LAST UPDATE | 24 Aug 2021
A FURTHER 1,571 CASES of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland.
There are 307 people in hospital with the virus, with 55 in intensive care, the Department of Health confirmed this afternoon.
Yesterday, there were 1,592 cases and 318 people with Covid-19 in hospital, with 60 in ICU.
This afternoon, chief medical officer Dr. Tony Holohan warned of an “extremely high incidence” of the disease in Ireland currently.
“On average, we have reported 1,814 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per day for the last 5 days. Our 14-day incidence is now 526 per 100,000 population. This is an extremely high incidence of disease circulating in our communities,” he said in a statement ahead of a press briefing at the Department of Health.
Mask wearing is a simple and effective way of breaking the chains of transmission. If you are infected but do not have symptoms or have yet to develop symptoms, you can still spread the virus to others. Face masks help reduce this risk.
Mask wearing
Holohan noted that a self-reported survey has shown that mask wearing has declined to 93% in February and March to a current level of 84%.
He added: “Please, continue to wear a mask in indoor settings like retail, on public transport and in restaurants and in crowded outdoor settings. This remains a simple but important measure that we all can take to prevent this virus spreading in our communities.”
Delta peak
NPHET’s head of disease modelling Professor Philip Nolan said this afternoon that Ireland is approaching the peak of the wave of Delta infections but that it has not peaked yet.
“We have been living with Covid-19 restrictions for a significant period of time – it is now 542 days since we reported the first case of COVID-19 in Ireland. It is understandable that many of us are tired of the public health measures that we continue to advise,” he said.
Unfortunately, this disease continues to evolve and the very best way we can protect ourselves and each other is to continue to do our very best to follow the public health advice.
Vaccination and ICU
Nolan as well as virologist Dr Cillian De Gascun and Dr Michael Power of the HSE’s Critical Care Programme each also urged people who have not yet been vaccinated from the virus to avail of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“About 60% of people with Covid-19 who are currently receiving critical care are people who are eligible to be vaccinated. This is a stark reminder to all of us to receive our Covid-19 vaccines as soon as we are eligible to do so,” De Gascun said.
Power said that the best way for people to protect the country’s critical care system is to ensure they are vaccinated against Covid-19.
“There are currently 55 people in intensive care in our hospitals. Critical care is our last defence against Covid-19. All of our ICUs have limited capacity – when ICU beds are required by patients with Covid-19, it reduces what is available in the system for other patients who require critical care,” he said.
“The best way for all of us to protect our critical care capacity and our health service is to complete our vaccination programmes as soon as possible and to continue to follow the public health advice. ”
Pregnancy and ICU
Dr Power also confirmed that 16 pregnant women were admitted to ICU units with Covid-19 this year, with no fatalities among that group and no fatalities among their unborn babies.
HSE advice to pregnant women is that, while most who are infected with Covid-19 will have moderate to mild symptoms, they are more likely than women who are not pregnant to become very unwell and need treatment in intensive care.
If they are not already protected, pregnant women are advised to get both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine between 14 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
Power said that “most” of the 16 pregnant women who were admitted to ICU this year were not vaccinated.
“Since January to August of this year there have been 16 women who have been admitted to the ICUs in Ireland, there were none admitted in 2020. Of those 16 women, 10 received an invasive ventilator. Seven women were delivered of the pregnancy while in the ICU and thankfully, of those 16 women were admitted to the ICU, there were no fatalities. Additionally, in terms of foetal outcome, there were no neonatal deaths either,” he said.
Live events
Speaking at this afternoon’s briefing, Dr Holohan said at the moment public health officials “have no basis to say anything other than we expect incidence to grow” over the coming weeks.
He was speaking after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said today he expects all remaining restrictions to be lifted by Christmas.
Holohan said he hoped remaining restrictions could be gone “much sooner” than Christmas.
“It’s hard to be certain about it in advance but obviously our hope and ambition is that we might get there much sooner than that,” he said.
Holohan added that the level of vaccination is key in determining whether “unsafe” activities can return and that Ireland may be in that place in “four to six weeks”.
“Obviously it’s going to depend on us getting as far as we reasonably can in terms of our vaccine [programme] but the nature of vaccination and the time it takes for an individual to receive both doses and then to become vaccinated it will be well into September by the time we complete the vaccination programme,” he said.
Holohan added that, based on data from Britain showing rising virus incidence, Ireland’s high vaccination rates should not yet provide confidence about the lifting of all restrictions.
It’s simply not right for us to be expressing such optimism on the basis of how well we’ve done on vaccination, that in some way or another that’s going to protect us, we still need to keep going.
“We think we need to get another four to six weeks of vaccination and get as many people, particularly in the under 40s and especially the under 30s where simply the time hasn’t been there for them to come forward to be vaccinated to have both doses and for the protection to kick in.”
He added: “If we got there, I think there’s good reason for us to believe that many of the activities that we regard as being, let’s say, unsafe, less safe for people who are not vaccinated, we’d see those activities as being possible.”
All Ireland and Electric Picnic
Regarding the scenes outside Croke Park last Sunday for the All Ireland hurling final, Holohan said “people are well aware of what constitutes appropriate socialisation and engagement” but he cautioned against unvaccinated people attending large events.
“Because at this level of disease incidence, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to run into somebody who’s got the disease,” Holohan said.
“If your attendance at these events means, travelling on a train, going to a restaurant, going to the match – multiple opportunities over the course of your attendance that might, as an unvaccinated person, might represent risk to you.”
It comes after days of political wrangling over the future of the live entertainment industry with representatives calling for a roadmap to safely reopen.
Asked if he’d concede there is a disparity between 40,000 people attending an All Ireland final and the events sector remaining unopened, Holohan says “check back and you’ll see” that NPHET has never advised against live events.
Holohan said NPHET would not be opposed from a public health perspective to large events such as Electric Picnic taking place with only vaccinated people in attendance.
“We wouldn’t have a concern from a public health point of view to express about an event that happened that was confined to vaccinated people,” he said.
Boosters
Holohan said that he expects a programme of booster jabs for people who are immunocompromised to begin “quite soon”.
Asked about other categories of people and when they might require a booster jab, Holohan said that NIAC is considering this and will be providing communication soon.
“NIAC is giving ongoing consideration as to whether there is a case to be made for boosting other categories, I expect to hear something on that if not in the coming days then in the coming weeks,” he said.
De Gascun said it needs to be “teased out” over the next six to 12 months about the best long-term course of vaccination for people. He added however that individuals who have “a healthy, normal response” may be protected “for one or two years and then need a booster”.
Flu season
Holohan said that health officials will be expecting greater levels of flu and other viruses this winter compared to 2020 “as we move to more pre-pandemic forms of socialisation”.
He said that this means vaccinated people need to be aware that they will still need to “take themselves out of circulation” if they have symptoms.
“It’ll still be same advice for an individual who is symptomatic, in the first instance they need to stop circulating in the population. Don’t think that because you’ve had a vaccination and you’ve got symptoms that the symptoms couldn’t be Covid,” he said.
With reporting from Cónal Thomas
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