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The Medical Director has advised the public to restrict their movements for the next two weeks if they plan to see elderly or vulnerable family members during the Christmas period.
Peaking at tonight’s biweekly press conference at the Health Department, Dr. Tony Holohan said health chiefs are concerned about the “intergenerational transmission” of the coronavirus, as people from all ages mingle over Christmas.
He said there is a way to plan for these events and “reduce transmission.”
“They need to think ahead and think ahead,” he said.
“If we can individually restrict our movements if we plan to have those kinds of experiences during the Christmas period where we know we are going to meet people who are older members of our families, loved ones who are medically vulnerable and so on, if we can restrict our individual movements, limiting our contacts for the next two weeks, we can really reduce the chance that we, as individuals, will bring the infection. “
He said Nphet is particularly concerned about older and medically vulnerable family members who come into contact with other family members.
“That way, we will reduce the risk of transmission within the home and we will reduce the risk of what we call intergenerational transmission, which is what we are very concerned about,” said Dr. Holohan.
“At Christmas time, we achieve a concentrated union of people coming together through the ages in a very short space of time.”
The president of Maynooth University and chair of the Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group of Ireland, Professor Philip Nolan, said the reproductive number of the virus is now 1.
He also warned that there is a “high risk” of a sudden increase in January if this number exceeds 1.
“There is a high risk of a sudden spike in January unless we can keep that reproduction number close to 1. My message is that we must be extremely cautious, limiting the number of contacts per week, taking all precautions during those contacts,” said. .
He also said that a “stable point” in the transmission of the virus has been reached, since the number of cases is stable, the number of hospitalized is slowly decreasing, but the number of patients in intensive care and the number of deaths has not yet started to decline. .
Online editors
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