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HEALTH officials fear that the St. Patrick’s Day festivities will lead to another deadly spike in Covid-19.
Deputy Medical Director Dr. Ronan Glynn has warned against people socializing, while there is also concern about large rallies at the protests.
“We don’t want people to buy cans and gather to drink them on St. Patrick’s Day,” Dr. Glynn said.
Gardaí is planning a series of checkpoints on suburban roads to prevent protesters from reaching Dublin tomorrow in a bid to quell the latest protest against the blockade.
They will be at train stations, bus stops and Luas as they mount a massive police operation. In the very center of the city, more than 200 Gardaí will be deployed.
However, apart from the protests, Gardaí also hopes to deal with people who may host house parties or socialize during the holiday in sunny weather.
Drowning shamrock with friends or traditional St. Patrick’s Day gatherings in people’s homes will increase the risk of more Covid-19 infections and deaths, health officials warned last night.
Pints to go or gatherings to buy cans of beer could accelerate the spread of the dangerous infection.
It is also feared that the anti-lockdown demonstrations scheduled for tomorrow will also cause a jump in cases.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn cautioned: “I don’t want to be a killjoy, but there are still too many illnesses in the country.”
He said that socializing could mean that people would end up in the hospital and “some people will die.”
Meteorologists predict that St. Patrick’s Day will be the best day of the year so far for many, with temperatures set to hit 16 ° C, and much of the country will enjoy good sunshine. This could get people to gather outside.
It comes amid growing concern that it is becoming increasingly difficult to eliminate the virus, with 575 new cases reported yesterday.
Dr. Glynn said that “we are by no means out of the woods” and, although people are “devastated”, the virus will explode wherever people congregate.
Professor Philip Nolan de Nphet said the current cases are related to adults who mingled and socialized 10 to 14 days ago. The decrease in cases each week has gone from 40 percent to around 20 percent and is now only 3 percent.
The figures show that schools are not to blame for the spread and that infections are spreading in the community and home settings, he added.
As thousands more children returned to the classroom yesterday, he said there were 390 cases in children ages 5 to 12 the week before the previous one and five were associated with school outbreaks.
This increased to 403 cases last week, but only 10 were associated with schools.
Deaths have now dropped to around 16 a day and while intensive care admissions have dropped, there is still a steady level of hospital admissions.
Yesterday there were 360 patients in the hospital, including 85 in intensive care. But there were 25 additional hospitalizations in the previous 24 hours.
He said: “I observed last week that we are also seeing an increase in mobility and while some increase is expected due to many returning to school, we must remain very cautious.
“Now is not the time to socialize, it is too risky.”
Dr. Glynn said that while there has been a very understandable focus on the vaccine program in recent days, “we must not lose sight of the danger that Covid-19 continues to pose. While, over time, vaccines will have a very significant positive impact on Covid-19, they will not stop a new wave of disease in the coming weeks.
“We are seeing this unfold across Europe and many countries are now experiencing pressure on their critical care and hospital capabilities. We must not allow this to happen here.
“Together, we have done extraordinary work to reduce the incidence of disease. These efforts are cause for real hope, and if we can return to waning indicators of illness, we can continue to protect our loved ones and look forward to much brighter days ahead. ”
Dublin GP Dr Ray Walley told the briefing that the first round of administering the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to people over the age of 85 will begin this week.
The second dose is guaranteed, but the first dose for those over 75 is limited due to a shortage of the Moderna vaccine and the vaccines are targeted at those over 80.
He said he still believes that everyone over 70 will be vaccinated in mid-May. The GP added that “the temporary postponement of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is necessary to be sure that we are taking note of if there are any safety signals.”
Dr. Walley said he was still seeing too many people delaying in showing up to be referred for tests, believing they just had their usual winter chill. He recalled a recent case of a patient who attended a funeral and thin ended up infecting his family.
Irish independent
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