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Medical Director Tony Holohan has said that if coronavirus cases are reduced to fewer than 100 cases a day by early December, officials would achieve what they set out to accomplish over the next six weeks.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Dr. Holohan said that this would achieve public health protection, protect school and educational services, protect vulnerable people, and protect health service, particularly for people awaiting operations, appointments and services.
He said that the level of infection in the population at the moment represents a risk for all of them.
Dr. Holohan said that a reproductive number of 0.5 would be a sufficient level of transmission to get out of strict restrictions.
“We are confident that if we can follow the public health advice in the same way that it was followed earlier this year, and bring the reproductive number to 0.5, we will be able to get there within the time frame that we have identified.”
Speaking at the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach said it will be “very challenging” to achieve this specific reduction in R number.
Responding to Labor leader Alan Kelly during the Leaders’ Questions, Micheál Martin said the goal is to get the “trajectory down” to a point where the R number is consistently below 1.
Meanwhile, Dr. Holohan said that each of us has to behave in a way that helps reduce the level of infection in the population, in particular, he urged people with symptoms, who could have been tested , to those who are waiting for the result of a test or those who are positive with Covid-19, who simply must isolate themselves, stay at home or stay in their own room if they live with other people.
He said there have been about 15,000 cases in the past two weeks of people with the infection.
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He said that the number of daily cases, the 14-day incidence rate, the positivity rate, the hospital admissions, the ICU admissions must be reduced to a radically lower level than what we have now or are at risk of seeing. In the next weeks.
“We just have to do everything we can to try to maintain our children’s education,” Dr. Holohan said.
Dr. Holohan said that data seen by the National Public Health Emergency Team shows that the incidence of Covid-19 in school-age children is “less than what would be expected for the population.”
He described the scale of testing and tracing being carried out in Ireland at the moment as “unprecedented” and “enormous”.
“Staying home is the basic message,” Dr. Holohan said.
Dr. Holohan said that those who were recommended cocoons in the early stages of the pandemic should do the same during the next six weeks of Level 5 restrictions.
He said NPHET specifically considered elite sport and holding the GAA inter-county championships.
“We think that some of these types of activities could go a long way in giving people something to look forward to.”
He said they involved a relatively small number of people and are “well planned, controlled and in full compliance with international guidelines.”
On this issue, compared to restrictions on church attendance, Dr. Holohan said the goal is to try to minimize interaction with people indoors.
“It is not that we are taking a value judgment on a particular activity and saying that we do not value this.
“These are things that we do not want to recommend, but the only reason to do so is to protect public health and vital public services such as education and health services.”
Dr. Holohan said that NPHET “has always been on the same page” as the Government.
He said “it’s a challenge to find ourselves as public health officials recommending some really onerous things a second time.”
Dr. Holohan said that a reproductive number of 0.5 would be a sufficient level of transmission to get out of strict restrictions.
“We are confident that if we can follow the public health advice in the same way it was followed earlier this year, and bring the reproductive number to 0.5, we will be able to get there within the time frame that we have identified.”
Dr. Holohan said that the goggles don’t offer a sufficient amount of protection against Covid-19.
He said they are often used in clinical settings as an adjunct to a “splash protection” face shield.
He said they are not appropriate for use in the hospitality industry “and do not offer the kind of protection that a face shield would provide.”
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