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Updated 59 minutes ago
Acting Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn has said that the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has yet to see the improvement in Covid-19 cases for Dublin to move from Level 3 restrictions to Level two.
Glynn said the tougher measures introduced in Dublin almost two weeks ago would only be seen to have an effect this week.
When the government’s roadmap for Living with Covid-19 was unveiled earlier this month, Dublin was placed at Level 3 and the rest of the country at Level 2.
Donegal has subsequently moved to Level 3.
The measures in Dublin were to last for three weeks until October 9, and the government would make a decision on that time frame on Nphet’s advice.
When David Cullinane TD of Sinn Féin on the Covid-19 Oireachtas Committee asked if Dubliners could expect this timeline to be maintained, Glynn said there is no evidence yet to say that Dublin should abandon Level 3.
“I fully appreciate the need for certainty. But what I would say is that the measures that were put in place last Friday for Dublin would only go into effect yesterday, today, tomorrow, ”Glynn said.
But we need to see significant improvement in the coming days in Dublin and we haven’t seen it yet.
Responding to questions from Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Glynn said that if Dublin’s three-week restrictions were to go up tomorrow, she would recommend extending them.
“Just anecdotally, look at the amount of traffic on the roads. And it’s hard to believe that people have taken seriously the message that they shouldn’t go to work unless it’s absolutely essential, ”he said.
Despite this, Glynn expressed optimism that the Covid-19 numbers in Dublin could be stabilizing.
“My optimist would say that Dublin appears to be stabilizing. But that’s an optimistic note and I think we need to see what happens in the next three or four days in particular, “he said.
It’s still very dispersed across a wide range of different environments, which is good news on the one hand that we don’t have large clusters, on the other hand it makes it harder to control because there isn’t one. obvious target.
He later added that the people of Dublin can make a difference.
“I think a really positive story that keeps getting lost is what people in many counties have done in recent weeks to turn a negative trajectory. Look at Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Laois, Offaly, Kildare, it can be done, people know how to do it, ”he said.
“I guess the most optimistic, or the most positive point, is that people have done this before, they know what to do and I am absolutely sure that they will do it again.”
Looking forward
Cullinane said that people “want to know where they are going to be” and described the moving levels as a “yo-yo approach.”
“Does it make any sense at this point from your perspective on where Dublin could be next week and what impact it could have on companies that are closed,” he said.
I think that was part of the problem. Last time, if you can see it, in a couple of hours the restaurants were closed. They told us they had to close. And that caused a lot of impact, and it must be said.
In response, Glynn said any recommendation Nphet made on Dublin today would be “premature” and could have “side effects.”
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Glynn speaking at the OIreachtas Committee meeting this morning.
Source: Oireachtas.ie
“Nphet could sit down today and make a recommendation for Dublin, on Sunday of the week, but it would be a premature recommendation, it would probably be an inaccurate recommendation and it could have very important consequences in a week if he made the wrong recommendation,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of a lag between Nphet’s provision of advice and companies receiving the necessary notification of a tier change, Glynn said it was a “government issue.”
“A balance must be struck between the timing of the recommendation and the implementation of a decision by the government. I really think it’s a government issue in terms of timing, ”he said.
“I would say that in relation to Dublin, Nphet was very clear about the urgency of the need to recommend and I understand, particularly in relation to the hospitality sector, the effects it has in terms of stock that has been ordered and not used, etc. I am aware of that “.
cork
Cork North-Central TD Mick Barry asked Glynn about “the speculation that Cork may be moved from Level 2 to Level 3” and about the speculation that “perhaps County Cork could remain at Level 2, and the Cork City move to Level 3 “.
Barry noted that this approach would represent a new approach and has not been adopted elsewhere.
“I’ve seen speculation, the speculation is not coming from Nphet in relation to a lower level approach, in terms of the city, or a smaller level,” Glynn said.
Glynn noted that people do not necessarily interact with other people in their village or area alone and “largely move within their county on a very regular basis.”
“If it’s Cork, or any other county, we’ll go into the details and see if a more nuanced approach is appropriate. But for your point, the motive for the posts around Cork wasn’t to warn people that a shift to Level 3 was imminent, it was to warn people to protect themselves and others, so that we could eliminate cases for which a Level 3 would never be necessary, ”he said.
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