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Updated 54 minutes ago
The GOVERNMENT REVISED Living with Covid plan is a “wing and prayer” strategy that contains nothing that gives people hope, the Dáil has heard.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin unveiled the new plan yesterday, which will see Level Five restrictions continue through April 5 at the earliest.
But Labor leader Alan Kelly attacked the plan during the Leaders’ Questions today, saying that it contains nothing new and that it is completely reliant on vaccines.
He said: “It is a strategy of hope and vision. There is nothing in that. There is nothing new about it that we didn’t already know, it is basically a wing and a prayer and it is totally dependent on vaccines.
“There is nothing there that gives people hope. People are desperate.
“Never in my political career have I felt the despair that I have had in recent weeks, especially given all the communication failures that have occurred.
“And my real problem is that there are no new tools to suppress the virus, nothing in the plan to suppress the virus. Let’s wait for the vaccines. “
The Taoiseach responded by saying that the tools needed to suppress the virus have not changed, regardless of the emergence of new variants of Covid-19.
He said: “The suppression of the virus, regardless of its form, does not change in terms of what we must do as a society.
“It doesn’t really change according to public health experts. What I mean by that is social distancing, avoidance of the congregation.
“That is what reduces virus levels. We should be guided by the data and not by the dates. You haven’t specified any metrics this morning in your contribution. “
Vaccines are working, says Taoiseach
Martin also defended the reliance on vaccines, saying there is already evidence that they are working.
He said: “Vaccination is already working in our hospital care settings. It is having a dramatic effect in reducing infections among frontline healthcare workers.
“(We are) one of the few countries that has targeted that area, in terms of the vaccination program and it is working.
“It is having a real impact and it will have an impact on the elderly and the most vulnerable.”
His comments come as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar defended the government’s “differentiated approach” to mandatory quarantine for foreign travelers, saying that not all countries should be treated the same.
“There are places in the world where the virus is at a very low level or there is no community transmission,” he told Morning Ireland.
“Let’s say, in theory, someone wants to fly here from the Isle of Man or from Iceland, for example, why would you put them in a 14-day hotel quarantine when there is no Covid in those places?
“We may find out over the course of the summer and maybe next year that there are places where Covid is very low or has been successfully suppressed and we could have a travel bubble with those places.”
Mandatory quarantine legislation, which will require travelers from areas known to have high transmission of Covid-19 or variants to isolate themselves in a hotel for 14 days, will be introduced in the Dáil in the coming days.
The cabinet previously approved quarantine measures for arrivals from 20 countries and anyone without a negative PCR test last week. Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Austria and 17 countries in Africa are on the government’s Category 2 list, which requires passengers traveling from those countries to isolate themselves at home for 14 days after arrival.
‘Makes sense’
Opposition TDs have criticized the government’s move for not going far enough and say it should be extended to all who come to the country.
Varadkar said the “differentiated approach” to mandatory hotel quarantine “makes sense” rather than a blanket ban.
When asked about the government’s communication strategy so far, Varadkar said that if there has been any failure “we have to accept responsibility for that.”
“Yesterday was an opportunity for a readjustment,” he said, and now there is “a clear plan for the next 10 weeks.
Varadkar said the government would like to see the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 cut in half over the next month, but that it is not a good idea to set “exact metrics.”
“A guy like me would like to give you numbers … but it’s more about trends,” he said.
He said that the reopening of schools depended on trends and that the government will not hesitate to postpone further reopening of schools if the return of some classes next Monday leads to a significant increase in cases.
However, one of the things that I know concerns our experts, other than children, is that parents and parents meet and meet in their own schools as well, and we will have to have a very clear message around that this is their kids going back to school, which is great, but unfortunately not an opportunity to catch up with other parents.
The co-leader of the Social Democrats Roisin Shortall criticized the lack of objectives in the government’s road map.
“We keep saying that we will do this until April and see what we do after that. I think that’s the wrong approach, to work on the basis of target dates, we should be talking about target case numbers and then we should also implement, I think, concrete measures to reduce the numbers. They remain stubbornly high at the moment, mainly due to the new variant. “
Shortall said it shouldn’t be “a matter of wait and see.”
“It should be a case where the government says ‘these are the steps now that we are all going to take to reduce those numbers,’ so we can be sure that schools will open and stay open.
He said there are “important areas” that were not addressed in the plan, such as resourcing for public health so that more intensive contact tracing can be done.
He said that judging from the levels of traffic, it appears that many people have returned to the workplace and that employers should be “instructed to ensure that, wherever possible, workers work from home.”
I think there are also problems in relation to low-paid workers, those in meat factor factories, for example, who are in high-risk situations, and some conglomerates that develop there, and I think better support should be provided financially to people in those circumstances. so they don’t feel pressured to go to work and have symptoms.
Cork nursing home
In today’s Dáil, the issue of nursing homes was also raised with Taosieach.
Solidarity / People Before Profits TD Mick Barry has called for a full investigation into a Covid-19 outbreak at the Ballynoe Nursing Home in Co Cork.
A group of five families affected by the outbreak joined forces and sought legal advice in an attempt to find out why and how the outbreak occurred.
The outbreak began on January 8 of this year and caused all residents and staff to contract the virus, leading to 21 deaths, Barry said.
The Ballynoe home is part of a chain of facilities owned by a fund, he said.
The Taoiseach said he will contact the Minister of Health on the matter, adding that questions about the outbreak deserve “full and complete answers.”
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He added: “HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) has been interacting regularly with the provider, before and since they were notified of the outbreak on January 9th.
“It is understood that the vendor did not request any additional support or request that any issues be escalated.
“After receiving notification of the statute of 14 deaths between February 7 and 9, HIQA carried out a hazard inspection on February 11.
“His inspectors review the current arrangements for visits, as well as the heads of registries regarding visits and family commitments.
“The chief inspector will prepare an inspection report now, proclaiming his findings and this report will then be published when the full process is complete.”
Martin said he understands that family members are eager to make a commitment, and will discuss this with the Minister of Health prior to the conclusion of the HIQA report.
As of last night, there were 642 people with Covid-19 in the hospital, 149 people in the ICU, and another 103 Covid-19 patients on ventilation.
Yesterday, 575 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland, with another 45 people confirmed to have died with Covid-19.
As of February 21, 353,971 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been administered in Ireland:
- 222,073 people have received their first dose
- 131,898 people have received their second dose
– With reports from the Press Association, Michelle Hennessy and Chrstina Finn
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