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that if Ireland goes to Covid-19 level 5 restrictions, people will demand an exit strategy like the one they have in Germany.
Mr Varadkar told his party colleagues yesterday that for the state to move to Level 4 or 5, it would have to be convinced that it is the right thing to do. He said he did not want to be rushed into making a decision on a Covid-19 lockdown until it was completely necessary to do so.
In Germany, the public receives detailed information about the specific measures that need to be taken to allow the region to move down the line.
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan warned last night that Covid-19 was “not under control” and that the disease’s trajectory was rapidly deteriorating.
Public health officials have written to the government to make further recommendations after a significant increase in infection levels.
Dr. Holohan said that the number of cases had almost doubled and the number of hospitalized patients was growing faster than exponential growth models predicted.
The scale of the infection today is now beyond the capacity of any level of resourceful contact tracing process, Dr. Holohan admitted at the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) briefing.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he did not want to be rushed into making a decision on a Covid-19 lockdown until it was completely necessary to do so. Photography: Julien Behal
With widespread community transmission, it was no longer possible to “make links” in a large part of the cases.
Since the disease is no longer under control, Nphet recommended population-focused measures.
If existing trends continue, there will be up to 2,500 cases a day by the end of this month, along with 400 people in the hospital and up to 110 in the ICU, authorities forecast.
A government source described Nphet’s tone last night as “pessimistic” and said a decisive approach was needed as new decisions every few days can confuse the issue.
“People want to do the right thing, but they need decisive action and very clear communication,” the source said.
Border counties moved to Level 4 overnight through Nov. 10, which means non-essential retailers must close and non-essential workers must work from home. The rest of the country at Level 3 saw an increase in restrictions announced Wednesday with a ban on visitors to homes.
Professor Philip Nolan, an official at Nphet, said last night that the situation was “really dangerous” with some 10,000 infected people currently capable of spreading the disease.
“If we collectively step back and stop spreading the disease for two weeks, most of them will recover. If we start to reduce this, we can get over it faster than we think, “he said.
The number of cases reported by Nphet last night was, for the second day in a row, the highest daily total recorded during the pandemic. An additional 1205 cases, including 288 in Dublin, brought the total number of cases to 46,429. Three additional deaths were also reported.
Meanwhile, the level of enforcement actions taken by the Garda against people for violating Covid-19 restrictions has plummeted in the past 3 1/2 months, with only 26 cases since June 28, according to a police authority report. . The Gardaí has only taken action against people six times for not wearing masks where they were required.
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