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The country faces its longest lockdown yet, with more months of restrictions as the health service struggles to cope with thousands of Covid-19 cases while rushing to vaccinate millions of people.
The government is expected to allow the reopening of schools and the construction sector before March, and even this depends on the number of new cases and the situation in hospitals.
A senior government source admitted last night that it is “50-50” on whether there will be a loosening of restrictions in these two sectors next month.
The hospitality sector is now expected to remain closed until after Easter, with the government privately warning that it could be the summer before bars, restaurants and hotels can reopen in any way, while any form of international tourism. from abroad this year is being regulated. outside.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned in a private meeting with representatives of the hotel industry last Friday that “the virus continues to destroy our plans” and the Government could not give a clear timetable for the reopening of the sector.
But after the meeting, some industry figures believe it could be well into the fall before places like wet pubs reopen. “This will be a very long blockade,” a government source said yesterday. “I doubt the hospitality will open before the summer.”
The Cabinet will decide within two weeks whether it is safe for schools to fully reopen to all students and whether all construction workers can return to sites across the country starting next month.
But high-level government figures say decisions about these will depend on three criteria: significantly reducing the number of cases to low levels; reduce the number of patients in the ICU, which is currently almost 200 patients, to around 50 at any one time; and vaccinate as many of the 700,000 most vulnerable and front-line health workers as possible.
There has been a marked shift in the government’s approach to the virus, which one leading figure described as “hope for the best, plan for the worst,” after the disastrous reopening of the hotel sector and the easing of travel restrictions ahead of Christmas.
These sent the number of cases skyrocketing to unprecedented levels and left hospitals at a critical point.
There were 60 additional deaths from Covid confirmed last night, with another 3,231 more cases and 119 additional hospitalizations.
Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan cautioned that a significant percentage of the population – more than one in 10 in some counties – is a case or close contact.
“The improvements in the cases are not happening fast enough,” he said. “Too many people are still not complying as fully as we need the advice. There are early indications that we may be stabilizing in terms of improvement, but with too high a level of infection.”
The scale of the crisis facing the health service is underlined this weekend, as the Sunday Independent may reveal that some 250 doctors, nurses and other front-line personnel have been told to come to work when, otherwise, otherwise, they should isolate themselves.
The data supports anecdotal evidence that the health service increasingly relies on such derogations to staff hospitals during the third wave of the virus.
Under HSE guidelines, hospital senior management can grant essential healthcare personnel a “waiver,” or exemption, to return to work if “an area cannot be safely staffed or an area is not available.” set of critical skills to provide critical or essential services “.
HSE’s guidelines for derogations have been updated regularly during the pandemic, but critics say this amounts to diluting the protections granted to healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry said yesterday that we have another year of restrictions ahead of us before the number of people vaccinated is enough to protect the general public from Covid.
“The answer, and not everyone likes it, but it is the truth … is that the general public will not have protection from Covid-19 for at least a year,” he told RTÉ’s Raidió na Gaeltachta.
The first mass vaccination centers started operating yesterday in Dublin, Galway and Portlaoise, administering around 1,800 Moderna vaccines, mainly to GPs.
The Health Department has told TDs in a briefing note that Pfizer’s announcement on Friday that its supply will be cut off next week will only have a “modest” impact on the launch of the vaccine in Ireland.
But Health Minister spokesman Stephen Donnelly admitted yesterday: “At this time, we have only confirmed vaccine delivery schedules until the end of February and after that we are working on estimated delivery schedules.”
The expected regulatory approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on January 29 will be a potential game changer and GPs and pharmacists are expected to deliver this vaccine en masse. ”
Donnelly has asked officials to examine whether it is legally possible to receive the vaccines before approval from the European Medicines Agency so that they are ready for immediate implementation.
Donnelly has championed the controversy over vaccinating staff in private hospitals and clinics before front-line public health workers. His spokesman said there is “no distinction” between public or private hospital staff in the deployment of vaccines for front-line health workers.
“Hospital groups have teams that decide the allocation of vaccines to hospitals in their areas, based on the risk faced by different employees. As hospital groups work with private hospitals in their areas, they include them in the considerations,” they said .
Last night, in another sign of how stretched the health service has become, the Health Department announced that it would temporarily suspend the placements of more than 2,000 nursing students and midwives.
The measure will allow the return of qualified nurses and midwives who previously supervised students to the front line. The department said the fourth year in placement would not be affected by the move, which will last at least two weeks.
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