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Health Service Executive Chairman Paul Reid has urged people to “really protect themselves” from Covid-19 in the next two weeks to avoid an “explosive mix” for the health service in January.
He said that the best Christmas gift the public could give health personnel is to reduce their social contacts and follow all public health measures.
Reid said the HSE is seeing “very significant and worrying” trends from the virus with positive tests increasing every day in the last week.
“We want people to look forward to Christmas in a spirit of joy,” he told RTÉ Morning Ireland, but cautioned that “the delay effect is cause for concern here … so what people do now will have an impact on the health service in two or three weeks. “
To avoid an “explosive mix” of coronavirus cases after Christmas, when health services are busiest, he said people should cut back on home visits and comply with public health advice.
People may intend to see lots of family and friends for a short period of time and then drastically cut back on their contacts, but that doesn’t work, Reid said.
HSE CEO @paulreiddublin says the simplest message health officials have to reduce the spread of # COVID-19 at Christmas “It really is about how many contacts you have.” Ask people to restrict their movements to a minimum. pic.twitter.com/dMt3zf0CbD
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 17, 2020
He said the situation in Northern Ireland demonstrates the volatility and lag between seeing a high number of cases and the “multiplier” effect in hospitals.
Support is being offered to the health service in the north at various levels, he confirmed.
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When asked if the government will have to backtrack on easing restrictions before January 6, he said: “I hope not … it is within our ability to ensure that does not happen.”
He does not believe that it is necessary to close schools early for Christmas, as the positivity rate for infections in schools remains low, below 3%, compared to 12% positivity in community contacts.
“For us, the concern is that we get this kind of explosive concoction.” HSE CEO @paulreiddublin He says @ TomorrowIreland in # COVID-19 trends. He says the best Christmas gift the public can give health workers is to protect themselves in the next two weeks. https://t.co/yro2bXPnFk pic.twitter.com/QHLL5xT7Nl
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 17, 2020
Mr. Reid said that people’s mental health is important to the HSE and that while close contacts will increase in the coming weeks, the intention is to give people some relief so that they can see their family.
The HSE chief said the delivery date for the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine is still being determined and that HSE seeks to secure more than 5,000 vaccines in the initial delivery.
Meanwhile, the National Public Health Emergency Team will meet today, amid concern about an increase in Covid-19 cases.
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan said there were important indicators that the disease was moving in the wrong direction.
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