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Christmas should be delayed for a month to ensure we get the most out of the coronavirus lockdown, according to Trinity professor Tomas Ryan.
In announcing the current Level Five restrictions last month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that following the guidelines would allow the country to “celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way.”
In the weeks since, the number of COVID-19 cases has continued to fall with 270 new cases reported yesterday.
In Newstalk breakfast This morning, Dr. Tomás Ryan, associate professor at Trinity’s College of Biochemistry and Immunology, said the country could return to 1,000 cases a day in January if we reopen as planned in December.
He said the government must warn people that under the current plan, this year’s Christmas season “is not going to be anything like the Christmases we normally have.”
“It certainly won’t be worth it if we end up having another lockdown in January or early February, which I think should be avoided in any way that we can,” he said.
“Even if we cut down to 100 cases a day on December 1, I think it would be much more profitable and enjoyable for everyone in Ireland if we cut cases down to single figures or to zero and then kept them there so that we could open and stay open on as long as possible. “
He said the situation in Australia “looks quite wonderful to me at the moment” and insisted that Ireland could be in the same boat early next year if it maintains the current lockdown for longer.
“I think we can get back to a normalcy that looks pretty much like life in most of Australia in early January, which would mean Level One or Level Zero restrictions for January, if we get rid of this now,” he said.
“One way to do this would be to delay Christmas until the end of January and have a real Christmas and a real party.”
He said extending Level Five for at least a few weeks “would be best for everyone.”
“I don’t think the government has communicated reasonable expectations about what our Christmas will be like,” he said.
“It’s certainly not going to be anything like the Christmas we normally have anyway. The important thing is that now we are all locked in, we are paying a high price anyway and we want to make sure we get the right benefit and we will not get it if we have another lockdown in January. “
He said the current reduction of the virus across the country is “really positive”, with Ireland now just behind Finland in terms of reducing our case rate.
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