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LAST UPDATE | 17 Nov 2021
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER Dr. Tony Holohan has said the “responsible thing” for public health was not to plan “major socialisation events” like Christmas parties.
Holohan said this evening that the spread of Covid-19 in this country and the pressure on healthcare services meant that normal levels of Christmas socialising was not advisable.
“We really do not have the capacity as a country to have significant Christmas-type levels of socialisation in the run into Christmas if we’re if we’re to turn this around,” Holohan told The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk.
I think a very responsible thing for people who are in a position, whether they’re organising Christmas parties or where they’re responsible for the health and well-being and welfare of their staff and their customers, a responsible thing to do would be to conclude that now is not is not an ideal time to be planning major socialisation events that don’t need to happen.
Asked about weddings that may be planned in the forthcoming weeks, Holohan said that weddings are a “different situation” as they “an important milestone” and are planned long in advance
His comments come as a senior minister said earlier that “last thing” the government wants is tough restrictions in the run up to Christmas.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said the government will assess the impact of the measures in the coming weeks to see “whether we’ve done enough” but that further restrictions can’t be ruled out.
The Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn said this evening that up to 200,000 people could be infected in December but that it is not “inevitable”.
Glynn told Six One on RTÉ there is no “silver bullet” to prevent the surge in cases: “It’s really important, I think, to move the commentary away from what has been part of the commentary . . . that there’s a silver bullet, that antigen testing is going to sort this out, that boosters vaccines are going to sort this out, that more PCR testing is going to sort this out.”
Instead, he said method such as mask wearing, cutting down social contacts and avoiding crowded locations will help prevent the spread of infection.
Earlier today, Holohan warned that the new measures introduced by government would not be sufficient if people who were symptomatic ignored the advice to self-isolate and avail of a PCR test.
Holohan said that NPHET modelling showed that there could be a minimum of 200,000 cases of Covid-19 across the month of December but that this was “not inevitable” if people followed public health advice.
Holohan said that he was not predicting the number of cases as they were preventable but that it could be “double” that 200,000 figure.
Over the past two weeks, over 55,000 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in this country, leading to an increase in people hospitalised with the virus.
“We think that about 2%, in other words 20 out of every 1,000, of those cases might occur will end up in hospital. All cases will be advised to restrict to self-isolate, and their contacts will be advised to restrict their movements,” Holohan told RTÉ’s News at One.
That’s a lot of people in hospital potentially 4000 or more. It’s a lot of people being asked to self isolate and restrict movements, none of those people are infected yet.
“A time of year when none of us wants to be faced with going into hospital or having a loved one going into hospital. None of us wants to be faced with being advised to restrict our movements or to self isolate.”
He added: “If you’re going to have an infection in December that infection hasn’t been picked up yet, so a minimum of 200,000 cases occurring in December, all of which are preventable.”
Public health measures
A number of measures were announced yesterday as part of efforts to stem Covid cases in hospital, among them a new midnight end for pubs and nightclubs and the reimposition of advice that people should work from home unless it’s “absolutely necessary”.
In a further move which attempts to limit the spread of the virus, anyone living in a household of someone who is a confirmed case of Covid-19 is to be asked to restrict their movements for five days.
Speaking last night after the measures were announced, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that NPHET had advised on the measures but that it could not be guaranteed that they would be sufficient to bring cases to a manageable level.
Asked today was the government therefore delaying the inevitability that further restrictions would be required, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said he doesn’t believe this to be the case.
“No, I hope not but of course we will have to wait and see how the virus behaves and the numbers in ICU and the numbers in hospital, we are predicting now that somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 people could be in hospital with Covid and the numbers in ICU could could go above 200. That puts huge pressure on our system,” he said.
Speaking about the new restrictions, he said:
This is about trying to avoid a more severe restrictions on people. It’s about effectively recalibrating our response and recognising that large numbers of people in nightclubs and late night bars is a risk factor that we think it’s responsible to remove for now.
Coveney said that he’s aware that the effective curfew on nightclubs will have consequences on the sector but that “it’s not the job of government not to make popular decisions”.
“I think it’s the right decision, we can’t rule out further restriction and we will simply have to follow the behavior of this virus in the weeks ahead to see whether we’ve done enough to protect society through winter, or whether we need to do more,” he added.
“But certainly the last thing the government wants is another severe series of restrictions in the build up to Christmas.”
You can’t provide guarantees on anything when it comes to Covid, that’s surely one thing we’ve learned, we’ve all learned over the last 18 months or so. And we have to respond to the evidence as it’s presented.
The minister said that in the coming weeks people will see “an acceleration of boosters” and that he has spoken to his counterpart in Israel who outlined the effectiveness of boosters in preventing hospitalisations.
In his interview this afternoon, Holohan outlined what people who are syptmoatic and close contacts of a confirmed case should do.
