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Members of the public should assume they have Covid-19 when they develop any symptoms and should isolate themselves before getting the test result.
That was the message from the head of HSE on Wednesday.
Paul Reid said that the level of transmission is now so high that people are more likely to have Covid-19 than at any other time in the pandemic.
He said testing will continue but cautioned that the system is approaching capacity.
“The next big push to reduce it (transmission) is public action, not testing or tracking. You just can’t develop the capacity to track and follow what’s going on in the community right now, ”he said.
The HSE is not yet finalized where mass vaccination centers will work for most people later in the year.
Residents and staff of 20 nursing homes will receive the first dose of the vaccines next week, with further deployment confirmed in 580 homes.
Niamh O ‘Beirne, national testing and tracing leader, said HSE contact trackers had their busiest 24 hours yesterday, calling 2,000 people with Covid-19 and 9,000 close contacts.
He said the number of close contacts continues to rise, the average is now 6.3 per Covid-19 case.
“What is also increasing is the number of people with more close contacts, people with 15 and many people with 30 close contacts,” he said.
HSE Chief Operating Officer Anne O Connor said there are still fewer older patients admitted to hospitals this year compared to last year.
Dr. Steevens Hospital COVID19 (coronavirus) update https://t.co/XRjfjPq9M3
– HSE Ireland (@HSELive) December 30, 2020
He said there are now no waiting lists for home support in some regions, thanks to the increased health budget allocated this year, and the number of patients in the hospital waiting to be transferred has also decreased.
“One of the biggest threats we have now is the ability of the hospital system to function. With Covid we are seeing a greater number of personnel leaving, ”he said.
The reproductive number or R number is now 1.8 and it would require millions of canceled actions or plans to get down to a safe level, said HSE clinical director Colm Henry.
“There is a strong age-related mortality (with Covid), we see rates in those over 75 years of very high hospitalization rates,” he said.
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