HSE chief warns more work is needed to slow down Covid cases
Public Observe Distancing Chief To And Urged Who Hand Paul Wear Hse Social Masks, Reid, The Hygeine Practice
The director-general of the HSE has warned that progress has stalled in tackling Covid-19.
However, Paul Reid has said he is confident that if the public “do all the basics” of wearing masks, observing hand hygiene, and practicing social distancing then “we can make progress” to get down to “sustainable lower levels.”
Mr Reid told RTÉ radio that while some progress had been made under Level 5, work is ongoing to see where numbers had stalled.
Some 429 new cases of the virus were confirmed by Nphet last night, leaving the country a significant distance away from the target of 100 cases per day at the end of lockdown.
There was not an aim “to demonise people” Mr Reid said, but people needed to realise that as they meet there was a risk, if they did not wear masks or meet indoors then risks were amplified.
Mr Reid gave an example of a meeting which was attended by eight people, none of them wearing a mask. All eight have now tested positive for Covid-19.
Mr Reid pointed out that even during the first wave of the virus, Ireland’s outcomes were better than other European countries. Daily admissions to hospitals are down 7%, with daily activity down 8% while trolley numbers were down 70% on this week last year.
“That’s a very significant number.”
This reduction could partly be attributed to more home help, he said. The home help waiting list was down to 2,800 from 7,500. But Mr Reid said he was concerned about outbreaks of the virus in hospitals with 450 staff at present unable to work either because they had tested positive or they were close contacts.
It was very difficult to identify how the virus got into health care settings as it may come from health care workers, from patients, or from visitors. A worker on a ward has to wash their hands 10 times per hour on a 10-hour shift, he said.
"It is very difficult for our teams."