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Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan has called for an end to the culpability of victims in relation to individuals who violate public health guidelines.
When asked about footage of GAA players celebrating victories over the weekend, Dr. Holohan said “it’s not a surprise” that teams that win big games “tend to celebrate.”
He called for “a certain understanding, tolerance and acceptance” of such scenes “in broad terms”.
“I think that as a country we have leaned too much towards a sense of guilt and trying to find the last person who violates a particular guideline and trying to find a lamp post to hang them,” he told the National Public Health Emergency. Team briefing (Nphet) on Monday.
“We need to have more tolerance and acceptance that this is a very high standard of behavior that the entire population has maintained.”
He said Nphet had tried to preserve elite sporting activity “with good reason.”
In sporting terms, the past weekend had been a very enjoyable one and this helped people to “overcome the challenge” of stay-at-home measures. Sports organizations had done a great job of offering a “modest number” of sports activities in the safest way possible. “They have done a great job,” said Dr. Holohan, an avid GAA fan.
Lower number of cases
Nphet reported no further deaths of people with Covid-19 on Monday. The total number of virus-related deaths in the pandemic stands at 2,022.
Another 252 confirmed cases of the disease were reported, bringing the total number of cases in the Republic to 70,711.
This is the lowest daily figure since September 26, although Monday’s figures are usually lower than during the rest of the week.
Of the new cases, 88 are in Dublin, 26 in Cork, 21 in Kilkenny, 16 in Louth, 16 in May, with the remaining 85 cases spread across 20 other counties.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 289 Covid-19 patients in the hospital, including 33 in the ICU. There were 11 hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.
The 14-day national incidence rate is now 108.7 cases per 100,000 people. Donegal has the highest incidence with 227.4, followed by Louth with 211.8. Wexford has the lowest incidence, at 36.1.
So far this month, there have been 88 deaths related to Covid-19, compared to 119 in October and 37 in September.
The incidence of the virus in Ireland has fallen 40 percent in the last fortnight, but only 2 percent in the last week, the fourth-largest reduction in Europe, Dr. Holohan said.
The level of concern about the pandemic has fallen to levels not seen since July, he said, as more people think the worst is over. This could be related to positive news about vaccine development, he acknowledged.
However, small changes in attitudes can lead to changes in behavior that can alter the pattern of infection. This can lead to “people getting ahead of where they should be,” he said, adding that “we still have Level 5 until the end of the month.”
When asked about the reduction in the number of cases, Dr. Holohan said there was still “significant work to be done” and that he expected to see a further reduction in cases.
With the five-day average of cases still above 300 per day, even a small change in the breeding number would create problems in a short period of time, he said.
With 300 cases per day, this challenge could emerge “within several weeks” if things get worse.
Substantial degree of hope
Dr. Holohan said that the year had been long and difficult and that it was difficult to maintain good public health behaviors. “When things are looking up, that can lead to lower guard, when things that we did religiously, we don’t do as often.”
However, a “blame-oriented response” was not appropriate and it had to be accepted that “we are not all going to be perfect all the time.”
He declined to speak about the recommendations Nphet will make later this week, but said the more progress is made in reducing cases, “the more options we will have” in terms of easing restrictions.
There have been 20 new outbreaks in the workplace in the past week, the briefing was heard, and 121 investigations into outbreaks in the workplace remain open.
Dr Holohan said that the news emerging from companies developing Covid-19 vaccines provides a “substantial degree of hope,” but regulatory bodies would have to make assessments before this hope is realized.
The government-appointed task force on the launch of vaccines, whose first meeting he attended on Monday, would be “working hard” to finalize a national plan in the coming weeks, he said.
On Monday, researchers announced that the coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca has shown greater efficacy than expected.
When the vaccine was given in a half dose, followed by a full dose at least a month later, the efficacy was 90 percent. When the jab was given in two full doses at least a month apart, the efficacy was 62 percent. The average efficacy was 70 percent.
It occurs when the government will make a decision on Thursday or Friday on how to get out of the six-week lockdown that will end on Tuesday, December 1.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that restricting visitors to homes helped reduce the spread of the coronavirus and that the government must “take that into account” as it seeks to lift Level 5 restrictions.
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