“People who are cases and who are symptomatic, they simply must self-isolate and they get a PCR test, not an antigen test a PCR test. So if you have symptoms, stay at home, arrange for a PCR test, and if those people can comply with the advice to self isolation, and the people who are their close to contacts particularly those who live with them, can restrict their movements and be antigen tested as they restrict those movements, we think that is the behaviour that is most important.”
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We can’t police our streets as it is at the moment. How on earth are they going to police public transport? We need an American style type of policing, three strikes and you’re done. We also need our judiciary system to up their game and hand down harder penalties and to stick to them. That way our streets and transport will be more safer.
@Brian k.: the jails are full and they haven’t opened a new one since 1989. No point in increasing police numbers until that is sorted.
@Brian k.: We absolutely do NOT need the American model of anything, especially policing. It’s been shown time and time and time again to be biased and ineffective. All it does is increase the numbers of disadvantaged people in the prison-industrial complex, which is exactly what it’s supposed to do. Updated slavery by another name. We’re better than that
@Brian k.: three strikes is proven not to be a deterrent and is proven to increase violence among offenders. It doesn’t work.
@Paul C: We have to start somewhere. Currently we have repeat offenders with 100+ convictions and no sign of them reforming.
@John Fahy: The midlands prison opened in 2000. I agree with your point that more prison space is urgently needed.
@John Fahy: start executing some of the serial offenders with 500 previous convictions would soon clear out the prisons. No loss to society.
@Brian k.: What’s your goal, to punish those who commit crime or reduce crime overall? If it’s the latter, the US model has shown harsher sentences and prison conditions don’t achieve this
@Brian k.: American style policing, what just shoot everybody who you perceive as a threat. Believe you me American style policing is the last thing we need in this country.
@Brian k.: imagine a public transport police somewhere in another Eu country. Crazy how Ireland is being crazily mismanaged by the government and how baffling how there is absolutely 0 accountability for it.
@Brian k.: are you going to pay the massive tax hike to facilitate the building of more prisons, courts, and hiring of more staff at every level of the justice system to facilitate this? America is more dangerous than it’s ever been and mass incarceration is not a deterrent.
@John Fahy: exactly, and worse part is that over 20million Euro was spent buying a site for a prison and it’s costing thousands more to secure it now and not a block or foundation dug..
@John Fahy: That’s correct. We need a lot more prisons to be built.
@Dave G Doe: very good point!
@John Fahy: Helen mcentee was looking at potential a few years ago. Nothing happened, no surprise there then.
@Paul C: Woke people believe that if they say something, then it is so!
Only one way for the Government to take back control of our streets and that is to hit offenders where it hurts.
Take away their freedom and hit them in the pocket by making deductions from bank accounts or social welfare payments to ensure that fines are paid.
Start by sacking every judges in the country. Most of them haven’t a clue. Giving out suspended sentences for paedophiles like it’s no bother at all
@reg morrisey:
Judge Nolan should be up the first one there.
If they were serious about tackling crime and marking those responsible accountable then hit offenders in the pocket. Increase court fines and take it from their dole (yes most offenders do not work!) and not in lots of small instalments. If they’re fined €500, take €50 a week for 10 weeks. If teenage thugs under 18 are convicted, take it from their parents children’s allowance. Nothing else works, there are no prison places and community service etc doesn’t work. Mandatory fines taken from your pay for dole will make many of them think twice before committing crimes.
Once they keep the Luas Green for members of better stock and no North or West Side Skangers on it.
Eight thousand soldiers sitting on their holes, why not use them, the French do
Like everything in Ireland I don’t think any of the 4 .5 % reduction will be seen by the consumer…
Ah I see the usual sock puppets are heavily active on this thread cheering each other on with their usual hang’em high cow feces
How about we focus on actually sentencing people properly first? There’s no point hiring “transport police” when we can’t even police the main streets in the city centre. Even if we did hire these “transport release”, unless we fix our sentencing laws it’s still just going to be more catch and release for the criminals. There is no reason why the Dáil can’t pass a bill which mandates that the government has to build at least 5 new prisons in the next 10 years on state-owned land. We also need to introduce mandatory minimums for all crimes and make sure that a life sentence means exactly that – a life sentence. You’re not released after 18 years and no chance of getting early parole. We also need a three-strikes rule with a minimum 25 year sentence for those who break it.
Lol! So a new ‘Dublin’ police force then?
The NTA and TFI are not fit for purpose, bring back the carriage office and let them police all public transport services including taxis, the amount of illegal/undocumented taxis on the road is unbelievable
Gardai can’t cope with current level of antisocial behaviour. Judicial system is broken with repeat offenders having no incentive to desist.
Now a new type of garda with different level of authority and can only operate in certain environments and likely will have to hand over detainee to a garda anyway. Recipie for inefficiency.
Will believe it when l see it
If men were just men again it be grand. Telling ye, a few pud mouths wrecking my head and illnjust drag them off at the next stop. I was born in the 90s but I know this was how it was done in the 70s
would they fine their recurrent traffic offenders and report those rude drivers who deliberately miss their bus stops ?
…
Can’t recruit gardai naval personal army airport and now they want transport police lol
have your say