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Latest Covid updates from the Minister of Health
By Liz Farsaci
DUBLINERS must do more to reduce the rate of new Covid-19 cases, but other counties could avoid tighter restrictions for at least a few days, the Health Minister said today.
Stephen Donnelly said everyone should cut their social contacts in half as this week remains crucial to fighting the deadly virus.
He added that he was “cautiously optimistic” that the situation in Dublin would improve.
His warning comes as HSE boss Paul Reid also urges everyone to stay strong and take the virus seriously.
Donnelly said that as the virus continues to spread, we must all do everything possible to get all counties to Level 1.
He said: “This dreaded R number: when it is above 1 the virus is growing, when it is below 1 the virus is shrinking.
“We need to get the R number below 1. Right now it’s 1.5 or 1.6.”
We must all reduce our social contacts so that this number goes down again, reducing them by half, urged the Minister of Health.
He said: “If we all do that, we will lower this R number and roll back this virus.
“What I want, what everyone wants, is for all the counties, all the parts of this country, to get back to Level 1 as quickly as possible and for everyone to be there.”
“The vast majority of people follow the guidelines the vast majority of the time.”
Dublin is now at the ninth level of Level 3, but it is not yet clear if the increased measures are working.
Donnelly said: “It’s very early. In Dublin, the 14-day rate is 147 [per 100,000].
“The seven-day rate is 78, so a little more than half of that.
“What we want is for the seven-day rate to become less than half the 14-day rate.
“This week, we want to see the seven-day rate go down every day.”
But other counties such as Cork, Galway, Louth and County Wicklow, the minister himself, are not expected to be locked in earlier this week.
While NPHET is monitoring rising virus levels in these counties, health experts do not plan to call an emergency meeting this week.
They must still have their regular meeting on Thursday.
Donnelly said: “At this time, there are no plans for NPHET to meet earlier and make recommendations to the government.
“They will meet on Thursday and we will see what they say then.”
And the health minister said he was “very concerned” about running out of hospital beds in the coming weeks and months.
Yesterday (SUN) it was widely reported that some hospitals are already at or near full capacity.
Donnelly said: “We didn’t have enough beds to begin with.
“Before Covid got here, we had the longest waiting lists in Europe, and last winter we had the highest tram fares since registrations began.
“So we are very concerned.”
HSE chief Paul Reid also expressed concern about the increasing number of people hospitalized.
In an appeal on Twitter, he wrote: “We now have 110 hospital cases of Covid-19, 18 in the ICU.
“Although it is lower than our worst peak, the impact on our hospitals is as significant as we are now trying to keep all of our other services running.
“This is a call to arms for everyone to support everything we ask for.”
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