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The Health Department has not been notified of new deaths, with 821 new confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The number of people who have died with Covid-19 here is 3,948. The total number of confirmed cases is 210,402.
The number of people receiving treatment for Covid-19 in the ICU is 157, three less than yesterday.
At 8 a.m. today, there were 916 people with coronavirus in the hospital.
The General Registrar’s Office is closed on weekends, which may be one reason for the numbers to be lower on Monday. There were no deaths today, but Dr. Ronan Glynn said he hopes that number will sadly rise again. | Read: https://t.co/hF9kyGxI5g pic.twitter.com/UY63x5oYvq
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 15, 2021
The chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group has said that most indicators of the disease continue to decline, and that the 7-day moving average has dropped to 862 from 1200 two weeks ago.
Professor Nolan said that the number of people in the hospital is below 1,000, with 40 admissions a day and the number of people in the ICU this morning was below 160 and was on average 170 for the last 7 days.
However, he said the rapid decline in the number of cases appears to have slowed down and is not decreasing as much as they would like.
He said an important component of that is the asymptomatic close contact test.
He said the number of symptomatic cases continues to fall rapidly, but the number of asymptomatic cases is fairly stable.
Philip Nolan said that the demand for tests has continued to fall, as the level of asymptomatic disease in the population falls.
He said they are concerned that while the positivity rate continues to decline, it is slowly declining.
He said at just under 6%, it’s still pretty high, adding that they want to see more progress there.
He said the number of new deaths being reported each day appears to be declining.
He said the good news was that the very high incidence among older people was approaching the population average and that this age group would soon be protected through vaccination.
The average age of cases is decreasing quite rapidly, says Professor Philip Nolan. The high incidence in the elderly is declining rapidly and is approaching the average for the population. But the incidence in younger people may be starting to increase. | https://t.co/hF9kyGxI5g pic.twitter.com/oz3PpMhshT
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 15, 2021
However, he said the incidence in younger people may be starting to rise, though not a very significant increase, in those under 13 years of age.
He said they are seeing a small increase in cases of people aged 19 to 24, not a trend, but something to watch closely.
He said they are seeing an increase in Dublin and cities in general.
Professor Nolan said this was a day of good news in terms of further acceleration of the vaccination program.
Professor Philip Nolan said he is happy to report that we are making continued progress in terms of suppressing the virus, but the rate of that progress may be slowing down and there is still “a considerable distance in terms of reducing the number of cases to a safest level “.
He said there was work to be done with basic public health measures of hygiene, distancing and masking over the next several weeks to keep us safe from now to the time when vaccination offers much broader protection in society.
Regarding family gatherings on St. Patrick’s Day, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn said that at this time he does not see a scenario in which “anything other than the cautious and staggered reopening of schools in March”. .
When asked about the families that came together for St. Patrick’s Day, Dr. Ronan Glynn said he doesn’t see a scenario at this time beyond the cautious reopening of schools in March. | Read: https://t.co/hF9kyGxI5g pic.twitter.com/Fuyk9PvZp0
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 15, 2021
He said: “We have to get it right, we have to get our health services back up and running and it’s hard to see beyond that right now.”
He said it was too early to talk about Easter at this point.
Dr. Glynn said that it is not safe to meet people outside of your home at this time.
He said we’ve seen what happened in Galway where young people from different households met each other and “we just can’t have that at the population level right now if we want to continue to suppress the disease.”
Dr. Glynn said that we have to reopen schools, while continuing to suppress the virus.
When asked about reopening schools, Dr. Glynn said that while opening schools should be a priority, it should be done in stages and with caution.
However, he said that while the incidence of the virus is heading in the right direction, there needs to be a continued decline over the next several weeks.
He said concerns remain about the new variants, as well as the increase in travel that would occur if schools reopen.
Dr. Glynn also said it was too early to say when pubs and restaurants will be allowed to reopen.
He said “the virus loves alcohol” and contributes to increased risk. He also said that NPHET was concerned about the super spreader events.
He said “we are a long way from making recommendations” for such places to reopen.
NPHET also said there are a total of 181 outbreaks in workplaces with 29 in meat factories.
Three new clusters were identified in meat plants last week, and there are currently a total of 29 clusters open in these settings, said Dr. Ronan Glynn. There are currently 181 open outbreaks associated with workplaces. | Read: https://t.co/hF9kyGxI5g pic.twitter.com/And3HbbAyE
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 15, 2021
Dr Glynn said there was concern about outbreaks in the tertiary sector with an increase in infections in Galway and Limerick.
He said that people needed to know that people who have been infected in the past can become infected again.
Tests of the third-level student population have revealed household clusters among youth in Galway and Limerick. Outbreaks in the workplace also continue to emerge: “People still come to work when they are sick.” | Read: https://t.co/hF9kyGxI5g pic.twitter.com/KlCJObeDnb
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 15, 2021
However, he said brighter days are coming and said vaccinating those over the age of 85 was an important milestone.
The national clinical director of health protection with the HSE, Dr. Lorraine Doherty, said that a total of 116 GPs would participate in the launch of vaccines for the group of more than 85 people, with an estimated 374 doctors from Headboard.
Dr. Doherty told NPHET Briefing that HSE will conduct a very detailed vaccination campaign as we begin to use mass vaccination centers over the next several weeks.
He said there will be quite a few places, in addition to mass vaccination centers, where people will be able to access vaccines, such as with their family doctor.
He said the priority list is determined with the goal of protecting those most at risk of serious illness and hospitalization first.
In Northern Ireland, four additional deaths of people with Covid-19 were reported today. It brings the death toll from the disease in Northern Ireland to 2,000.
It means that the total number of deaths has doubled since December.
Another 234 cases of Covid-19 were also announced. There are 477 Covid-19 patients in Northern Ireland hospitals, including 59 in intensive care.
Meanwhile, the government has said it will open 37 centers in Ireland to be used when the Covid-19 vaccination program is expanded.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that once vaccine supplies increase, it will be possible to administer 250,000 vaccines a week.
Today, the implementation of vaccination began to move to the general population.
More than 80,000 people over the age of 85 will receive the coronavirus vaccine this week.
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