Transmission levels ‘very serious and dangerous’

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HSE CEO Paul Reid has said that Covid-19 transmission levels are “very serious and dangerous.”

Mr. Reid said that the HSE has as many concerns now as in the first phase, and is concerned about the potential impact on health services.

He spoke at today’s HSE Covid-19 briefing.

He said they are concerned about the worst culmination of the rapid increase in cases, a high positivity rate and an increased number of contacts joining at a time when there is generally a peak demand for health services.

He added that the effect of what is now seen impacting hospitals just after Christmas is also worrying.

However, Mr. Reid said that people should not be overly stressed and that fear leads to inaction.

The HSE needs everyone to take positive action, he said, which could make a big difference in turning around these “horrendous” trends.

He urged people to reevaluate their plans and keep their contacts low.

While the time will come when people can come together again and do what they had planned for Christmas, the top priority now, he said, is to maintain safety and protect the vulnerable.

Reid said hospitals and the healthcare system are entering the winter season in a stronger position than they would have been at this time last year.

He said that the plans and investment made by the HSE will protect people, but the virus is extremely volatile and the situation could change extremely quickly.

Health authorities in Northern Ireland were astonished at how quickly cases there increased and the immediate effect it had on hospitals, he said.

Mr. Reid noted that the health service is entering a very volatile period.

He said the vaccine gave everyone a boost to look forward to, adding that the HSE was in detailed and relentless discussions with the makers of the Pfizer / BioNtech vaccine regarding the delivery of the first batches here.

They are actively working with the process to coordinate delivery in all EU member states, he said, and the first delivery of 9,750 doses is scheduled for Saint Stephen’s Day.

They expect to receive about 31,000 more doses in the few days after that, he added.

Reid said they were in discussions about the delivery schedule in January and February, but the expectation is that they will receive just over 40,000 doses in the first week.

The needles and syringes associated with the vaccination program had been “collected and packaged,” he said, and would be shipped to vaccination centers beginning December 29.

He said they are preparing to receive around 40,000 doses per week in January and February, but this is all conditional on the agreement with the EU and the manufacturers.

Mr. Reid said that the first module of the IT system will be delivered by the end of the year, adding that a process that would normally take four to six months was taking place in ten days.

He said the first module will deal with recording who is vaccinated where and alerting people regarding the second dose of the vaccine.

The plan is to vaccinate at least some long-term residents of nursing homes on December 30 and 31, he said, as well as some healthcare workers in acute care hospitals.

Work is underway to prepare consent at long-term care facilities, and plans are being finalized for a “three-week sweep” that will begin in early January, followed by another three-week sweep.

Mr. Reid said that public health teams have contacted Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, the Department of the Taoiseach and relevant Ministers after MConalogue tested positive for Covid-19.

Although he did not wish to comment specifically on the case, HSE clinical director Dr. Colm Henry said it “highlights how communicable this virus is.”

Dr Henry said that the situation in Ireland regarding new Covid-19 cases is deteriorating faster than in any other country in Europe.

Dr. Henry said that HSE had seen an extraordinary growth of infection in the last week, beyond what even the most extreme versions of the model would have predicted.

He said he had not seen this level of concern since the start of the pandemic.

The five-day moving average was now 714, 100% higher than last week.

He said there was a strong climb upward and the curve was heading in a vertical direction.

Dr. Henry said that the positivity rate was now 5%. Referrals for testing were increasing, and the incidence in all age groups had increased.

If the current growth rate continues on its current trajectory, it said there would be 1,000 cases per day by the end of this month and by the end of the first week of January it could be 1,500 cases per day.

He said that if this happened, the impact would be felt throughout the health system.

Dr. Henry said the virus had exposed the fragility of well-developed healthcare systems in Europe.

Ireland had had the best 14-day incidence rate in Europe, but said the situation was deteriorating faster here than in any other country in Europe.

In relation to the new advice issued for those traveling from Britain, Dr Henry said this strain “represents an additional threat to the form of transmission that we already know.

When asked if he thought people would follow the advice, he said that he could not assure that everyone would, but that the HSE would contact as many people as possible to give them the right public health advice and how to get tested. as close to the fifth day as possible after arrival in Ireland.

Mr. Reid urged people to be careful when visiting vulnerable people and to protect healthcare workers.

He said there are a number of issues that concern them, such as a high presentation of people to hospitals and the risk that high community transmission could affect a large number of health workers, particularly with the combination of people visiting homes. during Christmas.

This would be the worst of both scenarios, he said, where there is a reduction in the number of available staff and an increase in the number of people attending hospital services.

Reid said there is a lag between increasing the number of cases and hospital presentations, and they expect to see an increase in the number in early January.

HSE COO Anne O’Connor said there has been continual improvement regarding the Covid-19 outbreaks within hospitals.

He said there were a large number of hospital staff affected a few weeks ago, but that the situation has “improved considerably.”

He said 59 staff members are affected at St Luke Hospital in Kilkenny, eight at Waterford University Hospital, 52 at Tallaght University Hospital and 17 at Naas General Hospital.

This number is “significantly lower” than a few weeks ago, O’Connor said, when more than 500 employees were affected.

Regarding the flu vaccine, O’Connor said more than 1.1 million people have been vaccinated, a 47% increase from last year.

“Fortunately, we are not seeing any flu in our system that we saw around this time last year,” he said.

Additional information from Mary Calpin

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