Christmas can be saved ‘if we do the right thing for the next three weeks’

CHRISTMAS can still be saved “if we do the right thing for the next three weeks,” said health chiefs.

Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions went into effect across Ireland when the country’s top doctor warned that it is “deeply concerned” by the “further deterioration” of the national situation in recent days.

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But our “rapidly deteriorating position” can be rectified if the public hurries over the next three weeks as the National Public Health Emergency Team prepares to discuss Halloween and Christmas advice.

NPHET Epidemiology Modeling Team Chair Professor Philip Nolan said: “I guess we can still save Christmas, if we do the right thing for the next three weeks.”

Professor Nolan pointed a finger and said “our job now” to get people to do their best to keep transmission of Covid-19 low at a Health Department briefing.

When five new deaths and 611 coronavirus cases were confirmed, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan said Ireland would get through Christmas “very well if we get to Christmas with 50 cases a day.”

KEEP THE LEVELS LOW

He said: “It is in our minds, we have not had an express conversation about Christmas, but each of us is aware, we all live in this country, we know what it is like here.”

“I think something is going to happen to the reproductive numbers at Christmas that would be almost out of our control in the sense that everyone, maybe some of us included, will not be as adherent to some of the rules as we should.

“Christmas will be a challenging time, what we have to try and make sure is that the disease goes down as low as possible before that.

“If I could give an example figuratively, if our reproductive number for the two weeks of Christmas ends up being 2 or 2.5 because of the way we socialize during Christmas, well it matters a lot if we get to Christmas with 50 boxes per day, 500 cases per day or 1000 cases per day.

“Because we will have a very good Christmas if we enter Christmas with 50 boxes a day and the R number is 2.5, we will be fine.”

CHRISTMAS CONSIDERATION

He said NPHET will give “specific consideration” to Christmas and health chiefs will understand how “socially challenging” it would be to tell the population that they cannot meet other households during the holiday period.

He added: “This is all part of the rationale and we establish it in our analysis and our projections.

“On an ongoing basis, as I mentioned earlier in an answer to a question about Halloween, at various stages of the year, different events and different circumstances create environments that we have to pay special attention to.

“We will give a specific consideration to Christmas, we hope that we are not in a situation in terms of illness in which we have to warn the population that they cannot meet other homes or travel away from their homes at Christmas because we understand how socially challenging it is. it would be for the people. “

HALLOWEEN PLANS

And Dr. Holohan said the NPHET guidelines on Halloween and trick or treating will be considered when the group meets Thursday.

He said: “We will consider what we think is all the appropriate advice that we should give to the government or the public over the next few days and weeks and that will certainly be one of the issues we will consider.”

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The five deaths reported today occurred in the month of October, confirmed Deputy CMO Dr. Ronan Glynn, as Professor Nolan warned that with our current R-number of between 1.2 and 1.4, between 1,100 and 1,500 cases could be reported per day at the end of the year. first week of November.

Speaking at his first briefing after returning to work, Dr. Holohan said that Dr. Glynn’s work as interim CMO while spending time with his family “will not be forgotten.”

TANAISTE CHAT

And he said he was “absolutely satisfied” that the air has cleared with the Tanaiste, as Leo Varadkar promised that the pair are “on the same team.”

The Tanaiste had criticized the recommendation of the National Public Health Emergency Team to put all of Ireland on the Level 5 lockdown for having come “out of nowhere” and not having thought it through.

Varadkar said that although he was “really unhappy about what happened Sunday night,” he and the medical director had a “good conversation” over the phone Tuesday.

And Dr. Holohan said the couple “exchanged views” and have enjoyed a “long-lasting relationship” over the years.

When asked if the air was clear between the two, Dr. Holohan said he was “absolutely satisfied” that it was.

Speaking of his negative comments about NPHET, Varadkar said: “I felt really unhappy, very unhappy about what happened Sunday night and the anxiety and fear it caused in hundreds of thousands of people and I gave voice to that anger and I gave voice to that frustration.

“But I also said that NPHET and the government should get back on the same page.

“I called Tony Holohan last night. We had a good conversation.

“We are on the same team. We have always been and what we need is not the Government against NPHET, it is Ireland against Covid.”